2008 Fall Editorial - Questions for the Next President
Some Questions for The Next President
Neighbors For Peace has multiple commitments. Besides working to end war and occupation in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Palestine, we work on issues of social justice and civil liberties. Since peace and justice cannot exist in the world when private interests suppress the public good, it matters whether our elected officials truly work in the interest of their constituents.
Most U.S. citizens know that radical Christian groups are determining policies on abortion rights, AIDS prevention, and sex education. These policies will likely move in a more liberal direction if Democrats take the White House in 2008. The news-consuming public is also familiar with the Bush Administration’s ties to big business, especially the oil industry. Is that public also aware that while Chevron and Halliburton may lose their place at the front of the Corporate Welfare line, the Military Industrial Complex as a whole will lose very little?
Thanks to this administration’s excessive spending, the private contractors hired by the U.S. military and the Pentagon have opened a black hole of unmonitored transactions. The U.S. taxpayer cannot afford this. What have our presidential hopefuls said about this bleeding of the U.S. treasury? What will they do about our trillion dollar foreign debt? Who will be the new Blackwater and Boeing? Will Democrats, if they take control, stop outsourcing government functions to the private sector?
Democrats’ past voting record prove they will not seek peace in the Middle East. For most of the Arab world, Israel’s occupation of Palestine remains the prime obstacle to regional stability. Yet this occupation is still financially and politically supported by both the Democratically controlled U.S. Congress and the Republican Administration. The Israeli government is the largest recipient of U.S. military aid. And the lip service the U.S. government pays to a “two-state” solution is undermined by their refusal to deal with the democratically elected Hamas government. If Clinton or Obama take the White House, how would our stance on Israel change? Neither candidate has brought attention to the suffering of Palestinians in Gaza.. More importantly, both candidates take money from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC.)
Will the next president allow our mass media to remain under the control of the juggernauts now monopolizing print and electronic news? Microsoft, Google, AT&T, Time Warner and Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp will seek more control over how we communicate. They will censor news, ideas and opinions that challenge the validity of their narratives.
As for labor and health issues, WalMart, notorious for employee exploitation and abuse worldwide, is a top contributor to Hillary Clinton’s campaign. So are many of the big HMO Companies that oppose government-funded health insurance. Many of Clinton’s donors see her original stance for Universal Healthcare as bad for their business. Do the candidates support Universal Healthcare or a watered down plan that keeps Insurance Companies in control of patient care?
According to the corporate media, the most important role our next president will play is as “Protector of the Free World.” So it comes as no surprise that most of the candidates, regardless of party, will continue the “War on Terror” to promote pervasive distrust and suspicion. Those with foreign accents and foreign names, who view the Bible as just another book or don’t wear clothes from the local mall ensure long life for the Department of Homeland Security.
The NSA’s domestic surveillance of citizens and non-citizens is a disturbing shift from democracy. What is more disturbing is that telecom companies like AT&T illegally and secretly share private citizens’ information with the NSA. While deploring the NSA activity, do the Democratic candidates actually plan to stop this spying? What candidate talks of repealing the Patriot Act or the even more odious Military Commissions Act? Which one speaks candidly about our increasing loss of freedom or reversing the Bush Administration’s extra-Constitutional executive orders and signing statements? Will they continue its trend of threatening Muslims, peace activists, dissidents and lawyers who fight for civil liberties?
The congressional hearings being conducted on domestic spying and the Justice Department’s politically motivated hirings and firings seem to show a willingness to confront corruption. But when Alberto Gonzales’ blatant perjury made headlines, why did we only hear lukewarm admonitions and threats? Is there no real desire among any of them to stand against outrageous corruption occurring in the executive branch? Is the only goal the 2008 elections? Could it be that the Democrats want to retain the imperial powers that Bush has assumed for the Presidency?
Two years after Hurricane Katrina, weather experts predict more Katrinas and other global warming.-related environmental disasters. Candidates play lip service to curbing the causes of global warming by framing it as a consumer issue, not a political one. In the meantime, climate changes continue to devastate the planet and affect vulnerable populations. But changing our light bulbs and recycling waste won’t offset the pollution created by the manufacture and use of airplanes and cars. Will the next president substantially fine Oil Companies and require them to clean up their spills and waste quickly? Will they deny them recourse to the courts as a stalling tactic? Will they stop logging and timber companies from devastating old growth forests?
Do the presidential candidates address the devastating poverty that millions all over the world face because of so-called “free” trade and globalization? U.S.-backed foreign investment means gross human rights violations by the targeted country’s government, economic exploitation of workers, theft of natural resources and small farmers’ inability to sell their crops. With very few exceptions, we do not hear any campaign promises from the candidates about ending NAFTA and CAFTA, nor any other multilateral agreements the U.S. makes to ensure their favorite corporations dominate a global market.
Over the past year, The Neighbors’ Times has addressed issues that few of the candidates care to discuss. Besides Dennis Kucinich, who has called for the Impeachment of Dick Cheney? Will they promote a war on Iran? How will they protect Internet freedom, or stop ever-growing media monopolies? Do we hear them discuss the suffering in the Congo? How will they resolve the trillion dollar income shift that moves money to the top 1% of the population away from the rest of us? Their answers to those issues would reflect who they truly represent. And if we are to have a democracy, they need to be addressed. Finally, what does it say about this country’s future if these topics remain off limits for public discussion?
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