Mr Jeffords points up serious issues the country faces, but I fear his solutions will cost multiple tens of billions, dollars the US does not have. Though I note this opinion piece fails to mention health care, perhaps you favor a single payer system, Jim???
But I worry that the list of issues that dominated the election season was woefully incomplete. As we respond daily to the latest threats of terror highlighted by the administration, I believe other issues that bear directly on the security of our homeland are being dangerously obscured.
Our slumping economy, our threatened environment, our underfunded schools, our corporate scandals — these are not issues that you will hear discussed by the White House, but they are being talked about by people who don't have the power to define the nation's agenda.
Since the election, my decision to leave the Republican Party last year has been subject to new scrutiny. The attention on my personal decision, while understandable, is misplaced. If the Republicans read the recent election results as a rejection of moderation and a mandate to steamroll opposition from within the party, they will be making a grave mistake.
The attention is not at all misplaced, Mr. Jeffords. You made a decision to join the Democrats to sponsor an agenda different than Mr. Bush's. By joining the Democrats you succeeded in accomplishing next to nothing in the last session of Congress. In your desire to oppose the Bush administration, you have made your bed in the Democrat's tent. Though you may lament until the cows come home, your decision is irrevocable. You are as independent as is Mr. Daschle! You may as well join the Democratic party, but that would upset many Vermont Republicans who voted for you. Most Vermont Republicans would send you off to The Dems with a flourish. Rest assured they would not vote for you again. But if you join the Democratic Party, you may not be able to collaborate with Mr. Sanders to become the leaders of Vermont's new Independent Party.
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