John Edwards: Another pro-war, big business candidate
By Dustin Langley
On July 6, Senator John Kerry announced that
Senator John Edwards of North Carolina will be his running mate
in the 2004 presidential election. A close look at John Edwards
and his voting record makes it clear why he was chosen and why
the anti-war movement must protest at the Democratic National
Convention.
Edwards, a multimillionaire like Kerry and Bush (his net
worth is between $8 million and $36 million), offers little to
distinguish himself from the current regime.
The War
He voted for H.J. Res. 114, "Author ization for the Use of
Military Force Against Iraq," and helped spread the Bush
administration's lies about Iraqi "wea pons of mass
destruction." Edwards blustered, "Make no mistake, Saddam Hus
sein alone has chosen war over peace. He has defied
international law rather than disarm his weapons of mass
destruction."
The USA Patriot Act
Not only did John Edwards vote for the USA Patriot Act--as a
member of the Sen ate Intelligence Committee, he helped draft
it.
Occupation of Palestine
According to his campaign website, "Edwards has been one of
Israel's strongest and most consistent supporters in the U.S.
Senate."
The No Child Left Behind Act
According to his website, Edwards supports the No Child Left
Behind Act, which is Bush's attempt to privatize the public
school system and cut funding to schools in disenfranchised
communities, especially communities of color.
Edwards poses as a "populist," but his voting record reveals
that he is cut from the same cloth as Kerry and Bush. This is
why his campaign is funded by huge contributions from
multimillionaire law firms and Wall Street giants like the
Goldman Sachs Group, as reported by the Center for Public
Integrity.
The choice of Edwards as Kerry's running mate is further
proof that workers and oppressed people cannot look to either
of the two capitalist parties for a solution. Only an
independent, mulitinational, multi-gendered grassroots movement
can truly fight for their interests and see the struggle
through to victory.
All out for the DNC protest July 25 in Boston!
Reprinted from the July 22, 2004, issue of
Workers World newspaper
This article is copyrighted
under a Creative
Commons License.
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