I very much appreciate your invitation to address the American Reform Party in convention assembled here at Washington, D.C. I have greatly enjoyed my talks and correspondence with Ted Muga, Nancy Couperus, Don Torgerson, Kathleen Hopkins, Charles Riggs and Howard Johnson. What comes through loud and clear is your dedicated political activism combined with a common sense interest in all this nation’s opportunities and problems. To your credit, the American Reform Party is not a one or two issue group. Neither do you have a 12 million dollar kitty for others to drool over. Nor has ballot access been dealt with. Yet, I am honored to be in the presence of Americans who care beyond personal agendas as I deliver myself of some observations on today’s issues and politics.
I don’t think you need me to tell you that national third party politics, as perceived by the media and the public, verges on the edge of becoming a joke. That is exactly what Republicans and Democrats hoped for in order to continue their monopoly over government….A monopoly that has led to the current paucity of issues, candidates and participation in American politics. We are known by our friends and opponents in politics just as in all phases of life. And so, whether of our making or not, the current flamboyance, zaniness and brouhahas reflect on all of us as independents.
My purpose today is to give a centrist face to issues that concern all Americans so that you and I are looked upon—not as wackos—but as citizens who have an admired vision as to what the United States should be in the new millennium. I do not expect agreement with all my views anymore than I agree totally with the views of others. But, at least judgments can be formed on the basis of substance rather than on the basis of personality or philosophy. This, in my view, is what the country is seeking rather than the tabloid type of politics and governings that have been a steady diet over the recent past. Important issues that need to be addressed are: Education Health Care Violence Rural and Urban Poverty Balanced Budgets, including debt reduction Campaign and finance reform.
The issues that do not need to be addressed are: Abortion Organized Prayer in school Term limits To briefly answer the “whys” as to this latter group. First, abortion. Too much time has been spent on a settled point of law to the detriment of major national policy concerns. In the United States, abortion is a personal decision. I respect whatever view you take on abortion just as I hope you respect Claudia’s and my decision for choice. Secondly, the U.S. Constitution wisely articulates the separation of church and state. And, because of that, all religions have flourished in the United States while abroad millions have died in the name of religion—the latest chapters being Northern Ireland, Bosnia, Kosovo, the Middle East, East Timor and Chechnya. Let’s attend our places of worship more faithfully and our government more attentively. If it’s the children you worry about (I worry more about adults) then have them recite in school a passage from those most altruistic documents of all time, the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. Not only would that be uplifting, it has the advantage of being constitutional. Thirdly, as to term limits. If the elected don’t perform, then the electors had better—in the voting booth—not by constitutional amendment. No automatic pilot guarantees you good government or good governors. Only each citizen can do that.
I don’t intend flippancy on any of these matters and will be delighted to respond further during the Q and A but there are urgent unresolved issues that have waited long enough for the final repose of these no win emotional chestnuts. Urgent issues like equal public education for all our children…regardless of economics, race, rural, urban, whatever. Excellence in program, teaching, bricks and mortar is a must.
The catalyst solution to any of society’s ills—whether poverty, drugs, crime, or economic opportunity—is education. Monies spent at the onset of life produce results impossible of duplication downstream even with greater monies. Excessive reliance on the local property tax for education inherently creates inequalities of educational opportunity. Those are the inequities the Federal Government should smooth out. The urgent issue of health care. Every American deserves decent health care. The solution need not be a bureaucratic expensive one size fits all: Utilize and expand the Community Health Care centers for primary care and the poor. Double the budget of NIH, especially the budge of NIEH and the CDC. School based child health clinics in every school system. Doctor-based, not bean-counter based, decisions for whatever health plan. Home health care for the elderly. Mental health insurance coverage on a par with other diseases. All these elements would bring quality back into American health care—something left in the trash can by Democratic and Republican POLISCI care. The urgent issue of violence in our society.
Whether the violence of bigotry or the violence of hopelessness…both conducted much of the time with concealed or automatic weapons. I am a hunter. I use a shotgun and have a bird dog. The bird dog is very upset with my poor aim. No hunter I know uses a handgun or automatic weapon to kill game. Handguns and automatic weapons have one purpose only…to kill human beings.
I have no problem with long guns. I have a big problem with concealed weapons and automatic firearms. They belong to law enforcement and the military. Those uses aside, ban them period. If Second Amendment rights are the issue, join the National Guard or the Armed Services. That’s what the Second Amendment was written for. The urgent issue of poverty, whether rural or urban.
How is it during these times of unparalleled prosperity the poor are even greater in numbers? We need to take a hard look at the laws already on the books to see if the frailest elements of our society, specifically poor children, are a priority of our resources. The urgent issue of balanced budgets. No gimmickry—now you see it, how you don’t trust funds. Balanced budgets. Which means debt reduction before tax cuts. Which means saving for the inevitable “rainy day.” When a nation, state, or municipality are in the black they have choices. When they’re in the red with interest on debt being a major item, lenders thrive, borrowers lack services. I have not included the disabled as an urgent issue because with the passage of the ADA and its predecessor laws, many of which I authored, I thought these fifty million Americans had become full partners in our democracy. Now, I notice reneging in money and in interpretation. My response to the jurists and the lawmakers—knock it off. Pick on someone of your good fortune.
Lastly, campaign finance reform. The most meaningful reform would be to elect independent candidates. The second most meaningful reform would be to shorten the election cycle and the time in which money can be raised or spent. Using time as the regulator, First Amendment rights would not be curtailed.
The fact is politics is awash in money. Most of it used for TV. Free television times for candidates is a must. Feel good election nights should lead to more than post election national hangovers. Issues, not parties, should be the before and after. When I first ran as an independent it was to become governor of a financially troubled state. I looked forward to winning the election. I looked forward to the governing. I looked forward to building a newly formed A Connecticut Party. Well, I won the election. The state was put back on its feet where it stays today. But, the party building had to be set aside for the coalition building necessary to balance the budget and to tend to the frail during tough times. In others words, for reality’s sake, politics was way down the list of priorities. And so it should be today nationally. But there is no humble positioning of today’s Republican and Democratic politics.
Rather, politics is the be all and end all. Tough choices give way to politics, the frail give way to politics. Our money gives way to politics. The Constitution gives way to politics. No longer the means, politics has become the end. And that is a tragedy for the reality known as the United States. Hoped for Republican and Democratic party success has superceded the dreams of We the People. With all their entrenched power and campaign money both major parties can make many mistakes. As Independents—without power or money—we can’t make ONE. Yet, right now, we’re playing Wylie E Coyote to the Roadrunner. Unless the independent act comes together, and fast, even the most passionate third party advocate is bound to ally elsewhere in order to impact on government. It is not for us to be on a fool’s errand. We chose politics to win at it and then to make a difference in the governing. We don’t want to be viewed as entertainers. Rather, we are trying to meet a very real need and want to be viewed as such. And, forget this business of running against Washington.
The spirit of a great nation is not a place—it’s us. And, when we demean government in the United States, we diminish ourselves. Very briefly, on that point, a word to American parents. Instead of dumping all over politics and politicians so your children have no desire to serve their country, how about making your country the best by encouraging and sending into governmental service the best—your kids. The time has come for independents to recruit good candidates that can equate and even surpass the best the Republicans and Democrats have to offer. There are many good people out there. Don’t put them to litmus tests. Don’t tolerate candidate bashing or negativism within the independent movement. Let people know what you are for. Speak the language of reality to the American electorate and they will eschew the “miracle elixirs” of today’s political pitchmen. The world you are addressing doesn’t lack for politics. It lacks for the hope that when in need for whatever reason—be it problem or opportunity—choices will be real. Reality—not fantasy—is our job. In politics and in governing. That’s why we’re Independents.
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