JPFromTally
08-09-2007, 10:21 PM
At the AFL-CIO Democrats debate on MSNBC they had some ordinary folk ask questions to the candidates. What I found interesting about these questions is how they followed a common populist theme.
The formula is:
I WANT SOMETHING +
GOVERNMENT SHOULD GIVE IT TO ME
-----------------------------------------------
HOW WILL YOU USE THE POWER OF GOVT
TO GET IT FOR ME?
Is this what American has come to? We used to be the land of the free and the home of the brave? Now we've been reduced to beggin for charity from the government elite.
Examples:
ROBERT FLYNN (Insulator): Yes. I’m a union insulator. We work building buildings, making them energy efficient. (Cheers.) Unfortunately, many companies don’t invest in energy-efficient products, even though in the long run they’ll save money. If you’re president, what policies would you implement to make businesses invest in energy-efficient technologies to stop our reliances on foreign oil and help our environment?
---------
STEVE SKVARA (retired steel worker): Not a problem.
After 34 years with LTV Steel, I was forced to retire because of a disability. Two years later, LTV filed bankruptcy. I lost a third of my pension, and my family lost their health care. Every day of my life I sit at the kitchen table across from the woman who devoted 36 years of her life to my family, and I can’t afford to pay for her health care. What’s wrong with America, and what will you do to change it? (Extended cheers, applause.)
--------
JIM MCGOVERN (FORMER MAYTAG WORKER AND IRAQ WAR VETERAN): Hello.
After serving in Iraq for a year, I came home to find that my factory job at Maytag had closed and moved to Mexico. That’s not what I was hoping for when I came home from war. I was making good wages and benefits, and it was devastating to me and my family and our community and after three years, it still is.
So what will you do to keep manufacturing jobs like mine from leaving the country?
---------
I work for Resurrection Hospital in the Chicago area for over 11 years. My co-workers and I have been trying to form a union. Resurrection has challenged us every step of the way. Even eight of my co-workers has been fired who supported the union.
I want to know, what would you do to restore the rights of workers like myself who want to form a union?
---------
DEBORAH HAMNER (Sago miner widow): Thank you.
My husband, George Junior Hamner, was one of the 12 men who were killed in the Sago Mine last year. It’s happening again right now with the six trapped miners in Utah. I feel that the Bush administration has failed workers like my husband by rolling back dozens of important workplace protections.
My question is, as president, what will you do to improve the health and safety in our coal mines and all of our workplaces across America?
---------
BARBARA JANUSIAK (intensive care nurse): As a nurse, I live with the failures of the American health care system daily.
We don’t have enough nurses to staff our hospitals. There are millions of unemployed -- well, that too, but millions of uninsured. And even those who are insured do not get the care that they need because they are either denied coverage or the costs are too high.
As president, how would you address these issues?
---------
The formula is:
I WANT SOMETHING +
GOVERNMENT SHOULD GIVE IT TO ME
-----------------------------------------------
HOW WILL YOU USE THE POWER OF GOVT
TO GET IT FOR ME?
Is this what American has come to? We used to be the land of the free and the home of the brave? Now we've been reduced to beggin for charity from the government elite.
Examples:
ROBERT FLYNN (Insulator): Yes. I’m a union insulator. We work building buildings, making them energy efficient. (Cheers.) Unfortunately, many companies don’t invest in energy-efficient products, even though in the long run they’ll save money. If you’re president, what policies would you implement to make businesses invest in energy-efficient technologies to stop our reliances on foreign oil and help our environment?
---------
STEVE SKVARA (retired steel worker): Not a problem.
After 34 years with LTV Steel, I was forced to retire because of a disability. Two years later, LTV filed bankruptcy. I lost a third of my pension, and my family lost their health care. Every day of my life I sit at the kitchen table across from the woman who devoted 36 years of her life to my family, and I can’t afford to pay for her health care. What’s wrong with America, and what will you do to change it? (Extended cheers, applause.)
--------
JIM MCGOVERN (FORMER MAYTAG WORKER AND IRAQ WAR VETERAN): Hello.
After serving in Iraq for a year, I came home to find that my factory job at Maytag had closed and moved to Mexico. That’s not what I was hoping for when I came home from war. I was making good wages and benefits, and it was devastating to me and my family and our community and after three years, it still is.
So what will you do to keep manufacturing jobs like mine from leaving the country?
---------
I work for Resurrection Hospital in the Chicago area for over 11 years. My co-workers and I have been trying to form a union. Resurrection has challenged us every step of the way. Even eight of my co-workers has been fired who supported the union.
I want to know, what would you do to restore the rights of workers like myself who want to form a union?
---------
DEBORAH HAMNER (Sago miner widow): Thank you.
My husband, George Junior Hamner, was one of the 12 men who were killed in the Sago Mine last year. It’s happening again right now with the six trapped miners in Utah. I feel that the Bush administration has failed workers like my husband by rolling back dozens of important workplace protections.
My question is, as president, what will you do to improve the health and safety in our coal mines and all of our workplaces across America?
---------
BARBARA JANUSIAK (intensive care nurse): As a nurse, I live with the failures of the American health care system daily.
We don’t have enough nurses to staff our hospitals. There are millions of unemployed -- well, that too, but millions of uninsured. And even those who are insured do not get the care that they need because they are either denied coverage or the costs are too high.
As president, how would you address these issues?
---------