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Hey, all you Dean supporters. Here's what I take for my disillusionment. I pick up a card of stamps at the post office, I take a bunch of paper, and stick it in my printer, I go to deanforamerica.com, and I click "write letters to Wisconsin" get the addresses, put them in a Word (or any WP program) document. Then I open my letter, below. Write your own, or use any or part of this one.
Dear Stacie,
I'm writing you today from Mobile, AL in hopes you will consider supporting Howard Dean for the democratic nominee in the upcoming presidential primary. I believe he has the best chance to beat Bush in 2004, because he will bring many new and previously disenfranchised voters into the process. I believe Howard Dean has a sincere desire to bring the Party back to caring more about real people than multinational corporations, a Democrat in the design of Franklin D. Roosevelt. Wisconsin is perhaps Dean's last chance to reinvigorate his campaign, from what is described in the paragraph below. Funny, we have such a small amount of power with our votes, yet people seem willing to give their votes away based on electability speculation. I'm amazed that so many think Dean's positions are the best for this country, but because the media says Kerry is more electable, they vote instead for him. Has CNN been getting their electability forecasts from Dionne Warwick's psychic hot-line? How would they know anyway? You couldn't know this from listening to CNN, but Dean is in a solid second place, with more delegates than anyone but Kerry. Funny how they talk about him dropping out, in light of this! Why not Edwards or Clark, both with less delegates than Dean?
I couldn't possibly write this letter without a mentioning what I see as a tremendous savaging of Dean in the television and radio media. More on this below, but for now let's just say they intend to manipulate the race to a candidate who will be the friendliest to the huge corporations that own them. Clearly the negative coverage about Dean has been overwhelming, in view of all of the good things he's done for the people of Vermont. The latest media-attack casts his speech to his hard-working campaign staff in Iowa in a negative way. After a disappointing third-place finish, Dean was simply trying to lift the spirits of his campaign staff, and the media spin has been deplorable. Anyone who has seen a coach motivate his team during half-time, or after a loss with the full season still ahead, has seen similar invigorating motivational tactics to rally his team. It seems clear the mainstream media, all owned by huge corporate concerns, are so worried about Dean's people-powered campaign that they have gone way past their proper roles as news reporters. They are trying to steer voters away from the candidate that will try to enact the most positive changes to help real Americans, over the corporations that own them. It is crystal-clear to me. This travesty of justice in reporting, reminded me of how the media treated Gore so badly in the 2000 election. I'm just reading today that the Kerry campaign is being bankrolled by executives from Viacom, News Corporation, and Sony, who have pledged to raise $50,000 for his campaign. The donation from News Corporation's boardroom came from Rupert Murdoch's faithful lieutenant, COO Peter Chernin. As you might be aware, Murdoch owns a tremendous media empire. Several other media executives have pledged to raise $50,000 to $100,000 for John Kerry's campaign. It's not a surprise to me that this is happening, they certainly didn't want Dean, who had pledged to break up the media in an appearance on Chris Matthews show Hardball, so we can once again get a diverse selection with varying opinions, rather than a bunch of channels airing the same ultra-conservative blather. Media consolidation threatens our democracy, and you can see, has tremendous power to influence elections, and the minds of voters in our Democratic primary. They have shown their power to break, or make a candidate.
Hopefully, Dean will win anyway, just as we all know Gore did. Anyone the media is trashing, particularly in the corporate right-wing media, we should run toward, with open arms, and embrace. Could he have been reelected five times in Vermont, had he been such a terrible governor for his people? No, Dean was quite a good governor, helping to get health care for children, and bringing child abuse down with on-request, parental early-education. He will make a good president too. He also raised the living wage in Vermont, to seven dollars an hour. Have you ever tried to live on $5.15 an hour?? With good manufacturing jobs leaving our country, increasing numbers of Americans are trying to do just that.
The best thing about Dean is that he is an honest, fiscal conservative. Other Democrats tell you what they will do for you, with no mention of how it will be paid for. Dean kept a balanced budget in his state for his five-terms, and hopefully he will try to pay off the onerous debt that mostly Bush and Reagan amassed by giving foolish tax-cuts to the wealthiest in our society. I understand the debt is seven-Trillion now, and we are running annual budget-deficits, of a half-Trillion. Do you know that we paid 322 Billion tax-dollars last year in interest on our debt, that didn't build one bridge, educate one child, or bring health care to anyone! That amount alone, had previous presidents exercised fiscal soundness, would nearly put our budget in balance. It boggles my mind to think of one-billion, but seven-trillion!! And a tax-cut on top, for the very wealthiest, when the richest few made the best percentage gains in the 1990's, and the lower three quintiles of worker incomes fell further behind, in real dollars. Then two more cuts for the wealthy, the inheritance tax, and the dividend tax. Time to pay off America's credit cards, and reap the rewards of increased jobs and prosperity, like the Clinton years. Not having to pay all that interest would be a true tax-cut!! A good book, American Dynasty by Kevin Phillips speaks volumes about the Bush family's sinister plan, and the highly negative-history of his family.
The economy could have been improved by a temporary cut on FICA taxes of the first ten-thousand dollars of earned income, as the Democrats had advocated in Congress. This would give everyone an equal break, been immediately spent, and shown immediate effect. The pretense is, FICA taxes are different, but they are simply another income based tax, spent by Congress the same way each year as the so-called income tax. Instead of eliminating the Inheritance Tax, Democrats proposed raising the limit before it kicks in from $625,000 to 10 million. That's right, unless you had an estate that was worth more than 10 million, you'd not pay a penny of this tax. But Republicans would have none of this tax, usually collected to gain back some of the huge wealth, often gained by those close ties to government agencies, like Cheney's to Halliburton, for instance, or the huge profits Bush and his cronies collect from the Carlyle Group, which owns many Defense and Energy interests. Four generations of the Bush family have been in the business of making money off of defense and energy concerns, directly involved in the government, all the way back to Prescott Bush. The inheritance tax is just a way to get some of that money individuals have made from government contracts, and our capitalistic system, back into the pockets of the tax-payers. Who profits more from having roads on which to operate, schools which provide an educated work-force, and all of the things our organized government offers? The very wealthy. Microsoft is a good example. Think of all the government agencies who buy software, computers, and other equipment of this type, enriching many in the business. This tax was designed to take back some of what the wealthiest in our society gain from sales to government entities, and benefits of our free-market.
I hope you'll support Dean, and a straight Democratic ticket, or at least review his policies to see if you agree with them, and make up your own mind, and not allow the corporate sledge-hammer taken to Dean influence your vote. Their only purpose is, to elect some sycophant-president, who will deferentially execute corporate purposes (mostly diametrically opposed to workers'), and further reduce the American standard of living we, and all of our forebears fought and died for, to improve. See back of page for Dean issue sheet. Dean will bring our country back to the real people, not the special interests. I'd love to hear from you!
Of course you add your address, and their address, and for good measure, you print some talking points on the back, which are in pdf form on Dean's web site. Stuff it in an addressed envelope, and send your letter on the way. Hopefully, someone will read it, and some truth will start to emerge, whether your own, or mine, or a bit of both. Once you get going, print up ten talking points, put them in the right order back in the printer, and print your letter on the flip-side, sign, then all you have to do is change their address, and the salutation. My point is, doing something has been great therapy for feeling down. Sure beats crying in the beer. Mike |
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