Greetings from
The Publisher . . .
Choosing a Candidate, My Choice, & Looking at the BasicsNeed a few reasons to vote? If you're not up to getting political and wonder if it makes any difference, look at the basics. Think about the air you breathe, the water you drink, the food you eat, and if you're caught in the “mortgage crisis,” a roof over your head. Add in our energy policy— transportation, heating and cooling—and what kind of health-care system we want and that about covers the basics. Basically, just about everything about our daily lives are up for questioning— or up for grabs in the eyes of some.
So if breathing clean air, having clean water to drink or for recreation—in our lakes, rivers and oceans— and wanting to be the one who decides what you put in your body, i.e., have labels that tell you what's in your food, then there are choices to be made now in the primaries and in the coming November election.
Unfortunately, underlying the mortgage crisis and what drives the motivation to control the distribution of energy and water—and even pollute the air—is greed.
I wonder if one day we will note that since it was decided that the tobacco companies were choosing profit over the public's health and were held accountable for it, we will eventually put those who profit from fossil fuels sales in the same category?
Forgetting the broader, more controversial (for some) issue of global warming, and just focusing on the fact that fossil fuels poison us should be enough of a reason to switch to alternative energy sources.
So there are lots of choices for us/US right now. What direction will be going? On the one hand it's exciting that we may have our first black President. It's exciting that we may have our first woman President. That brings enthusiasm to the process and has a lot of people participating; and that's great.
For me the critical decision is not about having the first this or the first that. It's having a President who can change our direction—who will not be enticed by the power that comes with the office and who can deny taking advantage of that enormous power and defer to the Constitution. That is the change I want. What we currently seem to have the Anti-President in office.
While FDR had his fireside chats to bring the nation together, lessen fears and offer hope during hard times, Pres. Bush reminds us how terrible and awful these times are and how bad things can happen to us/US at any time. His ability to spread fear rivals the best—or worst—of terrorists.
I came to my choice several ways (see related article, page 30). One method, that I encourage you to use, is to go online and see how your views compare with the candidates. The debates come down to quick answers and sound bites. I went to two sites. Each site lists asks you how you stand on different issues and how strongly you feel about them.
I went to www.vajoe.com/ candidate_calculator.html first. It's less complex with fewer questions, but also I noticed later it had several questions not included on the second site that were good to see.
After answering the questions I found I matched most perfectly with Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D Ohio), who recently withdrew from the race. Closely following him was former Senator John Edwards. Further down the list was Sen. Hillary Clinton and then further down, Sen. Barack Obama. The difference ranged from 97% to 56%. Quite a range. I was surprised at how much I differed from Sen. Obama on issues.
The second site offers a more complete range of responses. At www.votehelp.org there were more questions, and after answering you can compare yourself to the candidates issue by issue. Click on the specific issue after you vote to see that.
On that site the results were slightly different, but in the same order. I saw just a couple of percentage points difference between Rep. Kucinich and Sen. Edwards, then a drop to Sen. Clinton with Sen. Obama again last.
Reading the issues and my personal experience of Sen. Edwards has convinced me would make the best President. He most strongly agrees with how I feel about what direction we should go and how to get there. Being for change requires steps and at www.johnedwards.com I found what kind of change he wanted and the specifics that I could support.
One such issue was health care, which is a critical one.
The Commonwealth Fund studies health care and health-care systems. (commonwealthfund.org). In a January report they measured health-care systems by studying preventable deaths—“deaths from conditions considered amenable to health care, such as treatable cancers, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease.”
The study included 14 Western European countries, Canada , Australia , New Zealand and Japan . The United States ranked 19 th out of 19 countries studied. The best three countries were France , Japan and Australia . You have to throw out France of course since that system made a pact with the devil—the French government—to get that kind of health care. At least, that's what I hear from Republican friends. If the purpose is to get good health care, however, it seems to work. Maybe we should design a system that eliminates the flaws we see in other systems, rather than think we need to copy what other's do.
Health care is where the Democratic candidates differ the most.
Sen. Clinton will require that insurance companies offer and renew coverage to anyone who applies and pays their premium. But what's the premium? Where's the choice?
Sen. Obama has said, “It's time to bring together businesses, the medical community, and members of both parties around a comprehensive solution to this crisis, and it's time to let the drug and insurance industries know that while they'll get a seat at the table, they don't get to buy every chair. I believe that protecting and promoting health and wellness in this nation is a shared responsibility among individuals and families, school systems, employers, the medical and public health workforce, and federal, state, and local governments.” I agree, but what's the plan?
Edwards's universal health care proposal would provide tax credits for low-income families, expand Medicare and federal health care for children and create a federal health insurance agency that would eventually replace private health insurance. The plan would be funded through a roll-back of the Bush administration's tax cuts for families making more than $200,000 a year and through the currently uncollected capital gains tax.
Very significant in this is that by choosing—by our individual choices—we can drive the system toward a federal system or a privately insured health system.
Unfortunately, all of the “basics” I mentioned at the beginning—air, water, food, the way we use fossil fuels—influence our health and increase the costs of providing medical care. They're all connected.
The ability of the medical care system to adequately provide the care we will all need from time to time is burdened by all the basics mentioned—even when we are proactive and take care of our bodies. Yes, we are doomed from the start on this one, but then our societal systems add additional burdens we just don't need. They don't support us nor do they support life on the planet.
Do we really want an energy policy that adversely affects our health? Or a health care system that is driven by profits? A system that can take our homes and leave us on the streets?
It appears that each new Congress and Administration these days brings up not only the quality of life, but surviving as well.
That brings me to another reason I support Sen. Edwards— the type of experience he has had.
Sen. Obama was a State Senator just a couple of years ago. As the Senator from a large state, Sen. Clinton has more experience and her insights from being the First Lady has to give her a perspective that will help her. Besides his time in the Senate, I think the experience that Sen. Edwards has as a trial attorney sets him apart and prepares him. For 20 years, he sided with the underdog versus corporations, and had some great wins. He fought against and negotiated with teams of corporate lawyers to his client's benefit.
His abilities in that area and his partisanship for the people—the little guy—is a strength that can't be ignored when we all know that what's coming up next is deciding who owns America .
He has never, even when in the Senate previously, taken money from PACs (political action committees), which is significant. Do we want someone who has that independence? If a job pays $200,000 and costs millions to attain, whom do we think the President works for? Don't these contributors expect something? Are we to continue to disguise our corporate giveaways as solutions to problems that are not solved?
The basics are important, but there is a whole world of problems that need addressing. The economy and the deficit need attention from someone experienced and looking out for people—not just corporations. Edwards is also the only candidate to say we will bring home the troops from Iraq within a year of taking office. In his speeches he asks for a new kind a citizen/patriot to emerge—one who doesn't need a war to be a patriot.
I obviously enjoyed listening to him and felt his passion for America . In truth though, I don't need to be inspired about the principles of America , I am already. I want to hear the plan. I think his is a good one and the most specific.
It's too early to think this is a two-person contest. Most of us can probably list a number of reasons why every State so far was an unusual case, not a typical one. Plus the score is kept in delegates: Clinton 249, Obama 167 and Edwards 58. The winner needs 2,025.
Feb. 5 is the first real test, when 22 States vote.
Have a great month, and vote for us/US.,
Steve
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