Article to Young Voters

[Annie]

not me!

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/cg...=268883724&slug=nextyoungcons01&date=20040731

Saturday, July 31, 2004, 12:00 A.M. Pacific
Chris Collins
An open letter to young voters

To: All young voters
Cc: George W. Bush, John F. Kerry
Subject: Don't sleep in on Nov. 2

You've probably heard the news: It's open season on politics again. You can try avoiding the Bush-Kerry hubbub by watching MTV all day, but even then you have to listen to how we should all "Rock the Vote."

So when the first Tuesday of November rolls around, let's try not to disappoint our grandparents and, instead, make wearing the "I voted" sticker a temporary fad.

There is one caution here, however. For many of us, it's easy to base our voting decision on the common impression people our age have that Republicans are all money-hoarding hawks and that a vote for social justice and civil rights means checking a "D," or maybe going Green.

But the voting booth should be a place for more than a gut reaction. Marking in a conservative candidate or two this fall — including, possibly, President Bush — may actually be in line with what this generation wants and needs.

It's no secret most of us are skeptical of politicians and their motives. At the very least, we want a commander-in-chief who will offer a positive message — a message that assures teens and 20-somethings that we are an essential part of the country and that our service is vitally needed.

But we need more than words, we need guidance.

Action-orientated leadership

Four and a half months after the 9/11 attacks, Bush stood in front of Congress and the world during his 2002 State of the Union address and asked that every American commit to at least 4,000 hours of volunteer service in their lifetimes.

He announced the creation of USA Freedom Corps, which focuses on responding to domestic crises, rebuilding local communities and "extending American compassion throughout the world."

Since it started, this clearinghouse of national and international volunteer opportunities has grown rapidly, forming more than 900 local Citizen Corps Councils and 170 community Medical Reserve Corps. More than 7,500 Americans are volunteering in 71 countries through the Peace Corps. In fiscal year 2004, the Peace Corps received its most funding ever.

Bush understood that many young Americans, inspired by a renewed appreciation of their country after the 9/11 attacks, had a desire to show the rest of the world what it was like to live in a free society.

Set aside, for a second, the image of an all-Texas Bush on grainy, slow-motion video — the one Michael Moore fans have in mind. There's no denying the president plays politics all the time, just like everyone else on the Hill.

The character factor

And Bush isn't perfect. His farm subsidies and Medicare bill were both poor decisions. The embarrassment of not finding weapons of mass destruction in Iraq hurt him politically. But his beliefs and view of the world are public knowledge. We know what kind of guy we would be electing.

Though Bush hasn't had a Reagan-esque presidency, he has defined himself as an up-front politician. Even his opponents acknowledge that Bush says what he believes, whether people like his opinions or not.

John Kerry, however, is more elusive. No one's really sure if Kerry is Catholic or not since he holds to the church's belief that life begins at conception but has pledged to nominate only pro-choice judges to the Supreme Court.

His vice presidential candidate, John Edwards, is even more of a mystery. When a Washington Post reporter asked Edwards in July if he, too, believed life begins at conception, the senator failed to respond, twice.

Of course, we should not base our votes solely on the candidates' characters. This generation faces serious and real issues. Here are a few:

The money gobbler

There's really no other way to describe the Social Security program. Congress debates endlessly about what to do with the non-defense discretionary spending that makes up roughly 18 percent of the federal government's $2.3 trillion annual budget. This portion includes education, training, science, technology, housing, transportation and foreign-aid spending.

In contrast, Social Security makes up 22 percent of the annual budget, or $475 billion — about the size of South Africa's entire annual economic output. Between 2000 and 2025, the number of people age 65 and older is predicted to grow by 76 percent. But the number of workers supporting the system will grow by only 17 percent, according to a June report from the Congressional Research Service.

Both Republicans and Democrats acknowledge the program is destined for bankruptcy at this rate.

So what plans do the White House candidates have in mind? Kerry vows to never "privatize" Social Security — that is, he doesn't want to allow workers to decide where to invest their money. While acknowledging Social Security's fiscal crisis, he offers no real solutions other than giving optimistic sound bytes about growing the economy, fiscal discipline and bipartisanship.

Bush's strategy, in contrast, offers specific solutions. He doesn't want to eliminate the program, but he does want to allow workers to funnel some of their Social Security taxes into personal retirement accounts.

A bipartisan presidential commission found that Bush's plan would "lead to increased national saving."

Social Security is the fiscal boa constrictor in the room. It's going to increasingly squeeze our paychecks thin in coming years if politicians looking to reform the system are not elected.

Politicians of all stripes and colors frame the Social Security issue as something that only senior citizens care about — we will surely protect your Social Security, they tell the 50-and-over crowd.

Not even lip service is given to the concerns of my generation. We need to start making Social Security our issue, as well.

Putting the 'ax' in taxes

Kerry's Web site: "John Kerry has the courage to take on the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans."

Facts about the tax cuts from Treasury Secretary John Snow:

• The richest 1 percent of Americans used to pay 30.5 percent of individual income taxes. But after Bush's tax cuts, they now pay 32.3 percent.

• The bottom 50 percent used to pay 4.1 percent of all individual income taxes. They now pay 3.6 percent.

The tax cuts, Snow points out, not only reduced taxes for every American — giving the U.S. its fastest rate of economic growth in nearly 20 years — but it actually shifted the tax burden slightly more toward the richest people in the country.

Kerry says he will keep Bush's tax cuts for 98 percent of all Americans. His record on taxes is somewhat disconcerting, however. He voted against Bush's tax cuts and, in 1993, voted for Clinton's $240 billion tax increase.

Judicial nominees

Judges seem to be in the news a lot these days — deciding who gets married and who doesn't, dictating how money can be used in politics, telling the executive branch how it can handle American citizens involved in terrorism, declaring that children can't use the word "God" in the pledge (and then having the super-judges in D.C. point out that kids saying "under God," is, in fact, not an establishment of a religion).

Who made these guys the oligarchy of America all of a sudden?

If for no other reason than that politicians are the ones who appoint and approve our future super-judges, we shouldn't evade the voting booth this November.

Bush and Kerry, in fact, have two starkly different philosophies on judicial appointments.

The American Bar Association has rated 99 percent of Bush's judicial nominees as either "well-qualified" or "qualified." Kerry, remember, promises to nominate Supreme Court judges based on ideological grounds — namely, that they are pro-choice.

It seems that now is not the time to elect leaders who are overtly pushing for partisan judges.

New political reality

Bush (and the rest of the intelligence world) was wrong about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction. The president pushed for a massive $600 billion farm subsidy bill that won't really help small farms. He signed a Medicare bill that seems to be a fiscal nightmare.

Bush isn't the perfect candidate, it's true.

But when we live in this "end justifies the means" political reality — where it doesn't matter, really, what the facts and details are as long as you believe in some grand political vision — it's important to know that on the issues, Bush's track record is mostly supportive of this generation's future.

And this November, "mostly" will have to do.

Chris Collins will be a senior at Whitworth College in Spokane. E-mail: [email protected]