Jason Wallace is an Illinois State University student and Iraq War veteran that is running for Congress! He is running for the 11th District in Illinois. Jason is very hard working and has been very involved with political organizations within the state of Illinois as well as ISU and Heartland Community College. Support his efforts as he goes all the way to Capitol Hill!

Jason is involved with the local party the McLean County Greens and is a precinct committeeman. He also believes in the 10 key values of the Illinois Green Party, which are:

1. Ecological Wisdom
2. Social Justice
3. Grassroots Democracy
4. Nonviolence
5. Decentralization
6. Community-Based Economics
7. Feminism
8. Respect for Diversity
9. Personal and Global Responsibility
10. Future Focus

For more information on these 10 key values, please visit: http://ilgp.org/about/10-key-values

If elected to Congress, Jason has these issues as his top priorities:

1) I fully agree and support with the Power to the People Campaign of the ILGP. Increased funding for technology development of renewable and alternative energy sources. The technology of solar, wind, and geothermal energy is a great start, but more funding into programs like these and technology to increase the efficiency of green energy is something that every American will be able to enjoy. In addition, we need better funded and reliable public transportation to decrease our dependency on car travel so we can decrease our dependency on foreign oil.

2) Full benefits, adequate healthcare (including mental health), and other supports for our returning and current veterans. In other words increasing funding for the VA and other programs to support our troops.

3) Restoring our civil liberties and rights. When it comes to security vs freedom, I choose freedom. Our soldiers have fought and died in the name of freedom and terrorists want us to be afraid. When we give up our constitutionally protected rights in the name of national security, we are comprimising what America stands for and open ourselves up to targeting innocent people. When people are denied due process of law, we run the risk of doing it to the wrong people. As soon as this happens (which I believe it has) our system of justice is comprimesed and the rule of law becomes meaningless. Certain provisions of the USA PATRIOT Act, the Military Commissions Act, The Protecting America Act, related Executive orders and laws must be repealed or revised to safeguard our civil liberties with adequate Congressional and Judicial review and oversight.

4) On education: http://ilgp.org/about/platform-textpubliceducation

I don't support the idea of teaching for tests and support repealing the No Child Left Behind Act.

My leadership experience and knowledge within Illinois Higher Education has allowed me to understand the current issues facing the stakeholders of education and the need to align education issues as P-20. In a recently released IBHE press release, "The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has forged a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Governor's office and ISBE to develop a policy agenda aimed at improving readiness of high school graduates for the rigors of postsecondary education and the demands of the workplace. The partnership is focused on strategies to:
* Ensure that high school academic standards are aligned with expectations for what students should know when they enter the workforce or a college classroom.
* Measure how successful the system is in producing college and career-ready students.
* Marshal state resources to support efforts in school districts to prepare students for life after high school, including accountability systems for higher education institutions."

For more information and the full press release, please go here: http://www.ibhe.org/Media%20Center/2007/HTM/0803_agenda.htm

I am encouraged by this partnership in the state of Illinois and believe that the Federal Government should assist Illinois and other states in reforming education so that we have a well informed and educated electorate. Only when we have well informed and education citizens, can we hope to have citizens who can vote with the confidence that they understand the issues and and candidates they choose at the election booth.

The Federal government can also assist our educational institutions with the resources necessary to develop and retrofit capital projects so that they use renewable energy sources on all buildings currently being used and planned for the future.

5) For health care: http://ilgp.org/about/platform-texthealthcare. Everything in the ILGP platform covers what should be done in regards to healthcare. I belief it is a human right and everyone should have access to care regardless of socio-economic background.