Hillary ClintonMike Gravel
Party Affiliation
Democratic
Current Job
Real estate developer, author
Birth Date
05/13/1930
Interesting Fact
Fought to end the draft following the Vietnam War
Relationship Status
Married to Whitney Gravel
Where I Want to Take America
Like a fresh wind coming from Alaska—the state he represented as a U.S. Senator from 1969 to 1981—Mike Gravel is determined to start a debate about the fundamentals of democracy in his quest for the Democratic nomination for President.
For over a decade, given the failures of elected politicians, Senator Gravel has been engaged in some extraordinary research and consultations with leading constitutional law experts about the need to enact another check to the faltering checks and balances—namely, the National Initiative for Democracy, a proposed law that empowers the people as lawmakers.
Over 2,000 years ago, the ancient Roman lawyer and orator, Marcus Cicero, defined freedom with these enduring words: “Freedom is participation in power.” That could be the mantra for Mike Gravel’s 2008 Presidential campaign.
Where I Stand on the Issues
Abortion
Mike Gravel supports a woman’s right to decide if and when to have children, and to make the difficult decision about abortion without interference by government. Comprehensive, age-appropriate sex education, including accurate information about contraception, can help to reduce the number of unintended pregnancies and abortions. Parity in health insurance and access to family health care services, including family planning education, would also benefit the health and welfare of infants and children, who need and deserve to be wanted and loved.
Budget & Economy
No Stance Provided
Campaign Finance
No Stance Provided
Civil Rights
No Stance Provided
Corporations
No Stance Provided
Crime
No Stance Provided
Drugs
The War on Drugs has been a failure. It is time to end prohibition and start treating addiction as a public health problem. This has ravaged our inner cities, and we are losing an entire generation of menand women to prisons. We must regulate hard drugs for the purpose of treating addicts, which would emphasize rehabilitation and prevention over incarceration. We must decriminalize minor drug offenses and increase the availability and visibility of substance abuse treatment in our communities as well as in jails and prisons. The United States incarcerates more people and at a higher rate than any other industrialized nation in the world. Some 2.3 million Americans are now behind bars. This tragedy must end.
Education
Access to public education is a bedrock American value. Why is it then that the United States ranks 49th in literacy and that an estimated 30% of our students don’t graduate from high school? Investing in education provides a pathway to a thriving national economy, to individual and family economic opportunity, and to the reduction of poverty. A successful education system requires the commitment of families, the community, and government. It’s time to re-order our national budget priorities in order to improve the American education system. Parent education and access to preschool programs such as Head Start need to be expanded so that children from lowincome families are equally ready to benefit from elementary school. Universal pre-kindergarten would also enhance readiness. Encouraging our students to be the best they can be will require flexibility from the federal and state governments, within school systems, and from groups with a stake in educational success. Flexibility may mean extended school days and summer learning opportunities or extended school years. It may mean online and broadcast courses to provide access to highly qualified teachers. It may mean charter schools to address the needs of local communities, smaller classes, enrichment programs for students at risk, and vocational options. One thing we know for sure: No Child Left Behind has left too many children behind. It needs to be reformed and adequately funded. It needs to acknowledge the need for a fuller curriculum that encourages critical thinking—not just math and science test-taking. Ahigh school diploma should be the minimum goal for all students; without it, our children will be condemned to a substandardeconomic existence.
Energy & Oil
No Stance Provided
Environment
Senator Gravel believes that global climate change is a matter of national security and survivability of the planet. As President, he will act swiftly to reduce America’s carbon footprint in the world by initiating legislation to tax carbon at the source and cap carbon emissions. He is also committed to leading the fight against global deforestation, which today is second only to the energy sector as a source of greenhouses gases. However, any legislation will have little impact on the global environment if we do not work together with other global polluters. China, India and under-dveloped nations all work together Fighting climate change can only be effective if it is a collective global effort. As President, Senator Gravel will see that the U.S. launches and leads a massive global scientific effort, integrating the world’s scientific and engineering community, to end energy dependence on oil and integrate the world’s scientific community in this task.
Families & Children
No Stance Provided
Foreign Policy
No Stance Provided
Free Trade
No Stance Provided
Government Reform
No Stance Provided
Gun Control
No Stance Provided
Health Care
Senator Gravel advocates a universal voucher healthcare system that provides equal medical services to all citizens, paid for by a retail sales tax (a portion of the Progressive Fair tax). Vouchers pay for anyone of five insurance plans and/or a Medicare-type plan from the government. The insurance plans would be competing with the cost of administratoin— not medical services. Medical care would be defined by the vouchers and would be the same for all Americans to include eyecare, dental, catastrophic etc. All Americans would do is sign up for the vouchers. There will be nothing to pay. Regional healthcare organizations, patterned on the Federal Reserve System, would address preventative health needs and ensure the quality of service provided to citizens. They would also provide educational benefits wherein doctors and nurses out of med schools would not be burdened with debt that cripples their ability to provide affordable healthcare. Critical to this issue is taking the burden of healthcare off the business community, thereby making American products more competitive in the world marketplace.
Homeland Security
No Stance Provided
Immigration
Senator Gravel favors protecting our borders and monitoring the flow of immigrants into our country. He also favors a guest worker program and setting up naturalization procedures that would fairly bring immigrants into legal status. America must address the root cause of illegal immigration. Any discussion of immigration must include NAFTA and the concept of “free trade.” The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) has been a disaster for the working class of both the U.S. and Mexico and a boon to the international corporate interests. A study by the Economic Policy Institute found that over 1 million U.S. jobs were lost as a result of NAFTA, a third of them manufacturing jobs. In Mexico, 1.3 million farm workers lost their jobs in the same period. This has led to a wave of immigrants looking for work in the U.S. Reforming unfair trade policies spawned by measures like NAFTA will stimulate job growth on both sides of the border.
Infrastructure
No Stance Provided
Iraq
Senator Gravel’s position on Iraq remains clear and consistent: to commence an immediate and orderly withdrawal of all U.S. troops that will have them home within 120 days. The sooner U.S. troops are withdrawn, the sooner we can pursue aggressive diplomacy to bring an end to the civil war that currently consumes Iraq. Senator Gravel seeks to work with neighboring countries to lead a collective effort to bring peace to Iraq. One of the leading opponents of the Vietnam War, Senator Gravel was also one of the first public figures, in the spring of 2002, to openly oppose the planned invasion of Iraq. He appeared on national television multiple times prior to the war insisting that intelligence showed there were no weapons of mass destruction. He also noted that Iraq posed no threat to the United States and that invading Iraq was against America’s national interests and would result in a disaster of epic proportions for both the United States and the Iraqi people. Today, more than four years later, the death toll of U.S. troops has climbed to over 3,600 with over 27,000 injured. Additionally, tens of thousands more are afflicted with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and urgently need psychological care. The Iraqi civilian death toll nears a million, and still there remains no end in sight to the bloodshed. As President, Senator Gravel will call for a U.S. corporate withdrawal from Iraq and hand over contracts to Iraqi businesses, which will empower Iraqis to reconstruct their own country.
Principles & Values
No Stance Provided
Social Security
Senator Gravel wants to put real money, rather than borrowed money, in the Social Security Trust Fund, invest it properly and identify the interests of individual beneficiaries so they can know what their retirement fund is and leave surplus funds to heirs. He also calls on Congress to stop raiding the Social Security Trust Fund. This is key to ensuring that Social Security will be around for the next generation.
Tax Reform
There is only one “single payer” in the U.S. that pays taxes—the citizen and consumer. Businesses and corporations do not; they merely collect taxes from consumers and pass them on to the government. The Fair Tax proposal calls for eliminating the IRS and the income tax and replacing it with a progressive national sales tax on new products and services. To compensate for the tax on necessities, such as food, lodging, transportation and clothing, there would be a “rebate” to reimburse taxpayers. This would be paid in a monthly check to all Americans and would provide a significant amount of money to hard working families and a cash flow for the poor. Having no exceptions, wealth will be denied the opportunity to “game” the system and escape paying a fair share.
Welfare & Poverty
No Stance Provided
My Contact Information
P.O. Box 948, Arlington, VA 22216-0948
