[Peace] The election: LET'S BE SERIOUS - and you should all be working in this election.

Tue May 20 06:52:05 EDT 2008

Bob Herbert this morning, _www.nytimes.com_ (http://www.nytimes.com) :

Op-Ed Columnist

Let’s Be Serious 
By _BOB HERBERT_ 
(http://topics.nytimes.com/top/opinion/editorialsandoped/oped/columnists/bobherbert/index.html?inline=nyt-per) 
Published: May 20, 2008

The general election is about to unfold and we’ll soon see how smart or how  
foolish Americans really are. The U.S. may be the richest country on earth, 
but  the economy is tanking, its working families are in trouble, it is bogged 
down  in a multitrillion-dollar war of its own making and the price of gasoline 
has  nitwits siphoning supplies from the cars and trucks of strangers. 

Four of every five Americans want the country to move in a  different 
direction, which makes this presidential election, potentially, one of  the most 
pivotal since World War II.

And yet there’s growing evidence that despite the plethora of important  
issues, the election may yet be undermined by the usual madness —  fear-mongering, 
bogus arguments over who really loves America, race-baiting,  gay-baiting 
(Ohmigod! They’re getting married!) and the wholesale trivialization of  matters 
that are not just important, but extremely complex. 
In his book, “Crunch: Why Do I Feel So Squeezed?,” Jared Bernstein reminds 
us  that the economic expansion from 2000 to 2006 was something less than 
nirvana  for working people. The economy grew by 15 percent during that period, and 
the  official rates of joblessness and inflation were low. But as most of us 
know,  the benefits of that expansion were skewed to the high end of the 
economic  ladder. 
Mr. Bernstein, a senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute, writes:  “
Over the course of this highly touted economic expansion, poverty is up,  
working families’ real incomes are down and some key prices are growing a lot  
faster than the average.” 
Steven Greenhouse, the labor correspondent for The Times, has also written a  
book that examines, among other things, the imbalance in the way the benefits 
 from the expansion have been distributed. In “The Big Squeeze: Tough Times 
for  the American Worker,” he says: 
“This is a decade during which the American economy has thrived by many  
measures, with corporate profits and C.E.O. salaries soaring, yet wages have  
languished for most workers, and health and pension coverage has grown  worse.” 
Let the candidates wrestle with this issue of increasing economic inequality, 
 rather than President Bush’s spurious and deeply offensive rant comparing  
advocates of international diplomacy with those who appeased Hitler and the  
Nazis. 
Let the candidates wrestle with the war without end in Iraq that is not just  
destroying lives but is taking a toll on this nation’s soul. The war is 
sapping  the resources and energy needed for the hard work of putting the U.S. back 
on a  sound socioeconomic footing. 
And the way we are treating the troops belies the pretty words that never get 
 farther than a bumper sticker. 
The country that professes to be so proud of its men and women in uniform is  
playing Russian roulette with their lives by sending them into the war zone 
for  three, four and even more tours. Stop-loss, the involuntary extension of 
an  individual’s term in the military (making them subject to still more combat 
 duty), is another dangerous affront to those who have already given so much. 
The Houston Chronicle did a long takeout on Sunday on the suicide in March  
2007 of an Army recruiting sergeant, Nils Aron Andersson — just one day after  
his marriage to Carry Walton. Sgt. Andersson, 25, had spoken of the many 
horrors  that he had encountered in Iraq and was deeply depressed. He shot himself 
while  sitting in his pickup in a parking garage. Distraught, Ms. Walton 
bought a  9-millimeter handgun at a sporting goods store the next day and killed  
herself. 
Suicides have become a big problem for the military. Combat does terrible  
things to people. An independent study by the RAND Corporation found that nearly 
 20 percent of the troops who returned from tours in Iraq or Afghanistan 
reported  symptoms of major depression or post-traumatic stress disorder. 
Let the candidates talk about these things. Let them talk about the fact that 
 the Bush administration, which has pushed the troops so unmercifully, 
opposes a  bill (sponsored by Senator Jim Webb and widely supported in Congress) 
that would  expand the education benefits of veterans who have served since Sept. 
11,  2001. 
Let them talk about health coverage, which is a scandal, and the vanishing  
American pension. Let them offer competing plans for rebuilding the American  
infrastructure and creating real employment opportunities for the newest  
generation of workers. Let them go at it over energy policy. 
Forget the foolishness for a change. No Willie Hortons this year. No Swift  
boats. No attacks on John McCain like the mugging he endured at the hands of 
the  Bush crowd in South Carolina some years ago. 
For once, let the election be serious. Show the hacks and the hypocrites the  
door. Argue substance. And then let the people decide. 

For when you need inspiration, need hope: 
_http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afJvvMGoe7I_ 
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afJvvMGoe7I) 
"With God on Our Side" by Bob Dylan: 
_http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xF92JKKlfRM_ (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xF92JKKlfRM) 
Peace  on earth & a heartfelt thanks for all you do! 
Karen Porter, Esq., Director CALL (800) 828-0498 for both  Senators/YOUR 
Congressional Rep.
The Chester County Peace  Movement, P.O. Box 1502, West Chester, PA 
19380-1502; ccpeacemovement at aol.com,  (610) 344-0228; check _www.ccpeace.org_ 
(http://www.ccpeace.org/)   (calendar) for upcoming events
Someday, when my  great-grandchildren ask, "Why didn't someone try to stop 
the madness?" 
I  hope my son and my grandchildren can answer, "Your great-grandmother 
tried, with  all her heart."
______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________
SEE Chester County Religious Campaign Against Torture  (CCRAT) 
_http://ccrcat.wordpress.com/_ (http://ccrcat.wordpress.com/) 
Progressive  Network of Southeast PA _http://www.progressivenetworksepa.org/_ 
(http://www.progressivenetworksepa.org/)  Your  Key to the Progressive 
Community!
______________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________

The woods are lovely, dark, and  deep;
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And  miles to go before I sleep.
-Robert Frost, "Stopping  by Woods on a Snowy Evening"

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