Congressional Candidate Barry Welsh (In-06) asked in his diary, “Tell Me: What the most Important Issue Is?”
As usual, my response is long so…
Barry,
Excellent question… and of course, it is most important that you ask it of the folks that live in your district. What part of Indiana does the 6th cover? I grew up in Chicago and lived just across the Indiana/Ohio line in Michigan for a few years. Have spent lots of time in various parts of Indiana. Wonderful state… if a little conservative for my tastes.
You know… the problem is that the radical right wing has been attacking We the People of the United States of America on so many fronts that it is almost impossible to pick one as the most important.
There are those that will say the war. Can’t argue with that. It is a life and death issue. There are those that will say torture. Can’t argue with that either. It is a severe and repugnant crime being committed in our names and it must stop now. There are those that say it is the related and encompassing issue of civil liberties… including Guantanamo Bay, Abu Ghraib, the CIA gulag, Bagram Airbase, and including the treatment of American citizens such as Jose Padilla and others as if The Constitution doesn’t apply to them simply on the Presidents say-so. Can’t argue with that. If the President gets to say when The Constitution applies and when it doesn’t then it is effectively a dead constitution.
Then there is poverty. The FEMA/Katrina disaster ripped the cover off America’s dirty little secret of poverty and the massive disparity between the have’s and the have-not’s. How can we allow such things in this the world’s richest country? People died in this disaster for no other reason then they were poor. Fact of the matter is that happens everyday. Katrina and the incompetence of FEMA simply forced us as a nation to watch it happen instead of looking away like we usually do. This is a daily life and death issue that permeates so many of our other problems like crime, violence, and drugs. It is a root cause problem. How can it not be number one?
And what about health care? 43… no, 45+ million now without even basic health care in America? Absurd! And those of us that do have health care are watching our costs rising every year. And if we or family members have chronic illnesses or, in many places, mental health issues, even those of us with health insurance are going bankrupt trying to cover the costs that our inadequate health insurance policies don’t cover. Bird Flu? Pah! How about basic health care for all so that epidemics are easy to stop in their tracks. How about preventive health care. Neo-natal health care. How about mental health care for all that need it so that our largest prison system in the world doesn’t continue to be a massive humanitarian crime itself since it is being used as a way to lock away the mentally ill and drug addicted rather than deal with the real root cause problems. How can millions and millions being untreated not be number one? How can lost productivity because of it and the rising cost for the rest of us because of it and the increased chance of epidemic because of it… not be number one?
And there are bread and butter issues like jobs and education. Want to reduce crime and drug addiction? How about providing quality educations and quality job opportunities for all. Another day to day, number one issue.
And what good does any of this do us if we are busily killing off our environment? If we can’t breath the air, drink the water, eat the fish or animals or safely grow the food then what does the rest matter? If our low coastal lands are going to flood anyhow and this is a long term problem/project that needs addressing now in order to solve it then how can it not be number one?
And what about women? And race? And GLBT? Civil Rights in other words? How can we claim to be leaders of the world and purveyors of freedom if we do not treat all our citizens with equality and dignity and the freedom to be who they are? In America there are no second class citizens, right? Right?
And what about our elections? Gerrymandering? Everyone with the right to vote? All votes counted? Machines and people that do the counting being trustworthy? Everyone, no matter how humble, having a chance to run for office? Or campaign finance? How come it is becoming increasingly the case that only millionaires can afford to run for office and it is those with that sort of money that can buy the attention and influence of our government and elected officials? This is a government of the people not the wealthy few. How can we hope to have a government that addresses the needs of the people (see everything above) if it represents only the plutocratic and corporate few? How can anything else be number one in front of this?
And what about honesty? And integrity? And the rule of law applying to everyone? Or the rules of Congress and the Senate for that matter? How can laws benefiting the people be passed if house and senate rules can be suspended at will by the plutocratic few in order to ensure that they get their way?
Oh yeah… and what about terrorism and anti-Americanism? While we are struggling to ensure democracy and freedom at home and to end a disaster of a war that is destroying American credibility and security… what about actually doing something to catch the folks that really did attack us? And what about working with the world community to solve some of the problems that create those sorts of fanatics and that sort of despair in the first place?
Which of these are number one?
I’m sure I left out some equally valid number one’s too. I can’t argue with anyone that says one of these or something else is number one. Most of them are life and death issues. Many of them deal with the stability or sanctity of what we like to call the American Way of Life, our Constitution and the freedoms we hold dear.
For me, I have chosen to concentrate on the electoral issues as coming first. We need to ensure that our government becomes once again, of, by, and for the people. Without that we are screwed on the rest of the stuff.
But there is no number one issue. Do we ignore this war while we solve our electoral problems? People die and or security continues to deteriorate if we do that.
No, this battle with the right wing must be fought on many levels all at once. It requires each of us to do what we can on whatever issue(s) we can with whatever we have available to us wherever we are.
For you as a candidate it is a matter, partially, of determining which of these issues to campaign on, which will get you elected. As a potential Congressman it is also, partially, a matter of which can you be effective on. Where can you make a difference? After polling us and, most importantly, the people of your district, you will have to make these determinations.
Frankly, we all must. Where can we be most effective? Which is the most pressing for us personally? What opportunities present themselves to us? We can’t do it all as individuals but each of us collectively doing what we can where we can with what and who we have to work with, can and will get it done.
We have the power. Now it is time to exercise it.