Today begins the search for
Today begins the search for a candidate to support in the effort to get rid of Bush. My plan is to look at one candidate site a day until I've seen them all, then decide which one gets my money and time. C'mon along, kids! It's Democrats first, in alphabetical order.
On Iraq: I agree wholeheartedly with Braun's position:
"[W]e shouldn't be there, in my opinion. But . . . now that we're there, we've got young men and women in the field. We cannot abandon them. We have to give them the support they need to get the job finished. Americans do not cut and run."I didn't expect to find any candidates with this position, which very closely mirrors my own. (I was expecting a very clear split between "leave immediately" and "stay forever" candidates.)
On Health Care: Braun supports a single-payer system for national coverage, which I am inclined to support because it guarantees coverage for everyone. She argues convincingly for it:
"[I]f you have a single-payer system, then you will be able to cover everybody. Everybody in this country already gets health care. If you fall out and you don't have insurance, somewhere you will be cared for. Probably in an emergency room. It'll probably be the most expensive care you can get. And the cost will just get shifted throughout the system to other payersómany times, people pay for insurance through their employer. What I've proposed is a single-payer system that will take advantage of the fact that we are already paying 15 percent of our gross domestic product on health care, de-couple it from employment so that it's not a burden on job creation, it's not a burden on small businesses, and it doesn't come out of the payroll tax, which is the most regressive tax, to begin with."I am especially pleased to see her point out that a single-payer system would unburden employersówho are grimly beset with the ballooning costs of health careóand allow them to both profit and expand their businesses. Why haven't I ever heard a pro-business Republican say this?
On Trade: Braun support "free and fair trade," voted for GATT and NAFTA as a Senator, and vows to continue to support similar international treaties. Importantly, she stipulates that international trade agreements must be fair, and must reflect American values about the rights of humans and workers. Again, I'm surprised to find any candidate whose position and underlying rationale so closely mirrors my own.
I didn't find any issue positions described on her site I disagreed with, though her "Issues" section could be more exhaustive. I didn't see anything explicit about the Patriot Act, for example. Overall, Braun seems like a strong posibility. Comments?
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