jgardn's Journal: What does John Kerry stand for?

I've been following the issues closely. Any news article about Bush or Kerry is one that I've read. Every day, I look at the polls and the current issues. I can't tell if it is raining or not but I can tell you how many points Bush is up nationwide or even how many states they have locked in and how many electorate votes that counts for.

This is what Bush stands for:
(1) Pre-emption. Rather than let the terrorists strike first and then respond, we will hunt them actively and secure our nation first.

(2) Middle class wealth. Cutting taxes to the upper and middle class spur economic growth. (You can't cut taxes to the lower 50% because they don't *pay* taxes.) Home ownership among the middle class, especially among minorities is a priority. Also, entrepeneurship and investment is a priority.

(3) Social security reform. People, especially the poor and middle class, should be able to invest their social security money in the market. They will get a lot better return and they should fund their own retirement. Otherwise, SS will go bankrupt.

(4) Medicare. We should take care of our elders, but we should do so intelligently. Increasing the benefits while increasing the competition in this sector will solve a lot of problems.

(5) Regulations. In general, industry and the citizenry should have fewer regulations, not more. Government should partner with business and the citizens to get community responsibilities taken care of. Rather than taking an adverserial role, government should encourage cooperation.

(6) Keeping state out of religion. We shouldn't have a wall between church and state. The state should stay out of religion, but we welcome religious people and their contributions to society. Fact is that they are better equipped to help the homeless and abused than uncaring government officials.

(7) Tort reform. The law system has become like a slot machine. Lawyers are taking home the prize pots, leaving the truly deserving penniless. There should be limits on how much damages can be obtained, and there should be limits on how much of that can go to the lawyers. We need a less litigious society, not a more litigious society. Litigation harms progress when it is abused.

(8) Calming the tone in Washington. We all have our views. We all want to express those views. But we have to be civil and polite to one another. Bush went out of his way to get Democrat priorities passed, even at the offense of his base. He is trying hard to reach out and bring the vitriol back down to sane levels. Just because we disagree we shouldn't hate each other. We have plenty of that coming at us from our real enemies.

(9) Real education reform. School choice. The poorest students are stuck in schools that are failing. We should give them an opportunity to get the same education that John Kerry and George Bush received. Rather than dump money into a system that fails, we should dump money into systems that are working. High standards will help more students be more successful. Even if they don't obtain those standards, it will be better for having tried it. Standardized tests will give us metrics to measure the success or failure of schools and compare the rich areas with the poor areas. It will help parents and teachers and administrators make better decisions on what subjects are weak and strong.

(10) Judicial reform. We need strict contructionalists on the bench, or judges who will not rewrite law based on the political mood of the day. The Supreme Court and federal courts must protect the constitution, and subordinate themselves to the laws rightfully passed by the congress and signed by the president. The supreme court must respect the rights of the individual and states. Judges should be impartial, relying only on the law as written.

Now for what John Kerry believes in. I'm leaving out all the waffle issues where it is ambiguous.

(1) Reactive foreign politics. We can't act until acted upon, and we shouldn't respond to terrorists until we have been harmed. We should only respond in kind - eye for and eye.

(2) A kinder, gentler war on terror. If we weren't so mean to the people who are trying to kill us, maybe they wouldn't want to kill us as much.

(3) Putting Europe and China in control of our foreign policy. By turning the most important national decisions over to the UN, where France, Germany, Russia, and China have veto power, we will be helping to make the world kinder and safer because America will be bound down from acting unilaterally.

(4) Tax and punish the rich. Even though they contribute more money to charities and do more to help the poor than the poor and middle class do, and even though everyone in the middle and poor classes work for the rich, if we punished them for being so rich we would be better off. We should take that money and give it to the poor, funnelling a large chunk into the proper "authorities".

(5) Criticizing opponents, trying to shut down contrarian views. People who say things that hurt should not be allowed to express those opinions. Case in point is the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. Because what they have to say may be true, we have to shut them up by seeking injunctions to prevent them from exercising their first amendment rights.

(6) Appointing judges who feel that it is okay to murder children (in John Kerry's view), and protecting the right to murder innocent, unborn children. Appointing judges who will legislate from the bench on issues such as Gay Marriage, the right of the people to pass laws, and the right of the people to hold their government accountable.

(7) Non-reform of education. We must keep doing the same thing we are doing, to protect the teacher's jobs and because it is unfair to help the poor get ahead with a good education.

(8) Race baiting. By calling the Republicans names, and encouraging the black people to hate white people, we will help calm the tone of politics and encourage people to get along.

These are the views that I see John Kerry being consistant on. Now do you see why I am voting for Bush?