Mark Serati for Missouri Governor   2008

Missouri, like the rest of the world, face problems such as global warming, over population, increasing demands for clean energy, healthy food and water, technology replacing jobs, bio-weapon development and increasing corporate influence over our government.   All are important, and all have been ignored or had the “symptoms” addressed for decades with no long term solution for the future by either major party.  The sooner these inevitable problems are addressed, the more economically they can be resolved.  Prevention is much cheaper than constant reaction to symptoms of the problems.  Most of these issues are interrelated.  While the issues discussed are not all inclusive, they provide a vision and plan which I wish to bring to the Missouri Governor’s office.

GLOBAL WARMING PROBLEM

If you don’t know what global warming is, or don’t believe it is a problem, I suggest you watch Al Gore’s film “An Inconvenient Truth”.  Simply stated, the accumulation of carbon dioxide in the Earth’s atmosphere increases the average temperature of the Earth. The carbon dioxide is generally produced by energy generation and automobiles.  Forest fires also play a significant part.  It is an excellent film and I thank Mr. Gore for making it.   The only fault I had with the film is that it didn’t stress the economic effects the increased temperature would have. 

Increased temperatures require increased energy for air conditioning from the same energy plants creating the cause.   “Temporary fixes” to the “symptoms” increase the severity of the problem itself.  Additional national energy demands due to increasing population and illegal immigration alone will further strain dependence on foreign oil, and again add to the overall problem.  As oil and energy prices increase and lower socio-economic classes have to choose between food and energy for air conditioning, what economic burden will that place on the costs of our medical system?

The same situation exists for forest fires.  Trees convert existing carbon dioxide to oxygen.  Increased temperatures result in drier forestry and more fires.  Not only will this place more carbon dioxide in the air, but remove the very resource we need to reverse the problem.   Lumber prices and wood products will also continually increase.  Al Gore elaborates on the effect of the ice regions melting and decreasing the sun’s heat reflectance (vice absorption), further escalation of the problem by removal of another natural deterrent.  The only winners in these present scenarios are the corporations supplying energy, oil, lumber and other related commodities as the resources diminish and the climate continues to rise.

For decades our present politicians have failed to address this problem by taking campaign contributions for allowing industries such as “oil” to commit crimes and pretend as though the actual problem doesn’t exist.  If you watched the Congressional testimony on this issue, false scientific findings were subsidized by oil industry “bought and paid for “scientists.  Some government scientists claimed the context of their reports were altered by superiors after turning them in as to give a false conclusion, yet their name was left on them even though they didn’t agree with the final report.  The problem isn’t going away, only letting the cost of the solution get more expensive to our Nation for the benefit of a handful of industries.

Proposal for Global Warming

Though Global warming is more a world issue than a state issue, the failure to address a solution affects everyone.  We live in a capitalistic society where competition means the lowest cost.  Even though oil products emissions will destroy the planets habitability, oil is still the cheapest form of energy because that is what our energy infrastructure is geared for.  Even socialist and communist countries compete for resources in a world market.  No individual corporation or country will voluntarily comply with regulations without a level playing field.  As Missouri Governor, I would be very verbal in urging our next President and Congress into joining the Kyoto Treaty, establishing national standards for states, and ensure the EPA within our state enforces those regulations - with criminal penalties for those corporations intentionally violating requirements and government officials intentionally failing to expose and prosecute violators .  I would also urge or next President and Missouri federal legislators to use our “established” aid commitments worldwide and the United Nations for economic influence to force compliance internationally.

I would set mandatory “miles per gallon” requirements for automobiles sold in Missouri such as California did (and the Bush Administration cancelled), “before” the pollution healthcare effects became uneconomically feasible like Los Angeles.  A percentage of “low emission” vehicles would be given tax credits; actual tax credits with no contingencies attached.  Our federal government previously gave tax incentives for buying H2s, Ford Excursions, and other vehicles over six thousand pounds, and yet “claim” to care about global warming. 

The biggest challenge will be to establish safe, clean, affordable mass transit systems for the middle class and tourists to navigate Missouri cities and surrounding counties to reduce the number of cars on the road.  Not only would this reduce the cost of road expansion and repair, but create a healthier climate reducing medical costs and further promoting tourism.  I’m not referring to a joke like the St. Louis Metro-Link system to shuttle cheap labor from the poor region to the rich part of town.  I’m referring to something in regards to a Mag-Lev system commuting to all parts of town, and possibly between St. Louis, Kansas City and Springfield with stops along the way.  I’ll refer to the project further in the “Infrastructure” section. Pay attention to traffic congestion during rush hours and how many cars sit and burn fuel traveling little or no where.  Realize the waste of energy affecting gas prices and needless pollution affecting your family’s health. 

Missouri doesn’t face the problem of forest fires to the extent the western drier climate states do; at least not yet.  As the average climate temperature inches upward, that may very well change.  I would like to reinitiate public service announcements and public education regarding campfire safety; the dangers of throwing lit cigarettes out of car windows, the necessity of spark arresters, and all other factors regarding prevention of forest fires.  I’m not sure when “Smokey the Bear” went into hibernation, but it’s time for him to come back out.  While this may seem trivial, ask your children the proper procedure to put out a campfire.  Unless they were a “Boy Scout”, they most likely don’t have a clue.  Yet they do have the right to go camping in our state and national forests and build a campfire, as they should.  Remember the phrase “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure”?  Our present politicians obviously don’t.

These are just a few ideas regarding global warming and the environment.  Other related factors such as “renewable energy” and “education” will be covered in detail under their respective topics, trying not to be too redundant.  Remember this is a system in which all factors are interrelated.  Ideas and comments are welcome regarding global warming.

The Problem of Overpopulation

Global overpopulation is the biggest problem humanity has, yet the least politicians are willing to discuss or even mention.  Dealing with the problem of overpopulation is a mathematical necessity with no moral solution, at least not in a Christian and/or capitalistic society.  The natural resources on Earth are finite; the ability for humans to multiply is not.  Just as an overpopulation of deer will ruin a farm, so will the population of humans eventually ruin the environment of the earth if not controlled. The only moral solution is to limit birth to an average of one or two children per two people through birth control when it becomes necessary, such as China did by limiting one child per couple.  Social awareness through education and civic responsibility play a major role.  Unfortunately, civic education has been removed from our school's curriculums.  As Governor, I’d bring it back.

People that make statements like: “You can fit the entire population of the Earth in one square mile” really don’t have a clue.  That’s fine if you don’t have to go the bathroom, eat or sleep.  If you like edible food, clean water, sanitation, a toilet and bed, shelter,  electricity, etc., you need the farms, factories, raw material plants, treatment plants, power plants and the infrastructure to produce them.  We’re now talking about the Earth, not a square mile.  If one million people lived on an island with five acres each and had every luxury of life, it wouldn’t matter if they lacked one commodity like water, food, energy or medicine essential to sustaining life. 

Environmentalists measure a nation’s lifestyle by an “environmental footprint”.  This is the amount of acreage it takes to sustain the needs of the average person’s lifestyle of that country.  “Needs” consists of everything - all products, food, water, and energy consumed, given the present technology and allowing the environment to return to its natural state.  When the average lifestyle footprint multiplied by its population exceeds the acreage of a country, you run an environmental deficit and rely on imports.  Needless to say, the US has by far the highest environmental footprint, and the solution so far has been the increasing dependence on foreign oil.  “Renewable” energy such as wind and solar take nothing from the earth except for the resources to build them, thereby decreasing not only the dependence on foreign oil, but the environmental impact on the earth as well.         

There are two positions to take regarding overpopulation.   “Nationalists” believe each nation should control its own population.  “Globalists” argue that it requires a global solution, because the poverty caused by the overpopulation of a country that doesn’t control its population will cause its people to legally or illegally cross borders into a more prosperous country that does have control.  Sound familiar?  Papers written to address world population control by highly respected government officials such as Henry Kissinger are very psychologically disturbing to the average moral person.

Proposal for Overpopulation

First let me state I’m not anti-people.  Children are the most fascinating gift bestowed upon mankind. If I had the economic resources and there was no need for concern of the global environment, I would have had as many as God would allow instead of having only two.  Unfortunately, that’s not the case.  Even though “civics” have been removed from our school curriculums, the need for social responsibility still exists. Many Christian religions are against birth control.  Capitalists want an excess of available labor to keep the cost of labor down.  Industries need a growing population to sustain demand for their products and services. 

Environmentalists want a smaller population to limit damage to the Earth. Politicians need to constantly recruit jobs and develop infrastructure to retain lifestyles for a growing population, and have to find solutions for diminishing resources like the diminishing water tables in large desert cities like Phoenix, Arizona.   Politicians haven’t publically discussed this inevitable problem since the 1970s, just like global warming. They haven’t discussed it because the diverse solutions are offensive to a large part of Christian and capitalistic society as I previously mentioned.  Having distasteful and offensive solutions doesn’t make the problem go away. 

Last I checked, the world population increased by one person approximately every three seconds.  I personally find that number underestimated.  That may not sound like much, but that’s over ten million additional people drawing on the Earth’s resources per year.  If not already, that will become every two seconds, which is almost an additional sixteen million people per year.  Remember these additional people affect our standard of living as a species, and deplete the safe, environmental footprint available to all of us.

Just because our politicians haven’t discussed the problem doesn’t mean they haven’t addressed it.  Prosperous middle class single income families are now dual income families barely making the bills.  Requiring mommy to work to enjoy a comfortable American lifestyle during child bearing years has had a profound impact on how many children to have.  Keeping you busy with regulations, permits, bureaucratic requirements, licensing, insurance hassles, lawsuits, medical issues in addition to recreational activities has also played a psychological role in how many children a couple wants to expend their remaining energy and money on.  When you factor in unemployment, under employment, price gouging of gasoline, healthcare, insurance, tuitions and utilities there is little security in even having children at this point in time for many couples.

While these economic deterrents for procreation are somewhat effective, the largest emerging form of population control in the US is chronic bio-weapons use through environmental toxicity.  Don’t believe it?  Read my segments on healthcare, bio-weapons, WB-1 and WB-2.  You’re even paying for it, with both your money and your family’s health.  The short phrase for it is deliberate economic genocide through our healthcare system.  It is very effective, but both illegal and immoral.  I explain what the government has been doing, and will stop it with your help if elected Governor.

While these examples of population control used in the last decades and the new emerging ones have proved effective, they have destroyed our values and the family unit that all our present politicians so loudly profess to sustain.  It will get worse if not addressed in a civil and moral manner.  As the population grows and bio-technology continues to advance, these methods will become increasingly aggressive and devious, along with harsher economic devastation to the middle class and poor.

Before you can address a dilemma such as this that needs the public's understanding and cooperation to solve, the problem must be defined and the public educated.  There is no quick fix or easy answer for US or Global population control.  This is a problem the public must discuss together in a civil manner and honest forum.  Only by public awareness and making it socially unacceptable to have four or five children will this trend diminish.  Pure capitalism enjoys excess population to keep wages lower and then systematically killing off those whose costs exceed their productivity.  This is the present situation. The present system has to change.  When you understand the present objective of the US next-generation bio-weapons development program in conjunction to US healthcare costs and illegal immigration, I’m sure you’ll agree.

The Problem of Energy, Food and Water Demands

Until we stop the escalating population growth, the basic demands of food, water, energy and healthcare will increase proportionately.  Unnatural engineered foods, lower standards for water, and increasingly polluted air are not the answer. This is the direction our politicians have headed us in.  To conceal it, the EPA, AMA and FDA has helped cover up just how bad it is by remaining silent.  CNN just aired a program in late June “silent killer” about the E-coli bacteria from the tainted spinach earlier in 2007.  A statement was made in the program that the FDA was in complete disarray.  The government  refused to comment – that’s  nothing new. I guess it’s just like everything else under the Bush Administration and our present politicians.  Water companies have been privatized so the government doesn’t have to directly answer for water contaminants found in them.  The EPA nor the water company would ever admit to them anyway.  See my segment on “corruption”.

Engineered grains that have been rejected in other countries for health concerns are used here with no complaint from the FDA.  The rich are trending toward organic foods, the poor have to choose between energy and any kind of food.  They can’t pay the extravagant prices for healthy food.  They can’t afford the high cost of medical care from poor diets either.  It all comes back down to planning; and realistic, enforced standards.

The Proposal for Increasing Energy, Food and Water Demands

I have no problem with bio-engineering food if it is truly safe and nutritious. The problem is many foods and drug studies are falsified in the interest of inter-industrial profit.  The first immediate step I would take is to ensure the present federal and state standards for our food, water, and air are safe.  I already know the answer to this.  I’m not talking about more “studies”.  The data already exists, but true causes of chronic illness are being hidden by doctors and insurance companies, driving illness up and the costs and profits of their industries up.  The data manipulated by skewed studies financed by the government and industries skewing the variables.   The resulting outcomes have already been decided before the study begins, just like Global Warming studies have been manipulated until recently.  Our present government enforcement agencies spend more money hiding corruption than they do on enforcement.  Start prosecuting those guilty of non-enforcement and the rest will get honest – quick.

Independent studies of each environmental variable may show that each are at a safe toxic level, but the cumulative effect of all three can cause chronic illness in twenty percent of the average population. This is unacceptable.  The medical and pharmaceutical industries keep getting richer, so they have a disincentive to get honest.  As a former Quality Assurance professional, I know how to have the data compiled to give the true picture of cause and effect of the hidden environmental toxicity these industries would not want you to see.  As Governor, individual water, food and air standards would be set based on a healthy cumulative, then audited and enforced. I’ve read well over fifty percent of our Nation’s rivers and streams are polluted to the point that you shouldn’t eat the fish. That’s where our tap water comes from before treatment.

Agriculture plays a major role in Missouri’s exports.  Our American farmers are the life’s blood of this Nation.  I’ll be honest. I don’t know much about farming or the problems our small and large family farms are presently facing.  I would like to know more, and encourage your input to include in this website.  Please send any problems and solutions to Justice@Mark-Serati-for-Governor.org.       

In the long term, controlling the State population (as much as possible) by enforcing immigration laws, in conjunction with clean renewable energy development and requiring the upgrading of infrastructure for clean water would be pursued vigorously.  Missouri should be proactive and efficient with its natural resources, not reactive.    I would encourage engineering development and manufacturing companies in the fields of renewable energy, water treatment, and clean, mass transportation systems to find a home in Missouri for their businesses.  I want Missouri to attract and encourage both emerging technological and services industries. Again, safe abundant resources and a win-win economic infrastructure for both labor and ownership will bring those resources and jobs here .to Missouri.

TO BE CONTINUED............