As you probably know, I've done a lot of posts picking apart John Gard's rhetoric, which I did not find the least bit challenging. He's a career politician that manipulates phrases and half-truths into outright lies. This activity forces a good politician like Steve Kagen to take the low road and pretty soon it turns into a competition as to who can be the most negative. It doesn't take a high level of intelligence to find the truth and I hope to have provided my readers with some insight into the political process and the rhetoric that has become part of the daily lives of many of us. Like most of you, I'm tired of the seemingly endless stream of negative ads, and I feel a bit guilty of having such a negative tone on my own blog because of it.
I've taken some time to watch all 3 debates online between Steve Kagen and John Gard and one thing is sure and that is the fact that the two men running in this race are polar opposites. I cannot believe there are too many people out there that find this to be a difficult decision to make. Here is what I've gotten out of the discussions:
Social Security:
Steve Kagen - believes we can fix the problems with Social Security by raising the cap on the taxable income. Does not believe in privatization or investing Social Security dollars in the stock market.
John Gard - does not believe in privatization of Social Security. Has promised to pass a bill that would stop raiding the Social Security Trust Fund.
In 2000, George W. Bush promised to stop the raid on the Social Security Trust Fund if elected President. He had 6 years of Republican control of Congress to do just that. It never happened. Based on polling today, it is very likely Barack Obama will be the next President and Congress will be even more strongly controlled by Democrats. To think that John Gard as a freshman in Congress would be able to pass such a bill is outright laughable. Raising taxes might not be the best solution, however it seems that the only other options available are raising the retirement age or cutting benefits. It's a lose, lose, lose situation and is the likely reason why nothing has happened as of yet. Adantage Kagen.
Health Care:
Steve Kagen - has advocated for disallowing the practice of insurance companies denying coverage for those with pre-existing medical conditions. He is also pushing for community risk pools, disclosure of all prices, and reform that benefits patients and doctors, not insurance companies. Competition between insurance companies will focus on their level of service. He has vehemently opposed any plans for government takeover of our healthcare system.
John Gard - also advocates for price disclosure. He has said many times that he favors a patient-centered approach to health care and also opposes government-controlled health care.
This topic will always be a home run for Kagen because with 30 years experience in the industry, he knows the problems and has an actual plan to fix them. John Gard has shown a complete lack of knowledge on the subject and no plan to fix the problem. Just saying patient-centered is nothing but jibberish. Kagen's plan is patient-centered as well and is all-inclusive. John Gard has opposed Kagen's plan to include those with pre-existing conditions, however I highly doubt Gard would have had that same stance had he been diagnosed with cancer a month before leaving office. People are losing their jobs left and right and along with it, their insurance coverage. If you have a lapse in coverage, you risk never being able to get it again. Nobody who is living on unemployment can afford insurance. They will end up in the emergency room with bills they can't pay. This will lead to an increase in bankrupcies and leaves the doctors high and dry. Who pays for this? Those who have insurance. We are sliding down hill fast in this economy and non-action will only hurt individuals and employers and will likely result in a complete breakdown in employer-offered insurance programs.
Taxes / Spending:
Steve Kagen - believes in raising taxes on the top 1% of income earners by rolling back the tax cuts passed in 2001 and 2003 by the Bush administration. He believes in "pay-as-you-go" which means every increase in spending must be matched by an equivalent decrease somewhere else in the budget. Favors tax cuts for the middle class, putting more money in the pockets of average Americans. Campaigned in 2006 on cutting wasteful government spending, with the emphasis on "wasteful" and helped to pass a bill to force members of Congress to stand by their pork.
John Gard - favors cutting taxes across the board and cutting wasteful government spending, with the emphasis on "government". He has never mentioned specific programs that he would cut other than all earmarks.
I believe that if John Gard is going to say we need to cut taxes, he needs to specify the amount his tax cuts would remove from the federal budget and outline exactly what spending needs to be cut from the budget to bring it into balance. Gard should not tell people that their taxes will go up when it is untrue for 99% of Americans. Steve Kagen's plan will eventually balance the budget and shift the burden off the middle class. George Bush campaigned in 2000 on cutting earmarks and the President and his Congress for 6 years shot earmark spending through the roof. Again, a broken promise we've all heard before. Advantage Kagen.
Energy:
Steve Kagen - believes in doing whatever it takes to become energy independent and has advocated for everything other than oil drilling in the Artic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). He has specifically outlined measures to converty diesel trucks to natural gas, increased natural gas drilling, solar, nuclear, biomass, and wind. Congressional Democrats have allowed the ban on offshore drilling to expire. Kagen has also advocated to keep all American oil here in America.
John Gard - believes oil drilling is the single most important thing our country can do to become energy independent. While he has advocated for an all-of-the-above energy policy, he has never mentioned specifics other than his work to allow development of wind farms in Wisconsin while a member of the Wisconsin legislature.
This is one area where there is little difference between the candidates. Studies have shown that drilling in ANWR will have a minute effect on gas prices, if any, and will not have any impact for many years. These studies, which John Gard does not believe, were conducted by our own government and the statistical data can be found on the Department of Energy website. Even John McCain does not support drilling in ANWR because of it's pristine natural resources. In my research, Steve Kagen has voted only twice against oil drilling and seemingly reversed his stance based on the uproar over $4 gas a few short months ago. I find this to be an admirable quality in Kagen and shows he truly listens to the people he represents. One of Kagen's votes was against shale extraction on federal government lands, which is only profitable when the price of oil is above $130/barrel. The other was against a partial lift of the offshore drilling moratorium in June of 2007, long before gas reached $4/gallon. Advantage Kagen.
Illegal Immigration:
Steve Kagen - believes we need to protect our borders, enforce current laws more effectively, and no cutting in line for citizenship.
John Gard - believes we should contruct a border fence and not give taxpayer funded health care and housing benefits to illegal aliens.
Again, this is a topic with many false accusations. The truth of the matter is that it is already illegal to give taxpayer funded benefits to illegal aliens. Any votes concerning this topic would be redundant. Many, including Steve Kagen, believe that construction of a border fence will be ineffective and costly. Based on John Gard's tax policy, I wonder where he plans to get the money to build a border fence. I believe in investments in technology and border patrols to curb this influx, which Kagen has also supported. Advantage Kagen.
Iraq:
Steve Kagen - believes we have already won the war in Iraq and it is time to pull our resources out of that country in favor of going after the terrorists who attacked us on 9/11. Iraq now has a budget surplus and violence has been sharply reduced. If Iraq returns to the religious civil war of the past, it is not our place to be involved. Believes we are wasting money in Iraq at a time when our country is hurting economically and we should not be paying to rebuild infrastructure that we did not destroy.
John Gard - has not mentioned the war in Iraq in recent months and has no comments on his website on this topic. He has not mentioned Iraq in any debates this year. As far as I can tell, he does not even realize there is a war going on there.
I believe John Gard's failure to take a stance on the war at this time is a slap in the face to our troops that he claims to support. The last time John Gard publicly talked about Iraq was when Congressman Kagen returned from a trip to visit the troops and meet with General Petreaus. At that time Gard announced his refusal to travel there this year and blasted Kagen for saying it was impossible to tell if the troop surge of 2007 had worked. In my opinion, John Gard is dodging the Iraq issue for political reasons. At a time of war, the issue should never be on the back burner. Steve Kagen risked his life to see Iraq with his own eyes and I find that commendable. Advantage Kagen.
Abortion:
John Gard is the only one to bring up this issue and will advocate for making abortion illegal.
I believe that the Constitution protects the rights of the citizens of America. Since an unborn child is not a citizen, it is not protected by the Constitution. You become a citizen the day you have a piece of paper that says you are. Until this country starts issuing conception certificates, an unborn child is still a part of the mother and abortion is her choice only. With regard to the moral implications, it is not the duty of the government to legislate morality. However, the government can seek to educate the mothers of unborn children to curb the number of abortions in this country. Making abortion illegal will not stop abortions any more than making drugs illegal stopped drug use or placing signs on the highway have stopped people from speeding. No matter how many times life-activists call Democrats baby-killers, I have yet to meet a single person who thinks abortion is a great idea and nobody feels good about having an abortion. Advantage Kagen based on his pro-choice stance.
Conclusion:
I believe I have now stated all that I can in this race and I am leaving it at that. I'm tired of this election season and will now sit out the last 10 days in silence. I'm fortunate to not have a land-line phone and I sincerely hope that these same politicians that annoy the hell out of people on a minute-by-minute basis never use their powers to take over my cell phone. Any such attempts to include my phone should be held in a public referendum format. I will oppose it until the day that I die. My older relatives suffer on a daily basis from constant robo calls, direct mail, and TV ads. It's enough to make us all sick. Regardless of how this or any other election concludes, I sincerely hope that the scars can be healed and our representatives can go back to the business of doing what is best for the people. We are at a definining moment in American history...one we will likely talk about for the rest of our lives. But in the midst of all of this, we can certainly all agree on one thing: America will always be the greatest country on earth and I am, and always have been, proud to call myself an American.
As always, I welcome your comments and suggestions.