The election is fast upon us and polls predict this will be a tight race.
Reform Party candidate Pat Buchanan does not seem to have lit a fire for voters, but Green Party candidate Ralph Nader may pull in enough support to throw the election to Bush. Nader is siphoning off enough votes in key states, which hurts Gore’s chances of winning this election.
A great irony, considering that followers of Nader are on opposite sides from Bush on every major issue.
So what are the issues that might lure the slacker nation – this means you – to the voting booth? Many of those I have spoken to on this campus believe they have no choice in this election. They do not see a real difference between the major candidates.
But there are issues that differentiate Bush and Gore from each other.
Let me run through some issues that might garner your attention. First up for review, gay rights.
Bush said in his Oct. 11 debate with Gore, “I’m not for gay marriage. I think marriage is a sacred institution between a man and a woman.” Bush supports the Defense of Marriage Act, a law signed by President Clinton in 1996 that allows states to deny recognition to same-sex marriages performed in other states.
Bush said, “I don’t hire or fire somebody based upon their sexual orientation” and added that “I don’t really think it’s any of my concern how you conduct your sex life. And I think that’s a private matter.”
Bush supports the Clinton administration’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy that allows closeted gays and lesbians to serve in the military.
It is hard to believe that Bush would support the Defense of Marriage Act if he truly believed in getting “big government” off the backs of ordinary citizens. Isn’t that the position that conservatives run on, less intrusion by the feds?
Sorry, that is only when dealing with helping the rich get tax breaks. They will, however, allow the feds into your bedroom, classroom and anywhere else the morality police needs to go to protect society from, well, you.
So what about Gore? He says gay and lesbian couples should be able to form civil unions, which would give them the same rights and benefits afforded to married couples under state law. Vermont became the first state to enact a measure allowing civil unions in April. But Gore also says he supports the Defense of Marriage Act.
Gore would scrap the current “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy and would order that gays be allowed to serve openly in the military. Gore is a strong supporter of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, which would prohibit job discrimination based on sexual orientation. The bill was narrowly defeated in the Senate in 1996. It would make things a little better if you are gay, but you would still remain a second-class citizen, denied the full rights allegedly provided by the Constitution.
Let’s move on to education. Bush would reform the federal Title I program that now sends $9 billion a year to public school districts with high proportions of low-income families.
Under Bush’s proposal, Title I schools would have three years to improve students’ test scores. If test scores did not improve, the Title I funds would be divided up and given to the low-income parents, about $1,500 per year per student. Parents could use the funds for tutoring or to help pay tuition at a private or parochial school of their choice.
He doesn’t mention what would happen to these private schools if they were flooded with public school children. The special ability of private schools is that they can discriminate.
Without that ability, they would run into the same problems faced by public schools.
Gore opposes school choice vouchers and charges that Bush’s Title I reform plan would produce a catastrophe because most students would crowd into the nearest private schools and further overburden the teachers there.
Gore has proposed giving taxpayer-funded $10,000 salary increases to designated master teachers, and has urged speedier removal of incompetent teachers from public school classrooms. Since the Democrats take in loads of NEA money, can true school reform ever occur?
Doubtful, unless the NEA allows an honest look at troubles in our schools.
A real hot button issue for college students is the issue of abortion. Bush has said: “America is not ready to ban abortions,” but he added that “until America’s hearts change” he wants to “put policies in place that reduce abortions.”
Bush has also promised not to use “litmus tests” on the abortion issue to determine his nominations to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Bush said that the decision of the Food and Drug Administration to approve use of the abortion drug RU-486 was wrong and he feared it “will make abortions more and more common.” While Bush said, “I don’t think a president can overturn” the FDA decision, his spokesman said if Bush became president, he would sign legislation to put restrictions on how doctors prescribe RU-486.
What Bush didn’t discuss is that under Clinton, the abortion rate in the United States has declined precipitously.
Gore said this year that “a woman’s right to choose is sacred” and pledged that “as president, I will make sure that the right to choose is never threatened, is never weakened and is never taken away.”
Gore supported the FDA’s decision to approve use of the abortion drug RU-486.
Basically, if you are looking at this issue to decide, it is very clear-cut between these two.
But all of these issues come down to a matter of opinion. The president has very little power to push his agenda. It is up to Congress to act and make the laws of our land.
So what is the one back-breaking issue in this election for president? It comes down to the ability to nominate Supreme Court Justices.
Three, maybe four, will retire over the next few years. The next president will wield unprecedented power in appointing justices that will impact the court for decades to come.
If this one issue doesn’t grab your attention and motivate you to vote, then you deserve whatever we get in the upcoming election. This one decision by the next president will impact each of us in our everyday lives.
The time to act is now. If you wait until your rights are affected, it is too late to do anything but buy a brown shirt and join the torchlight processions.
All the issues I discussed will one day come down to Supreme Court decisions. The vote you do or do not make in November will have repercussions for the rest of your life. Do you dare sit this one out? I hope not. Democracy depends on the participation of educated voters.
You don’t want to disappoint the Founding Fathers, now do you?

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