A Philosophy Of Hope: We're All In This Together
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Last week, the Democratic Party laid out a vision for America.
Woven into the words of every speech was a promise to the American people: “We will not abandon you. We will stand with you. We will fight for you.”
Now, I am my own candidate, and I am my own man. I realize that you can’t govern by voting for measures just because you want to get elected or because the party says so. I believe that if you use as your guiding principle, the idea that every man, woman and child should have a fair shot, then you will vote the right way.
President Bill Clinton said it best in his address on Wednesday night. “The most important question is, what kind of country do you want to live in? If you want a you’re-on-your own, winner-take-all society, you should support the Republican ticket. If you want a country of shared prosperity and shared responsibility — a we’re-all-in-this-together society — you should vote for Barack Obama and Joe Biden.”
Last week, President Obama reminded us that we’re not talking about handouts or free lunch. We’re talking about the foundations of American prosperity. We’re saying that it is our fundamental responsibility to ensure that hard-working Americans are not left behind. That all of us have the same fair shot at a good life, IF we’re all playing on the same level playing field. It is our mandate to ensure that we build a stable economy that retains jobs. We can’t do that if the system is rigged to favor only the top 2% of American households.
We already know where my opponent stands. We know from Rodney Frelinghuysen’s voting record that he has abandoned his once moderate positions in favor of the extreme positions adopted by the Republican Party. He voted twice for the Paul Ryan budget — a plan that weakens Medicare, ends Social Security as we know it, and leaves tens of thousands of women and children without health care benefits. My opponent has consistently voted against programs that would provide something as basic as clean drinking water to our troops and vital job training to our returning veterans. He has consistently voted against student aid without which the dream of higher education is unattainable for most of our children.
These votes may best serve Mr. Frelinghuysen’s political career, but they do not serve the people of the 11th Congressional District at all.
Our future is in our hands. The choice is absolutely clear.
Adam Kraemer
9:15 am on Tuesday, September 11, 2012
Between state, federal, and local taxes may people in this congressional district pay 40% or 50% or more in taxes in some form or an other. How is this rigging things for the rich? If we don't acceept the Ryan Plan how are we going to address long term fiscal stability for the nation? I don't see real alternative from Mr. Arvinities in this regard. Rodney Frelinghyusen is a veteran I don't understand how he can be labeled as being against veteran or against our troops.
Barry
10:13 am on Tuesday, September 11, 2012
I appreciate that while federal taxes as a percentage of GDP are at the lowest rate since 1950, many people still fell squeezed. That is all the more reason to accept the tax package the Democrats, including Mr. Arvanites, endorse. This would maintain tax cuts for 95% of the people, those earning less than $200k ($250k per family). It would raise the top rate from 35% to the Clinton era rate of 39.5%. It seems to me the the top 5% did rather well under Clinton at those rates and we balanced the budget. The Ryan budget Mr. Frelinghuysen supports offers nothing like that while doing significant damage to middle and lower income families, Notice that even Mr. Romney has not endorsed key elements of the Ryan plan such as Medicare. Meanwhile the Romney tax plan is too vague and is based on closing unnamed deductions. As far as veterans, I do not see where Mr. Arvanites says the Congressman is against them or our troops, only that his voting record does not always support them.
A. Gideon
3:39 pm on Tuesday, September 11, 2012
"How is this rigging things for the rich?"
That's something of a non-sequitur, as the rate that "may people" pay - effectively a single data point - says nothing one way or another about the bias of the system. The bias shows when one compares the rate paid by middle-class tax-payers vs. "the rich".
But what do I know? I'm just some guy that started a business (with his wife) around 1990 that's foolish enough to acknowledge that that wouldn't have been possible w/o the education we both received at public schools. Nor would our business exist today w/o our employees, most - if not all - of whom have a similar background. I also have this crazy notion that we're dependent upon public roads, public police, fire, and military services, a public monetary system, etc.
Sure, "we built this", but we stood on plenty of shoulders doing so. And I'm nuts enough to avoid the dishonor of lying about that and trying to take all the credit for ourselves.
...Andrew
Abe Lincoln
1:33 pm on Wednesday, September 12, 2012
Andrew...excellent contribution! Thanks!
ADRIENNE
11:32 am on Wednesday, September 12, 2012
Why don't people go back to see what Mr. Clinton said about Obama when his wife was running for president. Roll the tapes back............................
WC
3:27 pm on Wednesday, September 12, 2012
Who is John Arvanites?