Election 2000 Essay, Research Paper

Election 2000

“He graduated from Harvard University, joined the army and went to war in Vietnam even though he opposed the war and spent six-teen years in congress” (Martinez 13A). His name is Vice President Al Gore. Al Gore is the most qualified candidate for presidency with his strong views on education, and abortion. These are difficult topics that Al Gore handles intelligently and respectfully. Al Gore is a democrat, but his views almost resemble a liberal. Mr. Bush is the Governor of Texas with a salesman’s approach to running the United States of America. Al Gore is the most active Vice president in history, showing there actually is a purpose to the job other than a tie breaker in the House of Representatives(Ryan 13A). Mr. Bush has been caught in lies about fighting to “pass bills that he personally vetoed, which got passed by a veto over-ride”. Mr. Gore has definite plans to stop prescription drug companies from price gouging the consumer. He also opposes a nation sales tax. Al Gore has no discriminate values, he believes that gays should have the right to serve in the military and should have the rights that every human being deserves. Governor Bush did drop industrial emissions slightly in the state of Texas, but Texas still ranks last out of the fifty states (Ryan 13A).

Governor Bush’s views on education reform are unjust, not called for and insulting to the people of America. Would you trust a man to run the United States who would throw a child in jail for disrupting a class? Bush said “I want a new kind of school, tough love academies, and boot camps and as the last stop, more beds in our juvenile justice system”(qtd. in Issues2000). This does not sound like a man I would cast my vote for. Tough love academies, boot camps to guarantee the right to learn with out disruption. This assembles an army, not a school. At most, schools give detentions and suspend or expel student as last resort for disruptions. Bush wants to establish a zero tolerance policy for disruption, giving teachers the right to permanently remove students from class. This is a policy teachers already abuse in high school, and having a law behind them would only make things worse. Governor Bush has an idea called the Silver Scholarships in which a senior citizen spends five-hundred hours tutoring students after school earning their grandchildren or children a credit of a thousand dollars for school(Issues2000). At an hourly wage of two dollars an hour, they could make four times that flipping burgers at a fast food restaurant. Governor Bush said, “Today’s elderly are the best-educated generation of seniors in history and many are eager to help”(qtd. in Issues2000). It may be very difficult convincing a group of elderly people that they are the smartest group ever, but there services are only worth two dollars an hour.

Vice President Al Gore’s plan for education gets to the root of the problem and solves it. Gore plans on actively assisting parents struggling to get their kids though college. He has a plan for a ten-thousand dollar tax reduction for parents paying college tuition(Issues2000). This would mean a net tax saving of about eight-hundred dollars for tuition paying parents. There is a similar law to this proposal which currently helps big corporations send their higher paid employees to college. Al Gore is trying to make it fair for individual families. Gore wants to have teachers tested to insure their academic ability, and proposes salary bonuses for the most successfully qualified. He proposes to reduce class size, giving students more one on one time with the teacher. Al Gore plans on hiring one-hundred-thousand teachers to reduce over crowding problems (Issues2000). I know that without adequate one on one time, I was not able to ask the teacher additional questions, because he or she was to occupied trying to control the overcrowded classroom. The Vice President promises that once elected, he will see that there will be a “fully-qualified, well trained teacher in every classroom, everywhere in America by the end of the next presidential term”(issuues2000). Governor Bush has strong views on abortion that reflect his prolife party and are not the women’s choice. Bush has adopted a pro-life plank, which reflects a position against all abortions. The Republican Party contains a pro-life constitutional amendment which they are seeking to have ratified by the States. In the proposed pro-life amendment there is no exception for cases involving rape, or incest. It doesn’t even mention acute and present dangers to the mothers life. Bush said, ” I believe in all those exceptions, but I don’t think the amendment should be refined” (qtd. in Issues2000). He also said, “I think we need to keep the platform the way it is, it is pro-life” (qtd.in Issues2000). I believe that if a women is not in a physical or mental condition to have a child, it is her choice to make, not the governments. This is a major constitutional issue clearly crossing the line of basic freedom. He also wants to establish parental notification requirements. If a woman chooses not to tell her parents of her pregnancy, for any reason, it is her sole decision. I know several women from high school who elected to undergo an abortion, which in their minds was lifesaving. Each had the choice of releasing the child for adoption, but choose not to. With Bush as president, they would have been forced to undergo childbirth.

Al Gore has strong views about abortion that are in the best interests of women. Gore, like George Bush, oppose partial birth abortions, but Bush wants to prohibit them entirely. Gore opposes totally banning partial birth abortions. Bush’s party is trying to take away the Medicaid funding for all abortions, while Gore supports Medicaid funding for all clinical abortions. Gore believes that a politician should not decide what is medically or mentally correct in a particular situation. He believes the only person who can answer the question is the women herself. Vice President Al Gore believes women capable of making the correct choice when considering an abortion. He opposes Bush’s parental notification laws, which violate a woman’s freedom. Gore believes that the government should take a positive step toward reducing abortions by promoting the value of life. He believes that abortion should be “legal and rare” (Al Gore for President). He wants to make sure that a citizen can walk into a abortion clinic with out being harassed or attacked. He has voted for laws to punish harassment and violence. There have been many incidents of property damage, personal injury, and even murder performed by those opposing abortion. I believe that it is wrong for a woman to endure the difficult process of choosing an abortion, then to be subject to violence or injury.

In conclusion, Al Gore should be everyone’s choice in the presidential election. He stands strong on difficult issues such as education and abortion. He does not require on the job training. He has been in Congress for sixteen years and Vice President for eight years. Far more than contributing a tie breaking congressional vote, Al Gore has been the most active and influential Vice President in history. George Bush is not the best man available to confront the vast responsibilities and world leadership required by the presidency. Al Gore possesses proven leadership abilities, political expertise, knowledge and experience in foreign affairs, and a definite and comprehensive plan for domestic programs, and is therefore them most logical choice for president.