John Wolfe may be fighting a losing battle in carrying the Democratic banner -- again -- in the District 3 race, but he is easily the best informed candidate around. An attorney who has self-financed both a prior congressional race and a talk radio show to discuss his populist Democratic values, Wolfe obviously knows the political calculus for this race. Yet he is running because of a heart-felt determination to address fundamental public policy issues that make a great difference in the lives of every citizen.
He reasonably looks at the noisy but ill-informed rhetoric about cutting federal spending -- this election cycle's mantra -- and asks what, precisely, Republicans would cut.
He rightly argues that Medicare and Social Security should not be undermined, and the latter certainly should not be privatized and put up for grabs by Wall Street. Both are needed to secure fundamental needs of hard-working Americans whose modest wages and health deserve the bulwark of these systems.
He believes the current wave of mad prescriptions for dismantling health care reform would just put insurance companies back in charge, raise costs over the next 10 years, and let insurers return to denying insurance for pre-existing conditions, denying care, dropping coverage just when people need it most, and continuing to inflate cost at two-to-three times the rate of general inflation.
He opposes similarly nutty arguments to abolish the departments of education and energy, to privatize TVA and replace it with a greedy for-profit company, and to drop regulations that are needed to hold rapacious industries accountable for their damage, financial double-dealing and environmental disasters.
Any informed citizen who has kept up with the reckless operations that led to the Massey Coal Co.'s mining deaths, BP's disastrous Gulf oil spill, and the innumerable recalls of disease-laden beef, lettuce, eggs and unsafe cars would agree with his concern for reasonable regulatory oversight and a government capably staffed to protect ordinary citizens.
Fleischmann, on the other hand, seems apt to bow and scrape before industry bigwigs in his gullible rush to make government smaller and leave matters in the hands of industry lobbyists.
Indeed, most public policy decisions have nothing to do with partisan politics, and everything to do with fairness for the ordinary people whose jobs, environment, health care and tax equity are on the line. Wolfe is by far the best choice in the District 3 race to protect the true public interest that is always at stake. We strongly urge his election.