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Wishing you a Wonderful Fourth of July |
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by Mary Jo America is the greatest country in the world. As we all celebrate this over the weekend; wearing our red white and blue, eating food fresh off the grill and oohing and aaahing at fireworks we should all take a few minutes to reflect on our country and what makes it so great.
Is it the beautiful landscape? Or maybe our strong history? I know that for me personally what makes America wonderful is the people who live here. Being out on the campaign trail, I have the opportunity to speak with a lot of people who live around the 15th district. Some who live in downtown Columbus and others who live in the more rural towns like London and Marysville, but no matter who I talk to, the issues are the same. People are worried about gas prices, the high cost in health care, rising food prices and mortgages. That being said, lets take a moment to remember all that is right with this country.
We live in a land that offers everyone a chance to succeed, through hard work and determination. Our country and our ideas have changed human existence, ushered in the modern era and with it the belief that all of us can live free and pursue our own individual concept of happiness. We are a nation of innovators who have never met a challenge we couldn't solve. We are resilient and always bounce back. We are tough and aren't afraid to stare adversity in the face. What makes this country great is that no matter what we face, we will be fine because we will stick together and we will solve it together.
This evening I will be marching in the red, white and boom parade and I will be getting a chance to meet some of you along the way. As we celebrate this independence day together here in Central Ohio. I hope that as you enjoy the long weekend, maybe when you are gazing up into the night sky watching a local fireworks show, you take a moment to reflect why you love America.  Be first to comment this article |  Quote this article on your site
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Today, I unveiled my gas prices plan |
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by Mary Jo Welcome to my new blog! I hope you continue to come back every once in awhile to see what my campaign and I are working on. I am very excited to have this opportunity to share with you, and hope that you'll leave a comment or two so we can really talk and get to know one another. It's a great day to kick the blog off because we just got back from a wonderful event with Rahm Emanuel and the Buckeye Bullet Team talking about new energy and gas prices.  While we were at OSU's Center for Automotive Research I called for a bold new plan for energy independence. I believe we should set the goal for all American auto companies to be producing an alternative fueled vehicle fleet by 2020. This is a bold and direct approach that will require research and investment but in the end it will provide our county with long-term solutions to our energy problems.
America didn't set the goal of sending man halfway to the moon, it set the goal of going all the way. We need to make this same type investment in alternative fuels because it holds the promise of creating thousands of jobs here in Ohio will end our dependence on foreign oil.  We can do this. Right now, the engineers at Daimler, the parent company of Mercedes, are working toward turning its entire fleet gasless by 2015 and I believe the GM Volt , scheduled for production in 2010 will revolutionize the American auto industry, prove new technologies and create high quality advanced manufacturing jobs. Honda, which has a plant right here in my home district is creating fuel-efficent and hybrid vehicles. I believe we can provide incentives for American auto companies to create these cars by taking away the tax cuts that are given to oil companies and reinvesting them into the research and development we need to commercialize these new technologies. Once these cars are being produced we can provide tax credits to consumers who purchase them to make sure that these vehicles are affordable for the average American. I know we need to do something to help all of us who are suffering right now from high prices at the pump. In the short term, we must go after speculators that are currently bidding up oil futures far above what normal market forces are dictating. We must also tell oil companies that hold leases to drill on federal lands to use them or loose them. We must be prepared to meet our energy needs in the near future, at a reasonable price, while we work towards our long term goal of energy independence. This is why we must drill on lands that oil companies aren't using and have the refining capacity to turn that oil into gasoline. To view my plan click here. Be first to comment this article | Quote this article on your site |
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