Niche debates for primary candidates?
January 29th, 2008 by JILL MILLER ZIMON
If you peruse this list of policy initiatives provided by The White House in relation to President George W. Bush’s State of the Union address last night (transcript is here; C-SPAN video is here), you may notice that two topics concern science and technology, two topics concern education and no topics concern the arts.
[NB: The final topic on that list, about worldwide compassion, stands out to me because I recently read about Compassion, which is a faith-based initiative that will use word of mouth blog power in Uganda next month. (If you’re interested in how non-profits are trying to leverage blogs and blogging and bloggers’ enthusiasm, you might want to follow Beth Kanter’s blog and read about How Nonprofits Can Use Social Media; she is one of the top experts in this area.) But I digress.]
So, while it’s nice that President Bush leaves us with his thoughts on science-related issues and makes sure to mention education (given No Child Left Behind’s continued existence, it’s unlikely we could forget Bush’s role there), some groups are demanding (or trying to demand) that the presidential candidates pay attention to their specific issues: Science Debate 2008, Ed in ‘08 and Arts Vote 2008 are three examples.
In my family, we would call this the “Look at my new shoes!” moment which refers to an incident that occurred when my younger brother was born (he’s now over 40). At his bris, when I was not yet three years old, the story goes, I went around to all the guests and demanded that they, “Look at my new shoes!” which were a pair of shiny black patent leather Mary Janes.
These groups’ issues are incomparably more important than my shoes ever were or could be and I hope, for their efforts and support and money, the presidential primary candidates do pay the proper amount of attention to them:
Science Debate 2008
Science Debate 2008 has an impressive list of supporters and got play on NPR’s Science Friday not quite three weeks ago. I blogged about the effort here. Going back to Bush’s list for a moment, he singled out two science issues:
* ENERGY: Increasing Our Energy Security And Confronting Climate Change
* STEM CELL RESEARCH: Increasing Federal Support For Ethical Stem Cell Research
But of course several of the other topics also involve science and technology: health care, education and national security all dovetail with science and technology, as does the economy and free trade. The Science Debate 2008 website offers in depth information about many other topics not touched on by Bush or the presidential primary candidates. And they want a debate dedicated just to science and technology. If you believe that’s necessary too, you can sign on here.
Ed in ‘08 is a well-funded effort ($60 million, including $30 million from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation) that wants:
…a serious nationwide debate on education reform where every presidential candidate addresses three priorities that hold great promise for improving education:
* Agreeing on American education standards
* Providing effective teachers in every classroom
* Giving students more time and support for learning.The campaign will not support or oppose any particular candidate for public office or any political party. Nor does it take positions on legislation.
The website for Ed in ‘08 is simple but thorough, although not quite as current as an education proponent might hope. Its “Get the Facts” page has several good resources, including an interactive map to help you learn about your state’s status vis a vis education.
Last but not least in many people’s minds, ArtsVote2008. Two things I love about this effort include its policy brief that’s been given to all the presidential primary candidates and - I just love it when sites do this - a way to directly contact the candidates from the ArtsVote website. This facts and figures list helps you understand just how much the arts figure into our daily life and why we should care.
My pitch? We’re the voters. We should at least help set the agenda, if we can’t set it exactly. Have a new pair of shoes you think the candidates need to look at? Leave some info and links if possible in the comments. We’re talking about a brand new start in 2009. Why not try and contribute to what that start should look like?
This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 29th, 2008 at 9:01 am and is filed under Bill Gates, Debates, Poetry, Netroots, Writers, Primaries, Newsweek Blogitics, Photography, Art, Music, Movies, Literature, Politics, 2008 Elections, Theater, Science, Education. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
