This Active Life -- November 2002

A Message from the President

Your Vote, Your Voice

You've heard it a hundred times: You need to vote. Voting is your civic responsibility and hard-won right.

But if civic duty isn't enough to get you to the polls, here are three good reasons to carefully scrutinize the candidates in your district, to help out with campaigns, and to pull the lever yourself on November 5.

• In two years, we've gone from large federal and state budget surpluses to growing deficits. Forty-four states are cutting budgets this year, and the Bush Administration is overhauling federal programs without adequate funding. We need legislators willing to make the critical investment needed in public education.
• We're facing a crisis in health insurance and drug costs. Health care is increasingly expensive--insurance costs to employees and retirees are shooting up, while pharmaceutical companies are recording bigger profits than ever. At press time, Congress had failed once again to pass a prescription drug benefit linked to Medicare. We need to break this sorry impasse and elect those who will protect the needs of working families and retirees, not HMOs and drug companies.
• Our defined-benefit pension plans, though safer than the privately managed accounts held by many of our country's workers, are hardly immune to the downturn on Wall Street. According to a recent study of pension plans for teachers and other state and municipal employees, more than one-half of all public pension plans were underfunded. Not a good sign as more workers reach retirement age and local and state budgets already are at their breaking point.

We need creative leadership to address these issues and bring about constructive solutions. Getting involved and voting are the first steps toward holding politicians accountable on these critical issues. Now, more than ever, don't miss this opportunity to make your voice heard by voting for candidates who support children, public education, and seniors in this country.

--NEA-Retired President Jim Sproul