A Quandry

As many of you know, we here at BoMb have been supporting Mike Gravel’s candidacy since he was a Democrat. Ideologically, he lines up with everything we stand for:

Iraq: Withdraw the troops. “The sooner U.S. troops are withdrawn, the sooner we can pursue aggressive diplomacy to bring an end to the civil war that currently consumes Iraq. Senator Gravel seeks to work with neighboring countries to lead a collective effort to bring peace to Iraq.”

Iran & Syria: “Senator Gravel opposes a military confrontation with Iran and Syria and advocates a diplomatic solution to the current situation.”

National Initiative for Democracy: “Mike fully supports the National Initiative for Democracy. The NI4D is a way to bring legislative power back to the people. In many states, citizens can put measures on the ballot and Mike believes as citizens of the United States we should all have that power.”

Global Warming: “Senator Gravel believes that global climate change is a matter of national security and survivability of the planet. As President, he will act swiftly to reduce America’s carbon footprint in the world by initiating legislation to tax carbon at the source and cap carbon emissions. He is also committed to leading the fight against global deforestation”

Taxes: “Senator Gravel’s Progressive Fair Tax proposal calls for eliminating the IRS and the income tax and replacing it with a national sales tax on new products and services. To compensate for the tax on necessities, such as food, lodging, transportation and clothing, there would be a “rebate” to reimburse taxpayers.”

Health Care “Senator Gravel advocates a universal healthcare system that provides equal medical services to all citizens, paid for by a retail sales tax (a portion of the Progressive Fair tax). Citizens would pay nothing for health benefits.” This is the one place the BoMb disagrees with Senator Gravel.

Reproductive Rights: “Senator Mike Gravel supports a woman’s right to decide if and when to have children. He also supports a woman’s right to make the difficult decision about abortion without interference by government authorities. Comprehensive, age-appropriate sex education, including accurate information about contraception, can always be provided in order to reduce the number of unintended pregnancies and abortions.”

Immigration: “Senator Gravel favors protecting our borders and monitoring the flow of immigrants into our country. He also favors a guest worker program and setting up naturalization procedures that would fairly bring immigrants into legal status. America must address the root cause of illegal immigration. Any discussion of immigration must include NAFTA and the concept of “free trade.” The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) has been a disaster for the working class of both the U.S. and Mexico and a boon to the international corporate interests. ”

GLBT Rights: “Senator Gravel supports same-sex marriage and opposes the Defense of Marriage Act.”

Education: “No Child Left Behind has left too many children behind. It needs to be reformed and adequately funded. It needs to acknowledge the need for a fuller curriculum that encourages critical thinking—not just math and science test-taking. A high school diploma should be the minimum goal for all students; without it, our children will be condemned to a substandard economic existence.”

War on Drugs: “The War on Drugs has been a failure. It is time to end prohibition and start treating addiction as a public health problem. We must regulate hard drugs for the purpose of treating addicts, which would emphasize rehabilitation and prevention over incarceration. We must decriminalize minor drug offenses and increase the availability and visibility of substance abuse treatment in our communities as well as in jails and prisons.”

Net Neutrality: Senator Gravel is in favor of it. He does not believe the Internet to be a series of tubes.

Human Rights: “Senator Gravel is adamantly opposed to torture, indefinite detention, and the deprivation of lawyers/speedy trials. He opposes the Military Commissions Act, flagrant ignorance of the Geneva convention, and Guantanamo.”

It is, however, my unfortunate duty to inform you, good people, that Mike Gravel was not nominated by the Libertarian Party, who instead nominated Bob Barr, whose issues page says a lot, but makes no promises. He doesn’t like our current immigration policy. Great, neither did Mike. But Bob makes no mention of how he’s going to change it. Bob doesn’t like George Bush suspending the writ of Habeas Corpus, but does he mention what he’s going to do to fix the problem? Nope. Mike does. And issues I am concerned about — reproductive rights, the war on drugs, GBLT rights, etc. — get no mention from Bob what so ever.

I could get excited about campaigning for Mike. Hell, I could get excited about campaigning for Ron Paul, and I don’t agree with his personal positions (though he favored states rights, which meant that if one state wants abortions for all and another wants no abortions, so be it, and let the citizens decide by referendum what they want.) But Bob just leaves me feeling like he’s every other politician out there, which was what was so rockin’ about Mike Gravel. He wasn’t like every other old man in the field. He’s the candidate that gave me hope.

Hmm, maybe we can get the BoMb’s other great hero, Ted “A Series of Tubes” Stevens to run independently? I’d support a Paul/Stevens or Gravel/Stevens ticket! Wouldn’t you?