Issue Quiz for Congressional Candidates

[Tim Lohrmann <timlohr@yahoo.com>]

Some interesting, fundamental issues---would be nice
if they were occasionally addressed! 
TL

> 
> THE PROGRESSIVE POPULIST:
> A JOURNAL OF THE HEARTLAND
> February 15, 2000 -- Volume 6, Number 3
> http://www.populist.com/00.3.edit.html

> EDITORIAL
> The Populist Quiz

> Progressive Democrats must make their choice between
> Vice President Al Gore
> and former Senator Bill Bradley and they're welcome
> to it. Many people we
> respect are supporting Gore, seeing him as the best
> hope to keep the White
> House in Democratic hands. Bradley's supporters see
> in their candidate a
> man of integrity who has brought issues such as
> racial justice, expansion
> of health care and campaign finance reform into the
> debate.
> 	We see a pair of candidates with moderately liberal
> inclinations
> but who are both beholden to big business interests
> when it counts.
> 	Either one of them is preferable to George W. Bush
> (or the rest of
> the Republican field, for that matter), but on
> matters of trade and
> economic policy Gore, Bradley, Bush or John McCain
> are likely to stay the
> course as enablers of the growing power of
> multinational corporations.
> 	At least Gore, Bradley and McCain agree on the need
> for some
> campaign finance reform. They support measures that
> would limit the
> corporate control over government. Bradley and Gore
> support public
> financing of federal elections while McCain has been
> a leader in the push
> for a "soft money" ban. Bush Jr., the $60 million
> man, views any limits on
> campaign contributions as anathema.
> 	With Pat Buchanan and Donald Trump battling for the
> Reform Party
> nomination, and Ralph Nader preparing to make
> another race as the Green
> Party candidate, populists likely will have
> alternatives to the D's and R's
> in the presidential race. But unless all you want
> out of this year's
> elections is to qualify the Reformers and/or the
> Greens for federal funds
> in 2004, progressives had better get working now to
> make sure that
> Republican majorities in Congress don't cheer George
> W.'s inauguration next
> January.
> 	With the help of some of our friends, such as
> Granny D, Harry
> Kelber and the Campaign for America's Future, we
> have developed a handy
> questionnaire that you can use to identify
> progressive populist candidates
> for Congress and state legislatures. Take this quiz
> to your local political
> forums and find out where the candidates stand. Ask
> them:
> 	* Will you pledge to give your support and full
> procedural vote to
> ban "soft money" - the unlimited contributions to
> state and federal
> political races that are used to get around the
> limits on campaign
> contributions? Will you support the public financing
> of state and federal
> political races, so that candidates can run for
> office without seeking
> bribes?
> 	* Will you pledge to defend and strengthen Social
> Security and
> Medicare for the 21st Century, oppose privatization
> schemes and support
> using budget surpluses to provide prescription drug
> benefits to all
> Americans covered by Medicare? Will you support
> measures to expand health
> care to the 44 million Americans who are uninsured?
> 	* Millions of Americans work at or near the minimum
> wage of $5.15
> per hour, so even if they work 40 hours a week they
> do not earn enough to
> rise above the poverty level. Will you promote a
> living wage, either
> through an increase in the minimum wage or through
> expansion of earned
> income tax credits, so that a working parent can
> lift a family of four out
> of poverty?
> 	* The U.S. has lost hundreds of thousands of
> manufacturing jobs in
> the past few years as multinational corporations
> have moved factories to
> countries with the lowest wages and least government
> interference. Will you
> vote against any trade accords that do not have
> binding labor rights and
> environmental protections built in?
> 	* Every year, about 10,000 workers are illegally
> fired by their
> employers because they want the protection of a
> union. Will you support the
> National Labor Relations Board so it can enforce the
> laws guaranteeing
> American workers the right to organize and bargain
> collectively?
> 	* Affordable housing is a pressing need for many
> working families,
> but developers prefer to build luxury apartments and
> houses where they can
> turn a larger profit. Would you support spending
> federal funds to expand
> low-cost housing?
> 	* Will you support small businesses which have been
> hurt by the
> predatory pricing of chain-store "category killers,"
> by restoring the
> Justice Department Antitrust Division and at the
> Federal Trade Commission
> to 1980 staffing levels, and will you give them a
> mandate to preserve
> competition and protect the public good?
> 	* The number of independent farmers continues to
> shrink as large
> agribusinesses take control of food production and
> processing. Large-scale
> industrialized production threatens natural
> resources and food safety as
> well as farmers. Will you support a farm bill that
> promotes small,
> sustainable independent farms, and dedicate budget
> resources to
> strengthening the competitive position of small
> farmers in American
> agriculture? Will you support the consumers' rights
> to know if their food
> is genetically modified?
> 	* In 1980, the average CEO was paid 42 times the
> wages of a typical
> worker. By 1998, the pay gap had multiplied by a
> factor of 10, to an
> average CEO pay 419 times that of the average
> worker. Will you support a
> bill to limit the tax deductions allowable for
> excessive salaries of
> corporate executives?
> 	* Will you replace corporate welfare for polluting
> industries with
> subsidies for ecologically sound products and
> services?
> 	* The Pentagon sustains the military budget at
> virtual Cold War
> levels. We spend more on new weapons than any other
> country spends on its
> entire military. Will you give American taxpayers
> the peace dividend we
> have been waiting for ever since the Berlin Wall
> toppled in 1989?
> 
> Community activists won a major victory January 20
> when the Federal
> Communications Commission, overruling the objections
> of big commercial
> broadcasters, voted 3-2 to allow educational,
> religious and community
> groups to operate low-power FM radio stations with
> broadcasting ranges of
> up to seven miles. Under the new rules the FCC will
> award licenses for
> noncommercial stations powered at 10 to 100 watts,
> based upon a group's
> ties to the local community. The commission could
> start accepting
> applications this spring.
> 	This offers a chance for grassroots organizations
> to democratize
> the airwaves and restore local voices where
> commercial stations have been
> sold to out-of-town corporations. With transmitter
> kits running less than
> $1,000, the cost of opening a microstation is
> estimated at $2,000, compared
> with more than $1 million for a commercial station.
> The National
> Association of Broadcasters failed to sidetrack the
> commission's vote, but
> it plans to go to Congress and the courts to stop
> the low-power stations.
> U.S. Rep. Michael Oxley, R-Ohio, has introduced HR
> 3439 to prohibit the FCC
> from proceeding. So ask your congressional
> candidates if they'll support
> low-power radio. And for a bonus question, ask them
> if they would support a
> 10 percent tax on broadcast commercials, to pay for
> the expansion of public
> broadcasting and free it from the control of
> corporate funders such as ADM.
> 
> The World Economic Forum, a private group of 2,000
> businessmen, economists,
> bankers, politicians and academics, will discuss
> globalization in a tightly
> guarded conference in the Swiss ski resort of Davis
> January 27, in the
> first attempt to regroup after the people's
> rebellion in Seattle last
> December sidetracked attempts to launch a new round
> of trade liberalization
> under the World Trade Organization. Elif Kaban of
> Reuters reported that
> diplomats see little chance of getting the free
> trade expansion proposal
> back on track before a new U.S. president takes over
> next January and gets
> his administration in place. Although most of the
> key sessions are closed
> to the public, the Forum will be monitored by "The
> Public Eye on Davos," a
> joint project of the Berne Declaration, Friends of
> the Earth/US and the
> Globalization Challenge Initiative. The project will
> advocate public
> concerns and disseminate information on important
> developments. For more
> information see www.evb.ch or phone Friends of the
> Earth at 877-843-8687.
> - JMC

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