The Great Election and The Democratic Value

Long post. Today, I have exercised a right that was given to me over time. A right that many of my ancestors left old Europe to provide, so that no religious ideology would limit their voices. A right that has been denied to many Americans over the past two hundred years, and a right that was taken from many in 2000. A right that both of my grandfathers protected in wars to protect American freedom for real (World War II and the Korean War). Tonight I voted my ballot for the 2004 General Election, what I see as the biggest election in my lifetime.

The ballot was very easy to understand. No butterfly ballot, no chads, no punching, or touch screens. I simply had to fill in a bubble next to the name of the candidate that I wanted to vote for. Anyone that has ever been in school and taken any standardized test could fill in the ballot easily.

Today I voted a straight Democratic ticket in order to secure the future of the nation, and hopefully the state of Iowa as well. For me the choice was clear, but for others maybe it is not. So, I present to you, why I voted Democrat, and why I believe Democrats have the best interest of all Americans in mind.

• I believe the role of the government is not to dicatate how some should live their lives, but should be there to provide support to those who are to weak or too powerless to have a voice for themselves. Therefore, I believe in government funded health care/medicare/prescription drugs. I believe in welfare and other programs that allow struggling Americans to have means to survive while they get back on their feet.
• I believe in a woman's right to choose what is best for her body. That includes her right to have an abortion.
• I believe that freedom means freedom for everyone. Civil Unions and Gay Marriage should be legalized. Gay Americans should be allowed to adopt children along the guidelines applied to heterosexual couples. Gay Americans should have all the legal rights with their spouses that heterosexuals have. I think the Dems have a ways to go on this issue, but they are more forward thinking than the Repubs.
• I believe that God is a loving, awesome, and tolerant God, not a God of anger, fear, or hate. I believe that the will of God is known only to God, and is not at the interpretation of those that would use teachings of God to condemn others.
• I believe that Americans can be safe and protected from outside terrorist threats without taking away civil liberties or personal privacies. I believe that the Patriot Act should be allowed to expire, and a fairer document should be created.
• I believe that affirmative action is essential in leveling the playing field for minorities in a society where institutionalized racism is still pervasive. I do not think it is playing favorites, or discriminating to minorities.
• I believe in education for every child from pre-school to post-graduate education. I believe that this is a right for every American. I do not think that any child should have to pay for pre-school, HeadStart, or early learning programs. I do not believe that private schools should receive public funding and I do not believe in vouchers for attending private school as it takes away the money and effectiveness of our public school system.
• I believe that we can provide support and entitlements to our citizens without exploding defecits and debts by balancing the budget every year. This also means fiscal conservatism and efficiency with our funds.
• I support the military. I support spending on the military in order to increase our technology that allows our military to respond effectively while sparing human casualities if possible. I am against pre-emptive war unless our security is directly threatened.
• I support the war in Afghanistan and the on-going hunt for Al Quada. I believe the current administration has lost sight of this struggle.
• I do not support the conflict in Iraq. It was a conflict that did not need to occur, and I believe that the administration botched it's planning, implementation, and follow through. The result of the process has been a diminished respect for the US world wide, a loss of resources in our fight against terrorism, and a loss of things that matter at home (money, soldiers, time, energy).
• I believe that the Democratic party, while deeply flawed, contains a large number of progressive candidates and politicians, which will allow it to begin to adapt to be more responsive to the progressive majority that is the United States electorate. I believe John Kerry will take a careful and thoughtful approach to governing, and will not resemble a TV cowboy in provoking our friends and enemies.
• I believe in the importance of a progressive and fair minded judiciary, and I believe that John Kerry will designate judges that will carefully and thoughtfully interpret law as it evolves in an ever changing world and populous.
• I do believe that another four years of the current administration will continue to take the progress of the US backwards, meaning we have to catch back up at some point.
• I believe in the medical use of stem cell technology to search for cures to disease and suffering. More stem cell lines are needed, and the current administration will never let that happen.
• I believe in an economy and tax structure that is heavy handed at the top, in order to ease the burden at the bottom. I also believe in the Clinton economy, when everyone did well, vs. the Bush economy, where only those at the top do well.
• I believe that religion should be taught in the homes and in the community, not in schools.
• I believe that the right has led the rural and farm communities of this nation in the wrong direction, and have actually implemented policies that hurt family farms and reward large corporate farming establishments. I believe that the right plays to the social and religous fears of rural voters, and then implements economic policies that hurt them, without ever actually tackling those social and religious issues.
• I believe in the rights of the worker and organized labor. The minute we turn our back on it, the minute the big corporations will take advantage of working conditions, salaries, beneifts, etc. This administration believes in outsourcing and the undermining of the American worker, and we will continue to hemmorrage job losses if there economic policies are allowed to continue.
• I believe that we are all in this together across the globe. We are part of a global community and it is reckless for us to dismiss the United Nations, NATO, and our allies to blindly follow our own egocentric path. We were wrong to not build a broader coalition in going to Iraq. We were wrong not to endorse the Kyoto Protocol for cleaner air and a safer environment.
• I believe that we should invest money in finding clean and cheap alternatives to fossil fuels. Hydrogen fuel cell technology should continue to be supported. This means shaking the restraints of big business and big oil, something Bush will never be able to do.
• We must protect our natural resources. That means avoiding drilling in ANWAR and not dumping nuclear waste on Yucca Mountain.
• I believe that no one needs assault weapons, flash suppressors, or other modifications that turn firearms into weapons. I believe in the 2nd Amendment, but that also means I believe in protective measures to make guns safe for everyone. I believe in trigger locks, background checks, and waiting periods.
• I do not believe that the way to lead millions of Americans is to rule them with fear. This fear is created by the Administration with their color coded warnings, non-descript threats, and the labeling of ethnic individuals as threats.
• Above all else, I believe that we should put people first in our society. Before corporations, before money, before war. That is what makes me a Democrat, and that is the biggest difference I see between the two parties.

Wow. That is a long list for sure and I am sure that I could keep going...maybe I will keep adding to this list as I think of other things. It feels good to actually reinforce why you support someone and why you support a party. I wish Savannah J could do it for me, because I am truly not seeing and rationale for why he is voting to give four more years to someone that has badly screwed up his first four years. Maybe this is what his list looks like:

Vote Republican Author Unknown

*Vote Republican to finally eliminate government so corporations can run America.
*Vote Republican to keep growing our budget deficit that has spent the entire Clinton surplus while passing more tax cuts in the spirit of trickle-down economics.
*Vote Republican to give tax breaks to the wealthy, leaving you to pay their part of the tax bill.
*Vote Republican so HMO's and insurance companies instead of your doctor can make all your healthcare decisions.
*Vote Republican so drug companies can profit from privatized prescription drug benefits that seniors, veterans and other needy citizens will have to pay for.
*Vote Republican so drug companies can rake in high profit margins from the rest of us.
*Vote Republican so private providers can make a profit from tax-dollar school vouchers without accountability and close down public schools.
*Vote Republican to privatize Social Security so Wall Street firms can profit from your retirement.
*Vote Republican to put your hard-earned savings and pension funds in the pockets of CEO's and investment firms.
*Vote Republican to make it harder for investors to sue those who rip them off.
*Vote Republican to help credit card companies collect on high interest debts by making it tougher to file for bankruptcy when 9 of 10 bankruptcies are the result of job loss, medical-bill payments or divorce, hitting women the hardest.
*Vote Republican to deregulate electric service so big users can bargain for lower rates, leaving residential users, especially in rural America, to fend for themselves.
*Vote Republican so factory farms and Big Ag can do all the farming as they replace family farms and destroy our rural communities through market manipulations.
*Vote Republican for more agriculture programs like the Freedom to Farm Bill.
*Vote Republican to weaken clean water and clean air regulations so your children can get used to pollution when they grow up.
*Vote Republican so we don't have to sign the Kyoto Protocol and be concerned about global warming - let other countries worry about that.
*Vote Republican so Wal-Mart and other big chains can use the tax laws to completely close down our Main Street businesses.
*Vote Republican if you think business first and people last.
*Vote Republican to take away workers rights and reduce their benefits and wages.
*Vote Republican to hold minimum wages below the poverty level for people coming off welfare.
*Vote Republican to oppose a living wage that would lift families out of poverty.
*Vote Republican for efficiency and profits at the expense of human beings, communities and the environment as promoted by MBA's trained in the Chicago School of Economics, the foundation for Reaganomics.
*Vote Republican to deregulate and privatize in a free market place so big businesses have little competition or accountability when setting the prices you pay.
*Vote Republican to deceive voters with phony sound bites like "Right to Work" that destroys workers' rights; "free trade" that is never fair; and "eliminate big government" so the biggest players in any market always set the rules without regulations.
*Vote Republican so you pay for tax incentives given to enterprises that bring cheap jobs to your community.
*Vote Republican for free trade to export good American jobs to Third World sweatshops.
*Vote Republican so religious extremists can tell you how to live your life.
*Vote Republican to keep sex education out of schools so our teenagers can figure out for themselves what causes pregnancies, AIDS and other STD's.
*Vote Republican to spy on your neighbors and lock up anyone that looks suspicious without a fair hearing.
*Vote Republican so only a handful of people can send us to war without public debate in Congress.
*Vote Republican so the Executive Branch of government can ignore the Constitution and continue to operate in secret.
*Vote Republican to increase the military budget for the benefit of defense contractors whether the Pentagon needs it or not.
*Vote Republican to build bigger, more powerful weapons to wipe out whole villages where some terrorists may be hiding.
*Vote Republican so we can set off another nuclear arms race by not renewing and ratifying treaties.
*Vote Republican so overloaded trucks loaded with lethal reactor cores in flimsy containers can drive through your community, even near your home.
*Vote Republican and send our corporations to the Bahamas to avoid paying taxes.
*Vote Republican to defeat any campaign finance reform that would limit the power of money in politics.

Maybe a little cheeky, but nonetheless has a lot of truth behind it. The debates are coming up tomorrow. Watch them. Listen closely to what is said, but more importantly what is not said. Don't vote on the past twenty years and Vietnam, vote for the past four years. Are you better off today? Is American better off today?