I am running for Congress in 2006, in Indiana in the 6th District. I am NOT posting this asking for money or donations.
I want to know what the most important issue is with you.
If we don’t ask and listen, we are not representing, we are dictating. I am running to represent, so let me know what matters, and if you cannot limit it to one thing, then list them all.
I can make my assumptions from reading posts, but I want to know how YOU feel.
Barry Welsh
It’s nice to meet you.
I’m in WV so I can’t speak for your specific area but I think some principles are universal.
Respect for a basic sense of human dignity is something that needs to be restored in politics. The idea of people before profits is good but it runs deeper than that. Part of our problems today go beyond profits and to the question, ‘how much do I really need to have?’. Many of the issues such as outsourcing are overwhelming because the average American has considered it necessary to do well in the investor class. The demand for higher unearned income has helped produce the profit at human cost in the community. We want responsibility and accountability to each other at all levels. The idea of people before profits starts at the individual level and grows.
Most folks like me want little more from government than it pursuing the overall best interests of the people/community in a reasonable compromise that neither hinders or benefits anyone unfairly. We are tired of misinformation and the disingenuous pleas that defy common sense.
The most important issue is the clarification between illegal and unethical. The predominant acceptance of behavior that is circumventing the law and not prosecutable, simply has to stop. Demanding accountability from those who use that reasoning as a defense is a challenge.
If we approach society’s issues with the attitude of treating others as we would choose to have done to us then the decisions should be easier.
Thank you for posting. I wanted to hear from people all across the country,
At first I thought this would be easy to answer, but there are so many issues that have come up this past year that the Bush Admin has destroyed, I think America will need to start from scratch again.
So the first two are Honesty and Trust. A legally , fraudless election and a real UNDERSTANDING that YOU and the other politicians are elected/hired by the PEOPLE so work for the PEOPLE- not the corrupt leader that you may find above you once you get into office.
Too many self servants and not enough public servants in office. Thanks for taking the time to post.
Stop War. Indict/Impeach War Criminals.
We need to take back Congress to investigate, I hope that can happen.
We need fo begin immedate gradual and graduated troop withdraw, beginning with the National Guard Troops.
Human rights: No torture. Privacy for personal medical decisions. Workers before corpororations. Taking care of the sick and the poor. A living wage. Public education. FAIR trade. Progressive taxation.
Repeal the PATRIOT act. Get out of Iraq.
Human dignity and self-determination are the watchwords here. We need to give everyone the chance to do better in life. And do it without raping the environment or killing foreign citizens.
These are a few of the important things.
I agree, all of those are important. It will be interesting to see just how far the corruption goes, and how high.
Thanks for asking, and good luck!
so my most important issue to get rid of Sodrel. Getting rid of Pence would be pretty good as well.
My top issues are
. developing and implementing a plan to get out of Iraq
. single payer health care (or any other plan that will provide affordable quality health to all Americans)
. protecting and providing full reproductive rights for women (including removal of existing TRAP laws)
. legalization of SSM
It is nice to meet you neighbor. The good news for the 9th is Baron Hill is coming back to that seat!
Thank you for asking for our input Barry and best of luck with your campaign.
1. Voter reform and honesty in elections…paper trail.
2.Out of Iraq NOW!
I agree. I can’t understand how e can have 6 billion ATM transactions each week in this country and a receipt with each one, but not to vote once every two years?
Agree with what they said. My first thought was about the fact that we are imprisoning so many young people of African descent and robbing them of the birthright that should belong to all of our citizens. We have created a system of laws that targets them, and we have enforcers who find their jobs so much easier by going after young blacks, than stopping the white collar criminals who are doing us so much more harm. I don’t have the statistics at hand, but they are overwhelming.
Thinking about Indiana – Factory farms, the power that Monsanto and Dow have over the USDA. I’ll extend that to Corporate control of Congress.
Be glad you’re not running in Florida – us geezers can go on and on. I thank you for asking, and hope you can maintain your connection with the people once you get inside the beltway.
(Smile) Alice, Don’t worry about going on and on! Feel free anytime.
Along with what’s already been said, my issue is VETERAN’S ISSUES; funding of health care for a lot of people coming back from this god awful war.
I just wanted to echo the importance of this issue.
I thought our Nation had learned it’s lesson on how to treat those that serve Her, but not with the “compassionate conservatisim” that is now in Washington.
We must do better.
Thanks Barry,
The nation has not learned. We veteran’s are all psychotic and drunk drug addicts who live in cardboard boxes…at least that is the feeling out there we get from social services. Of course it is not true. In my case, I am a documented Special Forces combat veteran but I still cannot get service connected for PTSD though the Vietnam Veteran’s Association is working to help me (I’m not a Vietnam veteran but from the Central America era of the late 80’s/early 90’s). I have all the documentation including a diagnosis but they will not service connect it without records from therapy. Here’s the crutch – I can’t afford therapy since I have no health insurance. How many others are now out there since this fucked-up so-called war on terrorism? It isn’t just me. The VA is being told to not give us our benefits since this administration is cutting the VA budget – that info is coming from the VVA. I will eventually get my benefits through the appeals process but how much in tax dollars am I wasteing in going through the appeals process rather than getting it up front? Again, I am not the only one. Some of my brothers and sisters are far worse off. That’s why this issue is important to me.
Soon I will have health care because I have just recently moved to Europe and will take an EU citizenship. At least here I won’t be abandoned by the government. I’ve also joined the New Left party here in Germany. So I will not have much affect on your election nor will I have the right to since I aqm taking a new home, but I wish you the best and want to stress all of the others out there in the same or worse situation.
Hi Mr. Welsh! I wish someone running in Texas would ask me this, as for important issues, I really can’t add much to what folks have written here.
It is very difficult to pick THE most important issue, but the things that are here rank up on top for me as well.
I wish you luck in your campaign — you are well on your way to REPRESENTING, something sorely lacking in politics today!
Just call me Barry, not Mr. Welsh. I have been doing some research on Congressional Candidates that are following Mike Pence The Chair of the Republican Study Committee, (And the guy I am running against)The RSC is for severe budget cuts in the guise of Hurricane Relief. THe cuts have actually been in the works well before the hurricanes, there are several RSC Members in Texas.
I had to prioritize issues for a Dem Party survey a few months back. Personally, I suspect it was a ruse to get me to send in money, but it did make me think about what was MOST critical and important, because of course, everything on the list was important.
1. Restore Constitutional separation of powers. Because if we don’t get this back, the rest is moot. The Congress has been granting the Executive powers it was never intended to have, such as the authority to wage unilateral war, and override individual liberties of American citizens on flimsy techicalities, all of which are excused by the “war on terror.” The biggest danger I see in the Roberts confirmation, and the Alito nomination is that they will not stand in the way of this trend, but willingly grant the executive even more broad and unchecked powers on the same excuse. This was NEVER what the Founders (who knew all too well what tyranny lurked in the concept of one man holding too much unchecked power was, especially a man like George W. Bush), and it is a very very dangerous course for our country. If the executive can override anyone’s civil rights under the Constitution on a technicality, then we are in very grave danger of losing what the founders spent so much to build. And if we don’t get this sorted out soon, the ability of the Congress to provide ANY check on the Executive will be badly weakened and much much harder to restore. (I will also add in here FAIR and ACCOUNTABLE ELECTIONS. Paper ballots if necessary — we’ll wait while they’re counted, so long as we know they can’t be hacked.)
2. Get our troops the hell out of Iraq. The war was illegal to start with, and our presence there only makes things worse for the Iraqi people, not better. The majority of the American people support withdrawal, and many of those who don’t, only hold that position out of misplaced patriotism, not out of any real interest in Iraq. Announce a withdrawal schedule, disavow any intent to build ‘enduring bases’ and stick to it. Give the current Iraqi government all the support and opportunity they need to negotiate a compromise with the Sunni dissadents. Take what’s left of the reconstruction money back from Halliburton and dole it out to Iraqi firms. Get the UN involved, which they will do once it’s clear we’re going to actually leave. And then bring our people home.
3. A return to a respect for Civil Liberties. This is tied into 1 and 2, of course. But it really boils down to the essence of the freedom of individuals in this country to make their own decisions in the pursuit of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. This means the separation of church and state. This means women’s reproductive rights, without excuses. This means the right to dissent, and assemble, and travel freely (someone needs to really examine those security watch lists, for instance). And this means NO TORTURE and NO extraordinary rendition, under ANY circumstances, an edict passed from the top down, and enforced — which will help America’s image in the eyes of the world and help our own soldiers avoid trauma of having to live later with deeds they did in anger, and in keeping them safe from similar treatment should they fall into enemy hands. This is so common sense you’d think it didn’t need to be said — but clearly someone has to say it.
4. The Social Support Net. This includes protecting Social Security, which is the only retirement income too many Americans have (especially after corporations default on pension promises). This means restoring funding for Medicare, Medicaid, Veterans Benefits, and other programs that are the only lifeline for too many poor Americans. Restore the Estate Tax (with appropriate safeguards so it doesn’t take the family farm or business, within reason), and repeal the damned tax cuts. We’d rather have the services, thank you, than that few hundred dollars that it amounted to for most of the rest of us. Fund education, drop the ridiculous requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act, which unfairly penalizes schools and forces them to ‘teach to the test’ instead of teaching children how to think and love learning for its own sake.
And this means looking at Universal Health Insurance, or some kind of nationa-wide healthcare program. There has to be a way to do this so that everyone pays a fair (and affordable) share for ordinary and preventative care, and the government picks up the bulk of the catastrophic care (some of which could be avoided if affordable preventative care was available). Find a way to finance this, get the burden of this benefit off the backs of business (especially small businesses), spread it out so it’s affordable, and let’s take care of our own people. (And YES, it covers contraception, pre-natal care, infant care from the moment of birth, AND abortion. All options on the table. Provide contraception to any woman who wants it and healthcare to all children, and that will likely cut the abortion rate by at least a third right there.)
5. The empowerment and valuation of corporations over actual people, profits over people and the environment. Too often the excuse “but it will create jobs” or “if we don’t do this, we’ll have to cut jobs” is used as some kind of magical panacea for very very bad policy — and it rarely results in jobs, or at least not jobs worth having. While corporations need some kind of legal status as entities, they are fast becoming more important, with more weight and status under law, than the plight of the individuals who suffer in the name of corporate profits. This may not be something Congress can affect directly… but it should always be kept in mind on any other matter that touches on corporate policy, taxation, promises, etc. Because without sufficient regulation, when given a CHOICE, a corporation will go for short-term profit no matter what the cost to people, to its own employees, to the environment, or to the economy as a whole. Voting in the interest of short-term corporate profits over people and their future is bad long-term public policy. We used to have much tougher regulation and MUCH higher corporate taxes, and the corporations and the economy still did well — and so did everyone else.
Good luck on your campaign — I’m looking forward to seeing the Democrats restore some human compassion, fiscal responsibility and COMMON SENSE to government.
I think you covered most of my issues there JanetT…
I would add serious voting law reform. The integrity of the election process is way beyond questionable. This is partly due to the incestuous relationship between Government and BIG corporations through massive funding of the political parties that has eliminated the peoples voice from the process, as well as the likelyhood of rigged elections given what we know about the major failures in the process and the machines that make it impossible to verify effectively.
I would also add media reform to the list. Corporate controlled media is one of the factors that has allowed the rampant failures in the system. I really don’t think that any one person should be allowed to own more than one media outlet of any kind PERIOD. It is plainly obvious that corparate owned media conglomerates are failing their duties to the American people completely in their cheerleading for their owners profits…
Thank you for taking the time to post all of that! I agree.
I agree with what people have already said – thanks for asking the question, and ALL the issues are important. I think for me it has more to do with how all of these issues are approached. Some people have already spoken to this. And alot of what gets in the way has as much to do with culture (ie greed) as with policies. But as a legislator we just need representation that looks at how any policy affect the “least among us.” Most of our Democratic values come down to an understanding of the fact that a “rising tide raises all boats” and that we’re all in this together. If we adopted something like what Native tribes are said to have used as a standard, we might get there. I have heard that often policies were judged based on their impact on the children of the next three generations. Enough rambling for now – but I would suggest anyone in office use Paul Wellstone as a model. He “got it” in a way few ever have.
Wellstone is indeed missed.
There are so many absolutely critical issues before us today that it is very difficult to prioritize them. But this one goes to the very heart and soul of our democracy. There is a cloud of uncertainty hanging over our last three national elections which call into question the very legitimacy of our government. This is unacceptable.
We must guarantee that every citizen can exercise their franchise without impediment. No black box voting machines. Absolutely transparent, verifiable, accountable voting systems. Active prevention and prosecution of any and all voter suppression activities.
Until I know that my vote will be counted faithfully your question, and this blog for that matter, are irrelevant, so I place this issue first. There are other issues that deserve our attention. I will add just two that I think are particularly important. They are by no means the only ones.
Universal health care. In a prosperous society, health care should be a right not a privilege. I think we should have federally funded universal health insurance. I have never understood the argument that employers should be obligated to fund health care. Health care should not be an issue of employment. National health care insurance would spread the risk of catastrophic illness over the largest possible pool, removing one of the greatest economic threats any individual or family currently faces.
Energy independence. Our current energy policy, the maniacal pursuit of more petroleum anywhere at any cost, is simply untenable. Jerome a Paris and others have argued the case for the imminent end of the age of oil better than I can. It is time and past time that we actively seek sustainable, environmentally acceptable alternatives. We desperately need a national debate, and national action, on this issue.
And thanks for the question. It says a lot that you care enough to ask.
Oh I have no doubt that oil is finite and we MUST work quickly for solutions. We are becoming more enslaved to oil instead of less, and as long as oil men are in power, then things will not change. I am running against a man who’s family business was OIL (K&P Petroleum, Kiel Brothers Oil, and Tobacco Road Stores) We have to find alternatives, and not just set goals, but take action.
I just find it so maddening that the IRAQ Constitution gives each Iraqi Healthcare guarantees, but we do not consider it for our own people! It is past time for this to change.
I started to answer you here but as usual, it got kinda long so I answered your question… here.
Peace,
Andrew
Thanks Andrew
I replied on your diary.
You’ve done the right thing here.
Far more inmportant than the ability fo speak in the ability to listen. Mike Pence doesn’t understand this, look at his “town hall” meetings, it’s all a facade. McIntosh used to do the same stuff then he had people who weren’t his supporters and aks hard questions that he couldn’t answer. Thus ended Mcintosh’s town hall meetings.
You’ve done the right gin by listening, you just need to take it a step further. There are a number of heavily deomcratic enclaves in the 6th district. Whitely and the near southside in Muncie, an entire ward and a half inAnderson, and suprising areas like Adams towship in Allen county, Decatur in Adams county, Dunkirk and Redkey in jay county, and parts of Richmond. Listening here on blogs is great, but if you want to get elected, you have to go out and walk these precincts.
Time is something you still have an abundance of, if you wait until you have more money to go out and talk to people you’ll never get started. I can send you a list of precincts that vote heavily deomcratic but haven’t turned out as much as they should.
I think you know this, but it bears repeating.
GOTV doesn’t stand for getting on TV, it get out the vote. People want to meet the candiate in person, and have a conversation about what’s important to them. Like you’ve done here. Now you need to take this to the next level, and make the committment to go out and walk through the snowy, crappy weather to talk to people about the change they want.