Please bear with me as I venture into an arena I normally try to stay out of: politics.

I was browsing media-newswire.com and found that Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton recently released a statement about her take on aviation in America. This prompted me to look up information on the stances of some other candidates. I'm going to attempt to keep my summaries neutral, but you may notice a couple warning flags that I feel are warranted. Here's what I've found so far:

Hillary Clinton's statement focused on R&D for all areas of science and technology, including aviation. She seems to strongly support our space program. Her only comment directly related to GA is that she plans to appoint an FAA director who's main purpose in life will be getting NextGen going. That's fine if she's reasonable about funding it. If not, this will be big trouble for GA.

Barack Obama supports bringing more aviation to rural areas and development of small airports. He wants a modernized Air Traffic Control system (NextGen?) and wants to take better care of our controllers. He also wants better security measures at airports.

John McCain's website didn't have anything about his policies toward aviation. However, it does feature a picture of an F-18 and a call to join "John McCain's Aces." That seems like a pretty bold move for someone who's name is plastered all over the AOPA website as one of the legislators who has strongly supported user fees for as far back as I could see. A May 2000 AOPA e-Pilot article relates how McCain listened to AOPA President Phil Boyer's brief on user fees to an FAA Management Advisory Council and then questioned Boyer's "qualifications" for serving on that council. His apparent hatred of GA is confusing given his heroic service as a Naval aviator in Vietnam.

Mike Huckabee's statement on infrastructure seems to be narrowly targeted, but mentions improvements for America's airports. He also talks a lot about reducing congestion. Sounds like a potential supporter of air taxi type operations.

There's a lot more to picking a president than policies on GA and User Fees. Thankfully, we've been able to keep them away in spite of the current administration's views. However, with aviation as my career and my hobby I hope our next President listens to the truth about what GA does for America. If he or she does, User Fees will not happen.

If you aren't sure what you can do to help protect GA by fighting User Fees, go to AOPA.org for more info.