Jesse Jackson --- Vote to end the Bush nightmare

• Originally published in the Chicago Sun-Times  on October 26, 2004 [here]

BY JESSE JACKSON 

Next week's election offers Americans a big choice. Do we stay the course we are on or choose a fresh start?

America's security is on the ballot. Will America revive a global coalition against terrorism or will it continue in arrogant isolation, bearing the burdens virtually alone, while generating hostility across the world?

President Bush's Iraq debacle squandered the global support this nation enjoyed after Sept. 11 and divided a nation that came together as one in the wake of that attack. He destroyed his own credibility when everything he said about Iraq turned out to be wrong. He rushed into a war without allies, without sufficient forces and without a plan for victory. We pay the price in casualties, with more than 1,000 lives lost, and in cost, growing at $1 billion a week, while providing al-Qaida with a cause that has won it new recruits across the world.

Sen. John Kerry offers a fresh start, a promise to engage allies in the region and the world and the credibility to make that possible. Kerry would rebuild a powerful coalition against terror.

All the wild charges, groundless accusations and fear-mongering that Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney have issued in their deplorable campaign cannot hide the fact that their misjudgments have left America less admired, more isolated and less safe than before.

The American dream is on the ballot. Will America put people first or continue the failed policy of trickle-down economics? Bush has the worst jobs record of any president in 50 years, while racking up record budget and trade deficits. He celebrates an economy in which profits are up but jobs are gone, wages are down, health care and education costs are soaring, and working families can't keep up.

He has waged war on unions, stripped millions of workers of their right to overtime pay and opposed any increase in the minimum wage. He's done nothing as health care costs have soared and broke his own promise to fund public school reform. His prescription drug plan actually prohibits Medicare from negotiating a better price for seniors. His energy plan lavishes subsidies on oil and gas companies while increasing our dependence on foreign oil.

Kerry would return us to the policies of putting people first that provided hope under Bill Clinton. He would repeal the top-end tax cuts and invest that money in making health care and college more affordable. He would invest in preschool and public schools. He would stand with workers who want to organize, extend the right to overtime and increase the minimum wage. He supports moving to energy independence -- providing good jobs as we build energy-efficient buildings and appliances and fuel-efficient cars.

In a global economy, Bush's tax cuts rack up deficits without producing jobs in America. His tax and trade policies have generated more jobs in Shanghai than in Cincinnati. By putting people first, by generating growth from the bottom up and using our resources to build schools, hire teachers and move to energy independence, Kerry will generate far more jobs with better wages and benefits at less cost to the taxpayer.

Justice is on the ballot. Will America expand opportunity and equal justice or will we roll back the rights of women and minorities while trampling the very liberties that make us free? Bush's judicial nominees are radical activists, committed to rolling back women's right to choose, affirmative action and the rights of the disabled. Bush benefits from a politics of division that turn us against one another. He bowed to the gun lobby and turned his back on America's police by allowing the ban on assault weapons to expire.

Kerry stands clearly for equal opportunity and basic justice. He would defend civil rights and a woman's right to choose. He would empower science, not cripple it. He would seek to bring people together, not drive us apart.

Leadership or isolation. People first or trickle-down. Extending rights or rolling them back. A fresh start or more of the same. The differences are apparent. And we have the power to choose. Vote, and make certain that your family and your friends vote also.