Issues and Party Politics

John Edwards has spoken at length of the “two Americas”, one made up of the wealthy and well-connected and one made up of the common working man. It is the latter which he seeks to champion through his strong progressive stance on the issues and thus he has naturally pitted himself against the former, and hence the establishment in Washington. So although he was running under the canvas of the Democratic Party, Edwards had positioned himself to run against the system.

Edwards’ health care plan offered universal coverage and he made it clear from the start that the reason we didn’t have such coverage was due to the Insurance companies. He asserted that they have fostered a system in Washington of corporate power protecting corporate interests, which in turn would have to be stopped for such a goal to be reached. Obama’s plan doesn’t offer universal coverage, and while Clinton’s does and is in fact very similar to John Edwards’ it was released seven months later. Furthermore, Edwards called for a quicker and more complete pullout of United States troops and training forces from Iraq than either candidate.

Edwards has also talked adamantly about removing the corporate influence from politics through the public financing of political campaigns. He stated that “real change demanded that corporate power be put at the service of democracy and not the other way around.” Additionally, Edwards argues that “the interests of Wall Street are not the interests of Main Street”. He demanded that trade deals put workers and wages first and that fairness in the tax code be restored.

Edwards has an entirely confrontational approach to the environmental crisis as well. His plan to handle global warming involves capping greenhouse gasses and “ratcheting down the cap every year”. He has been open in warning that this will require sacrifice, both on the individual and on the corporate level- balancing profits with sound environmental policy.

However, as progressively left as his stances were, and as much as he was making a rally call for change in this country, he was marginalized due in part to the fact that he is lacking something which the other candidates have to the nines- visually representing a promise for change. The entire theme of the election has now become about “change” and the center has been all but abandoned for which Edwards can claim a small victory. This will be especially true if it ultimately translates to progressive policy in the White House, and the union of his two Americas.

-Stephanie Zimmerman