An honest discussion?

I think Andrew Stern, head of the SEIU, made a great point.  In all the hustle and bustle to get rid of Bush, any discussion of true reform (in almost any arena) has been stifled.  The Democratic Party has pretty much limited itself to planning responses to what the Bush regime is doing now, not pushing for new ideas and honest-to-goodness change.

This is part of the problem I've been having with the Democratic party - I know they claim that they're pushing a better 'plan' than that of the Republicans, but the plan they're pushing isn't anything revolutionary or truly new.  They're still operating from old stuff that's been floating around for a while.  Politicians in general seem to be thinking about issues in the terms that they've been defined as for the last 20 to 30 years (if not longer).

So who's going to redefine not only the debate but the issues themselves?  Education isn't just about making sure children pass tests anymore, just as civil rights are no longer about making sure that people can drink from the same water fountain.  Women's rights are now intimately connected with healthcare, pro-choice issues, childcare, and moving to the next step in having all their work and talents recognized.  Class issues need to be addressed, poverty and hunger in America are going largely unrecognized, and immigration concerns have yet to hear any sort of clear and defining debate. 

There is no discussion (at all) about the desperate need to begin reducing our militaristic way of interacting with the world, including drastically decreasing defense spending.  I hear a lot of talk about 'the environment' but little, if anything, about fair distribution of resources - where America is gobbling up so much more than its fair share.  I hear nothing at all about changing our basic outlook on the world and realizing that everyone else doesn't exist to either buy from us or work from us.

I know that most of us are desperate to have Bush out of the White House but at what cost?  Is it truly going to bring us new direction or just a set of the same 'plans' couched in more politically friendly language?  Will Kerry provide leadership for honest debate on these issues and all the others I didn't mention?  Would another four years of Bush's regime force us to 'hit our bottom' as a nation and seriously look at where we've gone so wrong?

In all honesty, I don't think either party is going to provide a Yes answer to those questions.  I don't know who will unless the people who live in this country start actually asking those questions.  Even though Kerry seems a more compassionate and intelligent man than Bush, I believe it's incredibly important that we not lose sight of the fact that he's (more or less) a more palatable version of the same product.  When it comes right down to it, however, is it a product we want to continue either producing or consuming?