Committee for a Democratic Majority Survey
So I was asked... and I answered. The only "optional" question I didn't answer was about stem cell research. Now that I think about it, I should have put, "Yes. Duh."
Your views on the war in Iraq (optional):
We never should have been there, it is illegal and immoral. Architects of the war should be tried as war criminals, the president and everyone in his administration should be impeached and left to the world court, again being tried as war criminals. I have family members on active duty whose service is being exploited and misused in this war, and who can look forward to being completely disregarded by their government when and if they return. Meanwhile CEOs and stockholders of war profiteers steal from the American and Iraqi people unabashedly and without consequence. End this war now. Bring voices of reconciliation and diplomacy to the table and allow a sovereign nation to determine its best course for its own people. "Democratic" regimes installed by the presidential/congressional/military industrial complex will only serve to bite us in the ass a mere few years from now.
Your views on Social Security (optional):
Bring out the facts. I want to know the facts, not political spin from those who stand to gain.
Your views on the Minimum Wage (optional):
No one, anywhere in the U.S. could live on this wage. This "battle" for a one or two or three dollar raise over the next two-three-four years is ridiculous. Imagine that with one hour's work (take home) you would be 30 or 40 cents short for a gallon of milk and a loaf of bread. Of course, you wouldn't be able to afford the electricity to store your milk, or the rent for a place to live even if companies hired you as a full-time employee (which they do not). We are subsidizing companies to pay poverty wages, with no benefits, no safety net, no healthcare.
Your views on Health Care (optional):
Universal, single-payer healthcare. Not health insurance. Not tax credits or deductions. Free and available healthcare to all who need it. LIFE should not be about profit and loss and should not be about investment returns. My mother pays $2000+ for six months of health insurance with a $25 copay for visits and prescriptions simply to remain healthy enough to work a less than full-time job for the City of Chino with no sick pay, no vacation, and no disability insurance. Companies are being forced to cut benefits, held hostage by the health insurance industry whose bureaucratic waste is spent on those whose only function is to deny healthcare to people.
Your views on National Security (optional):
I'm not afraid of the boogeyman. I'm not afraid of evildoers attacking our country. It does alarm me to consider that with limited resources, potable water, food, energy, that my neighbor could become an enemy. World security will depend upon the leading nation of the free world modeling and taking the lead on new and renewable energy sources, on sustainable agriculture, and on human rights issues for one and all.
Your views on School Reform (optional):
The double-talk of America's priorities being our future generation and the children of the world needs to stop. We cannot spend our energy legislating to protect our children from the influence of media when schools cannot afford books, teachers, or the reasonable class sizes that would give students the critical thinking skills to determine where and how they spend their energy. We cannot hope that generosity, bake sale fundraisers and donations can make up for the social and economic injustice that leaves so many without a proper education. Privatizing schools is not an option only leaving minority and poor students to fend for themselves. It is the very epitome of arrogance to implore communities to pick themselves up by their bootstraps while stealing their boots, books, chalk and pencils. The rhetoric of teacher's unions having a stranglehold on school districts and their ability to ensure teachers are effective and qualified is another ridiculous argument attempting to cripple public schools and force privatization.
Your views on Immigration (optional):
An arbitrary line in the sand, desert, or earth, cannot dictate where human rights begin and end. Nor who is granted what, by the color of their skin, the origin of their birth, or the language they speak.
Your views on Student Loans (optional):
$45000 in debt does not allow for a bright future. No opportunties to repay this back in service to a community or country (without picking up a gun) cannot be a sound investment decision by any nation.
Your views on the war in Iraq (optional):
We never should have been there, it is illegal and immoral. Architects of the war should be tried as war criminals, the president and everyone in his administration should be impeached and left to the world court, again being tried as war criminals. I have family members on active duty whose service is being exploited and misused in this war, and who can look forward to being completely disregarded by their government when and if they return. Meanwhile CEOs and stockholders of war profiteers steal from the American and Iraqi people unabashedly and without consequence. End this war now. Bring voices of reconciliation and diplomacy to the table and allow a sovereign nation to determine its best course for its own people. "Democratic" regimes installed by the presidential/congressional/military industrial complex will only serve to bite us in the ass a mere few years from now.
Your views on Social Security (optional):
Bring out the facts. I want to know the facts, not political spin from those who stand to gain.
Your views on the Minimum Wage (optional):
No one, anywhere in the U.S. could live on this wage. This "battle" for a one or two or three dollar raise over the next two-three-four years is ridiculous. Imagine that with one hour's work (take home) you would be 30 or 40 cents short for a gallon of milk and a loaf of bread. Of course, you wouldn't be able to afford the electricity to store your milk, or the rent for a place to live even if companies hired you as a full-time employee (which they do not). We are subsidizing companies to pay poverty wages, with no benefits, no safety net, no healthcare.
Your views on Health Care (optional):
Universal, single-payer healthcare. Not health insurance. Not tax credits or deductions. Free and available healthcare to all who need it. LIFE should not be about profit and loss and should not be about investment returns. My mother pays $2000+ for six months of health insurance with a $25 copay for visits and prescriptions simply to remain healthy enough to work a less than full-time job for the City of Chino with no sick pay, no vacation, and no disability insurance. Companies are being forced to cut benefits, held hostage by the health insurance industry whose bureaucratic waste is spent on those whose only function is to deny healthcare to people.
Your views on National Security (optional):
I'm not afraid of the boogeyman. I'm not afraid of evildoers attacking our country. It does alarm me to consider that with limited resources, potable water, food, energy, that my neighbor could become an enemy. World security will depend upon the leading nation of the free world modeling and taking the lead on new and renewable energy sources, on sustainable agriculture, and on human rights issues for one and all.
Your views on School Reform (optional):
The double-talk of America's priorities being our future generation and the children of the world needs to stop. We cannot spend our energy legislating to protect our children from the influence of media when schools cannot afford books, teachers, or the reasonable class sizes that would give students the critical thinking skills to determine where and how they spend their energy. We cannot hope that generosity, bake sale fundraisers and donations can make up for the social and economic injustice that leaves so many without a proper education. Privatizing schools is not an option only leaving minority and poor students to fend for themselves. It is the very epitome of arrogance to implore communities to pick themselves up by their bootstraps while stealing their boots, books, chalk and pencils. The rhetoric of teacher's unions having a stranglehold on school districts and their ability to ensure teachers are effective and qualified is another ridiculous argument attempting to cripple public schools and force privatization.
Your views on Immigration (optional):
An arbitrary line in the sand, desert, or earth, cannot dictate where human rights begin and end. Nor who is granted what, by the color of their skin, the origin of their birth, or the language they speak.
Your views on Student Loans (optional):
$45000 in debt does not allow for a bright future. No opportunties to repay this back in service to a community or country (without picking up a gun) cannot be a sound investment decision by any nation.
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