For a change, let's not look at candidates but at issues

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

For that's what it all comes down to. People support one candidate or another based upon their stands on certain issues. I'm curious to know what your take is on the following issues:

1. Iraq--what do we do there? Withdraw? How soon? Stay? How long?

2. Health Care--mandated that you get it from insurance companies? Medicare for all? Something else?

3. Economy--What do we do about NAFTA? Job outsourcing? Corporations running amok?

4. Environment--How do we address the problems of global warming, pollution, etc?

5. Your Concerns not listed here-please let us know if there is another issue that is very important to you.


Thanks for taking the time to reply. I'm really curious to find out how close-or how different-people's stands on these issues are.

[rucky]

1. Environment:

There's a TON of work the government needs to do: from tighter standards to stepped-up enforcement. research on several alternatives and cutting the subsidies and power of big oil.

BUT: The #1 thing we must do is consume less - on a household level. I don't see how a president can influence that, other than putting the message out there. There's not a single candidate who's putting that message front-and-center. It wouldn't win anybody an election by asking an already-squeezed electorate to make more sacrifices - they're looking for relief, not another "burden."

The leader we need for the environment must understand how the environment is tied into our economy, the war, and the corporate influence on policy. They must be straight with the american people, and inspirational enough to convince people to do their part.

I think I just described Al Gore, but what can you do?

Thanks for the thread, btw.

[michreject]

2. You forgot gun control

The silence by the front runners is deafening.

[Toots]

3. Why not bring up Gay Marriage and abortion as well

You want to put Republican "Wedge Issues" into the discussion why leave out so many?

[bryant69]

6. They are wedge issues because people feel about them strongly

I don't particularly care about gun control, and neither Gay Marriage and Abortion are deal breakers for me; but they are for some people.

Bryant
Check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

[michreject]

11. Because gun control is a MAJOR for me...nt

[robcon]

4. I disagree strongly with your premise.

You wrote: "People support one candidate or another based upon their stands on certain issues."

The vast majority of voters support one candidate over others based on trust, not issues. Voters know that every president has faced unknown and unknowable events every month of a presidency, and trusting someone to react 'correctly' has little to do with issues and nothing to do with legislative plans. And that trust is far, far, more important than policies or issues announced by the candidates.

Legislation is created by Congress, not the president. For example EVERY Democratic candidate will sign the health reform law that the Democratic Congress passes. Individual candidates' "plans" for health coverage are meaningless. No Democratic President will veto what the Democratic-led Congress will pass.

edit:spell

[pocoloco]

5. Not so, single issue voters got us into this mess.

Gun control, abortion, gay rights.

[unapatriciated]

7. Yes and maybe a single issue of Peace

can get us on the right path again.

[robcon]

8. Certainly some issues are important to some voters.

You can see that in the different speeches candidates make when speaking to elderly citizens vs. college students, for example.

But the vast majority of Americans have no wedge issues - see Giuliani's support among anti-abortion Republicans. They like his leadership or decisiveness, or are fooled by his dictatorial tendencies. All are related to trust.

When the choices are only two: Republican or Democrat, for president, it is trust, not issues, that is far more important than any other variable, and that wins over the vast independent, non-aligned, or middle-of-the-road, voter.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

13. I respectfully disagree

I can trust Republican candidates to follow a course that is dictated by their corporate masters. I cab even trust Bush to do his best to undermine the Constitution. These actions are not correct as far as I'm concerned. And my concerns are based on issues--economics from the people's point of view and the return of Constitutional government.

[cascadiance]

9. Corporate control over government and campaign finance reform!

We simply need public campaign financing to start us on the path of getting us free from corporate control over our government. That will help us solve a lot of the other issues mentioned here. To me that is THE most important issue in this election.

[CorpGovActivist]

10. Blind Taste Test? "Ewwww! I Find This Candidate Bitter and the Flavor...

... is hard to pin down!"

; )

All kidding aside, it would be interesting to see a group strip out all identifiers, cross-matrix the candidates' positions (as declared on their respective websites), and then ask voters to pick blindly.

- Dave

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

14. I think that is an excellent idea

it would be enlightening to many, I think. I've done quizzes based upon issues, and afterwards they gave me a list of candidates who most closely align with my positions. I can't find the links to these quizzes right now, though.

[CorpGovActivist]

16. A Well-Respected Org - Or a New One, Looking to Make a Name for Itself - Could...

... do this each cycle.

- Dave

[LWolf]

12. You've listed most of my top issues.

1. I not only want out of Iraq, I want a nation that will not engage in war as a tool of international or corporate policy. Ever.

2. Health care as a right: equal access to high quality health care for every single person. Single-payer, not-for-profit, to include mental health, dental, vision, wellness, and alternative, non-western disciplines.

3. No corporate person hood, a living wage, trade agreements based on labor and environmental standards. A WPA (or WGA!) type program to guarantee a job for every single person who wants one.

4. No factory farms, no gmo crops or livestock; sustainable agriculture, sustainable energy sources. A re-worked tax and deduction system. Instead of deductions for more dependents, the biggest deduction goes to the childless person, a decent deduction to the person with one child, a neutral (no deduction, no tax) status for people with 2 children, and an added tax for every child beyond two. Truly reducing the carbon footprint in the long term will take population reduction.

5. The end of privatization of all public services.

6. Fair elections -see http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=3915566&mesg_id=3915770

7. Some sort of fairness doctrine.

8. Education: no more NCLB, universal parent ed and pre-school through trade school or college, and the end of factory schools, with education restructured to support what we know about the way people really learn.

That's enough to start with!

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

15. You and I back the same issues

you did an excellent job articulating them. Now how to we go about making sure the eventual nominee for our party listens to these concerns about these issues?

[LWolf]

17. Good question.

I would start as soon as the nomination is locked up with an avalanche of hand-written letters about these issues.

To the candidate, with a cc to my own reps, to party "leaders" and to committee members in Congress.

I can write a letter a day. All the way through the inauguration.

A LTTE campaign, as well.

What else?

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

18. A lot depends upon who the nominee is

their style and management team would let you know how best to get their attention.

[RufusTFirefly]

19. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!

I am just sooo tired of all the emphasis on polling and funding and then the back and forth about who's "attacking" whom.
There are some serious, serious problems we have to address.
Furthermore, with this election we have an opportunity to chart a new course for America.
We can't rely on the MSM (and sadly, many of the boosters of the front runners) to shine the spotlight on issues.

I'll add a sub-issue and an issue

1a. Iraq Hydrocarbon Law: This is blackmail pure and simple designed to strong-arm the Iraqi government into turning over the bulk of its oil resources to outside multinationals. To my knowledge, only one candidate -- Dennis Kucinich -- has addressed this head on. Many of the other candidates have chastised the Iraqi Parliament for not meeting its "benchmarks" without elaborating on what the problem is. They don't want to give away their primary source of wealth to Big Oil!

6. Civil Liberties -- The Constitution is in serious jeopardy. Threats to due process, free speech, equal protection, the separation of church and state (implicit in the establishment and free exercise clauses of the First Amendment), and privacy are undermining the very fabric of this country. Which candidates are speaking out against this ominous deterioration and which have mapped out concrete plans for Constitutional restoration. After all, without the Constitution the country doesn't exist.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

21. Great additions

I wasn't aware of the Hydrocarbon Law, though I did know the US was trying to make Iraq give over the oil to the multi-nationals. Glad to have the correct term for it.

And yes, civil liberties and the Constitution are a must.

[RufusTFirefly]

20. We now return you to the tabloid version of democracy

Pretty sad how inflammatory threads go on and on while this one, which actually deals with substance, gathers dust.

Thanks for trying, ayeshahaqqiqa.

In the mean time, I'll add another sub-issue:

3a. Media consolidation. What (if anything) would each candidate say or do about the rapidly consolidating media outlets in this country? As an historical note, it's important to remember that the United States Postal Service was initially created, not so people could write letters, but so newspapers could be sent out cheaply to the citizens of the new country. Why? Because the Founding Fathers realized that an informed citizenry was essential to the maintenance of a healthy democracy.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

22. Hey, at least you folks have put this on the Greatest Page

I think that's only the second time that's happened to me.

Perhaps after the dust of the primaries has settled, it will be a good idea to come back to this topic again. Then we can brainstorm on how best to let our nominee know our feelings about these matters.

[robbedvoter]

23. Election reform - paper ballots, stop stealing elections, end colleges

2. Civil rights
3. Separation church/state
4. Justice/responsibility for the criminals from this administration (I can dream, no?)