Newspapers / Meredith College Student Newspaper / Sept. 29, 2004, edition 1 / Page 2
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September 29,2004 ELECTION NEWSl LUCINDA WARD Staff Writer CHRISTY KIMBALL Managing Editor Part one ot a two-part series covering the issues at stake for the 2004 Presidential Election. What is important to you, and more impor tantly, which candidate do you agree with? VfTiich Candidate is Right for You? The first presidential election of the 21st cen tury is less than six weeks away. Every voter has issues or a genre of issues of primary concern that his/her ideal candidate will share a similar opinion. There are many impor tant issues that Americans are concerned about. The Bush-Cheney “Agenda for America” issues include a focus of the job market and the economy, compas sion and values, education, health care, safety and security and the environ ment. The Kerry-Edwards “Plan for America” issues include national security, jobs and economy, energy independence, health care, homeland security, educa tion and the environment. In the social issues genie, candidates are polarized on issues such as abortion, the death penalty, drug policy, gun control laws, education reform, and the Supreme Court. President Bush opposes abortion except in cases of rape, incest, or to save the life of the woman; however, he did sign the Partial Birth Abortion Ban which does not exclude the aforementioned cases. Senator Kerry and Ralph Nader both support a woman’s right to have an abortion. Kerry addition ally advocates family plan ning resources. In regards to the death penalty. Bush supports it as evident in his record as governor of Texas. Both Kerry and Nader oppose the death penalty. Nader believes that it has more racial and class bias than deterrence of crime. Bush is some what less specific regard ing drug policy, he plans to reduce illegal drug use by ten percent over the next two years. Kerry wants more police, a target on illegal drug traffickers, and funding for drug addiction treatment. Nader wants to end the “war on drugs”, legalize some drugs such as marijuana, and treat addic tion as a health problem. Gun control is becom ing more pertinent as the Assault Weapons Ban expired Sept. 13, 2004. Bush wants to protect gun- makers from lawsuits and did not push fw renewal of the Assault Weapons Ban. Kerry wants to close the gun shows ’loophole', which unlike requirements for licensed gun dealers, do not require a background check. Some known and suspected terrorists have been able to purchase guns at gun shows because of the 'loophole'. Kerry also supports child safety locks. Nader backs trigger locks, licensing of gun owners, and some bans. The candidates are rela tively uniform in regards to education reform. Bush-Cheney “Plan for America” states, “that edu cation is the key to oppor tunity and America’s best tool in an increasingly competitive global econ omy,” the plans include “reforming America’s high schools: strengthen Head Start; expanding the Reach Out and Read pro gram; increased minority outreach.” Bush signed the “No Child Left Behind” (NCLB), although the fed eral budget has not yet fully funded legislation. Both Kerry and Nader want to bar school vouchers. When it comes to education, the The Kerry-Edwards "Our Plan for America", states on the education issue, “build the ladder of college opportunity by enrolling 1.5 million more students in college within five years; offer a college opportunity Tax Credit on up to $4000 of tuition for four years of college; recruit teachers by raising pay where we need teachers most; and create an Education Trust to fimd NCLB.” Kerry also wants to fully fund special educa tion and school building. Nader backs curbing tiie standardized testing push. Supreme Court appoint ments have the candidates split. Bush calls conser vative justices Clarence Thomas and Antonin Scalia model justices. Kerry favors appointing judges that are committed to law, civil, and abortion rights. Nader does not have a pub lic position on justices. Closely related to social issues ace civil rights issues. The candidates are still polarized. In regards to affirmative action. Bush has both supported and opposed it. Both Kerry and Nader support affirma tive action policies. The issue of gay marriage has become more relevant to the election as it has been prevalent in the past year. Bush supports a constitu tional amendment batming same-sex marriage. Kerry is agamst same-sex mar- riageas well, ahhough he supports benefits and rights for gay couples. Nader backs same-sex marriage to ensure full rights to the gay and peripheral com munity. In regards to gays in the military. Bush sup ports the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy. Both Kerry and Nader (as of 2000) favor allowing gay men and women to serve open ly in the military. In the issue of gay adoption, Bush opposes it. Kerry and Nader(infeired) support adoption by gay men and women. In the avenue of hate crime leg islation, Bush opposes expanding the federal hate crime law to cover sexual orientation. Kerry sup ports expanding federal hate crime legislation to include sexual orientation. Nader, as of 2000, sup ported strengthening hate crimes legislation. The last issue addressed in Part one is energy. As the gas price increase over the summer indicates, energy is becom ing scarce. Bush supports CALLING ALL ANGELS!!! If you know of an outstanding Meredith Angel who has done something “Heavenly" to help out either someone in need, her community, or Meredith College, and you would like to see her featured, please email your nominations to herald@meredith.edu opening the Arctic wild life refuge for gas and oil exploration. He also supports drilling there. Both Kerry and Nader oppose oil exploration in the Arctic wildlife ref uge. Alternative fuels are becoming more appealing. Bush proposed $1.7 bil lion to develop hydrogen powered fuel cells. Kerry endorses clean, renew able ftiel sources such as ethanol. Nader suggests renewable energy sources such as wind and solar power. The candidates are fairly uniform in regards to energy policy. Bush sup ports a tnarket-based solu tion to improve air quality. Kerry proposes setting goals, and incentives to reduce dependence on fos sil fuels such as alternative fuels listed above. Nader supports not subsidizing energy interests and pro motes sustainable energy. Another issue concern ing energy use and auto mobiles is gas mileage requirements. Bush sup ports a 1.5 mpg increase for SUVs, and light trucks by 2007. Kerry also wants to push new gas require ments. He backs hybrid cars and hydrogen fuel. Nader also emphasizes more efficient automobiles and enet^ sources. Stay tuned for part two of this series in the next issue of the Meredith Herald. Part two will cover spending, security, defense, international pol icy, and healthcare. For more information on John Kerry, go to www.johnker- ry.com. For more informa tion on George W. Bush, go to www.georgewbush. com. For more informa tion on Ralph Nader, go to www.votenader.org.
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