Political Forecast

My apologies for not getting this post up yesterday, but I was swamped with some other stories that I felt need coverage and some reading up on, particularly the eminent domain debate and state salary bonuses.

Yesterday morning, myself and Gordon Fischer sat down for a casual ‘blogger’s press conference’ (probably more like a gaggle) with Iowans for Sensible Priorities Director Peggy Huppert and their Grassroots Organizer David Stone. Also with us was R. Warren Langley, former CEO of the Pacific Stock Exchange and now a member of the national board of Business Leaders for Sensible Priorities, the organization founded by Ben Cohen (of Ben and Jerry’s ice cream fame) and that is the parent group to the Priorities! Iowa and New Hampshire Campaigns. (If you want a bit of background on Langley, or at least his activism against the war, read this interview.)

Let me premise this by saying I’d known about the Sensible Priorities group for a while but had generall been ignorant towards their cause. However, their outreach to Iowa bloggers was worthwhile as I learned more about them. I now consider myself a full supporter of their campaign and give it the Political Forecast endorsement, which probably doesn’t mean much. ;-) They’ve got a lot more important endorsements from here in the state listed here.

But what is their campaign? It is quite simple, actually. Their goal is to reduce the Pentagon’s budget by about 15%, or $60 billion a year. The money from the reduction would be directed towards more sensible priorities like rebuilding crumbling schools, providing health insurance for all children who don’t have it, investing in energy conservation and alternative energy sources, job training, and starting to repay the national debt.

Seem like a pie in the sky (no pun intended, for those of you that have seen their budget pie logo) idea? It really isn’t. They have enlisted the help of national security and military experts who say that we can reduce the Pentagon’s budget, still fight the war on terror effectively, and protect this country even better (such as even putting more money towards things like port security which is lacking). How do we do it? By ending the defense spending on contractors who keep pushing programs that don’t work, aren’t needed, or are relics of a Cold War long gone from most American’s minds. And here’s just how they can do it: “The Korb Report — A Realistic Defense for America.” The report was written by Dr. Lawrence Korb, former Assistant Secretary of Defense for Manpower, Installations, and Logistics under Ronald Reagan and currently a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress and a senior advisor to the Center for Defense Information. I’ve read a summary of the report and will be reading the full report tonight. Let me just say that it entirely makes sense and seems feasible.

How can these changes happen this year, if at all possible? By encouraging your congressman or woman to sign onto and vote for the Common Sense Budget Act, HR 4898, which you can find the text of here. Is it likely to pass this year? Probably not. But the CSBA goes above and beyond just calling for reductions in the Pentagon’s budget. It moves that money and allocates it to other areas where it can be more sensibly used.

Here are just a few ways that new federal budget priorities could help Iowa:

• Today in Iowa there are about 43,000 children without health insurance. It would cost about $60 million per year to provide them all with insurance.
• Iowa’s schools are badly in need of repair. It would cost $75 million per year to begin to bring all Iowa’s public schools to modern standards.
• In 2004 about 78,000 workers in Iowa were laid off by large companies. It would cost about $78 million to offer half these workers job training and support for one year.
• Iowa is a national leader in wind power, as well as biodiesel and ethanol fuels. With an infusion of $40 million as part of a national program aimed at reducing America’s dependence on foreign oil, Iowa’s renewable energy industries could thrive.
• Of the $35 billion under their plan that would be available for education, health, energy, and job training programs, Iowa stands to received about $350 million.

That’s pretty damn impressive. Do Iowans support such efforts? Absolutely. Polling done by ISP (through Research 2000, the firm that does KCCI’s polling) found that 58% of those polled recently said they would prefer a congressional candidate who pledged to cut 15% of Pentagon spending and redirect it to the priorities they propose.

ISP’s focus right now is to reach out to local communities, their business and political leaders, and educate them about their campaign for more sensible budget priorities. Iowa and New Hampshire play critical roles in determining the presidential candidates for the 2008 cycle and instead of lobbying just to the politicians, its a better strategy to bring the plan to the people and have the people pose the questions of support to the candidate.

I support Iowans for Sensible Priorities and I ask that you get to know a bit about their organization and support them as well. Also, make sure to check out their blog.