Making Sense

The 2008 election has come down to one overriding issue: our economy. In all recent major polls, the majority of Americans name “the economy and jobs” as the issue that is most important to them. In overwhelming numbers, people are looking for change. The winners of Tuesday’s election—from first-time state legislators to the president—will have one clear mandate: make the American economy work for working Americans.

On October 28, 1980, about 28 years ago, Ronald Reagan framed an election with the question: “Are you better off now than you were four years ago?” That’s still an important question. After eight years of conservative rule, are we better off? No. The conservatives’ failure is complete. It is time to change course.

In recent weeks, conservatives have ramped up their name-calling and accusations, telling voters that progressives such as Barack Obama are “socialists” who want to take money from the middle-class and give it away to the poor. According to John McCain, Obama “believes in redistributing wealth, not in policies that grow our economy and create jobs and opportunities for all Americans.” McCain claims that progressive tax policies will raise tax rates on small businesses and “hard-working families to give ‘welfare’ to those who pay none.”

John McCain and other conservatives promise to crack down on “earmarks”—federal spending allocated in legislation for a specific project or location. No more bridges to nowhere. That’s great, but it doesn’t add up to much. Want to root out waste in government? Over the past 8 years, you’d do better to look at the Iraq war, subsidies for big corporations, waste and fraud in the Pentagon’s budget, and tax breaks for the rich.