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 David
Cobb
1. The
United States must publicly acknowledge and apologize
for the war's illegality; rescind all U.S. corporate
contracts in Iraq and give that money to Iraq as
reparations; and persuade the United Nations to
convene a pan-Arabic peace summit which would send
peacekeepers to replace U.S. troops.
2. American
cities need brownfield clean ups, ecological healing
for their waterways, and the relocalization of their
economies. Repealing bad trade agreements like WTO,
NAFTA, and GATT would be a start towards relocalization
and producing things for local needs. Producing
clean renewable energy would create jobs keep money
circulating in the community, rather than leaving
to pay for energy. The recirculation of this money
would be a massive boon to local economies. A reinvigorated
Superfund site to clean up our toxic legacy would
provide land, training and opportunities for all
sorts of revitalization efforts. Finally, let's
spend money on schools, not prisons.
3. A single-payer
national health care is the only way to insure everyone
at reasonable cost and to properly practice prevention.
4. The
Patriot Act is used to undermine civil liberties
and frighten people. It should be repealed. Many
of its provisions, along with many of the other
so-called National Security Acts, undermine and
erode our Bill of Rights, and contribute to the
destruction of the democratic foundation of checks
and balances between the branches of government.
Corrective measures need to be taken in a timely
manner by Congress to fully reinstate all losses
of guaranteed citizen protections. If the United
States stopped using its military to impose its
economic order on the world, we would be much safer
than we are today and would not have restrictions
on our liberty.
5. Support
for MBEs is of critical importance. Small businesses
are at the heart of the American economy and the
only way to create jobs sustainably is to have more
of them. A Grameen Bank or similar program in every
city in America (and every rural area), in which
peers help each other develop skills to run businesses,
is critical. Without skill training money to loan
is just wasted. So focus on improving the skill
levels of entrepreneurs with programs that have
a proven trackrecord in low-income areas.
6. The
"No Child Left Behind" Act is predicated
on the false assumption that standardized tests
are the main basis to determine academic performance
and provide sufficient basis on which to evaluate
schools. Every child learns differently, so this
is doomed as policy, or rather it is policy that
dooms many children. Of course, providing these
mandates with inadequate funding is absurd as well,
but until the federal education policy is actually
designed to help children learn all of the things
they should be learning, and designed to help each
child grow into their own potential, the federal
school policy will be a failure. The No Child Left
Behind Act must be repealed, especially the section
that gives the military access to student records.
 John
Kerry
1. America
needs a fresh start in Iraq and with our international
allies. I have a detailed plan for Iraq that includes
four key points. First, we need to internationalize
our efforts there. After insulting allies and shredding
alliances, this President does not have the trust
and confidence to bring others to our side in Iraq.
But we must rebuild and lead strong alliances so
that others will share the burden with us in Iraq
and elsewhere. It is unacceptable that George Bush’s
go-it-alone policy in Iraq has already cost America
$200 billion and over 1,100 American lives. Second,
we need to train Iraqis, so they can be responsible
for their own security. We need to accelerate and
vastly expand the training of Iraqi police and military
forces. Third, we need a reconstruction program
that benefits the Iraqi people. This includes providing
more reconstruction work for Iraqi contractors and
workers, as opposed to companies like Halliburton.
Finally, we must ensure that Iraqi elections are
held safely and on time next year, so that Iraq
is put on the path to Democracy. The complete plan
is online at www.johnkerry.com/issues/national_security
/iraq.html.
2. We have
a comprehensive Opportunity Agenda to strengthen
America’s cities. The program would provide additional
resources for new small businesses; strengthen communities
by renewing the COPS program; supporting home ownership;
and investing in home ownership. The complete plan
is online at www.johnkerry.com/pressroom/releases/pr_2004_0721.html.
3. Since
George Bush took office, health care premiums in
Wisconsin have risen by an average of $4,000. Over
187,000 Wisconsinites have lost their health insurance
during that time. The Kerry-Edwards health care
plan will reduce family premiums by up to $1,000;
provide access to health care for 95 percent of
all Americans, including every child; reduce the
cost of prescription drugs by allowing reimportation
from Canada; and reducing waste and inefficiency
in the health care system. The complete plan is
online at www.johnkerry.com/issues/health_care/.
4. I share
the view of Republicans like Sen. Larry Craig Sen.
Arlen Specter, that there are certain parts of the
PATRIOT Act that should be modified. Specifically,
we should require a judge to review the evidence
before allowing a search of a person’s library records,
instead of having the judge act as a rubber stamp,
as under current law. In addition, we should require
real proof that a “sneak-and-peek” search is necessary
before allowing that type of search, instead of
allowing that search virtually anytime. These measures
would not reduce the government’s ability to fight
terror – they would just ensure that the government’s
use of these powers is truly necessary.
5. The
best way to help MBEs grow and prosper is by making
additional investments in small businesses. I will
double funding for the Manufacturing Extension Partnership
and expand the Minority Enterprise Development program.
I will also make an additional $170 million investment
in a Small Business Opportunity Fund. Finally, I
will work to ensure that African-American businesses
get their fair share of federal contracts, and protect
affirmative action for minority-owned businesses.
6. George
Bush broke his promise to fully fund No Child Left
Behind. The law is now underfunded by $27 billion,
leaving inadequate resources for priorities like
new textbooks, smaller class sizes and more after-school
opportunities. The Kerry-Edwards plan for No Child
Left Behind would add an average $10 billion per
year funding No Child Left Behind Act. The $10 billion
per year would be used to hire more teachers and
shrink class size, offer more students extra individualized
help, better involve parents in schools, and offer
more after-school and preschool opportunities. At
the same time, they will ensure that we get on a
path to fully funding the federal special education
law so that children with disabilities get the education
they deserve.
 Ralph
Nader
1. I favor
a three-step approach to rapidly remove U.S. military
forces, civilian military contractors and U.S. corporate
interests from Iraq. The way to save U.S. and Iraqi
lives and reverse the escalating spiral of violence
is for the United States to go back home. The U.S.
presence serves as fuel for the insurrection, kidnapping,
terrorism, and anarchy. Since the occupation is
increasingly turning mainstream Iraqis against the
U.S. announcing a withdrawal and ending the corporate
takeover of the Iraqi economy and oil resources
will attract their support away from the insurgents.
The three-step
process for removal of U.S. troops is as follows:
a) Development
of an appropriate international peace-keeping force:
Under the auspices of the United Nations an international
peace keeping force, from neutral nations with such
experience and from Islamic countries, should be
assembled immediately to replace all U.S. troops
and civilian military contractors doing many jobs
the Army used to do more efficiently.
b) Support
Iraqi self-rule and free and fair elections: Free
and fair elections should be held as soon as possible
under international supervision so democratic self-rule
can be put in place in Iraq.
c) The
U.S. should provide humanitarian aid to Iraq to
rebuild its infrastructure: The U.S. invasion of
Iraq and the long-term U.S.-led economic sanctions
against Iraqi civilians resulted in tremendous damage
to people, their children and the Iraqi infrastructure.
Control over Iraqi oil and other assets should be
exercised by Iraqis.
2. Since
January 2001, 2.7 million jobs have been lost and
more than 75 percent of those jobs have been high
wage, high productivity manufacturing jobs. Overall
5.6 percent of Americans are unemployed while 10.5
percent of African Americans are unemployed. Unemployment
among Latinos is nearly 30 per cent higher now than
January 20, 2001. By requiring equitable trade,
investing in urgently needed local labor-intensive
public works (infrastructure improvements), creating
a new renewable energy efficiency policy; by fully
funding education and redirecting large bureaucratic
and fraudulent health expenditures toward preventive
health care we can reverse this trend and create
millions of new jobs.
3.The state
of health care in the United States is a disgrace.
For millions of Americans it is a struggle between
life, health, and money. A recent study by the National
Academy of Sciences' Institute of Medicine estimates
that 18,000 25 to 64-year-old Americans die every
year as a result of lack of coverage. That is 18,000
human beings every year, not counting younger Americans.
The Nader Campaign supports a single-payer health
care plan — essentially full Medicare for all —
that replaces for-profit, investor-owned health
care and removes the private health insurance industry.
The Nader Campaign favors replacing our fragmented,
market-based system with a single-payer health plan
— where the government finances health care, but
keeps the delivery of health care to private non-profits,
and allows free choice of doctors and hospitals
for patients. A single-payer health plan that includes
a prevention focus will be integral to mitigating
behaviors and environmental conditions that increase
health problems. By reducing fraud, waste, and the
profit motive in our current health care system,
we can find sufficient funds to pay for this. The
paradox of American health care now is that the
average U.S. citizen spends the highest amount per
capita among industrialized nations — some $5,500
a year per U.S. citizen — yet 45 million Americans
lack health care. For more information on our plan,
please see www.vote nader.org/issues/index.php?cid=4.
4. To fully
restore civil liberties, we must repeal the Patriot
Act, and end secret detentions, arrests without
charges, no access to attorneys, and the use of
secret “evidence,” military tribunals for civilians,
non-combatant status and the shredding of “probable
cause” determinations, such as “sneak-and-peek”
searches. They represent a perilous diminution of
judicial authority in favor of concentrated power
in the executive branch at the expense of the judiciary.
Sloppy law enforcement, dragnet practices are wasteful
and reduce the likelihood of apprehending violent
criminals.
5. To develop
and expand MBEs, we must first invest heavily into
urban education so that the entrepreneurs of tomorrow
receive the training they need. Simultaneously,
we must begin investing in new policies as discussed
previously. For a model, we can detail how job and
small business creation might work in the renewable
energy industry. A new clean energy policy that
no longer subsidizes entrenched oil, nuclear, electric,
and coal mining interests, one that is efficient,
sustainable, and environmentally friendly would
mean more jobs, more efficiency, greater security,
more environmental protection and increased health.
The
Apollo Alliance's "Ten-Point Plan for Good
Jobs and Energy Independence" provides an overdue
agenda for the country's energy future. In the spirit
of its namesake, which galvanized the will of the
American people into a national effort to put an
American on the moon, the new Apollo Project advocates
a full engagement of the federal government with
the initiative of the American people in the service
of revitalizing our country's approach to its energy
plight. Over the course of a single decade, beginning
in 2005, the Apollo Project proposes the establishment
of a viable infrastructure for the achievement of
American energy independence. Calling for a $313.72
billion dollar federal investment in that 10-year
period, Apollo progressively shifts the burden of
American energy consumption away from fossil fuels
and onto domestic renewable energy markets such
as the wind, biomass, and solar energy industries.
The United States has fallen dreadfully behind in
these areas and will be well served to reestablish
itself as a leader in technological innovation.
The Apollo Project promises to revitalize the American
job market with an injection of 3.3 million jobs
— largely within areas of industry demanding greater
skills and providing higher wages, better job benefits,
and improved social equity.
6. Repeal
“No Child Left Behind.” The United States is the
richest country in the world, but our public schools
feature broken restrooms and insufficient supplies
like books. Enough slogans already! We must fully
fund public education from pre-school through graduate
school.
Education
is primarily the responsibility of state and local
governments. The federal government has a critical
supporting role to play in ensuring that all children
— irrespective of the income of their parents, or
their race — are provided with rich learning environments
and equal educational opportunities.
The government
can help keep negative or depleting influences out
of the public schools — among them, commercialism
and private school tax-funded voucher programs.
The federal government must not impose useless,
costly, and counterproductive mandates on schools
—for example, it should discourage, not demand,
the use of misleading and narrow multiple choice
standardized tests. And the government should encourage
schools to infuse their curriculum with a citizenship
emphasis that teaches students both how to connect
civic skills classroom learning to the outside world
and how to practice democracy.
Working
with the states where appropriate, the federal government
must:
• Immediately
provide full funding for Head Start;
• Guarantee
pre-school education for all children;
• Adequately
fund nutrition programs in the schools;
• Ensure
that the nation's crumbling schools are repaired
within three years.
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