Political views of Mike Gravel
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- See also: Mike Gravel
Here are some of former Senator Mike Gravel's remarks and positions on various issues. They have relevance to his current campaign for the Democratic Party nomination for the office of President of the United States of America in 2008.
Contents |
[edit] Economic policy
[edit] Taxation
Senator Gravel supports the FairTax proposal that calls for eliminating the IRS and the income tax and replacing it with a progressive national sales tax of between 19 and 23 percent on newly manufactured items and services. As compensate for necessities, such as food, there would be a “prebate” to untax households up to the poverty level. He calculates that an average family of three that lives below the poverty level would receive an additional $3,000 a year.[1]
[edit] National healthcare
In his campaign pronouncements Senator Gravel has identified medicine and medical technology costs as 'one of the leading causes of bankruptcies'.[2] He is an advocate for 'a national, universal single-payer not-for-profit U.S. healthcare system'.[3]
[edit] Social security
Senator Gravel has recorded his call for Congress to 'stop raiding the Social Security Trust Fund'.[4] He proposes identifying the interests of individual beneficiaries so they can leave their surplus funds to their heirs.
[edit] Veterans affairs
Senator Gravel proposes to index veteran health care entitlements to take full account of increases in the costs of care and medicine. He has said that he would make permanent the 100 percent disability ratings of those diagnosed as suffering from Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).[5]
He has pledged that he would fully fund and resource the Veterans Administration.[6]
[edit] Energy, environment and climate change
Senator Gravel has advocated that carbon energy should be taxed to provide the funding for a global effort to bring together the world's scientific and engineering communities to develop energy alternatives to significantly reduce the world’s energy dependence on carbon.[7]
[edit] Foreign policy
[edit] International relations
The Senator's October 2006 speech to the New Hampshire Institute of Politics entitled Stepping Back From Imperialism: Redirecting American Foreign Policy, revealed his analysis of pressing domestic and foreign policy issues and the policies he would address if elected President.[8] Prominent within that was his categorical expression of the desire to effect the immediate termination of United States military involvement in Iraq and the withdrawal of all remaining US military personnel from that country.
His remarks could otherwise be encapsulated as follows:
'The reality is, the United States is No. 1 only in weaponry, consumer spending, government and personal debt, in the number of people we have in prison and .. in delusion.'
'The preeminent threat in the affairs of nations is nuclear proliferation. Sanctions (against nuclear states) do not work .. [and are] in most cases, .. immoral.'
'Take our troops out of Iraq immediately, and move aggressively toward a diplomatic solution bringing the United Nations, the European and Asian communities, and regional players ... into a process to help end the civil war in Iraq and establish stability in the region.'
'The US (with allies, regional powers and the UN) ... must sponsor direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, including Hamas .. with the goal of a two-state solution .. which would involve guarantee[ing] the demilitarized borders of both parties, guarantee[ing] Israel's right to survive ... and making a commitment to the Palestinians to raise their economic standards to that of Israel.'
His specific foreign policy related proposals and initiatives are:
- The US sponsoring direct negotiations between Israel and all Palestinian factions, including Hamas
- Support for a Palestinian state to exist alongside Israel
- The US acting as a guarantor for the demilitarisation of Israel's border with a future Palestinian state
- The US committing to help raise the economic standards in a future Palestinian State to compare with those in Israel
- Disavowing a nuclear first-strike policy
- Cutting the number of nuclear devices in US hands from more than 10,000 to a couple of hundred
- That the US should immediately sign the Kyoto Protocol
- Immediate US military withdrawal from Iraq and support for a UN-sponsored regional peace process to arrest the Iraqi Civil War
He is highly critical of the President and Bush Administration's public characterisation of nations such as Iran, Syria, North Korea, Cuba, and Libya as members of an 'axis of evil'.[9]
[edit] Torture
Senator Gravel has called upon Congress to pass legislation to outlaw the practise of torture against detainees of the Government and military. His 1 March 2007 media release states:
“The Constitution is very clear that prisoners of war are the responsibility of the Congress. The Bush administration has unlawfully taken that power without Constitutional justification. The Congress has been derelict in its duty to see that enemy combatants are treated humanely within the guidelines of the Geneva Conventions, and has been equally neglectful in its response to the President’s unlawful use of torture.”
He has pledged that if elected President he would 'vanquish' the Military Commissions Act of 2006, by which the writ of habeas corpus has been suspended for aliens designated "unlawful combatants" and which he also claims to found authorisation for CIA torture practices in overseas detention facilities. (Also see ghost detainees)
[edit] Social policy
[edit] Education
Among his proposals and/or remarks to the New Hampshire Institute of Politics were:
- '30% of American children do not finish high school'.
- 'In education, the United States ranks 49 in literacy, and 28 out of 40 developed countries in mathematical literacy. Europe has surpassed the US as the largest producer of scientific literature.'
- 'Foreign applications to American graduate schools have declined by 28% since 2004'
- Proposing to restore funding of the National Science Foundation to pre-2004 levels
[edit] Gay civil rights
In his February 2007 address to the Democratic National Committee Winter Conference he referred to the prospect of marriage between gays and lesbians in the following terms:
"Since the Second World War, various political leaders have fostered fear in the American people - fear of communism, fear of terrorism, fear of immigrants, fear of people based on race and religion, fears of gays and lesbians in love who just want to get married. Fear of people who are just different. It is fear that allows our political leaders to manipulate us all and to distort our national priorities."
His media release of 26 February 2007 (see under Media Releases) explicitly stated his support on the full range of gay civil rights issues including same-sex marriage recognition, opposition to Don't Ask Don't Tell, extension of the scope and effect of hate crime legislation to cover hate violence against gays and lesbians, and the removal of all other remaining legal discrimination against LGBT.
[edit] Decriminalisation of marijuana
Senator Gravel advocates for the decriminalisation of the use and possession of marijuana.[citation needed]
[edit] Stem cell research
Senator Gravel in principle does not object to the use of embryonic stem cells for medical research purposes.[10]
[edit] Campaign Finance
At the February 2007 Democratic Presidential Candidates Forum he has said that he is in favour of some degree of public financial assistance to the campaigns of Presidential candidates.
[edit] Immigration
In remarks at the Carson City, Nevada, Democratic Presidential Candidates Forum of February 2007, Senator Gravel has said that he disfavors wholesale or widespread deportation of illegal immigrants found residing in the United States.
[edit] Constitutional policy
[edit] The National Initiative
Senator Gravel proposes an Amendment to the US Constitution and an accompanying Federal Law to bring about a means of citizen-initiated national lawmaking in addition to the existing means of lawmaking through the institutions of representative government (ie. Congress and the President).[11]
The 'Democracy Amendment' would: 1) amend the Constitution asserting the legislative powers of the people, 2) outlaw the use of monies not from natural persons in initiative elections, 3) create an Electoral Trust and defines the role of its trustees, 4) legitimise national elections to vote on the enactment of federal laws arising from citizen-initiated legislative proposals ('national initiatives').
The 'Democracy Act' as a federal law would: 1) set out deliberative legislative procedures to be used for initiative lawmaking by citizens, 2) define the powers of the Electoral Trust that administers the legislative procedures on behalf of citizenry, 3) define the electoral threshold that must be reached for 'national initiatives' to become law.
The authority for effecting such a constitutional reform, is proposed to derive from Article VII of the US Constitution.
[edit] Stance on impeachment
The Senator approved the release of a statement on 13 February 2007[12] outlining his view that 'impeachment (of President Bush) .. is, in this case, insufficient' and that he 'supports a congressional inquiry into whether or not (the President) has overstepped his authority and broken the law'.
[edit] Notes
- ^ http://www.gravel2008.com/issues
- ^ http://www.gravel2008.com/issues
- ^ ibid
- ^ http://www.gravel2008.com/issues
- ^ http://www.gravel2008.com/issues
- ^ ibid
- ^ http://www.gravel2008.com/?q=node/238, under 'Energy and Environment'
- ^ http://www.gravel2008.com/?q=node/238 Transcript 'Stepping Back From Imperialism: Redirecting American Foreign Policy', October 2006
- ^ http://www.gravel2008.com/issues See under 'Iran'.
- ^ http://www.bluestateobserver.com/2006/07/scones-with-senator.html
- ^ http://www.gravel2008.com/?q=node/114
- ^ http://www.gravel2008.com/?q=node/378
