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Politicians and Children in the 2004 Presidential Election Campaign [Dec. 18th, 2018|05:50 pm]
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George W. Bush and John Kerry like surrounding themselves with smiling children. Now what are they going to do for them?

“To waste, to destroy, our natural resources, to skin and exhaust the land instead of using it so as to increase its usefulness, will result in undermining in the days of our children the very prosperity which we ought by right to hand down to them amplified and developed.”

—Theodore Roosevelt

It seems that children play an essential part of every election campaign. Politicians actively seek out photo opportunities that show them kissing, hugging and playing with children. But what are the politicians actually doing for the children? What policies are they actively pursuing to ensure that the children they love to use as campaign props eventually inherit a safe world with clean water, an unpolluted environment and justice for all children, not just those born in rich countries?

More importantly, what are the politicians doing to bring children into the electoral process? In 2002, there were 72.9 million people under the age of eighteen in the United States. That represented 25% of the population. Imagine that, one quarter of the population totally disenfranchised from the political process! Is it not time to include one of the most important constituencies in the nation into the democratic process? Is it not time to realize that true democracy can only be achieved without age bias? Is it not time for the United States to pull ahead of Iran in extending democratic rights to the younger generation (In Iran, one of the so-called “Axis of Evil”, young people are allowed to vote from the age of fifteen)?

The sad truth is that politicians are quite content to keep children as political props but would prefer that they be seen and not heard when it comes to making important decisions. Is it that politicians do not trust young people with the sacred civic duty of casting a ballot? Or do they fear that they are unqualified to do so? If that is the case, who is it that is keeping these young people in the dark? Are not the politicians the ones who are responsible for the compulsory schools that should be educating the young? Rather than indoctrinating them to recite the Pledge of Allegiance like robots, perhaps it is time that they begin giving them the tools to think for themselves and make informed decisions about their own future.


“Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, in a final sense, [is] a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed.”

—Dwight Eisenhower

The Bush Campaign

Can President Bush with a clear conscience say that he stands for the rights of children? Let's examine his record:

  • The occupation forces President Bush sent to Afghanistan and Iraq routinely bomb civilian targets and shoot civilians. Many children are being killed and injured in these attacks and many more are losing parents and other loved ones.
  • President Bush has not taken the decisive action needed to help clean up the environment or combat global warming. Instead, he has allowed big business, including his friends in the oil industry, to continue poisoning the environment and ensuring the world the young inherit will be dirtier and that the ecological balance will be yet more precarious.
  • By increasing farm subsidies, President Bush has, along with his allies in the European Union, continued the conspiracy of rich nations against the impoverished nations of the world. These policies are ensuring that poor world farmers and their children will remain poor and incapable of bringing their products to international markets.
  • According to the National Center for Children in Poverty, “after a decade of decline, the rate of children living in low-income families is rising again, a trend that began in 2000.” Eleven million children (16%) in the world’s wealthiest nation live below the poverty level, while another twenty-six million (37%) live in low-income families.
  • By limiting funding to family planning groups around the world, President Bush has made it more difficult for the poor to gain access to contraception, leading to an increase in unwanted pregnancies, an increase in maternal mortality and an increase in the spread of sexually transmitted diseases.
  • By not forcing wealthy pharmaceutical companies to offer low-cost anti-AIDS drugs to the poor nations most affected by the pandemic, President Bush has ensured that more babies, whose mothers cannot afford to take AZT during their pregnancies, are born with HIV/AIDS.

Synopsis: Many, many children are being left behind.


“I believe there are more instances of the abridgement of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations.”

—James Madison

The Kerry Campaign

Can Senator Kerry with a clear conscience say that he stands for the rights of children? Let's examine his record:

  • Obviously John Kerry is not a Republican as he certainly does not have the memory of an elephant. The decorated Vietnam veteran turned anti-war protester voted in favor of the invasion of Iraq.
  • Rather than stand up to President Bush and the Republican Party, John Kerry voted in favor of the Patriot Act, ensuring that children will grow up in a nation with fewer civil liberties than their parents enjoyed.
  • While John Kerry preaches support for environmental issues and supports the Kyoto Agreement that King George scrapped, it appears that commercial interests easily override his desire for a clean environment and fair labor conditions. John Kerry voted in favor of fast-track trade agreements with Chile and Singapore. The agreements were widely criticized for not insisting on strict labor and environmental standards. For Kerry, children in other countries obviously do not have the same entitlement to a clean environment as American children do.
  • John Kerry seems to favor coddling America's farmers rather than fighting to reduce farm subsidies. He voted against reducing sugar subsidies in 2001 and voted for the 2002 farm bill that continues America's shameful practice of enriching large American agro-businesses at the expense of farmers in poor nations.
  • While John Kerry appears to genuinely care about doing something to help end poverty, his proposed solutions are not the right ones. Kerry is in favor of raising the minimum wage, a move that has consistently failed to raise household income, while reducing youth employment. To his credit, however, he does support expanding the Earned Income Tax Credit. Hopefully, if elected, he will not make good on promises to engage in protectionist practices that, while they may preserve some domestic jobs, could also push up consumer prices, which would be harmful for low-income families.
  • Kerry has made the right noises in saying that he would increase the power of the government to negotiate drugs prices directly with manufacturers. He needs to go further, by encouraging funding into finding new uses for existing medications, which can substantially reduce research and development expenses (rather than padding the pockets of drugs companies) as well as putting more pressure on manufacturers to provide inexpensive drugs to the third world. He should also encourage them, and perhaps even provide funding, to find cures for poor world diseases rather than simply concentrating on finding highly lucrative drugs for rich-world ailments.

Synopsis: Senator Kerry has enabled some of Bush’s worst policies by voting for them.


“I have found the best way to give advice to your children is to find out what they want and then advise them to do it.”

—Harry Truman

A Young Lady with a Vision

Unfortunately, one of the most exciting speakers at the 2004 Democratic Convention in Boston, Massachusetts is unable to run for president. Ilana Wexler, who has shown great talent as a speaker and a fundraiser, and who has a spin-free, easy-to-understand platform, is twelve years old. Under the current rules, therefore, we will not see her on a presidential ticket until at least 2028. What a pity. Wexler is the founder of Kids for Kerry, a group which aims to mobilize young people to help raise funds for the Kerry campaign and pester their parents to vote for him.

Wexler’s platform is very simple:

  • A: America. A peaceful nation with hope for the future that the world can be proud of.
  • B: Better Education. Smaller class sizes, safer schools, after school programs and support for music and the arts.
  • C: Compassion to all Children. All children in the world have a right to health care and enough food to eat.

Simple and elegant. If America built its policy around these three simple planks, the world would indeed be a better place. But I think Wexler should add another plank to her platform: D, for Democracy for Children. Let's lower the voting age and the minimum ages for holding office.

Conclusion: Let's dump the major party candidates and write in Ilana Wexler.

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