I would like to dissolve the $10 billion national Department of Education created by President Carter and turn schools back to the local school districts, where we built the greatest public school system the world has ever seen. I think I can make a case that the decline in the quality of public education began when federal aid became federal interference.

If we miss this chance to make a fresh start, we may look back on this moment from some later vantage point and realize how much that failure cost us all.

I remain California-bound

I don't have too much time for fiction.

It's difficult to believe that people are still starving in this country because food isn't available.

Labor force needs and economic conditions are disregarded in our policies. Many aspects of our current policies and procedures are patently wrong. For example, legal immigration has almost no link to U.S. employment needs or economic conditions.

Government exists to protect us from each other. Where government has gone beyond its limits is in deciding to protect us from ourselves.