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Stephen Crockett writes the Democratic Voices opinion column which is widely available on the Internet. He is a member of the National Writers Union (UAW local 1981) and is active with the UAW Community Action Program. Professionally, Stephen Crockett has an extensive background in marketing, advertising and public relations. Crockett owns College Marketing.com http://www.CollegeMarketing.com.

Garrett is a former State of Delaware employee and Adjunct Professor at Wilmington College. He resides in Wilmington, Delaware. He has Masters of Arts degrees in Philosophy and English Literature. He writes for the blog Delaware Watch and is a co-host of the radio program Progressive Voices, which is broadcast by the University of Delaware (WVUD). His poetry has been published in anthologies and dozens of periodicals and journals.

Democratic Talk Radio is a program started by Stephen Crockett and Al Lawrence on the night that the Bush vs. Gore ruling was handed down in 2000. The program has broadcast from WEKR-am, WYTM-FM and nationally from the ieAmerica network at various time since 2001. Both co-hosts were residents of Fayetteville, Tennessee when the program started. Fayetteville is in Lincoln County and part of Al Gore's old Congressional District.

Our good friend Bob Fertik has a petition calling for the Impeachment of Bush over spending $700 million dollars of defense funds meant for the War In Afghanistan on his plan to invade Iraq. It can be found at http://democrats.com/impeach.

The Bush Republican economic revolution has been fought. Working class and middle class Americans lost along with the nation. The result is the Republican insecurity economy of today. It is not a happy place for most Americans.

The Bush Republican economic revolution really started under Ronald Reagan and had some roots going back to the anti-New Deal Republicans that fought against FDR. It just went into a destructive hyper-drive mode with the selection of George W. Bush by the Republican-dominated Supreme Court in 2000.

The core value of the Bush Republican movement is that wealth and power makes you right no matter the cost to your fellow citizens or the nation’s future. Under the guise of “deregulation,” the power of extreme wealth to impose their unchecked power over the economy on all Americans was unleashed. Government regulators were corrupted. Laws were ignored. The national interest was ignored. All of this was done for the private profit of the very few.

The attack on our economy has come on many fronts including taxes, unionization rights of workers, trade policies, anti-monopoly laws, outsourcing, public debt, consumer rights, usury laws, government expenditures and regulatory agencies. The Republicans sold themselves almost completely. The buyers were large international corporations and the very wealthiest of the wealthy worldwide.

The tax burden has been shifted to the middle class, the poor and future generations. The American economic elite and large international corporations received huge tax reductions and benefited from huge government expenditures intentionally aimed at profiting them. They lent back the money they should have paid in taxes to the government at interest. The interest payments helped the rich get richer. It sent out national wealth to economic elites of nations like China , Saudi Arabia , South Korea , Japan and Mexico .

The so-called “free trade” deals denied our federal government of badly needed tax revenues that should have been collected on imported goods. American workers paid higher income and payroll taxes than they should have because of these trade deals. Most of the benefits of lower manufacturing costs went to very large stockholders and corporate executives instead of consumers. American workers lost good paying manufacturing jobs and the benefits that went with those jobs.

Bad trade deals have been a driving force behind the rising number of Americans with no health insurance. Trade deals helped destroy the 40 hour work week, lowered real wages and forced many homemakers out of the home in order to stay afloat financially. Our federal government lost much of their ability to regulate our national economy in the process.

The Republican economic elite told the American people that these globalization effects were inevitable. It was a lie. Economic globalization resulted largely from deliberate changes in economic policies especially trade policies. Economic deregulation was never inevitable. Destructive anti-competitive monopolies and predatory lending were never inevitable. These were political decisions. There were deliberate choices involved and the choices remain. They can be reversed by making other choices in terms of trade, taxation, government regulation, worker rights, consumer rights, public debt, government expenditures, consumer rights, bankruptcy laws, anti-monopoly legislation, etc.

We need to return to the New Deal values of FDR era. We need a heavy dose of economic populism combined with some economic nationalism. We need to return the tax policies of our federal government to some sense of sanity. The wealthiest of the wealthy have the ability and obligation to pay significantly higher taxes. The tax level should increase on these persons sufficiently to eliminate the government deficit. Tax levels on imports should rise to around 20-25% to pay for national health insurance and to pay off the national debt.

Union-busting tactics by corporations should be outlawed. Individual executives should be made personally criminally liable for violating labor laws. Corporations should not be allowed to restrict access to their workers by union organizers. Captive audience meeting should be outlawed. The Employee Free Choice Act should become law. Binding arbitration should be enforced by law when corporations refuse to bargain in good faith. Employee pension funds should be placed in union hands instead of corporate hands whenever labor contracts are present. Corporations should never be able to raid the pension funds of employees.

Labor unions created the American Middle Class. Reviving organized labor is the best method for saving the American Middle Class.

Predatory lending should be banned. Strict usury laws should be passed. Anti-monopoly policies should be adopted and actively enforced. Our economic policies at the national level should be designed to revive a strong national economy with opportunity for all citizens instead of just the Republican economic elite.

The study of economics was once called “political economy” and should be again. The economy is molded and controlled by political decisions. In a real functioning democracy, the average citizens should be making political choices that benefit the vast majority instead of the Republican economic elite. It is your vote and your future. Use it wisely!

midsouthcm@aol.com
demlabor@aol.com.

The idea being promoted by both John McCain and Hillary Clinton of canceling the federal gasoline tax for the summer is a terrible idea. It fails to address the real issue of runaway fuel prices. It has negative consequences for the safety of our roads and bridges. It is essentially a campaign stunt and distraction. The oil profiteers have already gobbled up any benefit consumers might gain from the cut far in advance of the proposed summer suspension.

Runaway fuel prices are largely the result of market manipulation by speculators and oil companies combined with a “nod and wink” approach to government regulation and law enforcement from the Bush Administration. We need serious government intervention instead of cosmetic window dressing.

Gasoline inventories are rising at the same time that prices are skyrocketing! Oil companies have been intentionally closing refineries to raise prices. The Bush administration has been taking huge quantities off the market by continuing to fill a strategic reserve when the federal government should be releasing the reserve to drive down the prices and breaking the power of speculators.

The federal taxes on fuel are a very tiny percentage of the total price. Gasoline prices rose nationally last month by nearly twice the amount of the federal gas tax. While the suspension of the gasoline tax sounds good, it does nothing but slow the price rise for a couple of weeks while gutting our ability to maintain our roads and bridges.

We already have bridges collapsing and citizens dying. Our transportation safety issue is really important. It is already in a crisis situation without following this irresponsible proposal. We need a huge increase in transportation infrastructure spending by the federal government instead of a dramatic decrease. We need to spend hundreds of billions of dollars over the next few years on rebuilding our national economic infrastructure. We should be training millions of new construction workers by giving our construction unions support for their apprenticeship and training programs. The money has to come from somewhere.

McCain and Clinton are pushing a proposal that is irresponsible and will not even occur under their terms if elected. Neither will be in the White House this summer.

There are some ideas that will help. Aggressive investigations and prosecutions in the oil industry are certainly in order. Illegal price manipulation is likely. Strengthening laws and penalties for market manipulation should be a top priority. All profits derived from illegal market manipulation should be surrendered to the federal government along with huge additional penalties. The law should immediately be changed to make this the standard.

All oil imports should be done through the federal government. The federal government should negotiate the price from a position of strength. Oil companies should not be able to drive up prices by bidding against competitors for imports and using the process as an excuse for price-gouging.

We need a strong “windfall profits tax” on the oil industry. This tax should be used to promote alternative energy and to subsidize the trucking industry fuel costs, which is driving up consumer inflation on other products like food.

Oil refinery closings should only be permitted by the federal government when they do not result in huge price increases. If necessary, the federal government should build their own refineries to supply the American military and feral government vehicles. We should end the Iraq War which is wasting huge quantities of fuel needed by the homeland.

If all else fails, the federal government should consider price controls on fuel and/or nationalizing the oil industry. The oil industry cannot be permitted to control the entire American economy for the benefit of the very, very few.

McCain and Clinton should stop playing politics with the gas tax issue. They should be aggressively pushing for alternative energy solutions like solar, wind, conservation, bio-fuels, Green jobs and technology along with much more federal regulation of the oil companies.

Hillary Clinton should end her bid for the White House. Obama should offer her the Vice Presidency. Clinton should accept the offer. It would be a bitter pill for both to swallow but it is what both the Democratic Party and the American nation desperately needs. Neither Clinton nor Obama should place their personal ambition, pride or emotions ahead of the needs of the American people.

Clinton won a big victory in Pennsylvania but the election was tainted by the highly negative campaign and by serious election equipment and logistical flaws. At this point, she could easily withdraw with honor. Clinton is certainly not responsible for the defective voting equipment or the thousands of Republicans who switched their registrations in Pennsylvania to Democratic but were denied their right to cast even provisional ballots.

Brad Friedman of Brad Blog predicted in advance on his website and in an interview broadcast on my Democratic Talk Radio show that the election process in Pennsylvania was going to be a disaster logistically. He told our listening audience in Bethlehem , Pennsylvania (WGPA SUNNY 1100AM) and our Internet audience that after the problems arose that the type of voting machines used in Pennsylvania made it impossible to fix errors likely to arise. The voting machines used made it impossible to verify the count or audit the results. Pennsylvania election laws and processes tainted Clinton ’s victory through no fault of her own.

This writer believes she won big in Pennsylvania but the voting process was so bad that many voters will always doubt the size of that victory.

Regardless of the Pennsylvania win, Clinton has almost zero chance of gaining the Democratic Presidential nomination without changing the nominating rules to seat the delegates from Michigan and Florida selected in unfair primary elections. Even with those delegates counted, Clinton has very little chance of gaining the nomination. It would take a nearly complete sweep of the remaining election contests in places like North Carolina , Indiana , West Virginia , Kentucky , Oregon , Montana , South Dakota , Puerto Rico , Guam and Idaho along with gaining most of the Super Delegates. Basically, it would take a whole series of miracles for her to gain the nomination and place her in a very weak position in terms of defeating McCain in the Fall.

Counting on a series of miracles to win a nomination that would split the Democratic Party in half is a pretty poor campaign strategy. Staying in the race would cast Clinton in a Democratic spoiler role in the minds of the American people should it result in a McCain victory in November. It would ruin her place in history.

A McCain victory would be an absolute disaster for the American nation. It would be basically a third term for Bush Republicanism and the insane policies that have wrecked the American economy. It would mean a foreign policy of endless, pointless, bloody wars. Make no mistake about it, John McCain is a war-monger who has no clue about how to run an economy.

McCain would pack our federal courts with the same kind of partisan, ideologically driven, Far Right judges that Bush appointed. Helping to elect McCain would gut the Bill of Rights and essentially destroy American Democracy. McCain would be both stubborn and inept in the White House just like Bush.

McCain is and always has been a tool of Corporate forces in politics- just like Bush. He and his wife are likely worth hundreds of millions of dollars although the so-called “straight talker” has refused to expose their full family finances. McCain is hiding his conflicts of interests and financially self-serving political position by hiding behind his wife! It is shameful and dishonest.

Electing McCain would mean millions more Americans would lose their homes, their savings and their jobs. It would mean the near collapse of the American dollar, the almost total destruction of America as a manufacturing nation and the end of our military dominance because of economic collapse. The destruction of our Constitutionally guaranteed personal freedoms started under Bush would become complete. It would be in a very real sense a third term for George W. Bush.

McCain was a war hero in Vietnam but since then he has been a disaster for working Americans. Read about McCain at McCain Revealed.com http://www.mccainrevealed.com if you think I am over stating the case against a McCain Presidency. His record and policy positions are about 95 % the same as George W. Bush.

The American nation cannot afford a Bush Presidency. Clinton and Obama should make any sacrifice necessary to spare the American nation of this impending disaster. I am calling on their proven patriotism to work together as a Democratic ticket to defeat Bush Republicanism in the form of John McCain. Please save the American nation!

If I had only one Republican controlled Congressional District to target in a key battleground state this year, it would be the Pennsylvania 15th. This is a proven Democratic performing District that could very easily take the swing out of the swing state of Pennsylvania. Turning the 15th Congressional District solidly Democratic along with the recent electoral gains made in eastern Pennsylvania by Democrats means the state will remain reliably “Blue” in upcoming elections.

There are only 7 Congressional districts in the nation that were won by both Gore in 2000 and Kerry in 2004 that are currently represented in the U.S. House by a Republican. This seat is currently held by relative newcomer Charles Dent. He is facing a stiff challenge from a talented female candidate in Sam Bennett. With a solid background in politics as a Democratic Party leader, grassroots activist and organizer, Bennett is raising significant support both nationally and locally.

Emily’s List is already looking hard at adding Sam Bennett to their endorsement list. All the women’s organizations are likely to provide significant resources and expertise to her campaign. Organized labor has been solid in their support for the Bennett candidacy. As a businessperson in the community, Sam Bennett has developed some significant support from outside the traditional base of Democratic supporters.

Sam Bennett is starting to get some national recognition especially from the Democratic and Progressive Netroots community. While most journalists from outside the District have not yet discovered the race, it is starting to be discussed in the larger organized labor community as a likely pick-up seat.

The Pennsylvania Democratic Party and the Democratic National Committee are working on expanding their operations and logistical support in all the greater Lehigh Valley communities that comprise the Pennsylvania 15th Congressional District. The local Democratic Party is vibrant and growing. The local Democratic Party leadership is strong in every community and at every level. There is a solid Democratic Party organization to build on for any Democratic candidate. There has been a steady stream of Democratic gains at the local and state level in recent elections.

Bennett is certainly benefiting from the respect of the local Democratic Party leadership developed over the years by her activities in the field. The 15th Congressional District is not a Democratic performance District by accident. The Democrats in the greater Lehigh Valley work very hard and admire hard work. A candidate like Bennett is used to hard work. She worked her own way through college at SUNY. She is a successful businesswoman helping to run a business with her husband while raising a family and being active in community affairs.

The Chair of the Northeast Pennsylvania Democratic Caucus and the Northampton Democratic Party Joe Long says, “In all my decades of political involvement, I have never seen a harder-working candidate. I have been involved in a lot of campaigns and seen lots of candidates.”

Organized labor is working the region aggressively with various kinds of programs and resources coming in from the national and state levels. The local labor community is blessed by an excellent collection of highly talented and politically aware union leaders. The labor community is highly involved, highly organized and highly visible. Many cities, towns and organizations in the Lehigh Valley have been passing resolutions or writing letters in support of the Employee Free Choice act.

In this writer’s very first conversation with Sam Bennett many months ago, she strongly expressed her support for the Employee Free Choice Act and for providing universal healthcare.

It is often stated that the 15th Congressional District has the largest number of union members, members of union households and union retirees in the nation. There can be no doubt that organized labor is very strong and active in the area. The industrial, blue-collar roots of many residents help shift the 15th District solidly toward the Democratic camp in most recent national elections. The 15th Congressional District comprises the formerly heavily industrial Pennsylvania cities of Allentown and Bethlehem.

Although greatly reduced in numbers from their 20th Century highs, the United Steel Workers (USW), the United Auto Workers (UAW), International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) and other industrial unions still have many members in the region. Total union membership had declined significantly as American factories were closed. In recent decades, new unions like the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) have emerged to replace some of the union membership lost in recent decades because of factory closings. The region was badly hit by the closure of American steel mills and off-shoring of American manufacturing. Almost all the other large unions are active in the Lehigh Valley such as the various building trades (like the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Carpenters, Laborers, etc.), American Postal Workers (APWU), hotel and textile employees (UNITE-HERE) and service employees (SEIU).

Recently, the decline in union membership in the greater Lehigh Valley has halted. Last year, union membership in the area actually increased.

Because the labor community is solidly behind Sam Bennett, she has a very strong chance of winning the Congressional seat. She has earned their support by being right on the issues and working very, very hard to win the race. The President of the Greater Lehigh Valley Labor Council Gregg Potter, a CWA member, stated, “immediately after the votes were counted in 2006 and it became clear that Dent had edged out Northampton County Councilman and IBEW member Charles Dertinger, Sam Bennett let it be know that she would challenge Dent in 2008. She has been working enthusiastically toward that end ever since without rest. She has been a good friend of organized labor.”

There are a growing number of Hispanic voters in the various communities of the Lehigh Valley. The Hispanic voter has been trending Democratic very heavily in the most recent elections and opinion polls. Democrats can gain significantly by devoting more resources to voter registration and turn-out in this community. In the 15th District race, this could be a key target opportunity that could be exploited by a Democratic Congressional candidate like Sam Bennett. According to the Congressional Quarterly website, the 15th District is 8 percent Hispanic.

American seniors vote in large numbers. This is especially true in the greater Lehigh Valley. They represent a much larger percentage of the total votes cast than of the general population in almost all elections. The 15th Congressional District may be demographically the oldest in the nation by many estimates. These voters are very much inclined to respond in a positive way to the majority of Democratic economic proposals. Current economic concerns are likely to be huge campaign issues in the Lehigh Valley.

The growing emphasis on economic issues is a natural advantage to Democrats in the 15th Congressional District. The current Republican Congressman Charles Dent has been voting with the rest of the Bush Republicans on almost every economic issue that has come before Congress. High fuel prices and increasing employment insecurity are working strongly against Dent. His support for Bush’s Iraq War hurts Dent. With 72 percent owner-occupied housing, mortgage insecurity issues are not going to bode well for the incumbent.

Sam Bennett is strongly supporting a Green Jobs approach to revitalizing the economy of her Congressional District. Bennett believes that the Lehigh Valley is very well-placed to benefit from a shift in federal government priorities regarding support for Green Jobs and Green Technology. The area is blessed with world-class environment and technology research facilities. It has a very high level of per capita college attendance. There are numerous colleges in the Congressional District. It has a community supportive of environmental efforts. For example, Allentown has an extremely high level of participation in recycling efforts.

Their long history of manufacturing has given the area a workforce experienced and skilled at taking ideas and turning them into high quality products. Bennett noted that “there is a well-organized business community in the greater Lehigh Valley that could rally around a Green Jobs initiative if the federal government would provide some support and leadership. I intend to work towards that end. There are good jobs to be had and money to be made while promoting the public good by cleaning-up the environment for our children.”

Bennett connects her opposition to the Iraq War directly to the economic difficulties we are facing today. She stated that “there is a direct link between the Iraq War and healthcare in America.” She cites the wasted money spent on the war and occupation as resources that could have been spent on smaller class-sizes in our public schools and on increased support for Pennsylvania college students struggling with ever rising educational costs.

Sam Bennett can relate to the opportunity costs of the war both intellectually and personally. She and her family are struggling with the enormous costs of putting two daughters through college at the same time while saving for the future college education of her youngest child. Bennett can relate to her constituents’ real life problems and struggles.

On issues like access to the courts for average citizens, Bennett is a real leader. She says that “Republican so-called tort reform is not really tort reform. It is a denial of access to the court system for the little guy.”

Although still currently likely to be outspent by Dent, Sam Bennett has been fairly successful in raising campaign donations. Among all the Pennsylvania Democratic Congressional candidates challenging setting Republicans, she is the top fundraiser (excluding self-financing by one other candidate in western Pennsylvania) and is without a Democratic Primary challenge. Charles Dertinger was outspent in 2006 by some estimates nearly 23 to 1. Dent still only received 53.6 percent of the vote. Dent lost a full 5 percentages points out when it comes to the vote total between his first run in 2004 (58.6%) and his 2006 (53.6%) race. If Bennett can receive any significant funding from outside the 15th Congressional District, she will in my opinion likely defeat Dent.

If I was Republican Congressman Charles Dent, I would be touching up my resume.

Our current list of national economic difficulties and governmental failures is a direct result of nearly 30 years of failed Republican policies. We are paying the price in many ways for our national love affair with slick, emotionally appealing Republican political rhetoric and candidates. We ignore the harsh reality behind the deceitful words.

We have all experienced bad relationships and failed romances. Long after the romances are over, we are still dealing with the negative consequences both emotional and financial. We keep paying the unhappy costs.

The legacy of distrust, dealing with debts accumulated based on lies, self-doubts for believing the nice sounding lies and living with an awareness that we all are subject to the weakness of emotional reasoning remain long after the relationships have collapsed. There is always the possibility that the burden of dealing with the problems is so great that we go into denial and repeat the same mistakes by buying into slightly repackaged versions. It plays hell on emotional, physical and financial well-being. We all have been there.

It is long past time for the American public to end our soured love affair with deceitful Reagan-Bush Republicanism and start cleaning up the mess left behind. It will be emotionally upsetting but has to be done. The damage is great. It will require a real change in both our behavior and thinking to undo the damage and avoid repeating the same mistakes. It can be done!

In 2008, we are finally be forced to start paying the price for the falsely named set of economic policies once labeled “economic deregulation” that became the national political creed with the election of Ronald Reagan in 1980. We shifted the tax burden to those least able to bear the strain by raising taxes on both the poor and the middle class. We cut dramatically the tax burden of the wealthy and even more so for the Super Wealthy. We encouraged paper financial profits over real economic growth. We exported our industrial base weakening our nation because it temporarily profited our economic elite.

We ended usury laws, weakened government regulation of our financial institutions, permitted government “no-bid” contracts to go to political powerful corporations and ignored anti-monopoly traditions. Consumer protections were weakened. Our federal courts were packed with Republican Right-Wing Radicals willing to overlook any kind of corruption by government officials, corporations or Republican politicians as long as the results favored the wealthiest of the wealthy and the politically powerful.

Our dollar is in the toilet because we exported debt in exchange for cheap imported goods. Wal-Mart raked in a fortune by lowering wage rates in community after community, fighting all efforts at unionizing their workers, and undermining our manufacturing base by encouraging American factories to relocate to China . A government truly serving our national interest would have adopted trade and tax policies that would have stopped Wal-Mart from pursuing these policies. However, the Reagan-Bush Republicans did the opposite.

Even during the brief periods of Democratic Presidential rule under Clinton , Republican policies were often still pursued. The NAFTA and WTO deals received White House support although the majority of Congressional Democrats often opposed these falsely-named “free trade” deals. They were passed largely with Congressional Republican votes. Media consolidation resulted as a direct result of some Democrats buying into the Republican “economic deregulation” arguments. Media consolidation reduced competition instead of promoting it. It hurt small business advertisers and media consumers. Both policies have been severe failures for the American nation. They have undermined the health of both the American economy and American Democracy.

The Republican Presidential candidate John McCain promises to deliver more of the same failed policies. Although McCain has an impressive past military record, his services in the political arena are not impressive. His record on economics or finding a quick exit from the Iraq quagmire inspire little hope or confidence. McCain is simply not prepared to deal with the modern challenges facing the nation in the 21st Century.

For most Americans, a McCain victory will mean a lower standard of living and even less real influence on government policy. McCain is certainly no friend of American workers or consumers. McCain will do nothing to restore America’s industrial base or basic economic health. The “100 Year War Man” has no answers for the real fundamental problems facing our nation today! He is a real threat to our long-term national security.

Both leading Democrats are likely to be a big improvement over McCain. However, we still will need to elect Senators and House members willing to support more populist economic reforms that actually reverse some of the damage done over the past 30 years. We need to elect the right kind of Democrats and to keep pressuring them to restore economically responsible policies. We need to demand more open government, more civil liberties protections and democratically responsive governance.

I urge strongly that voters educate themselves before voting in November. Two excellent books that we all should read by then are Free Lunch by David Cay Johnston and Bad Samaritans by Ha-Joon Chang. A daily visit to Buzzflash.com or Mid-Atlantic Labor.com would certainly help you become a more informed voter. Listening to talk radio shows like The Rick Smith Show, Thom Hartmann, Andy Johnson, Ed Shultz, Guy James, Democratic Talk Radio or Air America programs would help with the brain rot resulting from listening to Rush Limbaugh, Michael Savage, Sean Hannity and the like.

You can count on the Republicans feeding you, as voters, lots of crazy emotionally charged slogans and arguments. The Corporate media will go after reform minded Democrats like resigned New York Governor Spitzer with zeal and venom while largely ignoring similar or worse behavior by currently serving Republican Senators like Louisiana ’s Vitter or Idaho ’s Craig. Vitter and Craig are reliable votes supporting the failed Reagan-Bush Republican policies while Spitzer actually prosecuted some of the worst Corporate abusers.

Only by educating yourself about policies can you avoid making the same mistakes over and over again. For your own sake and that of your children, this year break the cycle and vote based on substantive issues like healthcare, trade policies, re-industrializing America, shifting some of the tax burden back to those most able to pay higher taxes, resumption of usury laws, jobs, consumer protection, balancing the budget, ending an unaffordable war and a return to anti-monopoly law enforcement.

Democrats have numerous possible opportunities to replace Republican members of Congress with Democratic challengers in 2008. Republicans are retiring at rates that must be alarming to the Republican Party. While it is difficult to keep up with the rapid pace of Republican retirement announcements, I believe that at least 26 Republican House members and 6 Republican Senators are leaving office. Only 6 Democratic House members are confirmed as retiring. Zero Democratic Senators are currently known to be leaving office. Some of the Democratic House members are seeking Senate seats.

It is understandable that the media has focused on these seats but the best news for Democrats are the number of setting Republican incumbents from relatively safe Congressional Districts in deep trouble. This column will look at one Democratic challenger who is likely to retire a long-term Republican. The challenger is Frank Kratovil from the Maryland 1st Congressional District.

Most observers without a deep understanding of Maryland ’s politics would likely overlook the Kratovil opportunity. The Republican incumbent Wayne Gilchrest has been successful in painting a very Right Wing voting record as “moderate”. For example, Gilchrest has an awful, lifetime pro-labor voting record in the teens. Gilchrest almost always votes against the interests of working Americans and for the interests of huge corporations. Historically, he has voted on the overwhelming majority of issues with the Bush Republicans.

Gilchrest occasionally picks an issue (often environmental) to break with the Republican Right on and publicizes the break extensively. There appears to be a pattern of making sure that the votes where Gilchrest strayed from the Republican fold were not decisive votes that impacted eventually passage of actual legislation. Although recently Gilchrest sometimes votes on Iraq against the Bush White House, the Bush Administration is currently backing Gilchrest in a bitter three way Republican Primary according to published reports.

The Maryland Republican Party is in full civil war mode. Two strong Republican state senators are running against Gilchrest in the February 12th Republican Primary. State Senator Andy Harris has the backing of 7 out of 8 Republican State Senators representing parts of the Congressional District along with most of the Maryland Republican hierarchy including the former Republican Governor Ehlrich. The other State Senator running for Congress is E.J. Pipkin. Pipkin is a former junk bond trader who has a huge personal net worth and seemingly unlimited personal political ambition. He has already run statewide as the Republican nominee for U.S Senate but lost badly in the general election.

Harris and Pipkin are both running highly negative campaigns. Both are serious challengers. If Gilchrest only faced one challenger, he would be unlikely to survive the Republican Primary. One recent poll showed that 60 percent of Republicans have negative views of Gilchrest. Republicans are busy spending huge amounts of money driving up each others negatives. Whoever, wins the Republican nomination will emerge a much weaker Republican candidate than is normal in the district. Even in Maryland ’s most conservative Congressional District, it is a bad year to be running as a Republican!

Frank Kratovil is a very strong Democratic candidate. He does face other Democratic Primary opponents but they are unlikely to beat Kratovil. The Governor, Attorney General and Comptroller are all supporting Kratovil. In addition, the Maryland AFL -CIO and the teacher unions are strongly supporting his campaign. Many local Democratic officeholders and organizations in all parts of 1st District have endorsed Kratovil with more expected this week.

He has demonstrated strong fund-raising abilities and will likely have some national financial support in his bid for Congress. The Internet has connected a national Democratic donor base with strong challengers all over the nation. These donors are likely to prove some financial support to Kratovil. Republicans are having difficulty raising money and have many incumbents in deep trouble.

Kratovil is the State’s Attorney from Queen Anne’s County on Maryland ’s Eastern Shore . Kratovil is tough on crime. He shares the traditional values of the most rural and small town, Maryland Democrats of the 1st Congressional District. He is young, bright, energetic and attractive with a proven record of winning the votes of independent, Democratic and Republican voters. He has strong appeal in the rural communities and small-towns of the Eastern Shore that have often supported Gilchrest in the past.

The 1st District is rapidly changing as new people move into it. Many of these new voters are not inclined to vote Republican in 2008 and have no loyalty to Gilchrest. With Gilchrest losing much of his traditional support and Republicans engaging in civil war, the Democrats are very likely to win this Congressional seat.

The Democratic Presidential candidate John Edwards is potentially the person most likely to realign the two major political parties for the next generation or two. Edwards is a Democratic political leader who is not only closely mirroring FDR as a historical figure but is doing so by following in the same political and economic traditions as FDR. The main differences are personal backgrounds and accents.

During the 1930’s, President Roosevelt essentially ended the dominance of the “Bourbon Democrats” in national Democratic politics and moved the Democratic Party solidly behind a political program of economic populism. As a result, the nation saw a couple generations of solid economic growth and mass prosperity. A vibrant middle class emerged from the policies promoted by FDR. The Democratic Party clearly replaced the Republicans as the stronger of the two major parties as a result.

Beginning with the election of Ronald Reagan, many Democrats in power drifted away from the core values of the Democratic Party and started running as “Republican-lite” candidates. They started trying to compete for corporate campaign money by permitting awful trade agreements that undermined the health of the American economy and weakened the American middle class while helping the economic elite become even more powerful.

Some Democrats playing footsie with Republicans and large corporations failed working Americans and the poor by letting the obscenely wealthy start paying much lower percentages of their incomes in federal taxes than the middle class majority. Many Democrats started turning their backs on some common sense elements of the Roosevelt tradition of having those able to pay higher taxes pay them. We call this progressive taxation. The rich pay should be paying higher tax rates since they have more influence on government policies and benefit more from them.

They completely abandoned our federal government commitment to preventing monopoly control by large corporations of many important aspects of everyday life. Price-gouging has become routine. Insider trading and excessive executive pay has become routine in the corporate world. Wealthy foreign corporations are often having more impact on government policies than the needs of average Americans. Media consolidation has blocked out almost all non-corporate voices in the discussion of public policy issues. Edwards wants less corporate control over everyday life and has specific programs in mind to move in that direction.

The wages of Americans have been suppressed. The ability to unionize in order to achieve higher standards of living has been attacked by federal legislation, right wing court rulings and harassment by oppressive federal government regulation by the Bush Administration. Edwards is the most labor-friendly Presidential candidate of the top-tier candidates. With Edwards, we have a candidate who both walks the walk and talks the talk. Edwards is strongly opposed to outsourcing American jobs and is committed to ending unfair international trade deals or tax policies that encourage corporations to move jobs out of the nation.

Poverty in America has largely been ignored by our political leadership since the 1980’s. We waste trillions of dollars fighting unnecessary wars but seem unwilling to seriously commit to eliminating institutionalize poverty. Edwards is the only candidate really talking about poverty in America . Poverty is a serious issue in many rural American communities and inner cities. Most candidates ignore the poor because they do not write big campaign donation checks. Edwards can give the poor hope and get them voting.

We remain the only nation out of the 75 most economically advanced nations not to have government guaranteed universal health insurance. We cripple our corporations in international competition by forcing them to provide for healthcare. As a nation we spend 17% of our economy on healthcare while our competitors spend 8%. Our competitors cover all citizens while we have 47 million uninsured citizens and even more underinsured. If we had not abandoned our FDR political traditions, this situation would have been corrected long ago. Edwards is committed to universal healthcare.

John Edwards is uniquely focused on returning Democrats to their FDR roots of economic populism. The Bush Republicans are committed to short-term “Greed Capitalism” that is as self-destructive as the Republican policies of the 1920’s. FDR saved American capitalism by reforming it with the New Deal. Edwards can do the same.

Edwards can restore the FDR coalition by running as an economic populist. He can win in places like North Carolina , Florida , Colorado , Virginia and Oklahoma . Edwards might even win in places like Texas . He can win without abandoning Democratic traditional values. Edwards can carry rural communities and small towns without going Republican-lite. Edwards will carry all the traditional Democratic areas and much more because he truly represents Main Street instead of Wall Street.

Although from a working class background instead of coming from great inherited wealth, Edwards is much like our greatest American President, Franklin D. Roosevelt. Edwards has similar views with a Southern accent.

Democratic Talk Radio announces their annual Hero & Villain of the Year Award for 2007. Former Senator John Edwards was selected as the winner of the Hero Award for standing against excessive corporate influence in American politics and government. President George W. Bush was selected as the 2007 Villain of the Year for using his veto power as President to thwart the will of the American people on issues ranging from ending the Iraq occupation to providing for the healthcare needs of American children.

“These two important political figures stand at polar opposites when it comes to corporate control over the everyday lives of American citizens,” stated co-host Stephen Crockett. “Edwards speaks about giving the power over government back to the average guy. Bush is all about serving the international corporations and preserving the nearly absolute control exercised by the wealthiest of the Super Wealthy over the political agenda in America . The difference is like day and night.”

Policy positions like civil liberties, free trade vs. fair trade, the Employee Free Choice Act, torturing prisoners, media consolidation, shifting the tax burden and universal healthcare were considered in making the DTR Hero and Villain Awards for 2007. The 2007 Awards were the first ones by Democratic Talk Radio where the same set of policy issues were used to select both the Hero and Villain of the Year.

It is obvious that none of the major Presidential candidates of either the Democratic or Republican Parties are supporting the right approach to providing universal healthcare. Frankly, all the Republican candidates are going to be major obstacles to achieving this national goal. While the top Democratic candidates (Clinton, Edwards and Obama) do support the concept, they are all offering Band-Aid approaches for a life-threatening economic and health crisis in America .

A bill has already been introduced in The House by Congressman John Conyers that effectively addresses the issue. H.R. 676 expands Medicare to cover all citizens.

The scope of the healthcare crisis in America is huge. It has very serious economic and moral implications. It is crippling our nation in terms of protecting American manufacturing, competing in the global economy and undermines our national security. It reflects badly on us as a just and moral society. It is literally killing Americans in huge numbers.

The number of Americans without health insurance is currently 47 million and growing rapidly. The number of underinsured Americans is much larger than the number of uninsured Americans. In America , over half of all personal bankruptcies are the direct result of medical crises. Over half of those bankruptcies are from individuals who had health insurance when their medical crises started.

Industry friendly studies of the number of Americans who died because they had no health insurance place the number at around 50 per week. The number is absurdly low and illogical.

Doing without healthcare at any point in life for a significant period of time will likely create health issues and physical damage. This damage accumulates over a lifetime and shortens your lifespan. You die younger than you would have if you had always had adequate healthcare. You might die at 70 instead of 85. In addition, the last years might have much lower levels of quality. Since most people die after reaching the age where Medicare coverage is already in effect, those deaths are not counted as resulting from a lack of healthcare insurance although they can be directly traced to an earlier lack of coverage. Most of the deaths resulting from a lack of healthcare insurance are thus concealed.

Even using the fraudulent 50 per week figure, killing Americans to preserve the profits of HMO’s and insurance companies is completely immoral. Bankrupting Americans because of illness is a national disgrace. It does not happen in other industrialized nations. Out of the top 75 most industrialized nations in the world, only in the United States are citizens not provided by their government with universal healthcare.

In the United States , we saddle our businesses and corporations with the cost of providing for the healthcare needs of their employees. Our international competitors do not. This is one of the major reasons why good paying manufacturing and service sector jobs are leaving our nation. It is economic suicide.

None of the Band-Aid approaches advocated by the top Democratic Presidential candidates deal effectively with the trade implications of healthcare policy. I am personally supporting Edwards because he is more inclined to advance fair and balanced trade agreements than Clinton and Obama. For example, Clinton and Obama supported the most recent “so-called free trade” agreement with Peru while Edwards did not. However, even Edwards has not yet addressed the clear connection between international trade and healthcare.

The best solution for providing universal healthcare is expanding Medicare to cover all American citizens. Medicare is a proven program. It is popular and cost-effective. Our current private system has much higher levels of overhead costs than does Medicare. The only inefficient aspects of Medicare are the “privatized” programs added by the Bush White House and their Republican allies in the Senate. Medicare has been hugely successful despite ongoing Republican and corporate attempts to undermine it.

We can count on Republican politicians to label any move toward universal healthcare as “socialized medicine.” They attempted mightily to destroy Medicare in the past using such tactics and failed completely. Politically, providing universal healthcare by expanding Medicare will be much easier than any other approach.

The private, profit-drive healthcare system is terribly unfair and inefficient. We spend 17 percent of our total economy on healthcare while our international competitors spend only 8 percent. They cover everyone and we do not. The numbers speak for themselves!

Expanding Medicare to cover everyone will not prevent citizens from buying supplemental healthcare if they can afford it. It will greatly help doctors who are General Practitioners by making medical need become effective demand. It will help hospitals by removing the burden of providing healthcare to those who cannot pay for it. It will make our workers healthier and more productive.

There must be a grassroots movement built behind “Medicare For All.” Local activists, union leaders, businesses and politicians must all exert their efforts in a common movement. Most national union organizations and state AFL -CIO organizations are supporting H.R. 676. They are joined by many members of Congress. The legislation has 89 co-sponsors with more being added frequently. Many candidates are backing it!

Local leaders are already getting organized all over the nation. People like Amos B. McCluney, Jr. in Delaware and Alena Bandy in Maryland are actively organizing Medicare For All state chapters. Both leaders are grassroots Democratic activists with roots in the United Auto Workers. Both are reaching out into the community recruiting civil rights leaders, churches, community organizations and local politicians behind H.R. 676. They are not alone. I personally have talked with local activists from Tennessee , Massachusetts , New York , Pennsylvania and several other states who are working on building support for this legislation.

Pressure must be placed on all opinion leaders to support Medicare For All. Presidential, Senatorial and Congressional candidates should be pressured to support H.R. 676. All candidates should be placed on record that they would not veto Medicare For All nor place legislative obstacles in the way of passing H.R. 676, even if they do not actively support passage. Candidates failing to make such public pledges should not be supported by any American citizen.

Average Americans must reframe the debate over healthcare. Instead of calling for universal healthcare or single-payer healthcare, we should simplify the debate. We should be calling for “Medicare For All” and supporting H.R. 676.

BB King said it best when he sang “the thrill is gone.” It certainly is no fun trying to defend Bush Republicanism going into the 2008 elections. Bush has simultaneously radicalized and corrupted the modern Republican Party. Unfortunately, the blight is bigger than the individuals running the Bush White House. The corruption and resulting incompetence has become institutionalized in the mechanics of the Republican political machine.

Recently, this writer held a discussion with Paul Tucker, Editor & Publisher of The Union News. He stated during that conversation that “Bush inherited a dynamic, strong and growing Republican Party and drove it over a cliff.”

Surveying the wreckage, we can see a record number of Republican Congressional leaders announcing retirements. In the Senate, Democrats are likely to gain between 7 to 12 additional seats. Most polls predict fewer safe Republican seats in the House. Trends are all pointing towards a devastating defeat for Republicans in 2008 at all levels.

Some Republicans have been trying to distance themselves from Bush on a few key issues but are locked in a political death dance with their radicalized primary voters and severely corrupted corporate donor base. Republican candidates cannot win primaries without supporting Bush on Iraq. Candidates who support Bush on Iraq are going to get slaughtered nationally in the general election.

On trade policy, tax cuts for the wealthy, healthcare for children, no-bid contracts, torture, privacy, national health insurance, guaranteeing voting rights, punishing Republican politicians who are apparently lawbreakers (like Scooter Libby), expanding Presidential powers and many other issues, the Republican leadership and activist base hold views that large majorities of Americans oppose. Basically, the Republicans on most important issues are opposed to the views of the American people. It seems like a poor approach to winning elections for any political party.

Minority rule can only be imposed by the use of political tactics that offend ever growing majorities of voters. You can stop people from voting using various dirty tricks and illegal actions. You can corrupt the vote counts and obstruct recounts in contested elections. You can abuse your public office to serve partisan goals. You can corrupt law enforcement, prosecutions and trials for political gains. You can lie and lie and lie about everything.

You can smear your opponents. You can use fear, intimidation and character assassination. You can play parliamentary tricks like using filibusters to block overrides of vetoes. You can hide information about abuses using fake national security or executive privilege claims. You can engage in endless propaganda designed to prevent honest debate on the merits of policy. You can do many thing that might give your minority faction temporary victories. You can obstruct justice in many different ways.

Under Bush, the Republicans have used all of these offensive tactics and many more. The Bush era was born from these tactics in 2000. They have used them relentlessly, and fairly effectively, for the past 7 years but the results appear to have backfired. Moderates and fair-minded Republicans are leaving their Party in ever growing numbers. Democratic activism is growing. Independents are leaning very heavily toward the Democrats in all the polls on issue after issue.

Dirty tactics and poor policy positions have turned the Republicans into a shrinking minority. The more they shrink, the more they are reliant on dirty tactics and trapped by the radical, corrupt policy positions of those few who remain.

Right Wing Radicalism, cronyism, corruption and incompetence seem to dominate when Republicans rule. It is not much fun defending that kind of record or agenda. It is no fun being a Republican these days. It is not much fun being ruled by them, for the rest of us, either.

Karl Rove gave the Republican Party the political equivalent of the credit card teaser rate! It sure seemed good in the short term but reality sets in over the long run. Yes, “political genius” Karl Rove is the Democratic secret weapon that spells many, many Democratic victories over the next generation.

The big problem for an evil “genius” is that they are evil and the American people really are not evil. Yes, Americans can be deceived and manipulated with scare tactics, lies, dirty tricks and simplistic slogans…. for awhile. In the long term, those efforts always backfire. When these “darkside” political tactics get transferred from election strategy to policy, they will inevitably blow-up in the face of their users. Karl Rove never learned this lesson from the era of Richard Nixon.

We should realize that Karl Rove was not the only top Republican to misunderstand the lessons of the greater Watergate scandal. Dick Cheney, George W. Bush, most Republicans in Congress and the Republican National Committee are equally blind. In the Republican Party, they are all Rovians! Hurrah for us Democrats that they are!

Voter suppression, tampering with the voter rolls, intimidation, fear, slander, lies, deception and obsessive secrecy were keys to Republican victories in 2000, 2002 and 2004. These “darkside” tactics led to the Rovian Republican dream of a permanent Right Wing Majority ruling America for the next generation. It was always a crazy dream. It only made sense if you lived in the distorted, alternative reality of 24 hour Fox News and Rush Limbaugh-style talk radio. Most Americans live in the real world.

Even the short term victories from 2000 to 2004 were only possible because Democrats had not held firm against the creeping subversion by the Republican Right of our courts and regulatory agencies. Democrats should never have permitted Right Wing radicals like Thomas and Scalia to have become Supreme Court Justices before 2000. Bush did not legitimately take control of the Presidency in 2000.

Rovian tactics like the illegal, false felon purge by Katherine Harris in Florida before Election Day 2000 made the Florida vote close enough to let the Supreme Court thwart the will of the people and select George W. Bush over the real winner, Al Gore. Thus began the rule by Rovian policy which we call the Bush 43 Presidency.

In policy terms, the triumph of Rovian policy meant secret government by and for the economic elite. Trillions in tax cuts for the wealthiest of the wealthy and a few extra dollars in tax breaks for the rest of us were the first order of business. Most of us saw our tiny tax breaks disappear into our gas tanks as the oil companies who bankrolled the Rovian Republican Revolution financially raped us. California got punished by Bush (Rovian) energy allies like Enron in an illegal, electricity price-gouging scheme that federal regulators should have stopped immediately. Unfortunately, the Rovians got to the regulatory agencies first.

There was an immediate drop in Bush’s approval rating. Only the 9-11 attacks saved Bush from one-term status and allowed the Rovian Revolution to last past the first few months.

Bankruptcy laws were changed to screw-over debtors. Polluters got pretty much everything they wanted. Trade pacts were signed all over the third world so companies could ship good American jobs out of the country while flooding us with cheap, often dangerous imports. Within a couple of years, the 9-11 scare tactics and secrecy were not being truly effective in keeping Americans in line politically.

Karl Rove, Dick Cheney and George W. Bush dreamed up a war in Iraq! It was a great political success and Rovian Republicanism was soon in total political control. All government policy was soon Rovian Republican!

Then the results of Rovian Republicanism became apparent. Afghanistan did not turn-out to be a mission completed as the Rovians had told us. The same goes for Iraq but multiply the mistake fifty times. Osama never got caught. The anthrax terrorist was never caught. Food and energy costs rose sharply. Republican officeholders were caught in scandal after scandal. The White House got caught in lie after lie. Stonewalling and claims of executive privilege became the order of the day. The national debt exploded. The super rich got much richer while everyone else got poorer.

The true nature of the Rovian Revolution which is Bush Republicanism has been revealed. It is out of touch with real American values.

Americans support Social Security and do not want it privatized. They support universal health care. They do not want the Bill of Rights trampled on by power crazed public officials. Americans do not want endless war. Americans want a strong defense but realize stupid can never be strong. Most Americans want to be union members. Most citizens want to protect American manufacturing and American jobs. Americans want renewable energy, safe products and bridges that will not collapse under them. They want honest elections where everyone gets to vote and have their vote counted. Americans like balanced budgets. They want to rich to pay their fair share of the tax burden. Americans want to be able to sue corporations when those corporations wrong them.

Americans do not want the kind of Republican rule that Karl Rove was selling. Americans in increasing numbers like the Democratic approach over the Republican one. Thank goodness, the Democrats had their secret weapon…. Karl Rove (and crew).

The kind of money being spent by the Bush Republicans can result in saved or lost lives. We all can see the results in the case of Iraq. Launching his optional war against Saddam Hussein, in the way he did, Bush has directly cost the lives of thousands of American soldiers and maybe a hundred thousand mostly innocent Iraqi civilians. We have failed as a nation to come to terms with the massive costs that are less direct and obvious but just as real.

The Iraq War we did not really have to fight will certainly cost the American taxpayers over a trillion dollars and maybe much more. The number is so large that few citizens truly understand the number. The best way to get a handle on a trillion dollars is first to imagine a stack of a million one dollar bills. A trillion dollars is a million stacks with a million ones in each stack.

Most estimates of the financial resources needed to repair the key infrastructures of the American economy are in the range of one to two trillion dollars. Both the Iraq War and the infrastructure cost needs may be higher than estimated at this time. The infrastructure needs are mostly repairs to bridges, roads, railroads, harbors and public utilities. The cost of the Iraq War would have largely met these essential needs.

Spending the money here would have saved American jobs and prevented inevitable future deaths resulting from the inevitable future failures of key infrastructure components. The horror we just witnessed with the collapse of the interstate bridge in Minnesota will become much more common because of the waste of taxpayer money in Iraq.

The tax cuts for the Super Wealthy that the Republicans pushed into law during the earliest months of the Bush Administration have been more damaging to the financial ability of the federal government than even the Iraq War. These tax cuts were even less needed than was the invasion and occupation of Iraq. While middle class tax cuts were justified, tax cuts for those making millions of dollars per year were not!

The government debt, created by these tax cuts, is going to cost taxpayers trillions of dollars in future interest payments. Government services will be cut. As a result, public needs will not be met. Republican ideology and Republican greed has trumped serving the public good!

The government revenues lost as a result of tax cuts for the Super Wealthy would have largely paid for universal, single-payer health care. The United States is the only developed nation in the world to deny their citizens this kind of health care. Germany has been providing this kind of government guaranteed health care for over 120 years.

Literally millions of Americans have died earlier than they should have as a result of Republicans blocking health care reform. We could have guaranteed universal health care as far back as President Truman. Republicans have always falsely stated that guaranteed universal health care was just not financially possible.

If we could afford trillions of dollars for unwise wars and tax cuts for Super Wealthy individuals who do not need them, we can afford to both rebuild our economic infrastructure and guarantee our citizens universal access to decent health care! Our choices in public spending should save and improve the lives of our citizens instead of killing them.

The United States has been in a prolonged Constitutional crisis since the Supreme Court showed it had been corrupted by partisan politics when the Bush vs. Gore ruling was issued in December, 2000. The Bush Administration began by Republican politicians thumbing their noses at the rule of law. The past seven years have been an unending assault on Constitutional government, American political traditions and personal freedom.

It is time to place impeachment fully on the table for the top members of the Bush White House and Cabinet. The appointment of Attorney General Gonzales should never have been approved by Congress. His record of distorting the truth in order to protect the political career of George W. Bush is the only real qualification he had when nominated. It was the reason he was appointed and the reason the appointment should have been soundly rejected.

Gonzales has always been an advocate of radical legal theories that attack the essence of our Constitutional protections of personal freedom. The Attorney General holds legal theories that would give the President dictatorial powers. Bush, Cheney and Gonzales have resolutely claimed powers not given by the Constitution to the Executive Branch. These claims are essentially “high crimes” by their very nature. They subvert the American Constitution and border on treason.

Claims that the President can place in prison any American citizen by declaring that person an enemy combatant, without court hearings, forever are criminal violations of Constitutional guarantees of personal freedoms. These claims are illegal bids for power, not granted by our Constitution, by Bush, Cheney and Gonzales. These legal theories are fascist in nature. All three need to be facing impeachment.

Impeachment is designed to check corrupt, dictatorial members of the Executive and Judicial Branches of government. Bush has issued executive orders that negate laws passed by Congress like the Presidential Papers Act. The signing statements routinely and radically used by Bush to gut the intent of Congress concerning legislation are assaults on the Constitutional checks and balances and are illegal.

Cheney’s claims that he does not have to comply with laws limiting the powers of members of the Executive Branch or Congress are illegal. His role in almost every scandal connected to the White House seems apparent but Cheney remains secretive and defiant. The power claims of Cheney are assaults on the rule of law and the US Constitution.

Impeachment hearings are needed for Bush, Cheney and Gonzales for many reasons. All three are claiming Constitutional powers that are not Constitutional. All three have played major roles in subverting federal law enforcement and an independent judiciary. All three have deceived both the American public and Congress. All three are hiding their activities, using false national security and executive privilege claims to hide their law-breaking.

Bush has demonstrated his willingness to use Presidential powers to keep his White House cronies from paying the costs of their illegal behaviors. Scooter Libby committed perjury to obstruct justice in federal investigation of White House operatives who broke the law by intentionally outing a covert CIA agent. Bush protected him. It appears that Bush and Cheney may have been directly responsible for the crime.

The political firings of US Attorneys has been another issue where Presidential powers may be used to obstruct justice, hide the truth and subvert the rule of law. It certainly appears that Gonzales has committed perjury like Libby and for similar reasons.

Presidential pardon powers do not apply to impeachment. Because Bush is willing to misuse his Presidential powers and the Supreme Court has been packed with radical, partisan Republican appointees, only impeachment hearings will reveal to the public the abuses of the Bush White House. Only impeachment will bring these powerful criminals to justice and preserve the Constitutional rule of law.

This writer is surprised that the mainstream media seem to be controlling the political dialogue in America and (this is the surprising part) the political class is simply going along. The questions not being asked, the ideas not being reported and the serious problems not being addressed are much more important than those frequently available from the corporate controlled, mainstream media. The Vitter Sex Scandal is just one interesting example with a degree of sex appeal.

Why are politicians and media pundits not calling for the resignation of Senator Vitter? From the limited facts published in the corporate media, it looks like Vitter may be a criminal and a repeat offender. If the Republican Senator from Louisiana is truly a frequent consumer of the sexual services of prostitutes, he has violated laws.

Of course, Vitter may have sexual or emotional problems that explain his behavior. On the other hand, he may not be lying about his sexual behavior. It is slightly possible that all the others admitting to their sex for money relationships with Vitter are all liars. The DC Madam case just might be only a non-sexual escort service. The police and prosecutors might be wrong. Vitter might be innocent and everyone else guilty or wrong. For the official Vitter talking points to be valid, a large number of other individual must all be wrong.

Vitter is widely known as a morality crusader with his political base in the Christian Right. Vitter was a bitter critic of President Clinton during the impeachment process. Senator Vitter asked Clinton’s morality. Along with almost all the Republican leadership, he cited “breaking the law” over alleged perjury as the reason Clinton should be driven from public office.

Senator Vitter broke the law if he hired prostitutes. It is reported that Vitter did so on often in different locations and with different prostitutes. If the details are correct, hiring prostitutes for sex is illegal in those jurisdictions. Using Vitter’s own logic, he should be forced from office.

The sheer hypocrisy makes the Vitter Sex Scandal much worse. Vitter betrayed his wife. Vitter betrayed his oath of office. Vitter betrayed his supporters. He appears to be a liar along with being a hypocrite. Media pundits and politicians should be talking about this issue in these terms.

It might be worth exploring the legality of prostitution as a larger issue. The nation is long overdue for a new political dialogue on victimless crime issues like the legalization, regulation and taxation of marijuana. Even Republican politicians might approach these social issues with more open minds, as a result of their repeated involvement in recent sex and drug scandals.

These larger issues involve crowded prisons, racial bias in the jailing citizens, judicial equity, voting rights, future employment opportunities and spending tax dollars. The mainstream media would do the nation a favor by discussing Vitter and enlarging the scope of public debate on the issues raised.

“Out of control, elitist power mongers” would be the best phrase to describe the political mindset of the Bush Republican machine. The current Bush Administration and their Senate allies are completely unwilling to bend to majority rule on the Iraq War or the other major issues of today. In the Republican elitist world, the people are to be ruled over instead of represented by Republican officeholders and judges.

Every American should read the 2004 book, Worse Than Watergate, by John Dean. While the book is a little dated by events occurring since 2004, it gives great insight into the legal, political and institutional mechanics of enforcing Republican elitist minority rule put in place very early in the first Bush term.

Courts were packed with biased judges who routinely place partisan interests and Republican ideology above the law. Legal precedents were established to provide unprecedented secret government and to undermine procedures to regulate executive authority. Regulatory bodies were filled with Republican partisan ideologues and political hacks.

One cannot really understand the importance of the US Attorneygate Firing scandals without understanding the issues raised in Worse Than Watergate. John Dean understands from personal experience the Constitutional issues, legal moves and institutions of government involved. Dean saw the big picture even before it was fully revealed to the wider public by ensuing revelations.

Bush and Cheney expanded claims of executive power to nearly dictatorial levels. They claim that Congress has no right to effectively examine almost any aspect of White House behavior or policies. In reality, the Bush Republicans basically deny the right of Congress to engage in Congressional oversight activities.

The ability of Bush to retain the support of the partisan core of the Republican Party concerning the Iraq War issue reveals that information control is essential to the efforts by the Bush Republicans to retain political power. Every dictatorial machine needs a rabid minority of hardcore supporters to stay in power.

On Iraq, Republican Senators have been put in a box by Bush. Republican Senators are likely to have problems in the Republican primaries if they vote to end Bush’s War. Republicans are fed Bush Republican Spin on the issue by Fox News and the Right Wing Talk Radio Machine constantly. The Republican partisans live in another reality devoid of information that would destroy their belief system. Open government, education, unbiased information and honest answers are the enemies of Bush Republicanism.

With over 70 percent of Americans opposed to Bush’s war policies, Republican Senators are unlikely to win the 2008 general elections as supporters of Bush’s Iraq War. The vast majority of Americans do not live in the alternative reality of Bush Republicanism. Those citizens already realize that Bush’s way can never win the Iraq War. Bush Republicanism ran the effort for far too long and the damage is done. Things like torturing prisoners or killing Iraqi civilians cannot be undone. Bush put our goals out of reach.

We lost the Iraqi populace by staying far too long and doing the wrong things. Bush Republican incompetence, greed and ideology lost the peace in Iraq that our military had gained. Some of same problems seem too apparent in Afghanistan.

Bush and Cheney lost the Iraq War. In order to save Bush Republicanism from total ideological extinction, they are trying to run out the clock so the inevitable withdrawal can be blamed on the next, likely Democratic Presidency! Bush and Cheney will abuse their offices by imposing their minority view on the vast majority of dissenting fellow citizens concerning Iraq because it serves their goal to retain power in the future.

The Bush Republicans will block national health insurance or efforts to replace free trade with fair trade although overwhelming majorities of Americans support both. Fairer tax burden distribution and stronger environmental protections will be fought by the Republicans. Easier voting and ending “no-bid” government contracts will be opposed by the Republican elitists. What they cannot win in the legislature will often be blocked by their partisans in the courts. Their power will always come before democracy or common decency.

Hiding failure and corruption is the Bush Republican way. Few Americans believe that Libby should have been given special treatment by Bush. Libby intentionally obstructed a criminal investigation that seemed to reach the highest levels of the Bush White House. Had Libby not lied, investigators might have indicted Karl Rove or Vice President Cheney. Citizens might have discovered that Bush ordered the outing of a covert CIA agent for political reasons. If so, Bush and Cheney might have been impeached.

The only thing that might have made Scooter Libby talk was jail. By taking time in jail off the table, George W Bush effectively covered up the truth about this terrible crime committed by White House operatives. Libby is one of the Republican elitist rulers. Under Bush Republicanism, he is effectively above the law like his bosses.

It is time to end elitist, minority rule and restore representative democracy. We have a government to repair. We have the American Dream to save.

In the aftermath of the recent Supreme Court ruling gutting affirmative action to deal with the historical impact of racial discrimination, I propose that Democratic political figures should push for new laws promoting affirmative action on behalf of poor Americans of all races. Unequal educational opportunities are an important factor contributing to pockets of entrenched poverty.

We need to deal with entrenched poverty in America. Racial and ethnic minorities are often victims of this poverty in numbers much greater than their share of the general population as a result of past discrimination. However, rural white Americans are in much the same situation in many parts of this nation. They suffer from disproportionate poverty along with Native Americans, Afro-Americans and Hispanics.

Americans with disabilities or chronic health problems suffer disproportionately from poverty. Anyone living in communities devastated by the outsourcing of our manufacturing industries has serious issues related to poverty. Communities devastated by natural disasters or industrial pollution face similar challenges.

The Republican Radical Right majority on the Supreme Court sought to cripple socially progressive measures in this area. We should never have accepted Supreme Court Justices like Thomas, Alito and Roberts in the first place. I would support impeaching them because I believe they pose a danger to American traditions and established law.

Democrats, independents and moderate Republicans should turn the legal attacks by the Court’s Republican Radical Right majority to America’s advantage by enacting new laws. The Supreme Court Radicals did not rule affirmative action based on income illegal.

I am supporting John Edwards for President because he is trying to make poverty in America a major political issue. Edwards supports labor unions largely because strong labor unions are a proven path out of poverty for many working Americans. It is no accident that the Republican Radical Right majority on the Supreme Court along with the Bush White House has been trying to denying millions of Americans their right to unionize and bargain collectively for a better economic future.

It is my belief that most of the major Democratic candidates do or will soon support anti-poverty legislation. They already support legislation like the Employee Free Choice Act which will defend workers’ right to unionize.

Middle Class Americans need to act to wipe-out poverty. The Republican Party in America is promoting a whole series of economic policies that will both benefit the wealthiest of the wealthy and drive millions of Middle Class Americans into the ranks of the working poor.

The public would support educational affirmative action based on income. I believe they would support affirmative action in hiring or granting of government contracts to deal with poverty in America. Such an approached should be coupled with single-payer, universal national health care and other measures as part of real national effort to wipe-out poverty in our lifetime.

midsouthcm@aol.com

Corruption and dirty politics is nothing new in America. However, the level and scope of dirty politics within the Republican Party at this point in American history seems to be unprecedented! It increasingly looks like the Republican leadership has become a kind of mafia-style criminal gang pretending to be a political party.

Both elections that put the Bush-Cheney ticket in the White House in 2000 and 2004 were questionable at best. Millions of votes were not counted. Millions of Americans were denied their voting rights. The Bush vs. Gore ruling by partisan Republican judges on the Supreme Court was blatantly unjust and stopped a legal statewide recount in Florida ordered by the Florida Supreme Court.

Republican statewide election officials misused their offices to tilt election outcomes to favor the Republican ticket. Republican judges provided legal cover. Corporate controlled media (therefore Republican controlled media since corrupt corporations are the dominant force behind Bush Republicanism) feed the public a much distorted view of the process by hiding the extent of the corrupted electoral process.

The Bush-Cheney White House was born in a corrupt process and remains to this day completely corrupted. The Republican Party was already deeply corrupt before 2000. The “get Clinton” movement that forced thru the trumped-up impeachment of President Bill Clinton clearly demonstrated the unethical and often illegal behavior of the national Republican leadership. The Republicans never accepted the reforms needed to purge political corruption after the Nixon scandals of Watergate.

It is unfortunate that President Ford pardoned Nixon. If Nixon had gone to jail, reformers would likely have won control of the Republican Party and the current situation been prevented. America needed to see Nixon tried and convicted. He was not the only source of Republican corruption. Americans often forget that some super wealthy citizens and corporations helped finance Nixon’s illegal political activities.

Many current Republican leaders cut their political teeth as part of the Nixon machine. It was no accident that some of the top players in the Iran-Contra scandal were part of the Nixon machine. Others from the Iran-Contra scandal are now players in the Bush-Cheney machine.

Iran-Contra was much more serious than the public generally realized. The White House knowingly and intentionally ignored the law to impose their illegal policies. The Reagan White House claimed nonexistent Presidential powers. The current White House routinely does the same. The main lesson that the Bush-Cheney seems to have learned from both Watergate and Iran-Contra is that the US Department of Justice and the federal courts must be politicized and corrupted for Republican politicians to get away with ignoring the rule of law.

The various corruption scandals involving powerful Republican members of Congress from Tom Delay to Duke Cunningham to all the Abramoff characters can be closely connected to the Republican culture of corruption resulting from this mindset. Karl Rove, Dick Cheney and George W Bush have criminalized the political mindset of the national Republican leadership. They all seem to believe that they are more powerful than the rule of law. They are routinely hiding illegal and shameful behavior under the veil of secrecy, claiming powers that would make them virtual dictators.

The political prosecution of Governor Siegelman in Alabama on trumped-up charges seems to be connected to the Abramoff scandal, Karl Rove and possible election fraud concerning the questionable defeat of Siegelman by now Republican Governor Riley. Many observers believe that massive, politically-motivated illegal activity was involved in pushing for the prosecution of the Democratic candidate, Siegelman.

The Alabama prosecution looks to be a blatant and successful attempt to destroy the career of a popular Democratic figure in Alabama. It reminds this writer of the Clinton impeachment effort. It also shows the importance of investigating the US Attorneys firing scandal. It is vital to our democracy to investigate and prosecute the politicization and corruption of law enforcement. I hope Congress investigates the Siegelman prosecution aggressively. The next Democratic President should pardon Siegelman.

Legal corruption and lying on political issues is bad enough. The recent vote and statements by Republican Senators on the Employee Free Choice Act were definitely unethical but not really illegal. Republican Senators blatantly lied that workers were being denied their voting rights by adopting card check unionization by a majority of workers. The card check system is just another kind of voting but not one easily subject to employer intimidation and manipulation. The current system is rigged against workers but Republicans simply lied about that fact with the notable exception of Senator Specter.

This kind of corruption demonstrated by all the other Republican Senators can just be dealt with at the polls. The kinds of corruption demonstrated, in the current White House abuses of office, calls for more aggressive tactics and punishment.

All aspects of corruption and abuse of office connected to the Bush-Cheney White House needs to be investigated including the Cheney Energy Task Force, White House involvement in the California electric price-gouging scandal, lying about WMD’s in Iraq, torture, secret prisons, wiretapping of American citizens without court orders, election manipulation, gutting civil rights enforcement, no-bid contracting and more. If needed, we should impeach federal judges whose rulings condone illegal behaviors or grant un-Constitutional powers to officeholders. America cannot tolerate corruption on steroids by any public officials!

The recent claim by Dick Cheney to have both executive privilege and not to be part of the executive branch of government seems to amount to a claim that Cheney is simply above the rule of law. It appears that both Bush and Cheney think they rule by divine right like the absolute monarchs of medieval Europe or the dictators of the old Soviet Bloc. Both need to be impeached. Until they are removed from office, the media, Congress and the courts should be aggressively investigating, exposing and opposing their abuses of power.

Bush has ignored the rule of law repeatedly. He has wiretapped American citizens without court orders in clear violation of the law by claiming nonexistent Presidential authority. Both Bush and Cheney lied to the American public and Congress to take America into an illegal war in Iraq.

Republican politicians helped Bush and Cheney pack our federal courts and the US Department of Justice with partisan political hacks who do everything possible to make illegal actions benefiting Republicans appear legal. Elections have been essentially rigged by denying millions of Americans of their right to vote or to have their votes accurately counted.

Corporation channeling money to Republican organizations or candidates have been able to win billions of dollars worth of no-bid government contracts under highly questionable or obviously illegal conditions. Corporate givers were able to ignore government regulations and federal laws concerning oil and mineral leases, environmental considerations, worker safety, consumer rights, fair competition, price-gouging and anti-monopoly concerns.

Congress should immediately repeal the falsely-named Patriot Act because neither Bush or Cheney can be trusted with the powers that law hands to the White House and the Executive Branch. All funding for the White House should be strictly limited and closely monitored by Congress.

White House funding should be conditioned on Cheney revealing all details of his Energy Task Force and all details of Karl Rove’s role concerning the various election scandals seemingly connected to the White House. All details concerning the outing of CIA agent Valerie Palme and the lies promoted by the White House leading up to the invasion of Iraq should be revealed to Congress. White House involvement in torture and secret prisons should be publicly exposed.

Our national security has been undermined. Our civil liberties threatened. Our traditional political freedoms badly trampled by an out of control Executive Branch actively abetted by Republicans in Congress and Republican federal judges.

Corruption and incompetence dominates the leadership of the Republican Party at the state and national level almost everywhere in America. Investigations are underway in state after state from California to Texas to Ohio of Republican political abuses. Many more are called for in places like Alabama, Arizona, Delaware, Florida, Maryland, Nevada and Pennsylvania.

Partisan political considerations should never trump the rule of law. It is up to Republicans to clean-up the corruption and contempt of American political traditions by their leadership. Republican leaders need to choose between their Party leadership and the future of the American nation!

midsouthcm@aol.com

The sudden rise of Fred Thompson as a leading Republican candidate for President shows that the Republican leadership still does not understand their impending implosion as a national political party. Thompson is a “sex-up” version of a failed product. With Thompson, voters are getting the same old package of ideologies and policies that have been total disasters for the vast majority of Americans with new wrappings. Fred Thompson is much more “Bush-lite” than the second coming of Ronald Reagan.

Thompson is total political hypocrite. As a Tennessee resident and voter when Thompson was in the US Senate, I watched Thompson vote against the interests of middle class Tennesseans, the working poor, the environment, clean elections, education and most of the things that the majority of Americans support. Trust me, Fred Thompson is a far right wing politician who votes on behalf of the wealthiest of the wealthy and the largest of corporations.

Fred Thompson knows how to be an actor. He acts like a common man. You will see him at campaign events in a red pick-up truck that he almost never drives except at campaign events.

Thompson urges Michael Moore should be condemned for visiting Cuba while making his latest film. It has been widely reported that Thompson violated repeatedly US law concerning the trade embargo of Castro’s Cuba by smoking illegal Cuban cigars. Some published reports state that Thompson had these illegal Cuban cigars in his US Senate office. If these reports are true, Thompson is both a public hypocrite and lawbreaker who should be prosecuted by the US Department of Justice.

The real problem facing the Republicans in upcoming elections is not their candidates. The real Republican political problems are their extremist political ideology and tolerance of corruption. The problems are closely related.

Republican power comes from money, really big money. They have crafted a political program that serves the interests of really big moneyed interests completely and to the determent of every other class of American citizen. From the rewriting of bankruptcy law to student loans to environmental legislation to tax policies, the super rich were rewarded while the rest of us suffered. Trade policies put corporate interests over the national interests. The Republican Right reversed all of our anti-monopoly government policies.

Because their power is based on serving the elite few, Republicans are not really committed to American Democracy. This is why they are in deep trouble in upcoming elections.

Republican tactics reveal their desperation. Republican politicians are using their power to limit the voting rights of American citizens and reduce the number of voters. Voter ID laws will not significantly reduce voter fraud (which is not statistically significant) but will reduce the number of voters by 3% to 5%. The voters who will not vote after the voter ID laws are passed will be overwhelmingly poor, urban or elderly citizens who do not drive. Instead of designing policies that appeal to these voters, Republicans are pushing for laws that stop them from voting.

Native Americans, Hispanics and blacks have systematically been targeted by Republican politicians and operatives for vote suppression campaigns. College students have also been frequently denied equal voting right opportunities by Republican officeholders like Ken Blackwell.

The current Attorneygate (Gonzales 8) scandal has shown that the Bush White House and the Republican Party national leadership have been deeply involved in using the US Department of Justice to manipulate elections. It certainly looks that many members of the national Republican leadership both in public office and outside are willing to break or distort laws in order to win elections in their lust for power.

Republican policies on the Iraq War benefit oil companies, defense contractors and other corporate interests. They do not serve the interests of American soldiers, American taxpayers or the American nation. The same basic situation remains when the subject is the economy, clean elections, civil liberties, national debt, taxes, trade, worker rights, consumer rights, educational policies, immigration, the environment, etc. instead of the Iraq War.

Of the 25 different pieces of legislation that Bush has threatened to veto, the vast majority have majority public support. All of them are opposed by powerful corporate interests. All of them would benefit average Americans. Sadly, this has become the Republican way.

The era of complete Corporate control of politics is over. The George W. Bush era has been so extreme and incompetent that it has produced a massive backlash. Unless the Republicans find a new reason for existing besides being complete Corporate clowns, they are likely to return to a reduced, permanent minority Party status. Republicans need to learn to modify their policies to obtain more supporters instead of relying on dirty tactics and undermining American Democracy to achieve power.

This writer fails to understand why Democratic officeholders in the US House and Senate are not actively seeking situations where Republicans resort to filibustering popular Democratic legislation and situations where Bush vetoes similar measures. The benefits in political terms for Democrats far outweigh the risks and good legislation might just get enacted into law.

If nothing else positive happens, Democrats at least would raise the public awareness of issues that need addressed. Democrats should go on the offensive and start controlling the discussion of public issues.

Democrats should not have voted to continue funding the Iraq War without timetables for withdrawing our troops. Democratic activists are very disappointed that Congressional Democrats did not respond aggressively to the propaganda of the Bush Republicans. The Democratic proposals DID FUND THE TROOPS WHILE ESTABLISHING TIMETABLES FOR WITHDRAWAL!

The polling data supports this Democratic position by overwhelming margins. Democrats and independents are almost universally supportive of continued funding AND timetables for withdrawal. Only Republicans support Bush Republican policies on Iraq War funding. Abandoning the majority opinion and caving to the Bush Republicans make Congressional Democrats look weak. It was both bad policy and very bad politics.

The Corporate Media reported predictable Republican Spin comments by John McCain attacking his fellow Senators Clinton and Obama for supporting the views of the majority of Americans on the issue. The Corporate Media engaged in endless speculation that the votes by Clinton and Obama against continued Iraq War funding without withdrawal timetables would hurt their Presidential campaigns in the general election. Nothing could be farther from reality.

McCain really hurt his Presidential aspirations with his vicious comments. McCain is no longer viewed by informed observers as an “independent” or “maverick” Republican. He is now almost universally viewed as a “sell-out” or “Bush-lite” candidate. Iraq along with McCain’s slavish support for the Bush Administration’s position on the pending immigration position has likely doomed his bid for the Presidency. It is very unlikely that that McCain will get the Republican nomination. It is even less likely that McCain can defeat any of the major Democratic contenders.

Congressional Democrats should push aggressively to pass a whole series of pro-worker legislation. American workers have seen their slice of the American economic pie decline for almost a generation. They are angry and disillusioned. Many are not voting because they do not see enough courage of conviction by elected Democrats when it comes to helping working Americans.

Democratic politicians should relish opportunities to support the Employee Free Choice Act, passing living wage legislation, curtailing “so-called” free trade deals, re-regulating the energy industry, pushing for single-payer universal health care, punishing and criminalizing price-gouging, bringing back usury laws, putting new teeth in anti-monopoly policies and returning the government to the role of economic guardian of the average citizen instead of the economic elite. Voters would love to see Republicans trying to argue and filibuster against these proposals. Republicans would be severely punished at the polls for actions blocking these measures. Democrats would gain at the polls for showing courage and taking action.

Democrats should push forward laws that return the Fairness Doctrine and Equal Time provisions to broadcasting. The public supports these positions and would reward Democrats for trying to do something about the current unjust situation.

Congressional Democrats need to demonstrate courage to stand up against the Corporate elite otherwise known as the Republican Party leadership. The public is with the Democrats on the issues. When it comes to filibusters or vetoes, our motto should be the same as that of Davy Crockett “make sure you are right and then go right ahead.”

It looks like the House Democratic leadership simply did not get the message in the last election. Working Americans want no part of more falsely named “free trade” deals. This is absolutely not an issue where grassroots Democrats want our elected representatives compromising with the Republicans. We want an immediate change in direction concerning trade policy.

Democratic members of Congress will face primary challengers if they go along with the rape of the American economy by Corporate forces. Our nation has lost over 3 million manufacturing jobs since Bush seized control of the White House.

Republicans seem to think that military power is what makes American the strongest nation in the world. The fact is that our economy is what makes us the strongest nation on the planet. It is our economy which makes our large military possible. If our manufacturing base is not restored quickly, our nation will eventually cease being militarily dominant.

Military power alone is certainly limited in what it can achieve in terms of foreign policy. The disaster in Iraq should have made that clear to any person with even half a brain. America cannot rely solely on military power and remain the greatest nation on the earth.

Our current trade policies are simply crazy. Middle class Americans are not going to be able to afford the flood of cheap imported goods without good jobs. The jobs are flowing to other nations because of decisions made by politicians and the corporate executives who bought them with campaign donations.

Because our nation is the last major economic power to have government provided national health care, our manufacturers are at an extreme disadvantage in trade competition. We stick our companies with the health care costs of their employees along with their families. This is an insane position to be in under so-called “free trade” conditions. We are at an extreme disadvantage in competition with all the other industrialized nations because of our health care policies.

Wages rates put us in an equally bad position concerning trade with poor, Third World nations. This mania for “free trade” agreements is lowering wage levels for most citizens. Only the economic elites running corporations are seeing economic benefits. They are profiting obscenely by intentionally gutting the economic health of the nation. They are intentionally destroying the American middle class.

Democratic members of Congress better get the message immediately. The same message applies to Congressional Republicans but they are less likely to see the light.

If the Democratic leadership does not reverse course and stop playing ball with the Republicans by trying to pass more unfair “free trade” agreements, they will be replaced. This writer has always been a militant supporter of the Democratic Party. I will be actively campaigning against any Congressional Democrat who does not fight against this “free trade” mania.

All so-called “free trade” agreements passed since NAFTA should be either renegotiated or repealed. The same applies to NAFTA. If the Democratic leadership does not adopt this approach, they cannot expect to remain in office much less in the majority.

Organized labor is alive and well in Pennsylvania! Despite much of the prevailing gloom about the future of the labor movement in media pundit circles, the hopeful future of organized labor was apparent during a recent visit by this writer to the Lehigh Valley region (Allentown, Bethlehem, Northampton) of eastern Pennsylvania.

Much of the doom and gloom over the future of unions in America comes from the decline in the percentage of American workers represented by unions. Some pundits see the decline as resulting from a lack of energy by the workers seeking to unionize their places of employment and the union leadership. Some of these pundits are intentionally seeking to malign the union movement by spreading corporate disinformation. Others are just poorly informed.

The decline in union numbers really has two mutually related roots. They are changes in laws, government regulations and government enforcement efforts that tilt the union election system heavily in favor of the companies fighting their workers. The second is unfair trade policies. The first issue can easily be corrected by passing the Employee Free Choice Act. The second issue will require extensive efforts to renegotiate or repeal all so-called free trade agreements passed since (and including) NAFTA.

My trip to the Lehigh Valley started with the annual Lehigh Valley Central Labor Council dinner in Northampton. Over 315 union activists, political figures and civic leaders attended the event. Among the union locals that were represented include; UFCW Local 1776, USW Local 2599 and 412, IBEW Local 375 and 1600, Laborers Local 1174, AIM Local 917, PSEA, AFSCME District Council 88, and Local 1435, Teamsters Local 773, Berks County Labor Council, Schuylkill County Labor Council, CWA District 13 and Local 13500, IAFF Local 735, SEIU/PSSu Local 668, USW District Council 1, APWU, IUPAT Local 1269, NALC, Allentown Firefighters, ATU and OPEIU 277.

Elected officials attending included; Pennsylvania AFL-CIO president Bill George, Keynote speaker and Pennsylvania Representative Joseph Preston 24th District, Lehigh County Executive Don Cunningham, Allentown Mayor Ed Pawlowski and State Senator Lisa Boscola. Pennsylvania State Representatives, Jennifer Mann, Bob Freeman, Steve Samuelson and Joe Brennan were in attendance and recognized by all involved.

Allentown City Councilman Mike D'Amore, Northampton Mayor Tom Neehock. Northampton and Lehigh County Democratic chairs, Joe Long and Rick Daugherty, Salisbury Township Treasurer Linda Minger , Lehigh County Commissioner Kurt Derr were among the local dignitaries at the CLC event. Northampton County Councilwoman Ann McHale, Northampton County Councilman Charles Dertinger, Northampton County Councilman Lamont Maclure, and Lehigh County Sheriff Ron Rossi were there and recognized from the podium.

Mike D’Amore became on of my new political heroes when I learned that he is trying to get the Allentown City Council to pass a resolution supporting the Employee Free Choice Act. I hope his example of political courage is copied by local politicians from coast to coast!

Other political figures in attendance included political candidates like Allentown City Council hopefuls Peter Schweyer, Mike Donovan and David Jones. Christine Donohue, candidate for superior court judge, attended. Siobhan "Sam" Bennett candidate for 15th Congressional district was working the crowd. IAFF member Rich Gawlik who is a candidate for Lehigh County Commissioner was well-received. Court of Common Pleas candidates, Michelle Varricchio, Tom Lonardo and Glenn Clark, Superior Court candidate Jim Lynn and Bethlehem City Council hopeful Willie Reynolds were campaigning vigorously during the event.

No doubt this writer has unintentionally overlooked some of the notables which should have been mentioned. The large attendance proves that organized labor is not dormant in the Greater Lehigh Valley. The long list of political figures shows that organized labor is politically important in Pennsylvania.

At the event, Ron Achey was presented with a lifetime achievement award for community service. Ron serves as the Labor AFL-CIO liaison for the United Way of the Greater Lehigh Valley.

Dale Krasley of UAW Local 677/Mack Trucks was presented with the William Werkheiser Community Services award. It was obvious that he was a favorite of all the local unionists present.

Pennsylvania AFL-CIO President Bill George gave an excellent, short speech that impressed the audience greatly. It was easy to tell that the crowd was very supportive of President George. George noted that Pennsylvania was having more Worker Memorial Day ceremonies that weekend than every other state in the nation.

He was followed by Pennsylvania State Representative Joseph Preston, who drove in from the western part of the state (Pittsburgh area). Joseph Preston gave an amazing speech. He was able to speak from the heart and shared personal experiences as a union worker and son of a union worker in the steel industry. He talked about worker safety and those who had died on the job. Preston spoke eloquently about how financial decisions by large corporations often place profits over the safety and lives of American workers. He spoke against unfair trade practices and unfair tax structures. Preston brought the applauding crowd to their feet!

It was a great night that spilled over into a very moving tribute to workers killed on the job in the Greater Lehigh Valley the next af