2024 Election

On the edge

A Good Reed Review Commentary & Pubs , , ,

By Ande Jacobson

Here I sit at my computer at the start of a very consequential week. I have much to be thankful for in my life, and I try to focus on the good things. My friends. My family. Even the state where I live. I have challenges as most of us do. In my case, I’ve been dealing with some serious medical issues all of my life, and they’ve gotten worse over the last several years. Even so, I’m still able to take care of myself and even provide an ear to my friends and family to discuss the things that concern us. Continue reading →

Our votes matter

A Good Reed Review Commentary & Pubs , , , , ,

By Ande Jacobson

Most of my friends have made up their minds for this contentious 2024 election, and the vast majority are voting Democratic up and down the ticket for the good of the country as a whole even if they aren’t completely in line with some specific policies or even registered as Democrats. This makes sense to me. I’m never completely in line with any politician’s policies, but I learned a long time ago that with politics you never get everything exactly the way you want it. I learned that you should vote based on the overall good of a given candidate and whether they want to help us all or not. This election, I agree with most of the Democratic Party’s policies such as:

  • Enacting fair taxation where everyone pays their fair share including the wealthy and corporations
  • Lowering prescription drug prices not just for seniors but for everyone
  • Stopping price gouging, especially for essentials like food, housing, and healthcare
  • Protecting Social Security and Medicare without raising the retirement age or cutting benefits
  • Producing more clean energy
  • Enacting initiatives to address climate change
  • Enacting sensible gun safety laws
  • Protecting reproductive choice and freedom by codifying the protections of Roe v. Wade nationwide
  • Enacting bipartisan legislation to tighten border security and enact humane immigration policies
  • Continuing job growth and strengthening unions
  • Making education affordable and accessible
  • Continuing to improve the ACA to make healthcare available to all without the threat of financial ruin
  • Protecting voting rights so that every eligible voter can cast their ballot – a bedrock principle of democracy
  • Appointing judges and justices who will uphold the Constitution and rule of law, not shred it
  • Strengthening our democracy
  • Maintaining the separation of church and state enshrined in our Constitution

VP Harris recently announced that she also supports expanding Medicare to cover long term care at home to help the disabled and our seniors when they need it most without the threat of financial ruin.

Kamala Harris, Tim Walz, and the Democratic Party understand that we have to work together and support making things better for all Americans through the above initiatives and the rest of the platform and policies they support. As such, I am very enthusiastically supporting Democrats up and down the ballot in this election along with most of my friends. Continue reading →

Substance matters

A Good Reed Review Commentary & Pubs , , , , ,

By Ande Jacobson

I’m concerned. No, that’s not right. I’m terrified.

We recently celebrated another U.S. Independence Day marking the anniversary of when the United States of America was founded. Now the biggest election of my lifetime (and perhaps in our nation’s history) looms over us in just under four months, and we have a media machine that seems determined to foment division by continuing its years long assault on the Democratic incumbent while at the same time ignoring his record of accomplishments and ignoring or normalizing the outright malfeasance of his likely GOP opponent. The media has presented the presidential race as a horse race rather than focusing on the real issues at hand which does the country a huge disservice. Why they are doing this is the subject of a lot of speculation. On the one hand, the media long ago moved away from their role as impartial observers and sources of information about current events into a much more lavish, dynamic, and profitable role as entertainers. They are businesses intent on turning a profit, so they do all they can to build audience and keep people coming back for more. Division and controversy sells far better than dry data, so their move toward the former in this quest became their imperative. Profits after all are more important than informing the public to many of these entities. A GOP presidency, particularly with their likely candidate, would garner them higher profits given the crises and favorable tax modifications that would result. Unfortunately, far too many people accept what they are told by the media without looking beyond the hype, and that could spell disaster for the country and the world. Continue reading →

Then and now, how different is it?

A Good Reed Review Commentary & Pubs , ,

By Ande Jacobson

When I was growing up, it was a turbulent time. Being a child of the 60s and 70s, I saw some thrilling scientific advances, as well as numerous disturbing events throughout my childhood. Both the positive and negative had an impact on how I viewed the world, but I always thought that things would continue to get better for society overall.

We had lots of books at home – both of my parents were avid readers of all sorts of material, and they instilled in me a healthy love of learning. We had numerous academic texts (both of my parents were medical professionals, so they had an extensive medical library), and we had our Encyclopedia Britannica along with the Great Books as more general references. We even had the Children’s Stories Great Books collection to round out things from the literary side. We had numerous dictionaries, lots of history books, and shelves overflowing with literary works including both fiction and nonfiction on countless subjects. We also had our library cards for both pleasure and for those times when our research needs exceeded what was available at home. Learning was fun. Continue reading →