Re: Kerry vs Bush
I agree, JB. I would also like to discuss policies and directions in a positive manner. I posted this in a different thread, but I stick with it.<br /><br />And while some of the items may well be difficult to achieve, it is worth the effort. And if strength of military was the most important thing in fighting terrorism, Israel would have eliminated terrorism, at least against them, years ago. It takes more than that--not to say that having a strong military is not important, but it takes a whole lot more than that to be effective...<br /><br />At any rate:<br /><br />Just a few of the things that need to be done differently:<br /><br />1. We need to build a real international coalition to attempt to solve the problems that we have created in the Middle East. We need to rejoin the world community, and drop the arrogant cowboy "My way or no way" in our foreign policy. that is going to take a fundamentally different direction, and different attitude.<br />There is common ground amoung our European allies that we can find to achieve a common goal in Iraq, and other places, and share the costs and responsibilities, and we need to work to find that--It won't happen when we feel compelled to announce to the press, as Wolfowitz did, that none of the countries that did not support us (and of course it turned out they were correct in their assessment) will get any contracts to rebuild Iraq.<br />Even if that is the policy we want to wrongly follow, there are ways to do it diplomatically, and not with such an arrogant press release.<br /><br />2. We need to enforce and improve the clear air act and the environment, and not trash it as this administration is doing. Let's lead the world in environmental technology--it is good for the economy and good for the environment--and trash this clear skies initiative that trades a few nebulous short term corporate gains for any long term improvement.<br /><br />3. We need to create tax incentives for companies that create jobs here, and disincentives for companies to move headquarters offshore to a PO Box simply to avoid paying taxes.<br /><br />4. We need to revamp the tax policy to get this country's fiscal house in order--Scrap the huge tax cuts for the wealthy that do nothing to stimulate the economy, and offer more tax benefits to the middle class, including some payroll tax relief, that will stimulate the economy.<br /><br />5. Drop some of the irresponsible trade restrictions, like the softwood tarriff against Canada, that goes a long way to angering our closest and biggest trading partner, Canada, at the expense of average Americans and Canadians, for the benefit of a few large timber companies.<br /><br />6. Leave the constitution alone-It has served us well for 200+ years and doesn't need to be changed just to attract the votes of a few religious zealots.<br /><br />7 Fix the health care system so that the current 40 million Americans uncovered now have some chance of some form of healthcare.<br /><br />That is of course, only a start--
