First and foremost the voter should analyze which presidential candidate is more likely to get our troops home sooner than later and to put an end to the wasteful spending on a foreign country’s infrastructure and nebulous political system. Further, the voter should probe whether the terror in Iraq is due to national insurgents or Al Qaeda and in either case what caused it and which candidate can best terminate this runaway train.
The voter should not consider the current foreign policy without questioning ways in which the candidates will deal with North Korea, Ir an, Israel and Palestine, Saudi Arabia, and forgotten Afghanistan. Moreover, multinational corporations are very much an integral facet of foreign policy and the candidates should show an acumen for keeping them in check, let alone what to do about undue dependence on Mideast oil.
The voter’s observations should not overlook the status of the quality of the US job market and look for answers from the candidates in how to improve the dignity and purchasing power of the nation’s labor force; and in a time of conflict making it essential to maintain a powerful industrial base able to mobilize on a dime in a crisis.
The voter should bring to mind the state of the nation’s health and decide which candidate is more apt in addressing the debacle of escalating health costs and the undeniable fact that taxpayers are carrying the load for the uninsured. Also the voter should expect the candidates to address the perennial disaster of one unable to apply for insurance because of pre-existent illness and those summarily losing insurance because of layoffs.
Homeland security should be on the voter’s agenda with respect to the extent of the Czar’s power to extend security at our ports, sports arenas, railways, bridges, tunnels, and trucking, along with greater funding to first responders in our major cities. Further, the voter should expect there be a ban on passenger planes and trains carrying cargo. Neither should the voter allow the candidates to avoid the matter of a super intelligence director coordinating all law enforcement agencies, nor the need for greater manpower and technology for border control.
The voter should demand that the candidates offer a plan in dramatically reducing the horrendous debt — generating debate on tax issues — that will otherwise be left to future generations to fight off foreclosures by foreign investors.
Next on the list is education: a hard reassessment of NCLB is in order, and the voter should expect a more holistic approach in depth rather than the narrow program of ferreting out “failing schools.”
The voter should demand a debate on the status of the armed services and whether a draft is in the making or an improvement in recruitment incentives.
The voter should also decide which candidate will improve or restrict free trade, particularly where US jobs are at stake.
As for cultural issues — gay marriage, abortion, gun control, school vouchers, decency code, religion and such — the voter should put them on the back burner for another time.
Copyright © 2004 Richard R. Kennedy All rights reserved. Revised: June 20, 2004.