Page 6
October 26, 2016
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O PINION
Martin After the Election, Back to Important Things
Focus again on
Cleaning issues that really
Service matter
J ames a. h aught
Soon, thank heav-
en, the 2016 election
will be over. Ameri-
cans can stop fussing
over how many wom-
en Donald Trump mo-
lested, or what Russian hackers
found in Hillary Clinton e-mails.
Then, I hope, thinking people can
focus again on issues that really
matter:
Can America finally gain com-
plete universal health insurance
covering all citizens as a human
right -- a government-run national
system suppressing medical costs,
as exists in most democracies and
all industrialized nations?
Can economic changes reduce
the amassing of wealth by the bil-
lionaire one percent, and give the
middle class a better chance?
Can controls manage the pistol
saturation that gives America the
worst murder rate among civilized
by
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the world’s largest -- continue
costing taxpayers $1 trillion per
year (counting veteran expense
and interest on past spending done
with borrowed money)?
Will America continue impris-
oning more than two million peo-
ple, giving this country the worst
incarceration rate among modern
societies?
Can changes prevent U.S. cor-
porations from laying off Ameri-
can workers and shifting produc-
tion to low-wage countries -- and
prevent U.S. corporations from
stashing profits overseas to duck
taxes?
Can human rights grow more
entrenched around the world to
reduce cruelty?
Etc., etc.
After the tumult and shouting
of the 2016 campaign ends, goals
like these should get new atten-
tion. They concern liberal democ-
racy, the system of government of
the people, by the people, for the
people.
During the past century, liberal
democracy won enormous gains:
Women won the right to vote.
Couples won the right to prac-
tice birth control. Retirees won
Social Security pensions. Job-
less workers won unemployment
compensation and other safety net
provisions. Labor won the right
to organize. African Americans
escaped Jim Crow segregation.
Medicare and Medicaid expand-
ed health treatment. The disabled
and workers hurt on the job gained
protections. Censorship of books,
movies and magazines was wiped
out. The Affordable Care Act ex-
panded health treatment further.
Gays won, first decriminalization,
then the right to marry.
In all these struggles, conserva-
tives fought fierce resistance, but
liberal progressives finally carried
the day, improving humanity and
western civilization. I hope this
pattern continues forever.
The 2016 election has been a
carnival, a circus, a farce. In only
a few days, it will fade into the
past. But the deep public ques-
tions -- things that really matter
-- still will stare us in the face.nd–
James Haught, syndicated by
PeaceVoice, is editor emeritus of
West Virginia’s largest newspaper,
The Charleston Gazette-Mail.
People in Power Who Do Not Want Us to Vote
We can’t let
them stop us
m arC h. m orial
The nation will soon
conclude what is likely
to be remembered as
one of the most con-
tentious
Presidential
campaigns in modern
history.
The campaign has
been fraught with racially divisive
rhetoric as the nation continues
to struggle with issues of racial
hostility and social inequity, as
demonstrated by the wave of vio-
lence that has taken so many lives
over the last year.
A lack of social and econom-
ic opportunity is at the root of
the unrest. The troubling divisive
rhetoric that has characterized the
2016 Presidential race has fed the
unrest. And only a historic, target-
ed mobilization of resources can
address the unrest.
The National Urban League
has a plan to elevate urban com-
munities through targeted public
investment, called the Main Street
Marshall Plan. We also have a plan
to hold police and communities ac-
countable for unjustified violence
against unarmed citizens, called
the 10 Point Justice Plan for Police
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nations?
Will pollution enforcement fi-
nally reduce the catastrophic men-
ace of global warming?
Will marijuana become
legal nationwide, ending
the police-and-prison pro-
hibition that works no bet-
ter than Prohibition of alco-
hol did?
Will “black lives matter”
become a reality, reducing
police killings of unarmed
African American men?
Can better birth control prevent
millions of unwanted pregnancies
that drive desperate women and
girls to seek termination?
Will the barbaric death penalty
finally cease in the United States,
as it has in virtually all democra-
cies?
Will white supremacy fade
as the rising tide of Hispanics,
Asians, blacks, Pacific Islanders,
Muslims, etc., makes America
more multicultural, with no ma-
jority?
Will college become free for all
Americans capable of advanced
study?
Will U.S. militarism -- by far
Reform and Accountability.
But plans on paper, written in
the most compelling prose, with
the most prescient rationale, mean
nothing if we do not put
in place responsible, for-
ward-thinking governmen-
tal representatives with the
power to put these plans
into action.
The responsibility to put
these plans into action lies
with this generation. That
responsibility boils down to just
one almighty action: We must
vote.
The National Urban League is
part of a nonpartisan Election Pro-
tection coalition formed to ensure
that all voters have an equal op-
portunity to participate in the po-
litical process. Election Protection
provides Americans from coast to
coast with comprehensive voting
information on how they can make
sure their vote is counted through
a number of resources including a
voter helpline 866-OUR-VOTE.
If you or anyone you know ex-
periences any irregularity while
trying to register or vote, please
call 866-OUR-VOTE. But please,
vote.
If injustice outrages you, if this
recent cycle of violence grates at
your inner core as a human being,
then we must vote. If we want to
fund urban infrastructure and build
schools instead of juvenile deten-
tion facilities, build libraries and
community centers instead of pris-
ons, we must vote.
If we want universal early child-
hood education … we must vote.
If we want a federal living wage,
tied to inflation, we must vote. If
we want to fund urban infrastruc-
ture and build schools instead of
juvenile detention facilities, librar-
ies and community centers instead
of prisons, we must vote.
If you want to see our tax dol-
lars go to rebuilding West Balti-
more and Inglewood, Chicago and
Athens, Ohio, and Boone, North
Carolina, as they have in Bagh-
dad and Kabul, we must vote. If
we want to see our urban youth
working at summer jobs instead
of floundering in hopelessness, we
must vote.
If we want to see the dream of
a college education within afford-
able reach for every student in
America, we must vote. If we are
to see justice done in the killings
of our brothers and sisters at the
hands of police and self-appointed
vigilantes, we must vote.
If we want to end the scourge of
violence within African-American
neighborhoods, we must vote. If
we want to erase the AR-17 and
the AK47 - the weapon of choice
for terrorists and mass killings --
from our streets, we must vote. If
we want no fly, no buy and univer-
sal background checks, we must
vote.
If we are to honor the martyr-
dom of Andrew Goodman, Mick-
ey Schwerner and James Chaney,
we must vote. If we want a com-
passionate system of immigration
reform that leads to dignity and
citizenship, we must vote. If we
want continued, robust funding for
the Urban League’s highly effec-
tive programs, we must vote.
If our vision is an America with
liberty, justice and economic op-
portunity for all, we must vote. If
we are to change the heart of this
nation, we must vote.
And if we are to achieve all this,
through our vote, we must con-
tinue to fight with everything we
have to protect our vote.
This is the first presidential elec-
tion in more than 50 years to take
place without the full protection of
the Voting Rights Act. This year,
14 states will have new voting re-
strictions in place for the first time
in a presidential election. The new
laws range from strict photo ID
requirements to early voting cut-
backs to registration restrictions.
Those 14 states are: Alabama,
C ontinued on p age 15