I just donated ten dollars to Francine Busby for Congress. It's not alot, but it is what I could afford to give right now. After all, I'm only a high school student with a part-time job. I hope, even with only six days left in the race, that this money can be combined with other ten dollar contributions from people all across the country so that we can get Busby elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, send a message to the NRCC that the netroots is serious, and show the American people that Democrats are ready to lead in every district, in every state, all across the country.
I generally find that most people, when voting for any elected position, usually reach for an idea rather than a person. Therefore, when you find a candidate that really sticks out, one that you can admire and feel good about voting for, you have to, have to, have to attach yourselves to them like glue. There are so many qualities in Busby that it is hard to imagine how they are all wrapped up into one. In a deep red district of California, she's taken some unpopular positions because those are her principles and she will get elected on them or defeated on them.
On healthcare, she wants to make sure employers have the tax credits that will help them with the cost of insuring all their employees. She wants to help families by letting them deduct some insurance premiums off their tax bill. She's giving the tools to small businesses to get in on the insurance deals that big corporations get so that they can lower the cost of company healthcare. And, most of all, she is steadfastly against the radical rights attack on science regarding stem cell research.
On education, she is just as progressive. She wants to reform and fund No Child Left Behind, not because that is what all politicians say, but because she has a real plan to do it and it is in the country's best interest we have a forward-looking education policy. And when she means she'll help kids get the money to go to college, and reverse some of the most disasterous higher education policies put in place by this Congress, she means she'll do it.
On the debt, on Iraq, on the environment, on terrorism, on congressional ethics, on the economy and on Social Security, Francine Busby is a candidate that the Democratic Party can be proud of, and if my ten dollars goes toward helping that cause, then I'm right there with her.
That's my pitch. With six days left, there aren't alot of other options.
What could you use that ten dollars for? Maybe you have to spend it on health insurance, or gas, or putting your kid through college, I can understand that. But if you have the ten dollars in your wallet, and you are thinking "Maybe I'll get a pizza tonight"... please, reconsider. Your ten dollars, and my ten dollars and the ten dollars of everyone across the netroots and propel a real, solid progressive to Congress in Francine Busby.