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A man I have known since the very first few days I was injured, and whom I
have the utmost respect for, and am proud to call a friend wrote this at his
site and I wanted to share with you..
When I first met Wise, I had no idea he was even a doctor, he
just reached out to me as a 'person'
Since then, I have learned of his notoriety and accomplishments, even
having been named Newsweek's Man of the Year before.
And he has made it public record, it was I, who changed his view on
tort reform and of which he carried to his other constituents.
Anyway, I do not think I have ever read a more eloquent argument
in these political battles and I wanted to share it with you.
From Wise,
"I thought that you might be interested in an editorial by John Nichols in
the Nation yesterday. Entitled "Even Republicans Fear Bush", (http://www.thenation.com/thebeat/index.mhtml?bid=1&pid=1960)
it is not your typical Bush-bashing editorial. It cites many long-time
republicans who had written editorials explaining why they are voting for Kerry
and not for Bush.
Like you, I do not believe in a negative vote, I.e. voting against somebody rather than for somebody. I did that once in 2000 when I voted for George W. Bush and am not anxious to make that mistake again. For that reason, I made a special effort this year to try to understand the person that I will be voting for. Never before have I felt so strongly that the President would make a difference. And never before have I felt that voting would make so much difference. Perhaps it is because newspapers like to publish contrarian views, they tend to publish editorials and letters that are written by people who are against Bush. Such people often start by saying that they don’t like Kerry and would not vote for him under normal circumstances but feel that they have to do so because of the egregious behavior of President Bush. Their missives often start with the record budget deficit, goes on to cite the threats to our civil liberties, and ends with Bush’s mismanagement of Iraq. This has unfortunately given the impression that most people are voting for Kerry because they oppose Bush. I believe that there are many reasons to vote for Kerry. The following are my impressions, which seem different from yours. • Kerry and Edwards are the first candidates for president and vice-president who have committed themselves fully to the cure of spinal cord injury and related neurological conditions. This was done open-heartedly and without reservations before Christopher died. I believe that both of them are dedicated to the goal. It has reached their hearts. They will do whatever they can to make a cure for spinal cord injury happen. We are lucky to get such a commitment from both the presidential and vice-presidential candidates. • Kerry wholeheartedly supported stem cell research long before he became a presidential candidate, not for political reasons, but for the right reasons, for people and for science. He made the decision against his own Church and suffered the slingshots of his fellow worshippers and the men who delivered diatribes against him from the pulpit. Contrary to what most people think, I do not think that it was not an easy decision for him. • Kerry strongly opposes the death penalty and has done so his entire life. He has done this even though some 70% of Americans, including many Christians inexplicably, believe in the death penalty despite an abundance of evidence that our criminal justice system condemns more poor men of color to death unjustly than it has rich white men. • Kerry spoke out against the Vietnam war even though he probably knew at the time and certainly know now that this would come back to haunt him, as it did during this election and probably for years to come. He believed that the war was unjust, a terrible waste, and a mistake. This was not about political protest but a protest based on deep conviction. I respect that conviction and his choice to protest the war. • Kerry volunteered for Vietnam, not because he had to, but because he wanted to serve his nation. To be sure, he became disillusioned with the war and sought out, but I think that all the criticism of his service to the country is simply wrong. He did not shirk his duty and did serve bravely and honorably, which is more than 90% of young men of wealthy families did in his day and age. I admire him for that. • Kerry cares deeply for the poor and downtrodden. This is clear from his extensive record of votes in the Senate where he sided with them every time. He is the one who wants to raise the minimum wage, to provide insurance to the uninsured, to make sure that the children are covered, and to ensure that social security is there for those who cannot afford their own safety net. • Kerry is a fiscal conservative. He believes in the pay-as-you-go rule. Unlike most other senators who voted to cut taxes and keep spending, he argued against cutting taxes and tried to curb spending. He was not the senator who brought home the bacon at any cost, no matter who was buttering his bread. He was part of the group of legislators who bit the bullet, balanced the budget, and achieved the first budget surplus. • Kerry cares deeply about the environment. He does not need to because he has plenty of access to the most beautifully preserved spots in the world. He knows the issues and understands the profligate spoilage of the environment that unbridled capitalism, greed, and poverty can wreak. I have seen this spoilage in my travels abroad to China, India, Southeast Asia, and South America. • Kerry understands the world of diplomacy and what it takes to gain the trust and cooperation of other countries. His father was a diplomat. In these days of terrorism and war, this understanding is more important than ever. It is not easy to be diplomatic, to swallow your arrogance and to try to put on the shoes of others. We need such a President. • Kerry is not beholden to the big corporations. Kerry understands and will be able bring out the capacity for generosity and altruism of corporations while curbing their excesses. He is not bribable and they know it. His wife’s personal fortune and income probably exceed those of some corporations in the Fortune 500. When he is President, many of the big corporations that opposed him will come crawling back because they know the government butters their bread. • Kerry is deeply committed to service. He could have been a very wealthy lawyer or businessman, given his family connections and education at Yale. But, instead, he chose a life of service. We should not forget that these choices were made at a time when he was not wealthy, when he went to Boston College Law School instead of Harvard, chose to support his family on the meager salary of a prosecutor and lieutenant governor of Massachusetts, and then lived on a salary of a senator for many years until he remarried. While senators are not poor, he could have made much more in the private sector. This was because he was committed to service to our nation. • Kerry is intelligent. Perhaps he doesn’t have the charisma of Clinton and Bush but he is as intelligent as Clinton and much more thoughtful than Bush. He understands the complexities of world politics and does not try to simply it. It may be good public relations to simplify but it is not good leadership to do so. I believe that it is important to have an intelligent president. Staff can only do so much. Some of it has to come from within. He will not be susceptible to manipulation by his staff. He reads. • Kerry is hardworking. I have looked carefully at his voting record and listened to most of his speeches in the Senate. Unlike many of his colleagues, he actually reads the legislation and has thought carefully about their implications before voting. His speeches explaining his votes are detailed, long, and even tedious. Before he started running for the presidency, he attended and voted on senate bills 95% to 99% of the time. • Kerry will be a capable commander-in-chief. I look for several qualities in a commander. The first and foremost is good decision-making skills. Kerry considers his decisions carefully before making them. In contrast to what everybody says, I believe that a man who reviews his decisions is a good, not bad, commander-in-chief. The second is the people who he chooses to surround himself with. He is loyal to his staff but will change them when they are not doing the job. He chooses competent people and good advisors, based on their ability and not their political agenda. Third, Kerry takes responsibility for his decisions and actions. When a commander-in-chief does not take responsibility, this echoes all the way down the ranks. Nobody else will take responsibility. I don’t think that this will happen with Kerry. • Kerry believes in science. He doesn’t try to second-guess scientists or politicize science but at the same time does not give in to scientific politics. In 1996, when Arthur Ullian and I were running around the Senate trying to convince aides to support the doubling of NIH, Kerry was one of the first and strongest supporters. He understands both the funding and the structure of science. He will listen to his scientific advisors. Scientists will come flocking back to the government when he is president. I believe that he will do whatever he can, within budgetary restraints, to help science achieve its objective of helping people. I can go on and on, but these are some positive reasons to vote for Kerry. We should not be making an anybody-but-Bush choice although I must say that Bush disappointed me deeply even though I voted for him in 2000. When I compare Kerry against Howard Dean, Wesley Clarke, Joe Lieberman, Richard Gephardt, Bob Graham, Dennis Kucinich, Carol Mosley Braun, and even John Edwards, I think that he is the best of the group. I am hard-pressed to think of a better candidate. " Wise. {{The best to you,}} Sherry
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