Democratic Candidate the Clear Choice to Lead Us

In the past two weeks, three people, whose common sense I otherwise respect, have told me that they see no difference between George W. Bush and John Kerry.

But there are many crucial differences between the candidates and the stakes are extremely high. They include the Supreme Court, women's choice, the environment, campaign finance reform, the economy, the resumption of the draft, separation of church and state, civil liberties, the national debt, public education, health insurance, Medicare and Social Security. If Bush is re-elected and the Republicans keep control of Congress, the consequences could be devastating. Just think of 1994, when House Speaker Newt Gingrich and his crew of right-wing zealots took over Congress. What if Bill Clinton had not been in the White House with the power of a veto? With another Bush victory, and big-time IOUs from the religious right and the National Rifle Association coming due, things could get ugly very fast.

If you care about the economic, social and political well-being of our country, I urge you to cast your vote for Kerry. He has earned your vote on the basis of his courage, experience, and leadership, and he has forthrightly presented intelligent positions on the important issues of our time. Bush, on the other hand, has failed to put forth a coherent domestic or international program, and has deliberately undermined any meaningful discussion. The only issue he has going for him is a manipulative one: that of trying to scare the hell out of the American people with terrorist rhetoric.

The Bush campaign is a form of public deceit. It is programmed to take people's minds off the domestic economic and social crises we face as a nation and as a people. Like the Wizard of Oz, Bush has sought to cover up the real issues with smoke screens-"family values," "compassionate conservatism," "terror alerts,"-and personal attacks on Kerry.

Bush keeps the important issues out of sight with anti-government rhetoric, but Kerry has put them on the table for all to see and discuss. On those domestic issues that should be center stage-the economy, jobs, health care, housing, education, the environment and crime-Kerry, and the Democrats, have a proven record of leadership and accomplishment.

Before Bush, President Clinton did a solid job in reducing the deficit, expanding the economy, and creating jobs. He helped the middle class and working poor by increasing the benefit levels and eligibility for the Earned Income Tax Credit. He restored tax progressivity and fairness with higher rates on the wealthiest taxpayers. Clinton, with Kerry's help, fought to increase the minimum wage, to get family-leave legislation and to protect the environment.

Bush has undone all of this, giving us instead record deficits, record bankruptcies, record debt, increased poverty and record trade imbalances. In addition, his radical foreign policy, that of initiating a preemptive war in Iraq, has cost us dearly in lives and national treasure; and the end of this tragedy is nowhere in sight.

Bush's soothing images and folksy personality are subtly undermining our real values. While composing hymns to individualism, Sunday piety, trickle-down economics and family values, Bush and the GOP leadership in Congress fought the balanced budget, family leave and health care, family planning, extension of unemployment benefits and minimum wage increases. On all these issues, Bush is in lockstep with GOP leadership. Behind the pitchman's facade, he is attacking the very values and families he extols.

America's families need less pious rhetoric and more policies geared toward a healthy economy, secure jobs, decent health care, affordable housing, quality public education, renewable energy and a sustainable environment. Bush does not seem to get it that government has an important domestic leadership role.

Nor does he seem to understand that it is not a sin to be born to privilege, but it is a sin to spend your life defending it. John F. Kennedy and Franklin D. Roosevelt understood that. They know about the narrowness privilege can breed.

While Bush defends tax giveaways to the rich and corporations as an economic policy, Kerry understands that most Americans share a common goal: a stable, equitable and democratic society that does not suffer from recession, unemployment, underemployment, inflation, gross waste of natural resources and the grinding misery of poverty.

By attacking the traditional and legitimate role of government and relying on "trickle-down" economics, Bush is dead wrong. With four more years of Bush's economic policies, we could wind up on the "endangered nations" list. Kerry knows that a vital, responsive and healthy federal government is indispensable to the well-being and sovereignty of a self-governing people. That is, after all, what democracy is about. The issues are basic, the choices are stark, and the stakes are high.

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