Friday, January 23, 2004

Candidate Spotlight: Al Sharpton

"I'm running for President to make high quality health care and high quality education fundamental rights for all Americans…I'm running to help secure our piece of the American Dream by demanding equal economic opportunity and good-paying jobs for our people…"
- Sharpton2004 radio ad for the D.C. Primary

Al Sharpton intends to stick out the Democratic Primary right through the end.

In a recent press release, he explained his political reasoning, "it is my intention to use all the delegates I will gather to ensure that the Party's platform is progressive, inclusive and reflective of the concerns of minority communities."

Al Sharpton with Family and Supporters

That seems fair enough. With Carol Moseley Braun dropping out early and supporting Howard Dean, Mr. Sharpton is now the sole minority Presidential candidate and the only candidate we can count on to inject race-related issues into the debate.

Sharpton will keep the other candidates on their toes and has so far proven himself an insightful debater. The Democrats should not frown on his decision to remain in the race until the convention this summer - if anything, it will likely boost voter turnout come November.

If you visit Mr. Sharpton's website, one aspect stands out - his "platform" page has been reduced to an easily digestible three issues: public education, health care, and statehood for Washington D.C. residents.

Mr. Sharpton's campaign proposals are not about new legislation and new government programs, but about amending the U.S. Constitution to provide all Americans with an "equally high quality" of public education and health care.

Congressman Jesse L. Jackson, Jr. (D-IL) proposed just such an amendment in the House of Representatives last year.

At first glance one might think this a tad idealistic, given that amending the Constitution is no easy task, and the public is acclimated to politicians pushing their complex legislative proposals as solutions to the nation's various problems.

In fact, however, Mr. Sharpton's approach is refreshing - and when you think about it, his prescription is nearly right.

America would never go for standardizing spending across all public schools nationwide, which is what such an amendment calls for - it's actually a socialistic proposal (even if enacted, wealthy people would pull their kids out of public schools and put them in private ones).

But the amendment could be reworded so as to guarantee a high quality minimum standard and thus give schools the ability to force their federal or state government to pony up needed funds for education through the courts.

Every American kid, regardless of race or economic standing, deserves a decent school with decent facilities run by well-paid, invested teachers. Why shouldn't that right be embedded in our Bill of Rights?

Senator Tom Daschle, in his rebuttal to the President's State of the Union address, said "we need an 'opportunity society' that allows all Americans to succeed…" Indeed, decent public education for all is an essential element to creating a true opportunity society.

As for statehood for the District of Columbia, this is a symbolic issue for Mr. Sharpton, another instance of disenfranchisement of a largely minority population.

I recently took a peak at unemployment numbers - D.C. was at 6.6 percent in November. However, if you look at the D.C. metro area, that number drops to 3.1 percent, one of the lowest in America, whose national rate of unemployment is currently 5.7 percent. While metro-area unemployment has dropped by 20,000 since July, in D.C. it has increased by 800.

In fact, statehood may not be a solution to what ails D.C. - it really needs is to be able to tap into the tax base of the wider metro area, a pretty flush tax base, and reinvest that in the city. Battles like that are hard fought and seldom won, but it is our nation's capitol.

If anything is lacking in Mr. Sharpton's campaign, it's his adherence, for the most part, to a standard campaign plan (his focus on the nonbinding D.C. primary is one exception). The Mill would like to see him take a break from the debates and use the strength of his candidacy to bring to light the discrepancies in health care and education that he condemns - maybe visit a school or a hospital in a particular area that would help Americans understand where he's coming from.

~ David M. Fine

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