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The Issues
This election will be about strengthening the economy in solid ways by creating jobs - not sending a check in the mail - about protecting the environment, about increasing access to health care, and about ending the war and restoring the United States to a position of trust and respect in the world. Many of our legislators have earned the disdain of voters for their unwillingness to take on the problems our country faces. Instead they have rubber-stamped President Bush's every request, even if it increased our national debt, expanded the war, and allowed violations of our Constitution and international law. It is time to put representatives in congress who are not bought off, who can think for themselves, and who will work to turn around the direction we have been taking! This page describes Steve's values and vision. Click here to read Steve's Action Plan for Congress!
Health Care Access
Over 47 million Americans - including 9 million children - are without health insurance. These Americans live every day in terror. Not from al Qaeda but from the fear of an illness or injury that would put them into bankruptcy. The Institute of Medicine estimates that 18,000 Americans die each year as a direct result of not having insurance. That is six "9/11's" every year! Where is our outrage? Medicines are now outrageously expensive - a child with diabetes may need $500 worth of medicines and supplies every month - and that's not counting doctor visits! Those who need transplants but are without insurance are told to go home and die. This is not right. No child should go without needed care in our country, and no father should be given a death sentence because they don't have insurance. The United States and South Africa are the only industrialized nations that do not guarantee that all their citizens have access to health care. It is time that we accept that no American should go without health care. We need to adopt a national health care system - a "Medicare for All" type of program. Excellent information can be found at the web site of Physicians for a National Health Program. A very good "Frontline" program comparing the health programs of various nations can be watched online. Listen to a ten-minute talk Steve recently gave on the need for a national health plan.
The Environment
America used to lead the way in environmental protection. We set the standard for protecting wild places with our national park system - the model for those now in place around the world. By virtually ignoring the current global crisis with overuse of gasoline and global warming, we have turned our backs on the rest of the world. We need to once again take the lead. And we can move forward without sacrificing our air, our water, and our wild places. Steve Blythe promises to always put our environment first!
Civil and Human Rights
Torture is never right. Locking citizens up without charges is never right - and has not been right since the Magna Carta of 1215 AD! And kidnapping people in the middle of the night and taking them off to a secret prison is the act of the most vile dictators - not a free society! Steve Blythe believes in the Constitution, and the principle of innocence until proven guilty, and will always vote that way!
Jobs
The gap between rich and poor and between black and white is increasing in this country. Many Americans work forty hour weeks and still live in poverty. We need a livable wage guaranteed, and we need to make it harder for mega-marts to fight worker organizing. We need to make it harder for companies to take jobs overseas. A strong middle class and the ability for anyone willing to work hard to get ahead is what made this country great in the last century.
Immigration
We need a guest worker program so that we can invite the workers we need and so that we know who is here. This program would protect American workers as well as the guest workers. It would collect taxes like Social Security to help pay for the health care of these workers to alleviate the huge burden that many communities face. A combination of a well-run guest worker program with penalties for employers who hire undocumented workers would dry up jobs for undocumented workers and stem the tide - meaning we would not need to build huge walls along our borders. A decent fence with patrols and electronic monitoring should be sufficient.
NASA
We need to look at NASA's priorities to strengthen NASA for the future. NASA needs to get back to its' core mission; life science research utilizing the International Space Station and deep space research such as that carried out by the Hubble Telescope (Image 1 and Image 2) and Chandra radio telescope. The Space Shuttle has reached the end of it's expected lifetime - we need to expedite the development and construction of the Constellation System to continue to service the ISS so we proceed with the research for which it was designed. The Orion crew vehicle and the ALTAIR Lunar Lander can result in exciting new research opportunities. The goals of a manned station on the moon and manned flights to Mars can only be afforded if we stop spending $275 million per day on the war in Iraq. Read Steve's detailed NASA platform.
Budget
Republicans have fought against Roosevelt's "New Deal" programs ever since they were instituted. Once they realized that they couldn't cut certain very popular social programs such as Medicare they decided on the back-door approach. Who doesn't love a tax-cut? They have cut taxes so much and created such a huge budget deficit, that NOW they can insist that we MUST cut spending on social programs. That is the whole method to the madness of Republicans who seem to think that a tax cut is more important than a balanced budget. One Republican planner suggested that "the size of the government should be reduced so much that it can be drowned in a bathtub!" What happened to their conservative principles? Dave Weldon astounded us recently when he sent a newsletter to his constituents listing a "Taxpayer Bill of Rights". His taxpayer rights included the right to a government that didn't grow beyond its' ability to pay for itself and the right to a balanced budget without taxes being raised. This is amazing since Weldon rubber stamped the current administrations' record-breaking budget deficit! This included reducing taxes at the same time the budget was skyrocketing! This has left the budget in such a mess that increased taxes or massive program cuts will be needed. How many bridge collapses will we accept? Anyone who thinks that Republicans are fiscally responsible needs to review the recent history of budget deficits. In their latest insane plan we will be getting a check in the mail to stimulate the economy - $166 billion worth! Given that we are in debt, this means more debt, and more yearly interest on that debt. The Republicans don't seem to mind this because they can call it a "tax rebate" Whatever we call it, it still increases the debt, and doesn't stimulate the economy like using that money to create jobs would. How about rebuilding New Orleans? How about repairing our failing infrastructure? How about $30 billion for a few light rail systems? We have a government with no vision.
The War in Iraq
We have to remember - Iraq had nothing to do with the assault on America on 9/11. This is a fundamental concept that some 60% of Fox News viewers do not know! Al Qaeda was not in Iraq prior to our invasion, and only a very small percent of attacks in Iraq are currently by AL Qaeda. We are spending $275 million per day, and almost 4,000 Americans have been killed, and 40,000 injured, in this senseless war that is "largely about oil", according to Alan Greenspan. Over 2 million Iraqis are refugees, and hundreds of thousands have been killed. We have alienated millions in the middle east and the current administration and our current representative somehow think that more bombs and bullets will end the civil war in Iraq. And even after all these years we have not once sat down and tried to work with the political and religious leaders of the region to try to get them to pressure the Sunni and Shiite leaders of Iraq to work for peace. It's a sad chapter in our great history. I have endorsed "A Responsible Plan to End the War in Iraq". This plan will:
- End U.S. Military Action in Iraq
- Use U.S. diplomatic power
- Address humanitarian concerns
- Restore our Constitution
- Restore our military
- Restore independence to the media
- Create a new, U.S.-centered energy policy
Education
The basic principle that I accept about education is that education is NEVER an expense - it is an investment. That includes early childhood education all the way through college. Expanded educational opportunities in this time of economic crisis will help lead us to a more stable future. The reality though, is that even in our local communities we are cutting funding in absurd ways. Some local community colleges have been forced to reduce the number of seats available in their nursing programs! Our universities in Florida have been forced to increase tuition and to freeze or reduce the number of students they can accept.
I will support increased funding for education at ALL levels, from supporting the Pre-K Act which increases the availability of pre-kindergarten programs throughout the country to increasing Pell Grant amounts and availability. I will support the tax deductibility of not only the interest on educational loans but the principle as well. There is no doubt that with more education comes more income and therefore more income taxes coming in to our nation's budget.
Standardized testing is being misused. It is a useful indicator of what standard knowledge a student possesses. They can judge reading and writing ability. But they do not judge a teacher and they do not judge a school. In our system an elementary school which is labeled an "F school" because of poor FCAT performance receives scorn and fewer resources. The "A schools" are praised and get more money. The implication is that the teachers at such a school are poor teachers. In reality the challenges of teaching at an "F school" are far more than at the "A" school. And the "A" schools generally do not need more money! When an elementary school receives a poor FCAT score, that is an indicator that it is in a community in trouble - a community that NEEDS pre-kindergarten and Head Start programs!
I support public education! There is no place for vouchers in a public education system. It is everyone's job to work to make it the best system possible for everyone.
The War on Terror
We have to be smarter, not stronger, in the war on terror. For example, the Bush Administration recently announced to the world that it "was ready to send troops into Pakistan to help president Pervez Musharraf if needed". Coming before an election, this type of statement might completely destabilize the Musharraf government and allow the election of more nationalistic, anti-American president. It was not a smart thing to do at all. President Musharraf, like president Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan, are allies in a bitterly hostile region. They walk a very fine line trying to appease nationalist elements within their countries and yet maintain a relationship with the United States. If the citizens of those countries sense too close a relationship with the US, they might elect a more fundamentalist government which would be hostile.
The War in Iraq has generated tens of thousands of new fighters in their jihad against the US. Let's remember, though, that most Muslims want exactly what we want - to live in peace and to raise their families in safety and security with the promise of a good future. We spend more money on our military than the rest of the world combined! Surely spending more will not make us more secure. We need to work with other nations and other people of the world. We can be militarily strong, but we need to sow the seeds of freedom and democracy by example as well. Instead, we have sold our soul by institutionalizing violations of many civil and human rights we have held dear for centuries.