Three Pressing Issues For One America

This is a post I recently made answering a question posed at the One America blog. It concerned what I believe are the top three issues facing us today as a country. Putting aside the obvious "getting out of Iraq" and "Republican leadership learning how to tell the truth," which I have just about given up on happening, this was my reply:

Number one for me would have to be education. Even though it has become a cliché, I believe that an educated population is one that has the ability to solve many of the other problems which plague us. People who have received an education commit fewer crimes, are more productive for society, vote, can figure out long-term solutions to problems rather than focusing on short-term thinking and on down the line. My parents were both teachers and I have seen firsthand how little education really matter to politicians from both parties. If we truly wanted to improve our public schools in the United States we would study how the best schools, both public and private, are run and utilize their methods. We would also pay teachers like the professionals they are- perhaps we could also exempt them from paying taxes- all taxes (along with cops and firefighters.) Spend $5 billion of that emergency funding for The War (tm) on reforming our education system in a way that benefits students rather than administrations and political careers.

Number two would be health care. It is sickening, all puns intended, that our country is ranked in the middle of several "third-world" nations in infant mortality rates and other health care statistics. In a nation as prosperous as ours, no citizen should have to worry about whether a problem with their health will be taken care of if it arises, period. There are successful models we could follow and improve upon if we really valued the well-being of our people over the profitability of corporations ruining our health care system- Big Pharma, Big Insurance and the like.

Number three in my opinion is one we MUST tackle before 2006. We desperately need election reform and election finance reform in our country. We must make sure EVERY citizen has an equal chance to vote and that everybody's vote counts. We need to investigate ways to increase the convenience of the voting process. We should make Election Day an official holiday that companies must honor by law. We should nationalize uniform voting procedures and election law. And there MUST be a paper trail to ensure that if a recount is necessary an individual's vote cannot be tampered with in any way. We have several states that have taken steps to make sure citizens from every economic strata have the chance to run for office- this should be the model for a nationalized set of campaign finance reform initiatives.

MBT