JayBeacham.com-A Voice as an Instrument

3/19/2016
St. George, Utah

Today being Saturday, I had great plans for all the work around the house and at the farm that I’d get done.
But stopped all that early to drive into St. George to the Dixie Center to listen to US Presidential canditate John Kasich.
(John Richard Kasich,current governor of Ohio, first elected in 2010 and re-elected in 2014.
On July 21, 2015, he announced his candidacy for the 2016 Republican nomination for President of the United States.
John Richard Kasich (/ˈkeɪsᵻk/ kay-sick; born May 13, 1952) Kasich was born in McKees Rocks, Pennsylvania, an industrial town near Pittsburgh.
He and wife have twin daughters age 16.
Kasich served nine terms as a member of the United States House of Representatives, representing Ohio’s 12th congressional district from 1983 to 2001. His tenure in the House included 18 years on the House Armed Services Committee and six years as chairman of the House Budget Committee. He was a key figure in the passage of both welfare reform and the Balanced Budget Act of 1997.
He was a commentator on Fox News Channel, hosting Heartland with John Kasich from 2001 to 2007.
He also worked as an investment banker, a managing director of Lehman Brothers’ Columbus, Ohio, office.
In the 2010 Ohio gubernatorial election, Kasich defeated Democratic incumbent Ted Strickland. He was re-elected in 2014, defeating Democrat Ed FitzGerald by 30 percentage points.)
I arrived at 4:15 but wasn’t late as Govenor Kasich hadn’t yet arrived.
I conversed with a friend and a man standing by him about local government waste and who has any say about what happens.
About 4:30 the program began with St. George Mayor Jon Pike, then State Representative Lowry Snow and State Senator Stephen Urghart, and Former State Govenor Mike Leavitt all in turn introducing Governor Kasich and telling why they support him.
Leavitt spoke the longest telling of things that Kasich did while in Washington DC. And saying that Kasich has the Temperament, Experience and Savvy to be a good president.
He also told of convention balloting history of the first ballot and beyond and results.
Leavitt ended with saying,”Vote for the candidate you think will make the best president of the United States.”
Finally in came John Kasich to an uproarious applause.
“How beautiful it is here,” he said, “It’s amazing!” “There is not a more beautiful state.”
After some comments about Mike Leavitt, “Look where he’s gone”, he started tell about himself.
He first mentioned going to Washington DC at age 30 and staying for 18 years.
Then about work on the Federal Budget and the high cost of tools, etc. purchased by the government like, “…this wrench cost $20,000”, forcing the several branches of the military to work together, and other thing which made enemies for him.
He told of his home town of McKees Rocks and about his father and mother, of the conservative, common sense people of the town and area, good people who play by the rules, about unemployment and how it effected families he knew.
“It’s hard to realize one’s purpose without work.”
He spoke to some girls seated near the front on one side of the platform (a sort of theater in the round) about the specialness of each person.
He even hugged one of the girls and a second time so her mother could snap a photo of it on her phone .
“We were made for a purpose …to heal the world.”
We can all make small changes for the good like taking a widow out to something like a meal to make her life less drab.
“Those things will be noted.”

Then on to issues.
The people should have the say on things.
-Twice he pointed out the LDS Church welfare system of people helping people.
“It’s a sin to not help someone in need but it is also a sin to help him whenhe can help himself.”
-the Education System should be controlled by the state and local school board.
-the people write the rules
-training for jobs that exist should be given
-job training
-Infrastructure monies should stay in the states and no by way of Washington

-“The Spirit of the country rests in us.”
How?
“By taking the gifts the good Lord gave us and making a better world one person at a time.”

People say thing are horrible now but should compare now to the great depression or to WWII.
“Sure we have our problems, we can solve them.”
How?
“By getting rid of goofy politics.”

There are 3 Essentials to good government
1- federal regulations made by Congress not by bureaucrats and helping small business cut regulations that hinder business.
2- tax reform especially business taxes
3- “Don’t spend more than you take in.” (spoke of debt and interest on debt)
He gave the US 4 years of balanced budget with a projected surplus.

Ideas on other issues:
-fix and protect the borders
-have illegals who have not committed crimes pay a fine and taxes and no citizenship but don’t kick them out
-make Social Security secure
-assure Veterans medical help
-“We are Americans before we are anything else”… “we must be united”.

“I will not take the low road to the Presidency.”

-don’t leave anyone behind, ie. mentally ill, substance addiction persons
( an example was a young man who spoke to him in Salt Lake City yesterday who is recovering and thinks he’ll make it, Kasich phoned the young
man’s mother, Mary, a personal friend of his, to tell her about it.)

He’s held about 200 town hall meetings across the country so far.

Then he opened the meeting up to Questions.

The first question was about adherence to the Constitution.
In the reply, Gov. Kasich said, “Government should be the last resort not the first.”
Again he mentioned Welfare Square in Salt lake City. There is a proper order family, church, government.
“People helping people” “I’ve talked about it all over the country,” he said referring to the way the LDS church
handles welfare.

Next Question was about BLM and other land issues.
“I need to learn more about it.” The States need more control-states must gain the power and control.
“It’s out of balance.”
“We have to convince government workers that they work for us.”
Then he told a story of he and his twin daughters in Florida 5 years ago.
“Daddy, what’s that box over there?” They were referring to a phone booth and couldn’t believe how people used to make calls.
“Everything changes”.
When government increases so does the debt. The solutions are to be found in innovation.
“Innovation is the order of the day.”

Next a suggestion for Vice President Mike Leavitt
Next a lady thanked him for coming to St. George and said, ‘Don’t leave the race as you are an asset.”
Governor Kasich said we must ask a few questions: Who is electable? Who can be the best president?
“These debates are not a good way to chose a president.”
He mentioned his time at Fox News and not doing all the things the media wants done.

Next a 13 year old girl asked, “What is the first thing you’d do as president?”
He invited her onto the stage with him.
“Get people to get along with each other and work together.”
Then he had her help him with the 3 most important tings in his mind.
1-Jobs
2-Jobs
3-Jobs

Next was asking about health care, immigration, and other topics.
-Obamacare “doesn’t work”
-he’d talked about immigration before
-In Maine he asked a man if he’d lived there his whole life to which the man replied, “Not yet.”
and to a woman about the governor of the state. She was upset about losing her medical insurance
He doesn’t want anyone to suffer and suggested changes because politicians don’t know anything about medical issues.
In Ohio, he used the free market system to fix medical over charging, etc.

Next a guy mentioned a family member in Afghanistan and questioned about foreign policy.

“Isis has to be destroyed!” The Islamic Brotherhood also.
There are Arab states on our side for example Egypt, Jordan, the gulf States, European friends.
Working together with them we can destroy Isis. “We go in and destroy and come home.”
He suggested arming the Ukrainians so they can defend themselves from Russia.
“China doesn’t own the South China Sea.”
“Stand by Israel.”
Take out hackers.
Mexico: “full of corruption”.
“Canada has good hockey players.”
“Only commit troops when our interests are at peril.”
“Don’t get involved in Civil Wars.”
“Afghanistan: “teach them and leave.”
North Korea: give missile defense to South Korea and Japan
Pakistan: is complicated and serious-
“‘regime change’ may be the answer.”
Turkey: “must get it stable.”
Iran: “suspend the nuclear agreement”.
Brazil: “is a mess”
Cuba: “must have human rights first.”

Next question was about the National debt.
“We had a surplus when I left Washington but the Republicans blew it.”
*”Democrats love to spend. Republicans do too, they just feel guilty about it.”

Next question was “What is morality’s and Spirituality’s effect on government?’
A person from the crowd yelled, “Not Enough!”
His remark got a great laugh from those assembled.

Governor Kasich told of a songs lyrics, “I was just a slob on the bus on my way home.”
Everyone makes errors and can only try to do better the next day.
But there is a great need for moral behavior and “personal responsibility’ in government.
He said he know religion matters but “I don’t want to cheapen religion to get elected.”

Then he said goodbye but stayed a while in the roped off stage area to talk to individuals and shake hands.
He have way shook mine as his whole attention was on the guy next to me who was wearing a Ohio State shirt.

I spoke to a man as I left who said he felt that Governor Kasich is a sincere good man but not conservative enough for him,
I had to agree somewhat.

In other presidential elections I’ve gotten to meet other Presidential candidates in St. George.
One was a professor from New Hampshire running on the American Party ticket.
He was a very intelligent man.
I meet Bo Gritz when he ran on the American-Independent ticket and collected voting totals of his campaign.
That is another interesting story.
Then Alan Keyes was here in St. George when he ran on the Republican ticket.

Of John Kasich, who is like the current president younger than me, he is a good man.
I found the other three I mentioned more accessible. No body guards and each of them had time to stop and talk to
little people one on one for an extended length of time. No they didn’t get elected but should have been.

The President is important. But so is Congress.
Which ever one of the Republicans gets elected, that person should take some if not all of his rivals and fill his cabinet with them.
It might not be good for his agenda, but as Abraham Lincoln knew, it would be good for the country.

I’m glad I got a phone call on Thursday telling me about this event because I’d have missed a great opportunity to be a part of our
nation’s future.

Jay Beacham

for more info about him go to :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kasich

I remembered wrong on the party of two of the former candidates according to Wikipedia.
It states that Bo Gritz was American Party and Alan Keyes was America’s Independent Party.
But what does it matter?
Abraham Lincoln served in the Illinois legislature as a Whig Party
member and also in Congress in DC as a Whig.
He stumped for other Whig Party candidates for various offices.
He even ran for US Senate against Stephen Douglas as a Whig.
But when he and others felt that “the Whigs had strayed from principle” he was involved in the founding of the
Republican Party.
When he ran for re-election for President in 1864, he ran on the National Union Party ticket.
Lincoln was more about principle and less about party affiliation.
So were Gritz and Keyes.
So  should we be.

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