Howard Dean

Gov. Dean is the only Democrat running for President to have received an "A" rating from the NRA. Dean's position on sensible gun laws should merit the NRA's endorsement of him for the democratic nomination. If the NRA, and it's 5 million plus members, were to endorse Dean it would bring a windfall of support. As Gov. Dean says, there are many people who have been voting Republican for the past 50 years - what do they have to show for it? Their children don't have health insurance either. If the gun control issue was a non-issue in the 2004 election, many NRA voters would then feel as though they could make a choice that would ACTUALLY benefit them and their families.

It is important to note that this article is written by a Dean advocate, and that the NRA's "A" rating comes despite Dean's support for the Brady Bill, the Assault Weapons Ban, and "closing the gun show loophole". Dean is certainly trying to portray himself favorably to gun owners; whether this is accurate is something else altogether.

I believe we should keep and enforce the federal gun laws we have - including the assault weapons ban and the Brady Bill - and close the gun show loophole using Insta-check and then let the states decide for themselves what, if any, additional gun control laws they want. Just as we resist attempts by President Bush to dictate to the states how we run our school systems and what kind of welfare programs to have, we need to resist attempts to tell states how to deal with guns beyond existing federal law.

While a state's rights position on gun control is better than an actively hostile one, it's not favorable either, especially when it includes support for current laws.

Guaranteeing coverage to all Americans will involve a mix of state and federal programs, as well as the existing private sector. Similar to our program in Vermont, states should be required to guarantee coverage for all children under age 23. In return, the federal government should assume responsibility for drug and acute medical care for Americans over age 65. In addition, older Americans deserve a pharmacy benefit under Medicare - an unaffordable impossibility under the current fiscal policies of President Bush. With a pharmaceutical package, Medicare becomes a decent insurance program. Finally, to cover those between the ages of 23 and 65, we should use the present employer-based system with refundable tax credits and federal subsidies to cover low- and moderate-income Americans who lack insurance.

To help finance this effort, we must repeal the President's tax cuts -- which have thrown America back into the huge deficits of the 1980s -- and begin to balance the federal budget. We cannot build crucial social programs without a solid financial foundation.

Yep. Universal, government-funded and mandated health care. At least he's honest about the cost. But realize, too, that he's just come out in support of raising taxes.

Fifteen months before Dean said he would seek the presidency, however, the former Vermont governor spoke at a conference in Pittsburgh co-sponsored by smart-card firm Wave Systems where he called for state drivers' licenses to be transformed into a kind of standardized national ID card for Americans. Embedding smart cards into uniform IDs was necessary to thwart "cyberterrorism" and identity theft, Dean claimed. "We must move to smarter license cards that carry secure digital information that can be universally read at vital checkpoints," Dean said in March 2002, according to a copy of his prepared remarks. "Issuing such a card would have little effect on the privacy of Americans."

Dean also suggested that computer makers such as Apple Computer, Dell, Gateway and Sony should be required to include an ID card reader in PCs--and Americans would have to insert their uniform IDs into the reader before they could log on. "One state's smart-card driver's license must be identifiable by another state's card reader," Dean said. "It must also be easily commercialized by the private sector and included in all PCs over time--making the Internet safer and more secure."