Democrats - What is the game plan for this country?

Question

I'm asking this question seeking serious responses only.

All that I have seen or heard from the Democrats is their utter hatred for President Bush and the war in Iraq.

I want to know what the Democratic plans are for this country in regard to the war, terrorism, the national debt, illegal immigrants, welfare programs & social security.

I am being serious in trying to determine exactly what the Democrats plan to do. Please do not post rude or silly comments such as "better than Bush". Bush bashing is all that I have heard from Democrats thus far and the election is just days away.

Pretend that I am on the fence with how I want to vote. By covering the issues that concern me, how would you convince me to vote Democrat instead of Republican?

William B,

You are missing my question. I know what the Democrats think of Bush and Republicans, that is all that I know. I want to know where the Democrats stand on the issues.

BeachBum,

Thank you for your open and honest reply. Thus far you have been the only person to provide any insight at all.

g,

I understand your reserve about my intent. I appreciate your response and will look into the proposals that you have posted. Unfortunately, I was being honest in saying that all that I have seen or heard has been hatred of Bush. I am very interested in knowing where the Democrats really stand.

austingirl,

Thank you as well for your open and honest opinion. I knew that there had to be some folks on Y!A that could answer with something other than Bush bashing.

Answer 1

... well... first off... I fear I may be wasting my breath, because the information is out there and with an attitude like "all that I have seen or heard from the democrats is their utter hatred for President Bush"... it seems to show that you watch and believe only conservative sources of news... if that's all you believe, then it's pointless to argue...

but, real quick... a few points...

Iraq... listen to the generals (as many retired generals have said the current admin has not), set goals and flexible time lines to get the country stabilized and our boys home...

health care... work to either expand current coverage of medicaid or work on bringing the costs down, but not through caps... costs are totally out of control

education... work to give more loans at lower rates and grants... tuition has skyrocketed... also, rework no child left behind to make it a working program...

taxes... keep the cuts on the middle class, repeal investor tax cuts... this will generate revenue to apply to the deficit...

social security...we need to stop taking out of the jar and pay back what we have taken out...

terror... work on bin Laden... a lot of talk from the Republicans about bin Laden... little action... the sooner we stabilize Iraq, the more we can focus on him...

there are other issues... and different democratic candidates have different views on the issues... just like McCain and Bush's views on these issues you asked about are sometimes very different inside the same party...

EDIT: don't mention it... I think that one IMPORTANT key is that I don't like all democratic candidates... I think some of them are crazy... and I don't dislike all Republican candidates...
try to vote on the individual and their stances and not the party... I may lean to the democrat side often, but I do vote Republcian at times...

Answer 2

There is a saying "When you find you are in a hole the first thing you should do is stop digging." I'm of the opinion that Bush does not have a plan for the GOOD of the country, but rather for the good only of the wealthy. He continues to spend worse than any Democrat, and cut taxes at the same time. And he seems to do other things that undermine the social fabric of America. The first step in any plan should be, let's put someone in charge who cares about the citizens, including those who are fighting and dying. Bush continues to dig a deeper hole for our country to sink into. Let's stop that, for a start.
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LadySable, you are missing my point. What you are asking is like saying about Hitler, or Sadam, or any other evil "leader", that you want to know what the "other side" plans to do to be convinced to get rid of them! Bush has secret prisons, torture, taping phone calls of Americans, just to name the high points. And if you think those are "only" for terrorists, think about the fact that the Bush administration decides who is a terrorist or not, then denies them legal access. If you want to accept these things because it's those "other" people who are being harmed, think about the Jews in Nazi Germany.

OK, so let's say you accept all that. What about the job situation in this country? DO you really believe that unemployment is going down when GM, Ford, Countrywide, HP, and lots of others are laying off thousands of workers at a time? At the same time that "outsourcing" is taking jobs out of the country by the thousands? In fact, the unemployment numbers are only based on those who are actually drawing unemployment. People who get a part-time job in place of full time, or who are just not collecting unemployment ay more, are not counted. And there is lots more.

When you are bleeding to death you don't say "I'm going to plan my future". You first need to stop the bleeding. And the bleeding is worse under Bush than at any time in the past 50 years.

Answer 3

First, the reason you haven't heard one way or the other about a set democratic plan is because it has been the strategy of the democrats to sit back and let Bush hang his party... so far this has worked. After all, they are not in control of any of the 3 branches of gov. so really, what can they do right now?

As far as a plan after they regain some authority, this is what I have heard:
- For some reason, Bush didn't want nor ask for much international support in Iraq. I have a theory as to why he wanted to unilaterally control it but that is not an issue atm. Point is that democrats plan to begin to rebuild international support and try to bring in other nations for assistance in Iraq to get the burdern off of us solely and to get it resolved.
- Howard Dean on PBS said today that the democratic party plans to target outsourcing in order to at least freeze the flux of jobs going overseas at an enormous rate.
- He also mentioned healthcare stating that under Bush the number of insured has increased from 45 million to 48 million then stated they plan to work on that as a priority.
- He also mentioned they plan to repeal the tax cuts for the rich that Bush awarded BUT, and this got my attention because I had not heard this, they intend on a NEW TAX CUT for the middle class.

Those are a few things I recall off the top of my head. Hope that helps.

Answer 4

Hatred goes both ways...and Repubs. have righteous indignation when it comes to Dems.

Honestly, I think are political system is broken--with no real choice whatsoever. But, I feel that the Dems are the lesser of two evils.

Why? Lemme tell ya.

First off, if you are a fiscal republican...you must be disgusted at the record-breaking spending going on right now, thanks to "W" and HIS two houses of congress. So--saying that the Dems are more careless w/ the national debt is a fallacy.

As far as Iraq, well, I heard Dean speak on it in an interview today. He said that the Dems. would not pull the troops out right away, but instead, send the Nat'l guard home--redeploy a larger amount of the full-time enlisted to get back some control in Iraq--then once that is accomplished, send in a large contingency of special forces to quell any insurgencies. Will this work? Doubt it. But it is much more specific than "Stay the Course", don't ya think? In my opinion, Iraq will have to fight a civil war, and more innocents will die, it is just the way our imperfect world works.

Terrorism--the threat is there, but, there are MUCH bigger threats facing us than that. 3,000 people tragically lost their lives on that day, but many more die in the US b/c of lack of affordable health care, drunk driving, increasing drug use, cancer, AIDS, etc. HOWEVER, you didn't ask that--so I will get off my soap box. The Dems plan on tightening homeland security to deter terrorism, as opposed to attacking other countries which cause a virtual terrorist training ground that Iraq and Afghanistan are now. They want to use economic pressures/diplomacy on Iran and other countries branded a threat. We honestly can't go to war w/ Iran at all right now, so that is the best policy at this time.

Now for welfare/social security, education, --the Dems are historically more generous to the economically disenfranchised...which I feel is a good thing. Is there an easy answer to this, no--no one party has it right. Bush & Co. drastically cut Pell grants for needy students while in office and the Dems promise to get them back. I think it is important to educate our citizenry to bring about positive social change.

Illegal Immigration--well, that is something that really irritates me. It is driving down wages, and draining our social welfare system. But--no party has the cojones to do anything about it. Why? The Dems. tend to be too soft on it b/c of "moral conscience" (whatever) and Repubs. are soft on it b/c the ones who truly profit from the illegal workforce are the corporations which are the bed-buddies of the Repub. party. Sooooo...I doubt either one will do anything about it.

My advice...vote your conscience, not your fear. I wish you well and God bless.

Answer 5

What us Democrats will do when we take control: 1. Get our troops out of Iraq. 2. Have open dialogues with the leaders of Iran and North Korea. 3. Help the UN make peace in the world. 4. Remove the evil Bush tax-cuts, they only helped the rich.

Answer 6

How about having a civilized country again with sane foreign policies?

I mean this seriously..this country needs to set standards for itseld\f and not act like we own everything...if that means the stock market dips a few points, so be it.

Answer 7

Dems are for the working guy and the middle class Republicans make the rich richer and the middle go BYE BYE

Answer 8

Tax more, seize more personal property, bring in more undocumented workers, increase the welfare state, and try to advance the cause of Karl Marx.

Answer 9

I can't convince you to chose either sides.But the one thing I know for sure is Bush is number one in my book!

Answer 10

Hopefully we'll find a way to shoot Lush Rimjaughb out of a cannon.
Fly fatass! Fly!