[Dialogue] My Comments on OE

[Jim Baumbach]

These were posted on the OE list only and probably should be here as well:

PART 1

As I have been watching the discussion concerning the McCain/Palin 
ticket and all their prospects of being elected to office would entail.  
The point that I have stressed to individuals upset with the Republican 
nominees is that it is time for the Democrats to live up to the wishes 
of the majority of Americans.  Obama/Biden should stop trying to be 
Republicans.  That is the tact that Kerry and the party thought would 
win the last election and it didn't work.  McCain does not have to be 
"Swift Boated" as the Republican Dirty Tricks Committee (Ross Perot's 
name not mine) did to Kerry.  Nor do the Dems have to drag Palin's 
family through the mud  unless Sarah decides to make a big issue of 
family values and then the gloves can come off.

Instead, the Dems should focus on 1. Ending the wars in Iraq and 
Afghanistan.  2.  Pledging to clean up the government's involvement with 
lobbyists and special interest groups.  3.  Pledging an all-out effort 
to fund and stimulate research on alternative energy.  4.  Upholding 
women's rights.  5.  Stimulating education for all levels of our country 
not only just the traditional public and private schools but also 
retraining for people who have lost their jobs due to outsourcing.  6.  
Stimulating job creation and reducing the benefits to corporations that 
have outsourced and continue outsourcing as well as heavily taxing and 
or prosecuting those who evade paying taxes by off shoring their banks, 
wealth, etc.

I'm sure these are just a beginning of the issues that the Dems could 
raise and inspire America without resorting to mud slinging.  They also 
need to begin ridding themselves of spineless leadership they currently 
have.

PART 2

Perhaps it is timely to continue this discussion by adding a few thoughts:

Thanks Cynthia, I didn't mean to leave health care (or 
global-environmental issues) out of my list but your email did raise 
another idea and that is all good ideas, whether they originate from the 
Republicans, Democrats, Independents, religious, non-religious, young, 
old, male, female and on and on should be considered and incorporated 
where appropriate.  No one group has the edge on worthwhile and 
meaningful ideas.  This is not a call to compromise everything for the 
sake of having every bit from every corner used, it's more of an 
awareness that differing views matter and diversity is still one of the 
strengths of Democracy.  Here is the true challenge we are facing--how 
to give voice to minority opinion and strive to resolve their issues 
without crushing the majority.  For me, it is the unheard minorities and 
innocent suffering that has caused the world to declare a most unholy 
and brutal and hopeless "war on terrorism."

No Republican has to become a Democrat or vice versa.  But our species 
as well as the rest of all living things are on the verge of mass 
suicide and murder...

<http://isv.scripturetext.com/luke/12.html#_ftn22> Then Jesus said to 
the crowds, “When you see a cloud coming in the west, you immediately 
say, ‘There's going to be a storm,’ and that's what happens. When you 
see a south wind blowing, you say, ‘It's going to be hot,’ and so it is. 
You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of the earth 
and the sky, yet you don't know how to interpret the present time?” Lk 
12:54-56.

Jim Baumbach


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