In 2010, as part of the Tea Party wave, A Republican named Larry Bucshon was elected to represent the Indiana 8th, which was previously held by a very conservative Democrat named Brad Ellsworth. This year, the Democratic candidate is more progressive than Ellsworth ever was. Although Dave Crooks (warning autoplay video) may still be too conservative for us, Crooks is pro-choice and thereby respects a woman's right to make her own medical decisions. Bucshon does not.
In fact, NARAL in their voter guide states that Crooks is pro-choice and got a 100 from Planned Parenthood back in 2008. Bucshon on the other hand proudly shows that he is anti-choice on his campaign website. And in 2010, he even said that Roe should be overturned.
The unborn child has a fundamental right to life that cannot be infringed. Roe vs. Wade should be overturned. I am anti-abortion, but do believe an exception should be made in a rare and extreme circumstance to save the mother in a truly life-threatening pregnancy or delivery
Note how Bucshon believes that rape survivors should not have total control over their bodies, and his position gives rapists more rights than women. Bucshon also apparently hates women's health care in general since he would defund Planned Parenthood and repeal Obamacare.
More on how Crooks differs from Bucshon after the Great Orange Thingy
Perhaps since Indiana is overall a center-right state and the Indiana 8th is more conservative than the mainstream, Crooks leads his issues pageby stating his position on the debt. One one hand, he opposes the Paul Ryan approach:
We have to act responsibly when determining where the spending cuts are made. We should not cut funding for education, high tech research, and job training programs – investments critical to creating new jobs. And we cannot end Medicare and ask seniors to pay $6,000 more a year for health services in order to give even more tax breaks to the wealthy.
Crooks states his goal of streamlining governmental agencies as a money-saving measure. But he also states this too:
To keep members of Congress accountable to taxpayers, I strongly support a Balanced Budget Amendment to the United States Constitution.
Unfortunately, a Balanced Budget Amendment would be really bad during recessionary periods because good public policy as shown by the Stimulus shows that government spending should be counter-cylical. I would support measure like this during the economic booms like the Clinton years where spending cuts make sense. But in this environment, it would just enable the worst of what the Tea Partiers want. But if Crooks wants to make big cuts in Defense to help us with a balanced budget, then I would at least support that.
Crooks also has a lot to say about his jobs plan. He would make corporations pay taxes on money they make overseas and end the incentives that allow them to get money for outshoring our jobs. He would oppose NAFTA-style trade deals. He would also make long-term investments in education, job training and cutting-edge research.
Bucshon's jobs plan includes building more of an Interstate highway:
Interstate 69 Completion – While I know this is a complex and controversial topic, our State government has made the decision to move forward with this project. The route was selected to foster future economic growth in Southwest Indiana. With that decision made and construction underway, it will be my job as your federal Congressional representative to make sure we get those benefits while completing the project in the most environmentally sensitive way. After all, we pay 18.3 cents in federal gasoline tax every time we pull up to the pump, and Indiana has consistently been a donor state, paying more taxes to Washington for roads and highways than we receive back.
Worked to remove the Durbin-Bingaman amendment that would have penalized Indiana for the leasing of the toll road;
I will admit that I don't know much about the I-69 controversy so this may be something I will have to research in depth for another diary. But one of the main criticisms that I can find is that the 1-69 extension through Southwestern Indiana would have some environmental impacts, and farmers would lose property to this. Here is one story on it from
this year. The Environmental Law & Policy Center also has a
website about it too. Wikipedia also talks about it in
its wikion the Interstate in Indiana.
Bucshon also thinks that more coal and permanent Bush tax cuts and the repeal of the estate tax will create jobs, but we all know that coal will never be "clean" and that America's energy future must have less coal. Tax cuts for millionaires just pad their pockets, and have not created any jobs either.
On earned benefits, Crooks opposes the privatization of Social Security, and opposes the Paul Ryan plan of voucherizing Medicare. D-Trip points out that Bucshon supports Medicare vouchers, and also supported a privatization plan.
On energy, Crooks is very mixed. On one hand, he supports more offshore drilling and less regulation. I don't like that Crooks has bought into the lie that more drilling will lower gas prices. It won't. On the other hand, he says this:
Second, I will be a strong advocate for increased investments in renewable energy research and development. Investing in renewable energy technology such as biomass, solar, and wind energy will lead to new private-sector jobs in research and manufacturing, help grow the economy, strengthen our national security, improve our public health, and better prepare us for the future.
And that is of course the right position. America's energy future lies in renewable energy and investments in it will also create many jobs.
Bucshon is simply horrid on energy policy. More offshore drilling, a weakened EPA, and more climate change denialism. In the wake of Hurricane Sandy, such policy is feckless and very dangerous for our country.
Larry Bucshon is simply wrong for Southwestern Indiana, and Dave Crooks represents progress for Indiana. Crooks believes that a woman is the best person to make her own medical decisions and the sooner Indiana moves away from forced ultrasounds and forced pregnancy positions, the better. On November 6th, break the Tea Party stranglehold by electing Dave Crooks.
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2:15 PM PT: h/t to peregrine kate for this info on how people outside IN-08 can make phone calls for Dave Crooks
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David Crooks (IN-08) - Call Matt at 574-807-2576 or email him at mattlafortune@gmail.com.