BY MARK SCHUMANN
America’s highly polarized political debates and partisan politics have lead to gridlock and dysfunction in government, said former Florida Governor, Jeb Bush, who spoke at the Emerson Center’s Celebrated Speakers Series yesterday.
What the nation needs, Bush said, are leaders who will focus on building consensus around policy initiatives that will allow for higher sustained economic growth over the next decade.
In lectures given at 4 and 7 p.m., Bush, who served as governor of Florida from 1999 to 2007, said that if the county’s economy could be grown at a compounded rate 3.5 percent over the next ten years, rather than at the projected rate of 1.5 percent, the higher level of growth would create an additional $4 trillion of economic activity, raising an additional $1 trillion in tax revenues for local and state governments and for the federal government.
Bush focused his lecture on three policy areas – energy, immigration and education – where he said a new national consensus could lead to “reindustrializing the country.”
The way to increase revenues isn’t to raise taxes, but to grow the economy, Bush said. And the way to increase economic growth, he continued, is to shed partisan differences long enough to forge a “patriotic” energy policy based on the country’s coal and natural gas resources.
An energy policy that will lead to energy independence and the saving of $300 billion a year now spent on imported oil would add an additional one percent to the growth rate of the economy, Bush said. “We need to think strategically, not ideologically.”
According to Bush, the country has more energy resources than the rest of the world, both in its coal reserves and in new-found sources of natural gas. He said one cornerstone of a new national energy policy should include incentives for using natural gas for transportation.
In the area of renewable energy, such as wind and solar, Bush said government should let the free market determine winners and losers, focusing instead on funding research and development. “When government gets involved in providing venture capital, it get’s ugly,” he said, presumably referring to the federal governments $500 million failed investment in Solyndra, a manufacturer of solar panels that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2011.
The second major policy shift where Bush thinks leaders should be able to build bi-partisan support is in immigration reform. He said the strength of America, and what makes it unique in the world, is that the country was built by immigrants who embraced shared values.
Bush, whose book, “Immigration Wars,” will be released in March, said immigration reform should be approached from an economic perspective.
Seventy-five percent of legal immigrants come for family reunification, he said. Only 25 percent come specifically seeking economic opportunity. “Canada has the reverse,” Bush said, arguing that a higher percentage of legal immigration should be allotted to those wanting to establish businesses and create jobs.
In response to a question from the audience, Bush also said immigration quotas should be increased, especially if the move is part of a larger, more inclusive policy shift focusing on immigration as a tool for promoting economic growth.
Adopting an immigration policy that focuses on attracting some of the world’s brightest and hardest working entrepreneurs, Bush said, could stimulate economic growth by another one percent a year for the next decade.
Finally, Bush said, America’s education system is failing and must be reformed. Though the United States is spending more per student than any other country in the world, only one-third of high school students graduate prepared for college or ready to join a 21st Century workforce.
With one-third of high school students given diplomas, even though they are neither ready for attending college or for joining the workforce, and with another third dropping out, Bush said America is “creating a society of haves and have nots.”
Bush advocated adopting higher standards, such as the new Common Core Standards, increasing school choice, evaluating and rewarding teachers based on performance, and expanding customized digital learning experiences.
Asked if his lecture appearance in Vero Beach Saturday was the opening of a bid for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination, Bush said, “We haven’t even inaugurated the president yet.” Bush speculated that there may be a 10-year old somewhere currently planning a run for the presidency some day. “If he’s your grandson, tell him to chill out,” Bush said.
The next speaker in Celebrated Speakers Series will be Alice Rivlin, former director of the Office of Management and Budget in the Clinton Administration. Rivlin has also served as vice chair of the Federal Reserve System, and was named in 2010 by President Obama to the Bowles-Simpson Commission. Rivlin will speak at the Emerson Center February 2.
Indian River Guardian 
Perhaps it is a sign of my advanced years but I am weary of political leaders repeating the same old lines about the need for energy independence, immigration and education reform. As my mother wisely often said “actions speak louder than words.” The policies that Governor Bush said that he supported are ones that most of the American people support. They are also the reason that the majority of people voted for President Obama. Some examples of how Governor Bush has not yet learned the lessons from the election are as follows:
1) He said that more Federal lands should be made available for the production of domestic energy. The reality is that President Obama spent four years on that effort. As one of the fact-checkers stated after one of the Obama/Romney debates, the Energy Information Agency has reported that domestic production of oil was up 26.4 % in President Obama’s first term. The only time that production was down was immediately after the preventable BP oil spill. As Governor Bush was speaking, the nation was still dealing with the impact of the latest oil spill in Alaska. Thus, it is easy to say that more domestic energy should be produced and much harder to accomplish. It is an unfortunate reality that domestic oil drilling has the potential to be damaging to our ecology.
During the 4 p.m. lecture the Governor spent a great deal of time discussing “fracking.” He even went so far as to say that we should not be taking science advice from Matt Damon. (This is the topic of the new movie “Promise Land,”) The Governor lost credibility on the issue when he claimed that it would produce high paying jobs. The reality is that jobs created would be short-term and would terminate once the pipeline was built.
2) On the issue of immigration the Governor did not acknowledge that his fellow Republicans have not supported the idea of comprehensive reform. He, however, was correct that this nation needs more visas to allow more scientists to work in the USA. As one who had personal experience on this issue, I remember the Reagan/Bush administrations throwing up roadblocks when the U. S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission tried to bring in the best global experts after the Three Mile Island accident. Perhpas Republicans have learned from their past mistakes.and I am just not aware of the progress that they have made. Governor Bush correctly stated that to Republicans “the issue of immigration was like telling them to eat broccoli.”
3) On the issue of education it is critical to consider that Governor Bush is now a lobbyist in the “education reform” arena. Thus, he has an obvious bias and financial stake on the issue. Additionally,he has a vested interest in touting Florida as an example of success. He has the misfortune of having the facts not support his reform initiatives being identified as a “success.”. For example, the Palm Beach Post recently published an article that identified that Florida had a graduation rate among the worst in the country. This article was generated from information from the U. S. Department of Education that published a state by state report. Florida’s graduation rate was documented at 71%,
The Governor has the same problems with the facts not supporting his claims on the issue of charter schools. The data does not show that the charter schools perform significantly better or worse than the old fashion model school.
There were several other areas in which the Governor used information that was factually not correct. He correctly stated that the Republican Party must recognize that “demography is destiny.” He voiced surprise that the Republicans lost 75% of the Asian-American vote in the Presidential election. The correct figure is that the Republicans lost 90% of the Asian-American vote. He also said that “fracking would reduce the need for our militaryfootprint around the world.” There is no evidence to support such a claim. He incorrectly stated that “our tax policy punishes success.” People like Bill Gate and Warren Buffett do not agree with such an absurd statement.
The Governor kept coming back to the correct theme of the “need for more bipartisanship,” and a need to embrace “common strategic solutions toward common goals.” He recommended that the audience read Robert Caro’s books on President Lyndon Johnson and how he was able to be so successful in the immediate period after he had been sworn in as our President under tragic circumstances. Since I was working in the U. S. Senate at that time, I know that the key is in getting the elected officials to actually work. Long hours were routine in the Kennedy/Johnson administrations. Now we have a Congress that only works part-time and our elected offificals are not even in Washington, D. C. on most Fridays and Mondays. The calendar that John Boehner has agreed to for when the House of Representatives will meet documents that being a member of that august body is the best part-time job in the nation. .