His campaign has also sought to roll back the victories of the women's movement. He opposes the Equal Right Amendment and comparable worth, and he has suggested that he would brand a woman a criminal for having an abortion.
This administration's economy, a key rallying point for the Bush campaign, has been built more on mergers and acquisitions than industrial might, more on foreign buyouts of U.S. property than strong U.S. trade, more on American stagnation than American inventiveness. While Reagan pushed through tax breaks for the wealthy, the poor and middle class paid out a higher share of their income in taxes. Nine million working Americans live below the poverty line.
Yet Bush refuses to accept economic reality. He claims the deficit is already declining and that tying government spending increases to inflation will solve the problem.
We need a president who will be honest about the economy. A president needs to confront the $150 billion deficit, not spend yet another administration ignoring and pushing it into our future. We need plans to fuel trade and raise the dollar. Neither candidate has been honest enough to campaign on a platform of increasing taxes, yet every president--including Reagan--has raised taxes. Bush's vow of "no new taxes" is demagogic. Dukakis has not provided an answer to this dilemma, but he will not do away with the needed social agenda to gain fiscal solvency.
Bush's latest economic issue reveals much about where his sympathies lie. His solution for promoting economic growth is to reduce the capital gains tax, giving a $40 billion tax break to the nations' wealthiest citizens.
IN the area of foreign policy, Bush is equally dangerous. He stood by as arms went to the Ayatollah, and his role in the diversion of funds to the contras is suspect.
Bush commercials show Dukakis riding around in a tank to prove he's soft on defense. The reality is that America under President Reagan has had the largest peacetime military buildup in history; we are stuck with stockpiles of excess, overpriced weapons systems and a Department of Defense bloated with consultants and conflict-of-interest connections with industry.
Dukakis opposes large military expenditures on SDI or the MX, which are neither needed nor affordable. He does support a strong defense, but he would do it by channelling funds into conventional forces, not on obsolete or wasteful weapons.
He is also better equipped to deal with the world. Dukakis believes in the rule of law, and he favors negotiation over chest-beating. He even speaks the language of much of the rest of our hemisphere. Central to his vision of the world is a commitment to human rights. Dukakis would make South African apartheid a target, and he would not continue aid to the contras.
The world is at a key turning point in international affairs. Communist countries are opening to the West and democratic reforms. Now is the time to negotiate in terms of peace and trade, not just weaponry; Dukakis has shown a willingness to do so.
Bush is similarly hypocritical on the issue of law and order. His commercials show criminals going out a revolving door to prove Dukakis is soft on crime. Yet during Bush's tenure as head of Reagan's task force on drug enforcement, drug imports and drug dealing violence have dramatically increased. That's soft on crime.
In Massachusetts under Dukakis, crime has dropped as has cocaine use. And his recently outlined drug education program is precisely the kind of massive effort needed to stop the demand for drugs.
Bush may claim the title "education president." but his record of silence as the administration cut student aid and education budgets shows how concerned he's been for the issue before the campaign. Dukakis has proposed a college loan program that would adjust repayment schedules to a graduate's earnings and ensure that everyone can afford to attend school. He has proposed a teachers training effort to stave the frightening shortage of educators. He intends to work with the educational system in order to improve it; not waste another administration with unproductive confrontation.
On the environment, Dukakis implemented one of the country's strongest toxic waste clean-up programs and fought for safety controls at the Seabrook nuclear power plant. While Dukakis opposed offshore oil drilling, there is little hope that former oilman Bush will. As head of Reagan's task force on Regulatory Relief, Bush led the administration's effort to cut regulations on air polluion, toxic waste and curbing use of lead gasoline.
Michael S. Duakkis is not a stirring orator. He is not a charismatic leader. He is not liberalism's shining Knight. But he is right on the issues. He would make America both kinder and gentler, more equitable and more just, more secure at home and more respected abroad. We do not need another four years of fantasy. Nor do we need four more years of illusionary prosperity. It is time for reality, and Gov. Michael S. Dukakis is the best one to cope with it.