COLUMN Kerry’s platform too similiar to Communist Party
The political campaigning between the two major parties in this country has been a fight – as John Edwards recently so eloquently put it – between two Americas: Bush’s big business America and Kerry’s everyday, working-class America. These two Americas, the Democratic America and the Republican America, is a reality and this fact needs to be emphasized in the up coming election.
Let’s consider for a moment Kerry’s America, because Kerry wants us to believe he supports the “proletariat.” First consider the economic policy for Kerry’s America. Kerry “will raise minimum wage from $5.15 to $7” because in his America, it is too low and too many families now live under poverty. He also wants to “continue to forcefully protect the worker’s right to organize a union.” In essence he wants to put the power “back into the hands of working people.” According to Edwards, “We’re going to build an America that says no forever to any American working full time and living in poverty, not in our country, not in the America that you and I are going to build together.”
Second, consider Kerry’s healthcare plans. He wants to “fight to erase disparities in health and health care with a plan to make high-quality, affordable health care available to all Americans.”
Finally, consider Kerry’s stance on tax cuts. According to Kerry, he wants to alleviate the tax burden of the workingmen and women and raise the taxes on the rich. The rich, according to Kerry, deserve to be taxed because they got their money on the backs of hard working American’s.
My mother once told me that if it walks like a duck and talks like a duck and looks like a duck, you can bet it’s a duck. If you have not guessed by now what I am comparing Kerry and his party to, I will spell in out. Kerry’s party and his vision for America is almost identical to the Communist Party. His rhetoric mirrors a once-thought ideologically bankrupt political organization – an organization infected a country with its vision of the future and like a virus rotted away the people’s freedom and responsibility. That’s right, the vision that Kerry is advocating for America is the same hallucination that we once recognized as the truest form of evil, the antithesis of America’s greatness.
Disagree? Consider the Communist Party’s line. First, the communists want all “political power to be in the hands of the working people.” They believe in creating a living wage (does that sound familiar) by raising minimum wage.
Second, they believe that health care is a basic right that should be provided to everyone. They even have a bill before congress (HR 676) asking for this coverage.
Finally, they believe in the restoration of the taxes on the rich. The similarities go on and on. It is no wonder why the Communist Party USA came out in direct support of John Kerry. He totes its party line.
This vision is in stark contrast to the vision of President Bush who supports free markets, tax cuts and hard work generated by personal responsibility. He believes in individual ability and has faith that those Americans who are down will pull themselves up and achieve better. He does not deceive the people with a false sense of security. He equips them to stand up, free, responsible for their own futures. This is true support for the proletariat.
It is time that we recognize John Kerry for what he is: not a supporter of personal freedom and the working American, but someone who will exploit you and I for political gain. On Election Day, remember America’s heritage of freedom and personal responsibility. Do you want Big Brother’s America or our America? Do you really want to be on the side of the Mathasains and the Communists, on Kerry’s side? Where America goes from here depends on you.
Jared S. Westbroek is a senior majoring in law and constitutional studies. Comments can be sent to jwestbroek@cc.usu.edu.