History will recall 2008 election – and problems beyond

The 2008 U.S. Presidential election has been historic since it started more than 18 months ago. Barriers of gender, faith, race and age all were passed. Hillary Clinton, Mitt Romney, Barack Obama and John McCain were viable candidates who, for the most part, sought to focus on issues instead of being a woman or a Mormon or an African-American or a 72 year old.

Obama, if elected, would be the first U.S. President who’s not white; McCain, if elected, would be the oldest person to be inaugurated in U.S. history.

Such breakthroughs, however, diminish some when compared to what’s ahead for whomever is elected to serve in the White House and for the rest of the nation. The survival of Americans’ rights amid assaults on the U.S. Constitution and the courts, and the survival of the planet amid threats to the environment are vital, of course. But citizens worry about issues that seem more immediate and tangible: the economy, war, health care, and even trade, and grassroots organizations have been working to ensure those problems remain a priority.

THE ECONOMY’S downturn may signal the end of a decades-long era of de-regulated, damn-the-worker, government-enabled Big Business – neither a real free market nor an economy that worked for the common good. The meltdown threatens pensions, 401(k)s and other money resources people need, and some 3 million homeowners could lose their homes to foreclosure.

A change in administrations could mean new policies that begin to reverse the last eight years’ harmful redistribution of income and property to those who already were wealthy.

Warren Buffett, the richest man in the country and a smart capitalist, says income inequality is so large there’s a class war going on. Buffett – who backed Obama – added that the upper class started it and is winning it, and that’s bad for the nation.

A turnaround could happen by enacting more sensible tax policies benefiting working people, small businesses, and the middle class, by approving the Employee Free Choice Act, which lets workers decide whether or not to negotiate with their employers as a group, and by restoring the country’s manufacturing prowess, with its good jobs at decent pay.

WAR costs the nation in blood and treasure, and the country’s now involved in two armed conflicts. One can be seen as forced upon the United States in Afghanistan by al-Qaeda’s attacks on New York and Washington, but the other was launched in Iraq by Republican President George W. Bush and the “neo-conservative” extremists.

Now, even Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Malikki wants U.S. troops out by the end of 2010.

Besides setting the course for the future in those wars, the incoming administration could help decide whether U.S. policy continues to embrace the “Bush Doctrine” to attack others if someone is theorized to pose a threat, or if the military returns to its long-held approach of risking U.S. troops only in self-defense and involving our allies.

HEALTH CARE as a system is broken. It takes about one-sixth of U.S. output and wastes one-third of that money on insurers and their overhead, and the results are inconsistent and inadequate compared to other industrialized nations.

And that’s if you’re covered. Almost 47 million Americans are not covered, including about 9 million kids. Besides the uninsured, millions more are underinsured and one health-care crisis away from bankruptcy.

McCain and Obama have different solutions. Whoever wins, let’s hope they lead a genuine effort to make health care affordable and effective.

TRADE may not seem to be a front-burner issue – unless you buy consumer goods, use petroleum products or sell agricultural products. The world is connected by trade and the global economy exists, but how it’s structured should be open for debate.

The choice is between trade deals that enrich multi-national corporations and cost society jobs, and hurt workers and consumers, or trade with terms that help the environment and help workers in this country and overseas.

“This current era is one of worker repression, unleashed corporate greed, foreign adventurism, and concentration of power in an imperial presidency,” commented Mark Gruenbereg for Press Associates, Inc. “All were taken to an extreme by the extreme and unconstitutional domestic actions, and the Iraq War of Radical Rightist George W. Bush.”

Whether Obama or McCain, the next President must lead – and must follow regular Americans, too. Many people are organized into groups that, together, have more influence than an isolated voice. Advocates for alternative energies, education, the Second Amendment, older Americans, veterans, the environment, women’s issues, consumer’s rights, and disarmament all could learn from the organization and mobilization of millions of people by labor unions.

Throughout the last 18-plus months, voters were registered, helped to polling places, and had ballots protected from mischief by various unions, including the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, the Communications Workers of America, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, the Laborers, Steel Workers, United Food and Commercial Workers and others.

“When enough of us act even in small ways, we can have a powerful impact,” said friend and author Paul Rogat Loeb a couple of weeks ago. “Given economic meltdown, attack ads, racial issues, and potential voter intimidation and suppression, we’d be wise to view this as an election where our actions really could determine the outcome.”

Loeb, who wrote The Impossible Will Take a Little While: A Citizen’s Guide to Hope in a Time of Fear, meant Nov. 4, but his comment holds true through 2012.

Our action really could determine the outcome for years.

History’s challenges remain, awaiting our engagement.

Bill Knight is an award-winning journalist who teaches at Western Illinois University. Contact him at bill.knight@hotmail.com.