We have to find new labels for our political complexities, Scott Kleeb says.

Transcript: I think that the power of the federal government can be used in important ways to shape behavior. But I also recognize the power of the market and they can work together. I think that we haven’t done enough to look after Main Street. I think that we haven’t done enough to really, to really ask people what the cost. You know, in the State of Nebraska, if we don’t do anything in the next 12 years, our health care cost in Nebraska alone, and this is probably gonna be true nationwide, our health care cost alone is gonna be 25% of the average take-home pay for a family. That’s in 12 years. We’re not talking about projecting forward, you know, 50 years here. Twelve years. If we don’t do anything about this, that’s 25%, that’s 25 cents of every dollar that you make is gonna go just to pay your insurance premiums which are covering less and less. What does that actually mean? Can we do more for more people? Absolutely. And then we should be doing more. The twin engines of growth in this country have been the middle class and have been in small businesses, and we need to do more there. On the environment, you know, this is not for me, just an environmental issue, it’s an economic issue. It’s, that I recognized at Ducks Unlimited and Sierra Club, probably have more in common than they think they do. And that we should and can be forming new coalitions to solve similar challenges, that there are… One of the things I did was working with farm groups and environmental groups to bring them together on a new agenda in Nebraska on climate change, and we can have an assured agenda here. So if that means, because I’m a gun owner and because I hunt, I’m a member of Ducks Unlimited and Pheasants Forever, you know, that makes me a moderate but I talk about issues like climate change makes me, you know, a progressive, great. I mean, those are the kinds of coalitions we’re gonna have to have going forward. So, I’m not sure if that answers the question ‘cause but I do think that we’ve gotta find new labels for the challenge that we face ‘cause we can’t tackle with the same old labels and the same old ideologies.

Recorded on: 8/13/08