The Change We Need

--by Mike Adams

In Senator John McCain’s speech to the Republican National Convention, he asked the American public to join him in fighting for America, to join him in fighting for the change that he claims we need and the change he claims he will deliver. I was at first dubious, but after considering the Senator from Arizona, I acknowledged that Senator McCain does represent a kind of change; Senator McCain has gone against his party, he has reached across partisan lines to stand for what he believed to be right. He has demonstrated that he is tough, dedicated and generally true to course. During the last two years, Senator McCain has unfortunately changed his mind on several important issues and he stands with other Washington Republicans on the wrong side of several important issues. He has changed his mind and now supports more tax breaks to America’s wealthiest individuals and corporations. He has changed his mind and now supports ‘soft torture’ which he opposed recently and really gained many people’s respect for his opposition to the Republican Party line. He has changed his mind and now supports off shore drilling. This is a surprise, because Senator McCain certainly already knows that off shore drilling and increased drilling in Alaska won’t begin to make a dent in our energy needs. Senator McCain knows that offshore drilling and drilling in Alaska will certainly add to already high pollution levels and add to global warming.

Obviously Senator McCain is capable of change and his most recent changes have given him leadership of the Republican Party. The sad truth is that he is not offering the kind of change that America needs. We do not need a leader who used to work for what he thought was right even when it cost him politically. We don’t need a leader who won’t push meaningful policies aimed at curbing oil consumption. We don’t need a leader who’s ‘change‘ platform will do nothing to reduce carbon emission who’s ‘change’ platform will encourage ever more dramatic climate change. Not only do we not need that leader or that kind of change, in reality, we can not afford it. In today’s world, the risks are too great, the times are too desperate and McCain is too dangerous to put in charge. The last eight years have shown us what having Republican leadership in the Whitehouse produces.

Record high deficits, record high gas prices, record high food prices, record high home foreclosures, the highest unemployment in more than half a decade, degrading public schools, growing poverty and a collective concern because our work lives and our country are headed in the wrong direction. We can not afford that and we can not give the Republicans four more years. We can not entrust them with our future, our environment, our children’s education and our health care. We must take back our country in this election.