The 2004 election is one of the most critical of our time. The United States is fighting a new type of war, one that has affected our streets in a way not known since the Civil War. Soldiers wearing American uniforms are on the ground in Afghanistan and Iraq, even though the Senate has not declared war against either country. Also, a Census Bureau report released Thursday, August 25, 2004 states that 1.3 million new people are below the poverty line for income.

In 2001, when President Bush took office, there was a budget surplus. In 2005 it is being forecast that the deficit will reach $521 billion. President Bush approved those deficits in a time of recession, war and tax cuts. The President has also proposed that Congress limit discretionary spending to a 0.5% increase on all programs except defense and homeland security next year. Some programs such as the No Child Left Behind initiative have not been funded at all. Others such as legal services for the elderly and poor have been drastically cut.

When President Bush took office, 41.2 million Americans were without some form of health insurance. The number in 2002, the latest year for which the Census Bureau has figures, is 43.6 million American men, women and children. President Bush and Congress did push through a Medicare drug benefit. However, when those changes were first debated, costs were estimated at $395 billion over ten years. The numbers are now more correct: an estimated $534 billion over 10 years. Costs continue to rise for those persons who do have health insurance.

In short, many issues face the United States—and whoever wins the election. John Kerry and his running mate, John Edwards, are the Democratic nominees. Below are some reasons why we support John Kerry and John Edwards.

Education
John Kerry’s plan for improving education in this country begins in the home. He believes parents are the child’s first teachers and that strong parents build strong families. Much of the Democratic platform seeks to help families gain the necessary tools to build that strong foundation. Education is the very core of that plan.

A universal preschool program, including full funding of the Head Start Program.
Although he also supports restraints on the growth of domestic discretionary spending (outside homeland security) to the rate of inflation, Kerry advocates exempting education spending from this cap.

Full funding for the mandates of No Child Left Behind.
John Kerry believes in and voted for the concept of NCLB. In his acceptance speech to the Democratic National Convention he said, "I am determined that we stop being a nation content to spend $50,000 a year to keep a young person in prison for the rest of their life - when we could invest $10,000 to give them Head Start, Early Start, Smart Start, the best possible start in life."

Well-educated children are formed in part by good teachers.
John Kerry wants to raise teacher pay in the schools and for subjects where great teachers are in the shortest supply. He will provide funds for professional development, mentoring programs for new teachers and higher pay for teachers who have extra skills and excel in helping children learn. He understands teachers are professionals and wants to work with those unions to develop appropriate measures for student learning and teacher effectiveness, as well as developing fast and fair procedures for improving or removing teachers who do not perform well. Kerry has won endorsement from the National Federation of Teachers and the NEA.

A more rigorous high school curriculum, so students are better prepared to meet today’s challenges.
When schools partner with science based businesses and colleges, math and science courses can only improve. Parents, civic and faith-based organizations will be asked to help with tutoring and mentoring programs. Investing in after school programs will offer students the extra help they need to graduate. Kerry is guided by a simple rule: flexibility in exchange for tangible results.

All people should have the ability to obtain an education beyond high school.
The centerpiece of John Kerry’s plan for post-secondary education is a college opportunity tax cut for middle class families, a tax credit of $4,000 for all four years of college, simplifying the student aid process, offering states $10 billion for higher education if they keep college tuition in line with inflation. Most importantly, Kerry wants to offer young people the opportunity to pay for college by serving our country for two years.

Lifelong learning opportunities keep families and the economy moving forward. There are many ways to help displaced workers and those that need additional training. One of John Kerry’s ideas is the creation of a New Teacher Corps with scholarships and loan forgiveness for college graduates who spend at least four years teaching at a high-need school. Comparable support will be provided for midcareer professionals, such as veterans or engineers, who become teachers at these schools.

Kerry wants to pay for his educational plans with an Education Trust Fund, a $200 billion fund that will be financed by repealing the Bush tax cuts for families earning more than $200,000 a year. This trust fund will ensure that new education programs authorized by Congress will be funded on a mandatory basis. At the same time, Kerry and Edwards intend the money to also help the United States along the path toward fully funding Education for All Handicapped Children’s Act (1972), to ensure that children with disabilities get the education they deserve.

"With John Kerry in the White House, America's public schools will have the support and leadership they need to thrive," Edward J. McElroy, secretary-treasurer of the American Federation of Teachers, said after offering Kerry the group's endorsement. "Senator Kerry keenly understands what public schools and teachers need to raise student achievement and set our children on the road to success," he said.

Health Care
One of John Kerry’s key platforms is health care. He wants to ensure that 95% of American adults and every American child have some form of health coverage. At first blush, the proposition sounds expensive. However, as any American who has ever dealt with a health care provider or system realizes, waste is a contributing factor to rising costs. Cutting waste must be a paramount goal. Most health care transactions cost $12 to $25 to process. On the other hand, banks process financial transactions for less than a penny. How? Information technology. Kerry wants to simplify and streamline administrative costs by giving technology bonuses to providers by use of that information technology. If an insurer wants to continue to provide Medicare and Medicaid coverage, it must use those less cumbersome systems.

Malpractice insurance premiums have forced some doctors to leave the practices they love. One of the hardest hit specialties is obstetrics and gynecology--some doctors have literally been forced to discontinue delivering babies because of skyrocketing insurance premiums. Other doctors have been forced to leave one state for another with lower insurance rates. John Kerry believes that one of the ways to bring malpractice premiums is for a specialist in malpractice claims first to examine the claim to see if it has legal merit (the standard in civil suits, such as medical malpractice is preponderance of the evidence, or whether the evidence shows by at least 51% that the malpractice probably happened). If a lawyer files three malpractice lawsuits, which are later found not to have legal merit, that lawyer cannot bring any new lawsuits for ten years. In other words, lawyers who do not think before they file lawsuits will be punished where it hurts: in the pocketbook.

Reductions in waste and malpractice lawsuits will go a long way toward making health care affordable for every American. In addition, Americans will finally be allowed to import safe prescription drugs from Canada. Drug companies will also be forced to end artificial barriers to generic drug competition, resulting in additional savings for Americans dependent on some form of medication for control of health problems.

Overall costs are estimated by an outside analyst to be $895 billion over 10 years, but 27 million more people will be covered by health insurance.

Jobs, the Economy and Taxes
President Bush says the economy is recovering. However, the President does not explain how the economy can be recovering and yet states like Ohio and Pennsylvania still lose jobs that are not being replaced. Moreover, the jobs which replaced many lost since September 11, 2001, are lower paying and without benefits. Many fathers and mothers now find it necessary to hold down two or three jobs just to replace the one, which at one time fed, clothed and housed their families.

John Kerry wants to eliminate all tax breaks which encourage companies to move jobs overseas—the source of many job losses—including a tax break which allows companies to defer paying taxes owed the United States from those corporations’ foreign income. Kerry will use the savings garnered to cut taxes for 99% of taxpaying corporations, which, in turn, should encourage job creation by those same corporations. He will also expand the New Jobs Tax Credit to include new jobs in manufacturing and other industries affected by outsourcing (moving jobs overseas) and small businesses.

President Bush and Congress enacted a tax cut which was supposed to lower taxes for most Americans. Unfortunately, things never work out as planned. Those families which make over $200,000 per year received the largest proportion of that tax break. John Kerry plans to repeal the tax cut for most families making over $200,000 per year. What sorts of changes may people expect? Only 5% of small business owners who make over $200,000 (Adjusted Gross Income) will see a change in their tax bill. On the other hand, a small business owner who hires one additional worker at a salary of $30,000 per year will see close to $3,000 tax savings.

Most Americans will not see their tax bills increase. Only those persons who make $200,000 per year or more will be affected.

Crime and Guns
In a time when America’s police officers find themselves with ever increasing responsibilities, the Bush Administration has slashed funding for the COPS program, enacted to put 100,000 extra police officers on the street, by over 90%. John Kerry and John Edwards see the fallacy in that thinking: the United States needs more, not fewer cops on the streets. To that end, Kerry intends to restore funding for the COPS program.

The national drug problem is a threat to safe and healthy communities in which to live and raise a family. John Kerry and John Edwards will aggressively target drugs at the source: drug traffickers and drug dealers, by funding and coordinating regional efforts to crack down on drug trafficking. Another arrow in the arsenal to fight drugs is adequate funding of drug prevention and treatment programs, including drug courts, which are having some success in preventing people who have used drugs from continuing to use them or relapsing.

Both John Kerry and John Edwards believe in the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution, which includes the right of law-abiding Americans to bear arms. However, with that right, as with all others rights with which we Americans are endowed, comes great responsibility. What sorts of measures encompass those responsibilities? Nothing draconian, nothing harsh. John Kerry simply wants to make sure that the gun laws on the books are enforced; make sure the loophole that guns purchased at gun shows are not subject to notification/ownership laws is closed; and extend the ban on assault weapons, which have only one purpose, to end human life.

Gang violence is another threat to healthy communities. Several cities have had success with a two-pronged approach: 1) zero tolerance to gang violence and strong enforcement of that attitude; and 2) positive alternatives to help young people caught in the gang mentality to get back on the right track and become contributing citizens. John Kerry and John Edwards want to see this successful plan translated to the entire United States.

The Military
In May of 2003, President Bush landed on an aircraft carrier and declared an end to the war in Iraq. It was not true then and is not true now. Nearly every day, the evening news or the morning newspaper notes another service member’s death somewhere in Iraq. Persons who wear the uniform of the United States military continue to face death and danger in Iraq without any worldwide assistance.

Several of the authors of this article have a vested interest in John Kerry’s plans for the military and the conflict in Iraq: their husbands wear the uniform of a branch of the United States military. Each person has an intimate knowledge of just how overburdened and overextended our troops are. How do we address new threats of terrorism and keep properly trained and equipped troops to ensure that the United States continues to train, arm and mobilize the world’s most powerful military?

Increase active duty troops.
Currently, eight of ten of the Army’s active duty combat divisions are either in Iraq, preparing to go to Iraq, or have just recently returned from Iraq. Typically, only one-third of the active Army would be deployed at one time. These are not typical times. However, under current deployment schedules, 93% of active duty combat brigades (31 of 33) will have been deployed by the end of summer 2004. In order to reduce this burden, the Bush administration is relying on the National Guard and Reserve to take up the slack (Guard and Reserve forces make up 38 to 42% of all forces deployed to Iraq); "stop-loss" orders, which mean that military personnel cannot retire if eligible, but must wait until their contracts expire; recalling members of the Individual Ready Reserve (the Bush Administration plans to activate about 80% of the 5000 persons who are “inactive” members of the military reserve) and extending tours. These temporary measures mean extra burden on troops and extra burden on families, especially reserve families with no relief or end in sight.

None of these measures has anything to do with the real problem: the United States does not have adequate personnel to continue its world-wide duties, let alone those in Iraq. John Kerry will add 40,000 additional active duty troops. Of those 40,000 additional troops, 3,500 active duty and 1,400 reserve Special Forces troops will be added. Special Forces troops have special, additional training which allow them to meet the new threats present in the new world. Special Forces troops have trained the Anti-Taliban forces in Afghanistan. An additional 500 active duty psychological operations personnel will be added.

In addition to troops, John Kerry has ideas about the hardware a well-trained, well-equipped military deserves. He believes the money being spent on an unproven missile defense is better spent elsewhere. Where should that money be invested?

Advanced communications and information technologies, both of which are vital to the military

Precision weapons, including directed energy weapons

Data fusion technology to enable the military to act more decisively because their awareness of a particular situation and assessment of intelligence is enhanced

New tactical communications that are critical to defeating an enemy whether he be a terrorist such as Usama bin Laden or an outlaw regime, such as Saddam Hussein’s "presidency."

Units which specialize in finding and destroying the most dangerous weapons of mass destruction before they can be used against any United States citizen, state or facility

But what about protecting the United States "from sea to shining sea?" John Kerry would like to see the National Guard make homeland security one of its primary missions. He would do this by assigning Guard units to a standing joint task force commanded by a National Guard General. That task force will have—and if necessary, execute—a national strategy of protecting the United States both by working with state and federal governments to respond in times of crisis. Some Guard units would continue their combat capabilities, but would also provide homeland security in such areas as: intelligence, first responder (firefighters, police officers, emergency medical technicians) security, and protection from chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear hazards.

Finally, those people returning from battle, those people who have risked their lives for all of us deserve our thanks and our continued support. John Kerry would require mandatory financing for veterans’ health care.

Conclusion
The challenges facing the nation—and the man we citizens elect as president—are many and varied. As the United States continues into the new millennium and a new world, we who support John Kerry believe that he and John Edwards provide the best chance for a strong America. For more information on any of John Kerry’s ideas, please go to www.johnkerry.com. Please follow the links along the right hand side of the website for more information.

This article was written by AmberH, Michelle and a Kentuckian for Kerry. They passionately believe in and proudly represent the Democrat side of the election.