I’d like to start a conversation on what people feel is vital in our next President, regardless of party. So I’m suggesting that we each share our top three issues or characteristics we feel likely to vote on.
My issues, in order of importance:
1) Withdrawal from Iraq and formal repudiation of preemption. – While no top-tier candidate from either party has committed to this, I think it is important for the next President to bring our military involvement in Iraq to a close. Large majorities of Iraqis and Americans want to end the occupation and any democracy worth its name should be willing to do so. In addition, the next president should remove any references to preemptive warfare from the National Security Strategy of the United States.
2) Transparency – This is a broad but critical issue. For me it covers everything ceasing from running secret prisons with secret torture techniques to recinding President Bush’s presidential records order that allows former presidents and their families for all time a veto on records releases to working to make federal web sites more searchable. Basically we should be as aware of the federal government’s activities as they want to be aware of ours. And there should be nothing the government is doing in secret that would leave a majority of Americans repulsed.
3) Immigration – Ideally I’d like to see someone come out in favor of amending NAFTA so that labor can flow as freely as cash and products between Canada, the United States and Mexico. Our current immigration regime serves no one well except sweatshop owners and criminals who prey on immigrants. No major candidate stands for this, so as a minimum I’d take someone who maximized penalties on employers and insists on family reunification.
Those are my three. There are more, but I’d say the three above are the most important to me as I decide who to vote for this year.
What are your issues? I think it will make a more interesting discussion if you share your issues in addition to/instead of telling me why I’m wrong.
Filed under: politics | Tagged: election 2008, elections, presidential candidates
