Melanie Ho  Ho is the President of
the Bruin Democrats. She encourages you to keep hope alive and vote
on November 7th. E-mail her at [email protected]. Â Â
 It is popular these days to claim that there is no
difference between the two major American political parties. While
such a statement makes a good sound bite, it is far from the truth.
To say that there is no difference between the two parties is to
espouse that there is no difference between a Democratic Party that
favors universal health care, environmental protection, and a
higher minimum wage and a Republican Party whose words and actions
show the exact opposite ideals.
To say that there is no difference between the two parties is to
assert that issues like gun control legislation, public education,
civil rights, and affirmative action are of no importance. To say
that there is no difference between the two parties is to say that
the lives of the people who are affected by such issues are of no
importance.
Sounds like a big difference to me. In today’s media-based
society, politics is portrayed as merely an abundance of red,
white, and blue balloons and talking heads telling you who is ahead
in the polls and whose tie better matched his suit. Sure, both
parties throw the same color confetti into the air at rallies. But,
when it comes down to it, there are fundamental differences between
the two parties, their policies and their candidates. These are the
differences that this election is about.
The 2000 presidential election is not simply a choice between
Democratic Vice President Al Gore and Republican Governor George W.
Bush. It is a choice between two opposing ideologies and two
completely different sets of policies. It is a choice between a
Democratic Party that will use our national prosperity to lift up
all Americans and a Republican Party that wants to spread that
prosperity only to those who don’t need the help.
Gore’s policies confront the challenges that our nation
faces. Bush’s plans only exacerbate already existing
problems. For example, take campaign finance reform. While Gore has
proposed a sweeping campaign finance reform package, wants to
furnish public subsidies to candidates, and plans to ban soft
money, Bush supports raising campaign contribution limits and would
permit wealthy individuals to continue making unregulated soft
money donations. These differences will matter a lot to the local
schoolteacher who wants to run for public office and doesn’t
have big money or big business on her side. Gore’s campaign
finance reform would assure that she has a chance.
When it comes to gun control, Gore supports national, mandatory
licensing and backs photo licenses and gun safety tests for new
handgun owners. Bush opposes government-mandated registration of
guns. These differences will matter a lot to every could-have-been
victim whose life is saved by the stricter gun control laws favored
by Gore.
On civil rights, Gore supports affirmative action across the
board, advocates congressional hate crimes legislation, and
supports pay equity for women and workplace protections to gays. On
the other hand, Bush declined to back a Democratic-sponsored hate
crimes bill and declined to support the 1999 Nondiscrimination
Employment Act which extends federal workplace anti-discrimination
protection toward gays.
Electing Gore will make a positive difference to every female
who currently makes less money than a male in the equivalent job,
to every child who does not have equal access to education because
of class or race, and to every worker who is afraid that his sexual
orientation might cost him a job.
Perhaps one of the most crucial issues in the 2000 election is
the future of the Supreme Court. Historically, the Supreme Court
has, at times, played a critical role in advancing social justice
(such as with Brown v. Board of Education, which prohibited racial
segregation in schools and Roe v. Wade, which recognized a
woman’s right to choose). In other cases, the court’s
rulings drastically stomped on civil rights and liberties (such as
in the infamous Dred Scott v. Sanford, which near-legitimized
racial discrimination).
The next president will appoint two, three, or even four new
justices to replace those who are expected to retire soon. The
ideological leanings of these justices will be critical in
determining which rights the court protects or destroys.
Bush, if elected, is expected to nominate individuals with views
similar to those of ultra-conservatives Antonin Scalia and Clarence
Thomas. Just adding one or two new justices to make a Scalia-Thomas
led far-right majority would cause the court to roll back abortion
rights, voting rights, gender discrimination, sexual harassment,
religious liberty, workplace rights, environmental protection, and
campaign finance reform. Such a majority on the bench would be
inclined to overturn Roe v. Wade, reduce worker’s rights (for
example, by eliminating protections against firing for offenses
such as belonging to the wrong political party), and eliminate
limits on contributions to campaigns.
These are real differences with real consequences that will
affect real people. Between now and November, campaign literature
will fly rampant in your faces. Poll numbers and breaking news will
sometimes make the election seem more like a horse race than
anything else. But behind the streamers, the television
commentators, and the flashy headlines, there are real issues,
policy proposals, and concrete differences between the
candidates.
And these differences are the reasons why this election matters.
Not just to Gore, the Democratic Party, politicians, and
historians. A Democratic victory will mean much more than a new
president’s name in the history books. It will mean something
to every child who gets additional early education and a hot lunch,
to every patient who is able to receive proper medical care, to
every family that benefits from increased child care, and to every
citizen that avoids sickness due to clean air and water.
This election is about each of these people and each of these
faces. Your choice on Nov. 7 will affect all of our lives.
MICHAEL SHAW/Daily Bruin