Vote Democratic and Save Our Union

The war in Iraq and the separate, but much more critical, war on terrorism are, by far, the defining issues of this presidential campaign. However, these wars, as important as they are to the security of our country, are not the issues that differentiate the two major party candidates. Now that we have occupied Iraq, we must see it through. Both Bush and Kerry will continue this war to its uncertain and hopefully successful end.

The war on terrorism will be aggressively waged when John Kerry wins the election. Democrats have a long history of assertively pursuing the national defense. The wars of the 20th century were all led by Democratic presidents, Wilson with World War 1, Roosevelt with World War 2, Truman with the Korean War and Kennedy and Johnson with Vietnam. When the citizens of the United States are truly threatened, Democrats are the first in line to fight the enemy. My fellow citizens have nothing to fear about a Democratic commander-in-chief. He will do what is necessary to protect our country. However, terrorism is not the only issue that should elicit fear in the hearts of the average American.

The neo-conservative agenda, led by George Walker Bush, is a truly frightening prospect. Muslim fundamental terrorism is not the only thing with which our government has declared war. The great social programs of the past one hundred and fifty years are currently under siege. The events of September eleventh have only temporarily derailed the Republican assault on Social Security, Medicare, the progressive income tax system, and public education.

Despite the fact that our nation is threatened, which will require huge expenditures of our national treasure to defend our ports and borders, Bush gave the wealthiest amongst us a huge tax cut. With a single stoke of a pen, Bush shifted much of the cost for defending our country from the wealthy and onto the backs of the middle class. The rich have always been asked to carry more of the economic burden during times of crisis. This was true during all the wars in our history beginning with the Civil War; Lincoln established an income tax on the wealthy to pay for the economic effects of that war. Kerry understands the inherent unfairness of this and will rollback the tax cut for the rich. He will then take that revenue and shore up our sorely under-funded national defenses such as: port inspection, border security, and emergency response systems.

Social Security and Medicare is probably the most misunderstood of all federal programs. The Republicans know this and have been demonizing these necessary programs for the past twenty-five years. The Social Security Administration was setup in response to the catastrophic consequences of the Great Depression of the 1930’s. It works by requiring working people to donate part of their week’s pay to those that are retired or can’t work for health reasons. In effect, the younger generation subsidizes our retired citizens’ medical care and living expenses. The money that is removed from our paycheck goes to our fathers and mothers, aunts and uncles and disabled brothers and sisters. It is truly an inspirational concept and serves to bond us together as a society of caring people.

Bush and the neo-con Republicans are poised to commit a frontal assault on this program. Their rhetoric of “you can invest your own money better than the government” and “privatizing Social Security” is designed to distract the American people from the true purpose of Social Security and Medicare. Social Security is not a personal retirement fund. It is a multigenerational transfer of wealth so that our standard of living does not have to plummet when we can no longer work or get sick. John Kerry and the Democrats hold this compact between generations with high regard. If we allow these programs to die, we will be hastening the dissolution of our society. When a country is nothing more than a collection of individuals, out for only their own personal interests, we cannot be called a nation. Democrats understand this; Republicans ignore it.

The fundamental purpose of free and equal public schools is to educate all of our citizens, regardless of wealth and social standing, to the best of their abilities. The secondary purpose is to promote nationhood. We have all been taught the same lessons in history, language, social studies, math and science throughout our public educational experience. These lessons not only served to provide us with knowledge to lead productive lives but also serve to bring forth adults who identify themselves as citizens of one great nation. Bush and the neo-cons have been battling with public education on a number of fronts. They have given up on this truly democratic system in favor of private education funded mainly, for now, with public money. They have loosened the long-standing federal oversight of the educational content in our schools, allowing local political bodies to change curriculum at will. Lastly, they have imposed unfunded mandates for testing with draconian penalties for schools that don’t measure up. These are all put forward in the name of “reform” but their real purpose is anything but that.

The Republicans want to destroy public education to fulfill the right-wing goal of a small and weak federal system of government. When our educational system degenerates to fifty-plus separate systems, each one providing access and educational content to whom and what ever fits the local sensibilities, then they will have succeeded in weakening the public desire for a Federalist system of government. It is the oldest battle in our nation’s history and goes back to the days of Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton.

Democrats know that the fight for our national unity is in the minds and hearts of our children and when we lose our public school system we will lose our national identity. John Kerry is a firm believer in equal and high quality public education. He knows that education is not free and to provide every school with a fair chance to excel requires intervention on a national level. He will strengthen the Department of Education and equitably distribute funds to aid in providing teachers with professional level wages and our children with schools to which they can be proud to be members. In the process, he will continue the legacy of public education as a vehicle for national unity and a strong democracy.

The war on terrorism is a national imperative and John Kerry will help us fight this complicated war with conviction and urgency. As a Democrat, he will also fight the Republican assault on the social programs that have strengthen our democracy. These programs, and more like them, reinforce our national identity. They provide a safety net through which no American can fall. They assure that our standard of living is maintained and that we all can share in the bounty our nation provides.

We are faced with two distinct visions of America. The Republicans would have you believe that we will all benefit when we are not required to share what we have with other citizens. Somehow, by allowing a few to gain great wealth, we will all be buoyed by trickle down prosperity and those that are not can be sustained by the voluntary generosity of others. Democrats believe that a fair nation of people needs to maintain institutions that assure that at least some of our great wealth find its way to those that need it and that the middle class majority should not be overly burdened with the expenses required to maintain our nation. Social Security and a progressive income tax are two such institutions. Republicans believe that the government is the enemy. You just have to listen to the words of Barry Goldwater, Ronald Reagan and GW Bush to understand that fact. They want to tear down the great institutions of our Federalist Democracy and replace them with local and private substitutes.

Bush and the neo-cons envision some kind of utopian society where all matters are local and every individual raises himself by his bootstraps and achieves prosperity. John Kerry and the Democrats are pragmatists. They know that without some level of economic and social support we will all drift to opposite poles of wealth and opportunity. The country will fracture along the lines of class and geography, then anarchy will reign. John Kerry will carry the progressive policies of the 20th century into the 21st century. These policies and programs provided most Americans unprecedented prosperity through the past 100 years. They can do the same for all Americans in the years to come unless Bush and his neo-cons get their way.



If you would like to read more of my opinions on the income tax system click on this link:

ID: 874912   (Rated: E) Of Life and Taxes  An essay on taxes is not light Summer reading but you may want to read this before Nov 2 by murf