Since Kucinich dropped out, I’ve had to change my candidate for Tuesday’s primary. Here is info on some of the candidates. And yeah, I didn’t ask them myself, so it’s been grabbed from various places on the internets.
Mike Gravel: A New Englander by birth, an Alaskan by choice, Mike Gravel is a Unitarian who was educated at Columbia University. Essentially, he fits both my idea of a good candidate and an interesting romantic partner (except for a few small details, like that he is older than my parents, but I digress). He believes that abortion should always be legal, the death penalty should not be permitted for federal crimes, and that small amounts of marijuana should be legal. He vows to get rid of No Child Left Behind, the set of testing requirements that has so many public school teachers pulling their hair out. Gravel would raise the minimum wage and adopt a universal health care program. He promises to withdraw all troops from Iraq within 120 days of taking office. Gays would be protected in federal anti-discrimination laws and he would allow same-sex marriage. The icing on the cake is that he strongly supports impeachment of Bush and Cheney. He has also been noted as saying:
This country – and this world – needs more love. Love trumps morality, morality trumps politics.
Awww!
Barack Obama: also educated at Columbia University. I’ll admit my bias about this upfront. Many of my favorite people are Columbia educated. Obama has a great energy about him that I think is contagious. His plan to withdraw troops from Iraq is more gradual, saying that he would have all “combat brigades” out within 16 months. His attention to economics transcends the discomfort that some of feeling now only because of the (impending) recession–he shows an awareness of real poverty. He vows to raise the minimum wage and index it to inflation, creating a living wage. Obama recognizes the need for affordable health care, and would expand SCHIP (HUSKY in CT). He also promises to make Washington more transparent.
Hillary Rodham Clinton: of Yale and Wellesley education, who, unlike other Yale graduates in politics (ahem), at least seems to have been in a classroom. She’s lost cred since her awesomely assertive role as First Lady, having been apparently sucked into the vortex of power and politics. While some of her voting record and catering to the right does not sit well with me, I owe it to her, as a feminist, to defend her against the ridiculously obvious ways she’s critiqued– dress, emotion, stability, blah blah blah. The issues are more important. Clinton’s plan for troop removal is sort of unclear. She’s adopted a hawk mentality, but I think it’s fair to say that if she were to wage war somewhere, she would in fact go through the normal process of negotiations and putting a vote before Congress first. She also plans to get rid of No Child Left Behind. She also promises to fix a lot of the financing related to higher education, like putting more money into the community colleges and increase the Pell Grant. She’s enticing for her feminist ideals, but not so much for her pro-Israel sympathies.
Ron Paul: had an OB-GYN practice, which invites so many raunchy jokes from yours truly. The man also has a cult following. He is not anti-war, but thinks the approach to Iraq was messed up. As do most people with half-a-brain these days. He wants to lower taxes, but his views on health care are most interesting. His campaign website claims:
* Making all medical expenses tax deductible.
* Eliminating federal regulations that discourage small businesses from providing coverage.
* Giving doctors the freedom to collectively negotiate with insurance companies and drive down the cost of medical care.
* Making every American eligible for a Health Savings Account (HSA), and removing the requirement that individuals must obtain a high-deductible insurance policy before opening an HSA.
* Reform licensure requirements so that pharmacists and nurses can perform some basic functions to increase access to care and lower costs.
I like that I could be deducting about $900 this year between the dentist and eye doctor.
But then his ideas about immigration and homeland security are just whack, such as his introduction of:
H.R. 3217 would prohibit the issuance of student, training, vocational, and diversity visas without presidential review to anyone from a country that repeatedly supports terrorism or does not cooperate fully with U.S. antiterrorism efforts.
Would that mean no more visas for people from Israel? What exactly are we defining as terrorism these days? Many of the 9/11 hijackers were Saudi. I had a student from Saudi Arabia a few years ago. From my knowledge of him, he was a very kind person who was not, as far as I could tell, involved in any acts against America. This kind of discrimination is not acceptable.
But, Ron Paul would revoke the PATRIOT ACT. But, he thinks the free market can rectify racial injustice, and he does not think that partial-birth abortion is protected under the Constitution.
Mike Huckabee: a former Arkansas governor, for those of us waxing nostalgic about former governors from Arkansas. Huckabee is not as harmless as his name suggests. He would support DOMA legislation that would define marriage as one man, one woman. He’d also make sure the Berlin Wall fence between Mexico and the U.S. was completed. He also says Roe v. Wade should be overturned. Those three things are all I need to know.
John McCain: has some credibility since he actually served in the armed forces. Having real experience with the ugliness of war is something I think should be mandatory for anyone bidding for the position of Commander-in-Chief. Unfortunately, his experience does not translate into a plan to “cut and run,” but I can at the least respect that he understands the types of risks he would be asking troops to take.
On to other issues. The details on how to implement this idea is unclear, but McCain states the obvious–the economy and environment are not mutually exclusive. That doesn’t mean he’s any less of a conservative. Truly a fiscal conservative, McCain observes:
The American people have been alienated from the process of self-government by the overwhelming appearance of their elected leaders having sold-out to the big-moneyed special interests who help finance political campaigns.
He also vows to eliminate “pork barrel” spending while reforming health care, particularly making it more difficult for the “frivolous lawsuits” to continue. These lawsuits can jack up the costs of health care.
Too bad he doesn’t get the meaning of “human dignity.” Judging from his website, dignity means having no control over one’s reproductive options. It also means possibly be banned from legally marrying someone.
Mitt Romney: I’m all about New England representin’ in Washington, but I can’t justify voting for Mitt Romney. I’m not interested in fear campaigns, which is what he and some of his colleagues (Giuliani) are running. A glance at the Issues page of his website turns up these categories: Keeping Americans Safe, Combating Nuclear Terrorism, Confronting Radical Jihad (WTF!), Strengthening Latin American Allies (good) and Confronting Tyrants (WTF!), Ending the Tide of Illegal Immigrants, and Confronting Threats to American Culture, Values, and Freedoms. Is this shit for real? How about campaigning against winning votes by convincing the American people that they should be terrified of everything, and that some politician can swoop in to save the day, just so long as you all vote and remain “vigilant”? Reading this drivel makes me wanna pull myself up with my bootstraps and kick some zealous conservative ass. Figuratively, of course.
And for the record, even his five photogenic sons aren’t going to distract me from the probability that a Romney presidency would mean something like the constant airing of the terror alert on every news channel. Or that it would always be at orange or red.
There are so many more candidates than just Obama, Clinton, McCain, and Romney. There are far more than the ones I’ve listed. Democracy does not work well if the voters make decisions without being fully informed. The Project Vote Smart website is a great place to begin investigating options. I’m not interested in petty feuds, mudslinging, or the false dichotomy of liberal versus conservative. I’m interested in everyone 18+ making informed choices that are not directed by the media.