TUESDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2004
ELECTIONS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
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Kerry presidency means change United States desperately needs
Four years later, we are all still waiting for the 'uniter, not a divider' that we were promised. Four years later, we are wondering where the largest budget surpluses in history went.
Four years later, we are in the midst of a conflict without solution, inside a war with no end.
The re-election campaign of President George W. Bush has been geared around a theme of 'more of the same', and that is exactly what we are afraid of. Thus, The University Daily Kansan, by a ratio of 2 to 1, heartily endorses his opponent, U.S. Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), for president of the United States.
While there are numerous issues that the editorial board of this paper noted in its criticism of the president, none speak so broadly as the absolute disengagement of Bush and his administration from the reality of current situations.
But the president says his No Child Left Behind Act is a cure for not just education but also lost jobs.
Schools across the country are being labeled as 'failing' because of absurd standards, causing much consternation among teachers, administrators, and parents.
Iraq is descending into chaos with each passing day, while reports continue to show that the administration was both misleading in its basis for war and alarmingly unprepared for the aftermath.
However the president, in every speech, says that conditions in Iraq are improving regardless of the news coming
The re-election campaign of President George W. Bush has been geared around a theme of 'more of the same', and that is exactly what we are afraid of.
Thus, The University Daily Kansan, by a ratio of 2 to 1. heartily endorses his opponent, U.S. Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), for president of the United States.
out of that country.
Despite the sizable portion of the American population that has objected to the USA PATRIOT Act from the moment it was passed, the president not only stresses its importance, but implores Congress to go further.
What these few examples only begin to illustrate is that beyond the differences in policy between the two candidates and their parties, is a fundamental divide in the very way that the president and the senator believe in carrying out the duties of the highest office in the land.
The outright secrecy and attitude of 'loyalty at all costs' that pervades this White House is not at all conducive to governing well.
To this administration, it is not the mistake that is condemned and punished, but the revealing of that mistake.
In all of its actions, the Bush administration seems to thrive on always having an enemy. Whether it is a terrorist mastermind or U.S. congressman the
administration blame its troubles on, it morphs difficulties abroad into a rationale for passing reactionary legislation here at home.
This atmosphere would not continue if Kerry were in the Oval Office.
A Kerry presidency will be remarkably more effective in reengaging with the same world and the same American population, that for those precious weeks and months after 9/11 was willing to help and fight in whatever capacity was asked of them.
Kerry would help rehabilitate the image of the United States, to ourselves and other nations, if only through the insistence on truth and transparency in government actions.
That the Bush administration has squandered significant and numerous opportunities on many issues is without doubt.
Kerry is a shot well worth taking.
Whether those same kinds of opportunities, should they present themselves, would be seized and capitalized upon by
In both his record and in interviews, Kerry has shown himself to have a considerably different and more advanced view of how to fight terrorism than this administration.
The process by which Kerry would proceed on this matter "engaging in thoughtful analysis, listening to multiple opinions, and displaying the capacity to learn from past events" is revealing, and comforting, in how he will make decisions in other areas of policy, both foreign and domestic.
Though reservations about Kerry are duly noted, "his deficit plan, with promises of rescinding only part of the Bush tax cuts, is likely unreasonable with these budget difficulties; his commitment to corporate tax reductions; the unforgiving perception of wavering in his views" the truth is that Kerry holds far more promise than Bush for leading our nation back to the position of fiscal, domestic and international strength we have hoped for.
Kerry ended his acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention with the line that "our best days are still to come."
The politics of fear on the part of this administration must be ended and soon.
America needs a change in direction and approach for the next four years, and that can only come from John Kerry as president.
Kansan editorial board
ANALYSIS Platform breakdown
BY DERON LEE
correspondent@kansan.com
KANSAN CORRESPONDENT
Here are Bush's and Kerry's stances on some issues critical to your future. We break it down for you, nice and simple. Or is it?
JOBS
At the end of your four-year tour of academia, will there be a job waiting that doesn't involve deep-frying or exhaust fumes?
■ Kerry: Proposes giving tax incentives to businesses that create jobs and ending tax breaks for companies that send jobs overseas. Says Bush has the worst record on jobs since Herbert Hoover, which neatly lowers the bar for a Kerry presidency: at least 'it'll be better than the Great Depression.
**Bush:** Claims responsibility for all jobs gained in the last four years and denies responsibility for all jobs lost. When asked at the third debate he would say to someone who is unemployed, he started talking about No Child Left Behind.
Bush: Blames the trial lawyers. Says health care costs are sky-high because of excessive malpractice lawsuits; wants to cap the awards from such suits. Accuses Kerry of proposing a costly government-controlled health plan. He's half-right.
HEALTH CARE
Yes, this again. 50 million Americans are uninsured and KU grads are soon to join them. What do these candidates intend to do about it?
■ Kerry: Has a plan that is not government-controlled but is costly. Says he will give all Americans who want it the same health benefits program that Congress has. When asked
at the third debate how he would pay for it, he answered by telling us again what a great plan it was.
THE DEFICIT
Bush: In four years he has seen a budget surplus turn into a record deficit, but he blames it on Clinton and 9/11.
Sounds boring, but if the Baby Boom generation doesn't pay down our $400 billion deficit, guess who inherits it?
Says tax cuts will spur economic recovery and increase revenues, thereby cutting the deficit in half by 2007, but many economists argue that tax cuts are actually a major cause of the deficit.
But independent research groups have said his numbers don't add up, and a Republican Congress won't let him cancel the tax cuts anyway.
- Kerry: Also says he will magically cut the deficit in half. He promises to do this by rolling back Bush's tax cuts for those making $200,000 or more (that should leave most of us), and cut corporate welfare.
MUSICIAN ENDORSEMENTS
Still undecided? Maybe your CD collection holds the answer.
Bush: Has been endorsed by Wayne Newton, Alice Cooper, Donnie McClurkin (well, Donnie hasn't heard of you, either!), Brooks and Dunn, Toby Keith — really the entire country music nation except the Dixie Chicks. Brittney Spears and Kid Rock seem to be on board as well.
**Kerry:** Has been endorsed by the Boss (Bruce Springsteen), John Mellencamp, Dave Matthews, Babyface, REM, Pearl Jam, Jurassic Five — the rock and hip-hop community are mostly united for Kerry, mostly because he is not Bush.
November 15,1917 (ONLY 87 years ago!)
Suffragists Imprisoned Because They Dared to Picket For the Right to Vote
The women were innocent and defenseless. And by the end of the night, they were barely alive. Forty prison guards wielding clubs and with their warden's blessing went on a rampage against the 33 women wrongly convicted of "obstructing sidewalk traffic." Additional affidavits describe the guards grabbing, dragging, beating, choking, slamming pinching, twisting, kicking and force-feeding the women. The warden at the Occoquan Workhouse in Virginia ordered his guards to teach a lesson to the suffragists imprisoned there for weeks because they dared to picket Woodrow Wilson's White House for the right to vote.
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