The Choice is Yours Now
By Anthony Wade
No more October surprises. No more debates. No more spin, hopefully. Two more days and we will go to the polls and decide this country's fate for the next four years and beyond. Will you choose an agenda of hope as outlined by John Kerry or stay the course which has led this country so astray.
There has been a deliberate attempt by the people on the Bush side to blend the two candidates as closely as possible. We heard early on that Kerry was "Bush Lite". Nothing could be farther from the truth. These two candidates could not be more different on nearly every policy and position. Here are the choices you are making when you walk into the voting booth this Tuesday.
Bush's Iraq War - President Bush has taken the stance that we need to stay the course. Essentially his position is everything is going ok, and according to plan. In fact, Dick Cheney characterized the Iraq war this week as "brilliant". Now, I am sure it has been brilliant for Halliburton, who is under FBI investigation as we speak, but for most people in this country, brilliant is not the first word that comes to mind when we think about the mess in Iraq . Just this past week we saw another handful of our marines killed. Just this past month we saw another beheading. No, Iraq is not going well, and any independent source will admit such. In light of all the problems, the only response from Bush has been to stay the course. His position amounts to more of the same.
John Kerry offers a different plan. He intends to add 40,000 active personnel to put an end to the abuse of our National Guard that has been the norm under Bush. Estimates are that by January, 40% of troops in Iraq will be comprised of the National Guard. This compromises our internal security and is not a long term answer. John Kerry also plans to end the backdoor draft that has manifested under the Bush Doctrine. This is fair; allowing our service people to come home after their commitment to the country is complete. Most importantly, John Kerry will bring the rest of the world back into this effort. This will alleviate the enormous costs we have incurred, in blood and money. Bush tries to disparage such a concept, but Germany has already indicated they would welcome any proposal from a Kerry Administration, including sending troops into Iraq . The rest of the world will follow suit once our integrity has been restored.
On the Iraq War, the choice is clear. It is either bringing the rest of the world into the efforts, ending the backdoor draft, and restoring our National Guard or more of the same.
War on Terror - As much as Bush likes to blend the Iraq War and the War on Terror, they are separate ventures. The Bush stacked 9-11 commission had to conclude there was no connection between Iraq and terrorism, particularly 9-11. Bush's plan for terror is to continue his wars of preemption, with impunity. Iran and Syria are probably next. We will be at war for generations. Maybe one will be just, maybe it won't. It won't matter. Bush is fond of saying there will be no draft, but let's be honest, how can he avoid it if he plans future wars with two countries and needs to continue Iraq without help? He can't. When asked about the prospect of winning this war, he honestly answered, no. He tried to spin away from it later, but in that moment we saw a glimpse of how Bush really feels. The recently released bin Laden tape gives us a chilling reminder of how failed Bush's policies have been. Instead of going after the man who orchestrated 9-11 and his operation, he took his eye off the ball and went after a regime that posed no threat to us whatsoever. Just today, it was revealed that a senior GOP strategist actually said this about the new bin Laden tape:
"We want people to think 'terrorism' for the last four days and anything that raises the issue in people's minds is good for us. Anything that makes people nervous about their personal safety helps Bush."
He actually called the bin laden tape, "a little gift". That is how little they think about you and your ability to discern the truth. The truth is that this tape should remind us all that Bush has failed us miserably in his war on terror by directing it at a regime that had no connections to terror, while Osama bin Laden was regaining his strength.
John Kerry has a different plan. A plan focused on actually catching or killing the people responsible for 9-11 and any anti-American terrorism. His plan also will not sacrifice our civil liberties, as Bush has done. Under Kerry's plan, there will be no more videotapes of bin Laden.
Once again, the choice is clear. Do we want more of the same? Do we want to be at war for decades, not knowing until after the wars start if they are truly just? Or do we want to wake up one day and not have to check the terror alert before we check the weather. Do we want bloodlust or justice? It is a fundamental question and a stark difference between the two candidates.
Jobs - George Bush promised us that his tax cuts would create a millions of new jobs. He trumpets the fact that he has created 1.9 million jobs in 13 months, but what you have to understand is that he needed to create 1,950,000 jobs during that period of time just to keep pace with the new job seekers that enter the market each month. Noted economists have all said that this is at best, a jobless recovery. What is the Bush plan to stem the tide? More tax cuts skewed to the richest people in this country. This is a failed policy that did not work under Reagan and has produced worse results under Bush. That is his entire plan. He will do nothing to address the rampant outsourcing that is weakening this country and nothing to help create better jobs. We are losing quality jobs and replacing them with McJobs. When asked about what he would do during the debates about creating jobs, he only talked about No Child Left Behind. He has no answer.
John Kerry thinks we can do better than that. His plan includes closing tax loopholes that reward companies for outsourcing American jobs and create tax incentives for those companies which create jobs in this country. That makes sense. He also plans on repealing the tax breaks for the top 2% of wage earners. These people are making over $200,000 per year and should expect to sacrifice, especially in a time of war. If you think that people making that much money are not doing well enough, then maybe you should vote for Bush. The truth is that over 60% of the Bush tax cuts have gone to the elites. Is that fair? In the last tax cut, which Bush brazenly called a middle class tax cut, the actual middle 20%, received only 10% of the cut. John Kerry thinks we can do better than that. Kerry understands that your economic situation is more than just a tax cut. Sure, maybe Bush saved a middle class family $1,000 last year but their milk prices, gas prices, electricity prices and college tuition all went up demonstrably, offsetting whatever benefit they may have received. Under Kerry, the middle class gets to keep their tax cut, while the wealthiest, will simply see their rates return to the 1990's when they were doing pretty good anyway.
There is a clear choice here. Do we want more empty promises of job creation while the richest are laughing all the way to the bank or do we want common sense sacrifice from the most well off, with concrete plans to stop the scourge of outsourcing?
Healthcare - Under George Bush's America we have seen healthcare costs rise every year. There are 5 million more people who have lost their healthcare as a result of this administration. There are currently 50 million Americans with no coverage at all. That has to be unacceptable in the world's most advanced nation. Never one to take blame, Bush puts the onus on the trial lawyers even though it has now been concluded by the Congressional Budget Office that lawsuits account for less than 1% of healthcare costs. Bush's plan for the future will be to strip you of your legal right to seek redress should you be injured unjustly. He also is offering to give families $3,000 to purchase their own healthcare. What he forgets to mention is the average plan now costs $8,000. He offers no way for average families to close that gap.
John Kerry believes in a world where all children are covered and people can choose the same health plan as members of Congress. Bush has derided this as a government takeover, but that is just more lies from a desperate president. The independent Lewin Group, who Bush himself cited, says the following about the Kerry plan:
An estimated 97% of Americans who now have health insurance will simply keep the plan they have. The Lewin Group's vice president, John Sheils, disputes the Bush claim:
Sheils: I don't see how, in Kerry's plan, decisions on medical procedures would be made in Washington under any circumstances, under any proposal.
Once again, we see a clear choice. The president's plan is to take away your right to sue, a huge handout to the HMO lobby who has donated millions of dollars to Bush, and to provide families with $3,000 and no way of closing the gap that will exist to actually purchase healthcare. John Kerry's plan is to cover all children and to offer the same health plan that members of Congress have.
The Deficit - A topic not often mentioned but quite serious. The true strength of this country lies not in our military but in our economy. There have been signs recently of Russia and other countries turning away from the dollar. More than half or our treasury notes are held by other countries. Running a 500 billion dollar deficit can only result in disaster. If the European Union ever gets on the same page, the Euro could replace the dollar on the international scene. The results would be catastrophic. Bush has talked a good game about how he wants to cut the deficit, but look at the record. He has not vetoed a single spending bill in his entire presidency. He has had control of Congress for most of his administration and has turned a 500 billion dollar surplus into a 500 billion dollar deficit, in just four years. Just last month he approved a pork-laden spending bill which John McCain even had to call "disgusting". It included over 100 million dollars to NASCAR tracks and 44 million for Chinese ceiling fan imports (Home Depot, a huge Bush donor stands to benefit).
John Kerry has a plan to return to the fiscal responsibility we saw in the 1990's. He believes in the "pay as we go" model which led to the largest economic expansion in this country's history. This just makes good fiscal sense. Being honest with the American people, Kerry believes he can half the deficit in four years, not eliminate it, because it has grown so large.
Clear choice? I believe so. We can either see another four years of fiscal insanity or go back to the policies that worked so well for us just five short years ago.
Stem Cell Research - George Bush has virtually stopped this potentially life-saving research. The few lines he has allowed to be researched are all compromised now and have become obsolete. Bush's plan will not allow any research that eventually could lead to the cures of many diseases.
John Kerry has a more common sense approach, while respecting life. Right now there are over 50 available stem lines frozen. They were used in failed fertility attempts. They right now could NEVER become a human life. One of three things can happen to these lines. We can keep them frozen. We can destroy them. We can use them to help humanity. John Kerry wants to use them to help humanity. The GOP is concerned about a slippery slope, and that is a valid concern, but being pro-life, should count for all life.
The clear choice is between ignoring science, or trying to help the living, while being cautious to avoid the slippery slope.
Abortion - George Bush supports what he calls the "culture of life" but that does not extend to the NRA, death penalty, or soldiers dying in a corporate war. That is hypocritical. He has also said he would not seek to overthrow Roe-vs.-Wade, indicating another contradiction.
John Kerry has consistently said that his beliefs should not translate into legislation. While he believes in the sanctity of life, he recognizes that this country is a melting pot of people who may not believe the same thing he does. As such he has decided that he must protect a woman's right to choose. His vote against partial birth abortion ban was because the right-wing had not included a clause to protect the life of the woman. Don't believe the rhetoric.
On abortion there is also a clear choice. Pro-life should mean all life. If you take a close look at Bush, his policies are hypocritical. Kerry on the other hand, recognizes that his beliefs may not be shared by everyone, and since he will represent everyone, he maintains the law of the land, which is a woman's right to choose.
Gay Marriage - This is the one issue the candidates are the same on. They both support civil unions while believing marriage should be kept between a man and a woman.
Don't be fooled by the amendment Bush backed, it was a political ploy, nothing more. Bush backed it when he knew it wouldn't pass, to throw some red meat to his fundamentalist Christian base. In 2000, it was estimated that 4 million Christians did not vote. Bush does not want that to happen again. The proof you need is simple. Bush had three and a half years to back an amendment, yet he waited until six months before his re-election campaign. That is quite telling.
Homeland Security - George Bush has spent billions more dollars and attention to Iraq 's security than our own. Currently we still have 95% of our containers coming into this country un-inspected. Bush is fond of pointing out how much money he has spent, but the issue is not how much but what have we gotten for our money. All we see is a pretty color-coded chart so our fear can be organized and esthetic.
John Kerry has plans to tighten our internal security. It begins with getting our National Guard back home where they belong. Additionally, he plans on having inspections of shipments coming into this country. It is time for us to protect THIS homeland, not Iraq 's.
Education - Bush is fond of touting his No Child Left Behind law, but what gets lost in the translation is that he has left it under-funded. This has directly hurt localities that need the funding levels if they are to meet the demands. If they fail to meet the demands, they then lose their funding. Additionally, buried deep in the 700 page document is a chilling caveat. Schools must provide all names, addresses and phone numbers of all students to the military, for recruiting. If they refuse, they lose their federal funding.
John Kerry believes that if you make demands on localities you must provide them with the resources you promised. Let it be known that I disagree with Kerry because I think preparing kids for tests, as opposed to teaching them, is not a sound education policy, but he is willing to at least try and see if NCLB could work. The difference is he will fund it.
On education we have a clear choice. Empty rhetoric about closing achievement gaps or actually putting your money where your mouth is.
Environment - The forgotten issue in this campaign. So many things have gone wrong in this administration that we do not even hear much about the environment. Bush actually said that he could be called a "good steward" of the environment. Please. The record is one of the most horrific ever seen. By creating clever catch names, Bush's environmental policies amount to handouts to special interests and campaign contributors. The Healthy Forest Initiative, should be called No Tree Left Behind, as the solution to forest fires is to cut down the trees for the logging industry. The Clean Skies Initiative, weaken the existing laws, not strengthen them. The money for the Superfund toxic waste cleanups had come from the offending companies. Under Bush, companies don't have to pay anymore, so now there is no money to continue to clean up toxic waste in this country. Arsenic levels were raised. Bush walked away from the Kyoto Agreement on Global Warming. The list could go on and on.
John Kerry will bring back a more common sense approach to the environment. Companies that break laws will again be held accountable. The fines would pay for the efforts to improve the environment as a whole. He would seek international agreements again and lead the world in protecting the earth as a whole, instead of raping it.
Environmentally, we see a clear choice. Corporate cronyism or worldly responsibility.
Veterans - Typically this is a solid GOP voting block. Under Bush though, veterans have seen their benefits cut and their healthcare decimated. Recently, a revelation came to light about the VA forcing vets to only get benefits at their hospitals, forcing them to choose between going home or receiving treatment.
John Kerry is a veteran from active duty. He has spent his life defending this country and understands that what is happening to veterans today in unacceptable. The choice is clear.
Summary - Life in corporate America has flourished under Bush, no doubt. Before Bush took office, Halliburton's stock price was floundering at $7, now it is booming at $27. Halliburton is only the poster child though. Just last week we saw a report that the 3rd quarter profits for Exxon-Mobile rose 56%. That is in just one quarter. Net income grew to 5.68 billion dollars. Sales rose 28% to 76.4 billion dollars, the most ever for an American company. Think about that next time you go to the gas pumps.
This administration goes beyond corporate greed however. Poverty has risen every year under this president. He is the first US president since the Great Depression to preside over a net loss of jobs, over 800,000 lost. His only answer is to hand back more billions to the richest people in this country and hope that they might give you a job. That is beyond cynicism.
Bush however, does not want you thinking about jobs, healthcare or the economy when you vote this Tuesday. He wants you scared. He wants you thinking about security moms. He wants you thinking about the new Osama tape. So do I. I want you to remember that this president said just six months after 9-11 that he "doesn't think much about him (bin Laden) anymore". Instead we have a mess in Iraq , while the true enemy was left unchallenged. The bin Laden tape only underscores the ineptitude of Bush's prosecution of the war on terror.
John Kerry knows something about prosecution; he served as a prosecutor for several years before going to Congress. He served this country in war when Bush was failing to fulfill his obligations in the Guard. For his service and wounds, Kerry got derision. He had people questioning the depth of his scars. It was shameless. He served admirably in Congress for 20 years, clearly indicating that his constituents must have agreed with the job he was doing. In return for this he was mocked by the other side and his record was twisted to serve their perverted needs. Kerry had 19 opportunities to vote for defense spending and he only voted no 3 times, each time to balance the budget. To hear the right speak about his record, you would think he never voted for defense bills. This race has two people. One actually has been in war, and one screams "bring em on!" while our troops are still in harms way. The choice is clear.
George Bush will be remembered for Tora Bora, jobless recovery, net loss of 800,000 jobs, 50 million uninsured, Valerie Plame being outed as a CIA agent, forged documents from the Niger to justify the Iraq War, missing WMD, cooked intelligence, 380 tons of missing explosives, Halliburton, mission accomplished, Bring em on!, the fake turkey photo op with the troops, the anthrax investigation, the censored 9-11 report to protect the Saudis, the current CIA 9-11 report being suppressed, Fahrenheit 911, the scrubbing of his National Guard records, allowing Zarqawi to escape, allowing bin laden to escape, vacationing for months while al Qaeda was a gathering threat, my pet goat, the destruction of our environment, pulling out of the Kyoto Agreement, pulling out of the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, the disparaging of the United Nations, refusing to speak with 911 commission without Cheney, secret energy task force meetings, Enron, Kenny-Boy Lay, overturning the presidential records act, the axis of evil, blaming everything on bad intelligence, joking about the missing WMD, changing his mind on nation building, owning a timber company-Got Wood?, the never ending scowl, the never ending smirk, the never ending war, arresting polite dissenters at any Bush event, police states and pepper spray bullets, arresting the mother of a dead soldier for asking Laura why Jenna wasn't in the army, 200 + billion dollars for Iraq but not enough for education funding, pitiful pre-war planning, stripping overtime from millions of workers, refusing to allow seniors to get prescription drugs from Canada to protect pharmaceutical lobby profits, 70 billion lost annually to outsourcing, 52% of all tax cuts go to top 1%, refusing to raise the minimum wage, $60 for a barrel of oil, politicizing 9-11 payments to states, record high foreclosures, EBay earnings should be counted in the economy, Iraq War being characterized as "brilliant", Iraq War being characterized as a "catastrophic success", under-funding AIDS, under-funding education, reinstituting the opium production in Afghanistan, Internets and the specter of a draft, threatening the NAACP, never meeting with the NAACP, allowing the assault weapons ban to expire, "Free Speech Zones", no-bid contracts, media deregulation, Congressional District Gerrymandering to insure more GOP seats, dividing-not uniting, nothing compassionate and certainly nothing conservative, Cheney goes duck hunting with Scalia, refusing to allow picture of our fallen heroes for political purposes, not attending ONE soldier funeral, most secretive presidency ever, on vacation for 40% of his presidency, Sibel Edmonds and other silenced whistleblowers, lying by over 150 billion dollars to push the Medicare reform act- a huge handout to the pharmaceutical lobby at the expense of our seniors, illegal Medicare videos, the extremely unpatriotic Patriot Act, The Patriot Act II - The Sequel - You Thought The First One Was Bad!, forcing states to use the death penalty, using Condi Rice and Tom Ridge to stump for him when they should be protecting us, ZERO terrorism convictions, American citizens held indefinitely with no charges filed, pure-unadulterated fear, code orange, code yellow, code magenta (ok I made that one up), changing the laws so you cannot sued if hurt by a product that had been approved by the FDA-making the FDA "infallible", lying to NYC residents about the air at Ground Zero, McJobs, dismissing CIA assessments about Iraq state of affairs, randomly choosing when his recession started, the "mushroom cloud smoking gun", Abu Ghraib, Guantanomo Bay, and not being able to name one mistake in the face of all of this. That is what this president will be remembered for. That is in just four years. Can we really afford another four years of staying to this course?
John Kerry has a more hopeful vision for this country and its future. The choice is yours now and the choice could not be clearer.
Anthony Wade is co-administrator of a website devoted to educating the populace to the ongoing lies of President George W. Bush and seeking his removal from office. He is a 37-year-old independent writer from New York with political commentary articles seen on multiple websites. A Christian progressive and professional Rehabilitation Counselor working with the poor and disabled, Mr. Wade believes that you can have faith and hold elected officials accountable for lies and excess.
Anthony Wade's Archive: http://www.opednews.com/archiveswadeanthony.htm
Email Anthony: takebacktheus@gmail.com
