The way I see it, I have six months to decide who to support in the presidential primaries. By then, I'll be volunteering for one of them. And if the candidate I pick doesn't do too well in the early primaries, I'll be volunteering for someone else by mid-February -- the way all the states are moving their primaries up, either the nomination will be all but sewn up by then or the contest will be down to only two or three candidates.
I see all the diaries here -- most for Obama or Edwards, a few for Richardson or Clinton, the occasional one for Kucinich or Dodd. And I see the virtual avalanche for Gore and some from diehard Clark supporters, but at the moment, neither of them is running for dogcatcher, let alone president. And after reading hundreds if not thousands of diaries here about the candidates, getting e-mails from their campaigns, watching the debates, reading the news, and tracking their positions on various issues to the best of my ability, I'm not convinced that any of the candidates stand head and shoulders above the rest. So I put it to you, those who have already chosen a candidate -- why should I support your candidate?
Here's what I need to be brought into the fold:
- Answers to the questions below -- and to be convinced that your candidate has the best answers overall of all the candidates.
- Evidence of leadership. It's not enough to vote the right way, or provide good sound bytes, or have the best plans. How is your candidate demonstrating that s/he has the requisite brains, toughness, intestinal fortitude, guts, and chutzpah to enact his/her plans?
- Evidence of integrity. It's not enough to demonstrate the leadership -- I want to know that if I'm going to give of my blood, sweat, and tears to help a candidate get elected president, that s/he is going to live up to his/her promises. Talk is cheap, but the lives of Americans and others that will be affected profoundly by the performance of the next president aren't.
My questions:
There are several issues on which I'd like to see some substance about the candidates, not just a few sound bytes or platitudes. I realize that the information is out there for some of the candidates on some of these positions, but most of what I've seen so far in general has been a lot of talk without much substance and with little evidence of a comprehensive plan. This is by no means a comprehensive list, but any candidate who wants my support has to be able to answer each of these questions:
Restoring the Constitution: What is your candidate doing about restoring habeas corpus? Restoring the checks and balances between the branches of government? End torture, warrantless wiretapping, and the out-of-control surveillance lists? What will s/he do as president to ensure that BushCo's abuses will never be repeated in a future administration? What will s/he do as president to ensure that all people -- no matter what their gender, race, religion, sexual orientation, country of origin, social class, or other master status -- will be treated equally under the law?
Iraq: What is your candidate doing to bring our soldiers home? What is your candidate doing to ensure that those soldiers forced to serve in this illegal, immoral, unnecessary war aren't doing so with inadequate equipment? What is your candidate doing to alleviate the suffering our wounded veterans sent home to a VA system so grossly mismanaged that it has proven itself incapable of caring for basic needs, let alone the needs of seriously injured and psychologically traumatized war veterans?
Public safety: Related to the war in Iraq, what is your candidate doing to ensure that all states' National Guards have all the equipment and personnel they need to protect their populations in the event of natural disasters? What is your candidate's plan to restore the FDA, EPA, CDC, NIH, and other federal institutions tasked with protecting public safety in one way or another to doing their jobs instead of advancing a private, cynical, political agenda?
Healthcare: Where does your candidate stand on universal healthcare? What is his/her plan to achieve it?
Energy and environmental policy: What is your candidate's plan to reduce our dependence on foreign oil, increase our country's energy efficiency and improve our infrastructure, improve fuel efficiency standards, improve public transportation, reduce global warming, etc.?
Governmental corruption: Will your candidate demand implementation of the reforms on which Democrats ran last year? What will your candidate do to end the imperial/unitary/fascist trend brought to the executive branch by the latest Republican abomination to occupy the Oval Office?
Election integrity: Will your candidate finally do something to restore the integrity of our democratic process? What will your candidate do about electronic vote stealing recording machines? Will your candidate guarantee a paper trail for all ballots? Will your candidate push for laws prohibiting the elected officials responsible for overseeing elections in a particular jurisdiction from chairing a candidate's campaign, or at least ensure proper oversight to ensure that they're not Harris-ing the system?
Reproductive rights: BushCo has appointed two extremist justices whose presence on the court has already resulted in greater restrictions on reproductive rights. The next president will likely have to select a replacement for one of the greatest SCOTUS justices of all time, Justice Stevens, and may also have to select one or two other new justices as well. Who does your candidate have in mind for potential openings on the Supreme Court? What kind of judges will your candidate appoint to the federal bench? Will your candidate promote legislation to reverse the damage caused during the BushCo years? What is your candidate's plan to ensure that a woman's right to choose will become enshrined in our nation's laws and the public's consciousness in a way that will far outlast his/her own administration? What will your client do to ensure that all women in our country have the right to have access to the birth control option they have decided upon with their doctors, and that their access won't be restricted by the whims of dominionist pharmacists?
The economy: Social Security still needs fixing -- what is your candidate's plan to fix it in a way that makes sense, rather than killing the program as BushCo is still trying to do? What is your candidate's position on outsourcing? Immigrant laborers? The minimum wage? What is your candidate going to do about BushCo's "Welfare for Billionaires and MNC's" program and their Office of Corporate Kleptocracy? What is your candidate going to do about the increasing tax burden on the poor and middle class? What is your candidate's plan to create new jobs (and keep old ones) that actually pay a living wage and provide the benefits Americans need to survive -- including affordable, high quality health insurance?
Education: What is your candidate going to do to make college affordable for all qualified applicants? What is your candidate going to do to make public schools about teaching again, rather than enriching Bush family members via high stakes testing? What is your candidate's plan to ensure that our students' test scores increase because they know and understand the material at an appropriate grade level, rather than because they were taught to beat the test? Will your candidate return federal funding for sex education that actually works, and take it away from the "abstinence only" programs whose participants are known to have sex earlier and with more partners than students in appropriate programs?
Again, this is hardly an exhaustive list of the issues that concern me, but it is fairly representative. I'm not a single-issue voter, and I'm not going to be convinced because your candidate has done particularly well on one or two issues if s/he is lagging behind on all the others.
I know some will say that no candidate can possibly lead on every issue, but I don't accept that. Your candidate wants to be President of the United States, and if s/he wins the job, s/he will have to lead on every issue. So to hell with consultants advising caution -- if your candidate wants my support, s/he is going to have to start acting like a president.