Gov. Patrick: A vote for humanity
Massachusetts citizens will experience a novel circumstance at the polls on Tuesday, Nov. 2. They will have the opportunity to cast a self-affirming vote for governor. Often the choice is between tweedle-dee and tweedle-dum. But now the two candidates leading in the polls, Gov. Deval Patrick and Charles Baker, have expressed two divergent political philosophies.
Patrick believes that the purpose of government is to provide a better quality of life for all citizens regardless of whether they are poor, working class or more affluent. He has demonstrated his adherence to this point of view with a full commitment to public education reform. Massachusetts finished No. 1 in the federal “Race To The Top.”
Patrick has also administered and maintained the state health reform plan even though that was financially difficult to do during the recession. He believes that a period of high unemployment is not the time to cut health benefits.
Patrick understands that the loss of jobs is devastating to families. Countless trips to Washington, D.C. brought economic recovery funds that created jobs and helped repair the state’s infrastructure. Massachusetts has created 60,000 jobs, the highest percentage in the nation.
Of course, many citizens were still unemployed. As he was creating the state recovery plan, Patrick had to increase the sales tax. Those who were working had to pay a little more to help sustain those in financial difficulty. However, he took steps to assure that the people’s money would be well spent. Patrick tightened the ethics laws and eliminated costly pension abuses.
Baker is another sort of administrator. He is less concerned about the welfare of the people than he is about whether the account books balance daily. Like many other Republicans, he wants tax cuts. They know that tax cuts would be disastrous to the economy without budget cuts. It is hard to know just which budget cuts Baker has in mind in Massachusetts.
On the national level, it is clear that Republicans want to eliminate Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. Conservatives have been able to influence masses of people into believing that these programs are un-American.
How can Americans believe tax cuts for the rich will revive the vitality of the economy? The tax cuts that people are talking about is the same tax structure that we have now, but the nation will revert to higher tax rate in 2011, unless there is an extension. How can we expect that a tax rate that brought America bank closings, the demise of Chrysler and General Motors, and the bankruptcy of several Wall Street institutions suddenly become the engine of recovery?
Those who vote for Patrick are humanists who want to be able to care for all the people first. Those who vote for Baker are not totally devoid of humanity, but they expect the indigent to be aided from the trickled down benefits from the rugged individuals in the corporate world who drive the economy.
The Banner believes that the fundamental purpose of government is to serve the needs and interests of “we the people.” Therefore, the Banner heartily endorses Deval Patrick for the re-election as governor of Massachusetts.
