Job creation, affordable health care, and homeland security are just a few of the hot-button issues Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry is pressing in the campaign to win back the White House for working families in November.

“The upcoming presidential election is about getting the government and the economy to serve the American people,” said Mr. Kerry, the four-term senator from Massachusetts. “We need to make the American economy work for Americans, instead of Americans working for the economy.”

“In the months leading to his nomination,” said DC 37 Executive Director Lillian Roberts, “John Kerry has developed a clear position on the issues. He holds a vision for this nation’s future that is coherent and inclusive. John Kerry’s plan reflects what a responsible leader can achieve.”

The AFSCME- and DC37-endorsed candidate plans to restore government and the economy to the people — a key component of a successful democracy that has been left behind since George W. Bush took office three-and-a-half years ago.

In his first 500 days as president of the United States, Mr. Kerry plans to create 3 million new jobs — repairing the damage Bush has done to employment.

Kerry would reverse Bush’s tax cuts for the wealthy, end his preferential treatment for companies that outsource jobs
overseas and cancel his special favors for business cronies.

With the American Dream being eroded by the high cost of living and health care, insufficient child care and rising college tuitions, John Kerry’s priority is building economic and educational opportunities for middle-class and working families. Sen. Kerry plans to take on big insurance and drug firms and create affordable health care for all Americans.

Strengthen homeland security
America’s duty and obligation, John Kerry said, “is to lead a broad coalition against its adversaries, and be a beacon of values and strength.” Protecting and defending America’s homeland security is a priority for Sen. Kerry, who is a decorated Vietnam veteran. “The Bush Administration has provided too little support, too little leadership, and too little vision,” he observed. Kerry promises to roll back Bush’s tax breaks for the wealthiest 1 percent of Americans and invest that revenue in homeland security.

Though the Bush administration has plunged the nation billions of dollars into debt by its war with Iraq, it has, at the same time, broken faith with the military. “The United States,” Sen. Kerry said, “needs to make sure no American in uniform is ever held hostage to America’s dependency on oil.”

“We shouldn’t be opening firehouses in Baghdad and closing them in Brooklyn,” said Sen. Kerry in a recent speech. His common sense approach holds promise for public sector employees, whose ranks have been attacked by Bush’s anti-labor policies.

“Our first defenders,” he said, “should never come in last in the budget.” The first responders— firefighters, police and emergency crews — are all civil servants, who, Sen. Kerry said, “deserve to be first in line when our spending priorities are decided.”

As president, John Kerry will lead America with a principled foreign policy based on diplomacy to undo the Bush administration’s myopia, which has made America hated by most of the international community. “Winning friends and allies, working with other countries, is not a sign of weakness,” Sen. Kerry added. “It is a sign of strength.”

— Diane S. Williams