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May 11, 2007
Calendar
of Events Saturday, May 12 at 10 PM at Saturday May 12th - Burien Library, 2-4:30
PM Tuesday,
May 15 at 8 PM at . Wednesday,
May 16 at 7:30 PM at Carson Theatre ( Thursday,
May 17 at Friday,
May 25 at 6:30 PM at Table
of Contents *** featured
articles Liberals and Democrats Conservatives Oppose Our Political Priorities *** What
Democrats Say About Republican Candidates Democratic Presidential Candidates Present Proposals Nation and World Another
Report about Ending Poverty *** Can We Prevent Gun Murders? *** Are There Too Many People in Our Jails? *** Do We Need a Guest Worker Program? Can our Auto Companies Become Green? Majority of Iraqi Parliament Asks U.S. Military to
Leave When Will Our Troops Come Home? *** State and Local Gregoire Signs ‘Washington Learns’ Bills into Law *** Ask Your Legislature about Lobbying Our Liberal Spirit Vigiling to Bring Our
Troops Home Alive Join John Edwards’ effort to
end the Iraq War Join Meg Ryan’s
support of Focus on Family Health Bill Quote of the Week The present is
unlikely. So are all the
alternatives. Live an unlikely
life.
Sunday May 13th - Bellingham
Educational Credit Union, 3:30-6 PM
Saturday May 19th - Mercer Island
Library, 2-4:30 PM
Sunday May 20 - Lacey Library near
Olympia, 2-4:30
Pre-registration required,
including which training
Our
Political Priorities · Fair Elections and Open Government · Fair Taxes and Competent Spending · Investment for Productivity · Quality Health, Education, Jobs, Income and Retirement
· Environmental Protection and Energy · Personal Security and Equal Rights · International Cooperation and Leadership Conservatives oppose all of these. See Below Recommendations ·
Darcy Burner for ·
Alec
Fisken for ·
Both Gael Tarleton and Jack Block,
Jr. for Port Commission against their incumbent
opponent ·
Dana Stober for ·
Keri Andrews for ·
Brian Conlin for
Advocacy
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visit our website: www.DoMuchGood.org.
Liberals and
Democrats
Conservatives Oppose Our Political Priorities
I
doubt that any liberals disagree with the following priorities, although we may
disagree about how to realize them.
Conservatives may argue that they also agree with some of these
priorities. But their actions speak
louder than their words. It is
especially the new conservatives, Christian conservatives and libertarians who
opposed these. And traditional
conservatives have generally gone along with the new conservatives and
libertarians.
Fair Elections and Open Government
Most of our elections have
been fair. But exceptions in 2000 in
We are all aware that the
Bush administration has instituted an unprecidented reign of privacy in
government, which invading people’s privacy to an unprecedented extent. Presidential papers are kept secret, Cheney
met secretly with lobbyists to formulate environmental policy, executive privilege
is cited to prevent disclosure of executive decision making, huge numbers of
documents are stamped secret and much more.
Fair Taxes and Competent Spending
The Bush income tax cuts and
attempts to eliminate estate taxes are grossly unfair, not requiring high
income and wealthy people to pay for the institutional and cultural heritage
that enables their high incomes and wealth.
Auditing of high income and business tax cheats has been much reduced,
while auditing of low income taxpayers have greatly increased.
Our federal government’s
debt has soared, with most of the money wasted, ending up in private pockets without
performance for the public good. Our
massive and growing public debt may expose us the greatest economic meltdown we
have ever experienced.
Investment for Productivity
Conservatives have
consistently argued against public investments, insisting that all cost
beneficial investments will be made by private entrepreneurs, in the face of
enormous evidence to the contrary. The
Bush administration has grossly under funded our physical and social
infrastructure. Our roads, bridges,
dams, public buildings, parks and other physical infrastructure are
deteriorating to become dangerous and a drag on our productivity. Funding has similarly declined for scientific
inquiry, health, education and other aspects of our social infrastructure. Increasing personal financial risks and
declining social insurance reduce our productivity. It is a no brainer for Democrats to resume
these public investments.
Quality Health, Education, Jobs, Income and Retirement
Republicans have opposed
measures to provide quality opportunities and services. They have under funded health and education,
tried to privatize them to the advantage of their campaign contributors,
opposed unionization and wage supports, allowed job (FICA) taxes and lack of
public health insurance to hinder job and wage increases. They have allowed grave deterioration of
pensions and retirement savings. In no
other arena are the differences between liberals and conservatives so stark and
great.
Environmental Protection and Energy
The Bush administration has
mounted a huge attack upon all of our environmental legislation and upon
protecting our public lands from destruction and pollution. It has done nothing to conserve energy. It has only belatedly given lip service to
global warming, with no actions to reduce it.
Bush has far surpassed Reagan as a despoiler of our
Personal Security and Equal Rights
The Bush administration
ignored El Qaeda until after the September 11, 2001 attacks. Our occupation of
The Bush administration has
continually illegally invaded our privacy, spied on our communications, invaded
our homes, violated habeas corpus, denied legal representation, tortured and
rendered for torturing and more. It has done
little and often resisted measures to enhance the equal rights of women, ethnic
minorities, immigrants, gays, our disabled, wounded veterans, our poor,
etc. They have attempted to politicize
our justice system through the appointment of regressive judges and politically
responsive
Unfortunately the general
public and many of our Democratic legislators have scarcely protested these
steps toward a police state. This is
perhaps the area where liberal principles are required more than any other.
International Cooperation and Leadership
From
In Conclusion
The cynics are completely
wrong. There are enormous differences
between Liberals and Conservatives, between Democrats and Republicans, between
the blue majority of American opinion and the red minority. While our liberals and Democrats are not
always consistent in holding and attempting to realize our liberal values and
priorities, the conservatives and Republicans are almost always consistent in
opposing them. One of the refreshing
things about John McCain is that even though he is very conservative on most
social, economic and military issues, he is often liberal concerning fair
elections, competent budgeting, protecting our environment and a few other
issues.
Comparing Debates
The 10 Republican
presidential candidates all supported the Wars on Iraq, abortion, immigrants
and taxes for the rich; with the
exception of Ron Paul on Iraq, Rudolph Juliani on Abortion and John McCain on
Immigrants. John McCain supported line
item vetoes for eliminating corrupt spending.
Few other topics were introduced or discussed. Unlike during the Democratic debates, the
Republicans virtually ignored most of the priorities discussed above of
interest to the American public.
Democratic Candidates Present
Proposals
Sens. Clinton, D-N.Y., and Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., announced
they would introduce legislation that
would require the president to seek a reauthorization from Congress to extend
the military effort in
But
not among Republican candidates. In
their recent debate, the 7 so-called second tier Republican candidates (except
perhaps Ron Paul) said nothing to stand out, like Kuchinich and Gravel did in
the Democratic debates.
No End of History
Francis Fukuyama was wrong in 1992 to claim the End of History. There will never be a time when everyone has equal freedoms and opportunities. There will always be some of us who will attempt to retain more freedoms and opportunities at the expense of others. There will always be others of us who will attempt to enhance freedoms and opportunities for those who have fewer. There will always be a struggle between liberals and conservatives. There will always be such a struggle within each of our heads, as we