The Forum

The House Republicans want us to decide whether we should under fund education, or health care for seniors on Medicare and Medicaid. Our society should never be placed in a position to have to make such a huge decision. The only reason this is happening is due to Congressman Ryan wanting to continue tax cuts for the mega-wealthy. This is totally unacceptable.

Many of the older members of our society have paid Medicare taxes for decades. We have a moral and implied contractual obligation to make sure the members receive the services they have pre-paid to receive. Baby Boomers have had their money used to pay for their parents’ Medicare and to provide partial funding for their own. This is a fact of life. Ryan and his fellow Republican representatives do not understand the obligation that the withholding of these taxes requires.

The quest of the Republicans to continually give huge tax breaks to the mega-wealthy, like Mitt Romney is reprehensible. It is also as immoral to defund higher education for our young people to give Mitt Romney and the other 1% of top earners obscene tax breaks. We need a more highly educated youth to develop technology for the twenty-first century. We need more health care professionals to care for our aging society. We need to have the best engineers and technology experts to develop the new products and services our society will require for our nation’s continued growth and viability as a world economic leader.

Shorting education funding for trade school students and university students will result in the United States losing global economic competition. We need to make sure students with the intellectual and vocational ability have the required education to succeed individually as the most productive members of society they can be, while providing the know-how and ability to drive our economy in a positive direction.

Congressman Ryan’s approach is far too expensive and draconian as it makes our society choose between throwing grandma and grandpa under the bus, or their grandchildren so the wealthiest can sit on mountains of money. That money has never trickled down in the past thirty-two years, but our education rating in the world has plummeted from number one to number twenty-six.

I am proud to be a Democrat who advocates for the less fortunate in our society. I just fail to understand how any compassionate person could endorse Ryan’s outrageously greedy and cynical plan to give the mega-wealthy even more.

BY

Mark Challis

In the wake of the Easter season, as a Christian, I find myself particularly focused on Jesus – His life, His death, His resurrection.  I turn to Jesus’ life as an example of how God intends for me to live my life and for what I teach my children, guiding them toward a life of purpose-filled faith.  What strikes me most profoundly about Jesus’ life is his repeated acts of going to people that society of the time had marginalized (i.e. pushed to the side).  In other words, Jesus sought out, made time for, and spent time with individuals who the majority of folks had cast aside.  Jesus’ living example tells me that discrimination of any kind is incompatible with His message of unconditional love.  It gives me great pause to realize that bringing this message to the world was a primary purpose of Jesus being in the world.  We see, for example, when Jesus’ disciples attempted to shoo children away, Jesus requested they come to Him.  Likewise, Jesus dined with the tax collector – even going to his home - who at that time in our history was on par with a “thug” and a “thief.”  Jesus also showed us through his actions that women, who at that time were barely second-class citizens, were worthy of His time and ultimately played a crucial role in learning of His resurrection and spreading the Word.

What is profound to me is that Jesus did not merely greet these individuals and quickly move on.  Rather, He spent time with them.  You may say Jesus was “in relationship” with all variations of people.  Jesus did not set limits on the type of person with whom he broke bread.  There was no pre-requisite of “I will spend time with you only if you be like me.”  It sounds absurd!  As we look at Jesus’ interactions we see He accepted individuals for who they were – not to change their identity but to embrace them with the love of God.  Jesus laid the foundation for us to not only understand but to truly own the thought that under different circumstances I am that person.

I am concerned how the political world today spins faith into a justification to look down upon others as if we have some first class ticket to heaven.  What is ironic is how fear gets used as a driving force for supporting the mainstream culture through fundamentalist principles that serve to put distance between people – completely opposite of how Jesus lived!  The trouble is Jesus’ message gets lost when as simple humans we attempt to label tidy boxes as either IN or OUT as if we get to decide where people belong.  I believe the Democratic Party – while not perfect – is built on the foundation that we are to care for and be in relationship with all people (not just the wealthy, not just those with political connections, not just those who are “just like me”) and to give voice to the marginalized…realizing that without the unconditional love of God we are no different from the very person whom others cast aside.

I invite you to join the Democratic Party by voting to support candidates who work on behalf of the marginalized.

                                                                                                Submitted by L.H.

I encourage all Democrats to read Senator Jack Hatch’s editorial (DM Register April 20^th,)! It is a clear explanation detailing the Republican’s “War on Women”  

The attack on women is part of a much broader overall strategy waged by far right minority Republicans against the rights of the least empowered.  It is a continuation of the Republican culture war conducted by the most powerful economic and ideological special interests in order to retain and increase their economic and political power.   The short list of those targets include: eliminating union member’s voice in bargaining, targeting teachers as the cause for all problems in education, dismantling safety nets for the most vulnerable, refusal to increase minimum wages, vicious misinformation on health care reform, wholesale assaults on regulatory protections for the environment and consumer safety, targeting undocumented immigrants for deportation and refusal to accept equal rights for the LGBT community!  In contrast, the Obama WH and Democrats are offering an agenda dedicated to protecting those least able to defend themselves against powerful economic and political interests.  They believe a Democracy demands a level playing field for all.  The founding fathers laid out a vision based on justice and liberty for all!  President Obama and Democrats embrace and fight for the “for all”!

Reading this blog you probably see some or all your interests and values under attack as I have outlined above.  We need each and every Democrat to get involved and fight against the Republican assault on fairness and equality for all.  Every Democratic candidate needs help in fighting and winning in the 2012 election to advance our agenda.  I encourage you to reach out to all our candidates from Obama on down and get involved!  We can’t win if you don’t play!  Join the Democrat’s team now and add your voice to the fight for liberty and justice for all!!!!!!!!!!!!

by Rick Smith

The ironies continue to build regarding the Republican opposition to Obamacare. As we all know by now the sticking point of the opposition to the plan, the individual mandate, was originally a Republican idea. The Heritage Foundation praised it, Newt Gingrich supported it, and Gov. Romney signed the bill that contained it and touted it as a model for the nation. The mandate was pushed by Republicans, especially conservative Republicans, as a means of making people act responsibly and avoid the need for insured people and taxpayers to cover the costs of medical care that insurance would have provided. It wasn’t until the president was able to make history by establishing universal health care that Republicans desperately sought a way to attack it and settled upon the individual mandate.

The law suit against the individual mandate initially focused on Mary Brown’s claim that it was unconstitutional to force her to buy insurance. However, she was dropped from the lawsuit after she got sick, required hospital treatment for which she could not pay, filed bankruptcy, lost her business, and stiffed the hospital for the medical costs, leaving the costs to be absorbed by higher rates for insured people.

Now, after years of railing against “activist judges” with Newt Gingrich stating his first act as president would be to defy the Supreme Court, Republicans are firmly behind (for the time being at least) the supremacy of the courts and the court’s responsibility to rule on the constitutionality of laws or parts of laws. Sen. Grassley says the president was “stupid” to suggest otherwise.I see only one area of consistency in the Republicans, the willingness to use any expedient argument to gain votes from those with short memories.

by Karl Schilling

RE: Romney's Quote About Young Americans

GOP Presidential hopeful Mitt Romney was recently quoted saying he couldn’t see why young Americans could support Democrats. Of all the bogus things Romney has said, this shocked me the most. Particularly because it’s easy to see the advantages young people have gained under the Obama administration.

As a result of Obama and the Democrats’ work, young people have benefitted from:

Ø  Doubled funding for Pell grants so more young people can go to college and graduate with less debt.

Ø  Credit card reform that protects young people from being taken advantage of by credit card companies

Ø  Student loans forgiven for those who go into public service after school

Ø  The repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” and a continued fight against hateful discrimination

Ø  The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which ensures that women are paid as much as their male counterparts

Ø  The Affordable Care Act, which allows young people to stay on their parents’ insurance policy until the age of 27.

Ø  Fuel efficiency standards that will double vehicles’ fuel economy by 2025 to protect the environment now and in the future.

I’ve only listed here President Obama’s accomplishments that directly affect young people. The list of all the President’s reforms that he and Democrats have carried out in just three years is much longer – and much longer than most presidents can hope to accomplish in two terms.

But speaking as a college student, I’m grateful for the major steps President Obama has taken to help young people, especially in making college more affordable.

As a young American, I’m proud to support our President and the Democratic Party because they advocate for me every day. I don’t see how young Americans could support a Republican candidate who wants to dismantle the benefits we’ve gained from President Obama’s direction.

Gracie Brandsgard