Kerry would like to get young people involved in service to their country, in various ways, including the Peace Corps when the stability and security of foreign soil again presents the opportunity
Democratic presidential candidate Kerry calls for different change of values for America
by L.A. Jones
Anoka County Union editor
Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry brought his traveling road show of hope and what he called “a different change of values for America” to Anoka Technical College Aug. 26.
Extolling his healthcare reform plan to whom Stacie Paxton, media coordinator for the Kerry visit in Minnesota, said were 250 identified independent voters and 50 Kerry supporters, the Massachusetts senator and former lieutenant governor didn’t refrain from taking a few pot shots at President George Bush. But he did stick mostly to the issues, laying out in detail how he proposed to change healthcare in the nation.
“It’s great to be here in Minnesota – what do they say, the Land of 10,000 Lakes?” said Kerry as part of his welcoming words. “But with President Bush, if he has his way, it will be the land of 150 lakes.”
Dedicating at least half of what turned out to be about a two-and-a-half-hour town hall meeting on health care, Kerry attempted to resonate with Anoka County voters, whom Paxton beforehand acknowledged were swing voters.They were chosen by the Kerry Campaign to reach because they have opted to support Bill Clinton, Bush and even former Gov. Jesse Ventura over the span of just the last eight years, according to Paxton.
“Seniors are cutting their pills in half to save on costs,” Kerry said about the state of healthcare in the United States. “Our healthcare system is imploding on itself.
“The president and other people have used moral values to divide us,” he commented. But he envisions a different change of values for the country, starting with healthcare, Kerry said.
Citing that there were 45 million Americans without healthcare coverage today, he proposed to automatically extend full coverage to every child in America based on a sliding fee scale of affordability and ability to pay.
Those 50-64 could buy into Medicare
Additionally, he said he would allow all Americans aged 50-64 to buy into Medicare, and give all Americans the option of purchasing the same healthcare coverage provided to the president and members of Congress.
As part of his reform plan, Kerry would offer small businesses a reduction in healthcare premiums if they enrolled in a voluntary wellness program aimed at prevention and at reducing overall premiums. He said he would also offer small businesses and the self-employed a 50-percent tax credit.
Kerry would free up Medicare to buy large bulk amounts of prescription drugs at reduced costs, something which he said the Republican-controlled House of Representatives rejected, as well as a bill that passed the Senate to allow Americans to import prescription drugs from Canada.
“That’s the kind of change in values we need to have here in America,” Kerry said.
Attempting to enact these changes on a bi-partisan basis won’t necessarily be easy, but Kerry said he sees a base of support among both Democratic and Republican members of Congress.
“John Edwards, with Ted Kennedy and John McCain – bi-partisan – wrote the Patients Bill of Rights,” he said. “I believe we can have a system that actually works for everyone.”
Turns attention to education
Turning from the topic of healthcare to everything from No Child Left Behind and special education mandates to the war in Iraq, terrorism, religion and its role in government and negative campaign ads, Kerry quipped, “America deserves a campaign about the future; it does not deserve a campaign of smear and fear.”
He stressed that the country needs to rebuild its respect around the world and openly take steps to build better cooperation with other countries in the United States’ war on terror, by specifically identifying what the reasons and source of hatred are toward America and where it’s coming from.
“We’re in a war, but it’s a very different war than this administration would have you believe in,” he said.
Reiterating his statement made at the Democratic National Convention in Boston that the county should not go to war because it wants to but only because it needs to, Kerry attempted to impress on the audience of mostly undecided voters that the 2004 election is the most important in the country’s recent history.
Kerry backed this up by recalling a conversation he had with an 82-year-old woman on the campaign trail, who he said told him, this was the most important election for her in her lifetime.
“This is about reclaiming our democracy in our own country,” he said, attempting to cast aside the label that he would not be a strong leader in terms of foreign policy and the war on terror.
“I defended this country as a young man, and I will defend this country as president of the United States,” he said. But not at the expense of the country’s freedoms, according to Kerry.
Ideological purposes
“There is a balance between what we need to know to protect the interests and security of this country and using information to push an ideology for ideological purposes only,” he said about some provisions and applications of the Patriot Act.
Although he offered that he agrees with the premise and goal of accountability in No Child Left Behind, "this administration has implemented goals with unbelievable punitive damages,” Kerry said. He would not seek to repeal No Child Left Behind, but he would make every attempt to revise it, he told his audience. He would also attach the funding that was originally earmarked to help school districts across the country address the legislation, according to Kerry.
“The president has shortchanged this legislation $37 billion,” he said.
Special education, too, according to a Kerry, has turned into a extremely burdensome mandate for school districts because they are spending more and more of their revenue generated by local property taxes to comply with the legislation.
“In the first year of my administration,” he stated, “we’re going to fully fund the special education mandates at the 40 percent that was previously agreed to by Congress.”
How would he pay for all of this? he was asked by a skeptical, undecided voter at the town hall meeting.
On this, Kerry said a large part of the solution will be to roll back the Bush tax cut – a position which has been distorted during the course of the campaign, according to the Democratic presidential nominee.
Stating his position in as simple terms as possible, he told his audience, he would roll back the Bush tax cut for everyone making more than $200,000 per year, and for others, he would not.
Under the current administration, he said, those making more than $200,000 per year are now proportionately paying far less of the national tax burden, and those earning less than $200,000 are paying far more.
Time to get tough and real
“It’s time to get tough and real with the property taxpayers of this country,” Kerry said. “There is nothing conservative about piling up the highest debt in America’s history.”
Like his service to his country, Kerry noted that he would like to get young people involved in service to their country, in various ways, including the Peace Corps when the stability and security of foreign soil again presents the opportunity.
Kerry proposed allowing young people to enlist in service to their country, and in turn, to then fully pay for four years of post-secondary education thereafter.
As personal and personable as Kerry attempted and appeared to be for his audience at Anoka Tech, one pointed question he may not have fully prepared for involved his beliefs in God and how they might affect him in office.
“The answer is, yes, I’m a Christian,” he replied, “but that should not be a factor of whether somebody votes for me or not.
“John Kennedy said, ‘look, I’m going to be a president who happens to be a Catholic; not a Catholic president’.”
L.A. Jones is at: editor.anokaunion@ecm-inc.com
