3 August 2004

How to Win my Vote

After penning my last piece, I sought to discover how the candidates in my Congressional district felt about the issue. Republican Rick Murphy's campaign to unseat incumbant Trent Franks seems to be motivated purely by intense dissatisfaction with Franks. And he is on target, considering that it was once the seat of Bob Stump, who did Arizona conservatives proud. Bob Stump fought the good fight for American high tech workers:
The government has identified fraud in the program and there is no compelling evidence of a labor shortage. High-tech firms laid off more than 140,000 Americans last year while simultaneously lobbying Congress to increase the H-IB cap. I am also troubled by reports of age discrimination against middle-aged American computer programers. I believe the high demand reflects a preference for foreign workers and the cheaper foreign labor H-1B visa holders represent.

Franks has sold out to corporate interests, as his vote for the flawed Medicare prescription drug program indicates, at least according to Mr. Murphy.

What about the Democratic contenders?

Gene Scharer is on the right page but he wasn't even mentioned in a recent Arizona Republic district 2 Democrat roundup endorsement.

Globalization is indeed a fact of life and our participation in NAFTA and the WTO has contributed to this situation. The jury is still out on whether or not globalization will ever hold any benefits for Americans. However, it is clear that in the short-run we have a huge and growing negative balance of trade and that jobs are now one of our biggest exports. We have been losing manufacturing jobs to Central and South America and Asia for some time and wages and benefits in the U.S. have been depressed by it. The latest trend is to move professional and financial services to India where there is a large, well-educated, English-speaking population who are willing to work for about one-fourth the pay. Adding insult to injury, the IRS is now outsourcing the processing of our tax returns to India. While we have been asked to show our patriotism by flying the flag, many American corporations and our GOP-controlled Congress have shown no allegiance to us.

I suppose talk like Scharer's can get you banned from the anti-Democratic Arizona Republic. Gannett and company said nice things about Larry Coor but deemed him unelectable. You can even register to post on his larrycoor.blogspot.com blog. I sent Randy Camacho a web form generated query message mail deal, but his web site in turn presented me an error page, so I am uncertain if the message will reach its destination. I sent Trent Franks one too, but I doubt he'll personally see it.

Libertarian Powell Gammill needs to work on that website. It's devoid of data and looking circa 1996.

How do the candidates in your district stand on all of the issues?

It's just one issue, and by no means will it serve as the litmus test to earn my vote. For any of the candidates, be they local or national. For national candidates, economic issues are of paramount importance, but national defense and freedom from tyranny are major issues too. In the coming days I'm going explore the candidates and where they fit on the scales.

A preliminary scorecard template is listed below:

  • Defense of the nation - what constitutes good defense? Foreign policy differences?

  • Economics - how does it turnaround for working Americans? Where are the good jobs going? What about a livable wage? Or ensuring opportunity for all Americans? What of illegal immigration and the resultant downward spiral on wages and living conditions?

  • Freedom from tyranny - civil rights transgressions, Patriot Act, succumbing to Hollywood interests to render copying a bigger crime than physical violence, War on Drugs, etc. ...

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