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Our endorsement of a well-qualified candidate and his policies

The war on terror and the quagmire in Iraq hang over this presidential election like the proverbial 800-pound gorilla. While President Bush is to be commended for his steadfast leadership in the days following Sept. 11, 2001, and for removing the Al-Qaeda-harboring Taliban regime in Afghanistan, Sen. Kerry has the better plan for continuing to prosecute the war on terror and for winning the peace in Iraq.

It is simplistic to believe that breaking up Al-Qaeda and capturing or killing Osama bin Laden will end terrorism, but a renewed focus on them is certainly warranted. Sen. Kerry’s plan to add two divisions (approximately 40,000 soldiers) to the army, to double the size of our special forces and to work with foreign governments to bring terrorists to justice is a better course of action than simply continuing President Bush’s aggressive, unilateral approach. Moreover, Sen. Kerry’s emphasis on statesmanship and consensus building is precisely what is needed, not only in Iraq, but to renew the broader Middle East peace initiative.

On the domestic front, Sen. Kerry’s policies on the environment are far preferable to those of President Bush. Sen. Kerry will push higher gas mileage standards and clean air initiatives. He is on record stating that he will support a policy of becoming independent of Middle East oil within 10 years, and will reengage the international community in the development of a climate change strategy. Significantly, unlike President Bush, he is against drilling in the Arctic wildlife refuge.

On education, Sen. Kerry is proposing $3.2 billion for high school students that would help them pay for college tuition. He opposes private education vouchers and, while backing tougher school standards, he acknowledges that the emphasis should not be placed solely on test scores, which has been a fundamental fallacy of President Bush’s No Child Left Behind Act.

Sen. Kerry has vowed to repeal the tax cuts for the richest 1 percent of Americans (those making more than $200,000 annually) but has pledged to keep the middle class tax cuts in place. He plans on implementing an aggressive jobs-creation plan, vowing to create 3 million jobs in 500 days through highway and school construction, pollution control and federally funded energy projects.

While President Bush has done little to curb violent crime in America, Sen. Kerry favors a ban on assault weapons and requiring background checks at gun shows.

With regard to healthcare, Sen. Kerry supports increased federal funding of stem-cell research, and vows to insure every child by providing subsidies for children, small companies and the unemployed. His plan also calls for the government to help pay for catastrophic medical costs in certain circumstances, a program that should help keep individual health insurance premiums down.

Sen. Kerry recognizes the need to return to fiscal sanity and has vowed to cut the deficit by half during his first term. He opposes President Bush’s reckless plan to privatize Social Security and favors requiring companies to switch to cheaper community pension plans that will offer retiring workers the choice of staying with the company plan.

Sen. Kerry supports a woman’s right to an abortion and, with four possible appointments to the Supreme Court in the next four years, will ensure that Roe v. Wade will not be overturned.

As a former prosecutor, Sen. Kerry opposes the death penalty except in cases of international or domestic terrorism. This distinction disproves his critics’ assertion that he does not recognize that the war on terror is more than simply a law enforcement issue.

Sen. Kerry’s plan to naturalize immigrants who have been in the country and stayed out of trouble for five years is sound, and his vow to place all trade deals under 120-day review is much needed. His push for environmental and labor standards in all new trade deals and for requiring companies to provide notice before sending jobs overseas are also welcome.

A graduate of Yale University and of the Boston College School of Law, Sen. Kerry has spent his entire adult life constructing the foundation on which a successful presidency can be built. Much has been made of his service to our country during the Vietnam War, but equally courageous was his fight to end that war once he returned. After serving as the Middlesex County, Mass., prosecutor, Sen. Kerry became Massachusetts’ lieutenant governor for two years prior to winning a seat in the United States Senate in 1985. Since that time, Sen. Kerry has built a distinguished record in the Senate, with a reputation for seeking to understand the nuances of issues and for fighting against corruption and injustice.

For all of those reasons, we believe that Sen. Kerry is well qualified for the position and will make an outstanding president.

October 21, 2004 • Vol. 14, No. 43 © 2004 Metro Pulse