Positions and Views of John Kerry
on Values, Religion & Family
| Previous Candidate for U.S. Senate, Massachusetts |
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| Values, Religion & Family |
Positions and Views |
| Family, a General Statement |
Strong families - blessed with opportunity, committed to responsibility, and filled with dreams - are the heart of a stronger America.
Today, parents face more challenges than ever as they try to get ahead. Wages are lagging behind inflation; hundreds of thousands of young people are being priced out of college; millions of parents and children are uninsured or are paying too much for health care; and millions more families are struggling to juggle job and family responsibilities.
John Kerry believes in an America where strong, healthy families build a stronger America. He knows that government doesn't raise children - parents do. But he believes that together, we can put government back on the side of America's families and build an America where every family can look to the future with hope.
Education is the cornerstone of the American Dream. Yet today, too many schools don't give our children the high-quality education they deserve. John Kerry supports expanding and improving early childhood education and Head Start programs. He believes the cost of college should never stop our children from paying for college.
Today, nearly 44 million Americans don't have health insurance, and 8.5 million children are uninsured. At the same time, skyrocketing costs are a rising burden for working families. Keeping health care costs down is an important to keep children and families healthy.
Source: Candidate Website (10/02/2004) |
| American Values |
In the infancy of the Republic, in 1798, Congress enacted the Alien and Sedition Acts to smear Thomas Jefferson and accuse him of treason. Newspapers were shut down, and their editors arrested, including Benjamin Franklin's grandson. No wonder Thomas Jefferson himself said: "Dissent is the greatest form of patriotism."
In the Mexican War, a young Congressman named Abraham Lincoln was driven from public life for raising doubts about official claims. And in World War I, America's values were degraded, not defended, when dissenters were jailed and the teaching of German was banned in public schools in some states. We are stronger today because no less a rock-ribbed conservative than Robert Taft -- "Mr. Republican" himself -- stood up and said at the height of the second World War that, "the maintenance of the right of criticism in the long run will do the country maintaining it a great deal more good than it will do the enemy, and will prevent mistakes which might otherwise occur."
Even during the Cold War even the mildest dissenters from official policy were silenced, blacklisted, or arrested, especially during the McCarthy era. Indeed, it was only when Joseph McCarthy began accusing distinguished U.S. diplomats and military leaders of treason that the two parties in Washington and the news media realized the common stake they had in the right to dissent. They stood up to a bully and brought down McCarthyism's ugly and contrived appeals to a phony form of 100% Americanism.
Dissenters are not always right, but it is always a warning sign when they are accused of unpatriotic sentiments by politicians seeking a safe harbor from debate, from accountability, or from the simple truth.
Truth is the American bottom line. Truth above all is fundamental to who we are. It is no accident that among the first words of the first declaration of our national existence it is proclaimed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident.
Source: kerry.senate.gov (04/27/2008) |
| These are available issue topics for which there were no responses. |
| Family Values |
| Sexual Misconduct of Politicians |
| Religion, a General Statement |
| Values, a General Statement |
| Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide |
| National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) |
| Family Planning Funding (Title X) |
| Mosque Near Ground Zero |
| Pope's Prosecution Immunity |
| Religion & State - First Amendment |
| Religion in Government |
| Religious Tolerance |
| A Candidate's Religious Beliefs |
| Atheists and Agnostics |
| Mormon Religion and Polygamy |
| School Prayer |
| Ordination of Gay Clergy |
| Ordination of Women Clergy |
| Evolution vs. Intelligent Design |
| Faith-Based Volunteer Efforts |
| Child Care |
| Foster Care |
| Adoption |
| Fatherhood |
| Child Custody and Support |
| Child Support Enforcement Budget |
| Teen Pregnancy |
| Low-Income First-Time Mothers |
| Prejudice |
| Indecency in the Media |
| Media Violence and Sex |
| Pornography and Adult Oriented Media |
| Desecration of Flag Constitutional Amendment |
| Foley Page Scandal |
| Terri Schiavo |
| Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts |