Earlier today, Eric posted Things you Wish Your Candidate Would Say. Eric wants a candidate who is serious about trying to address the public health crisis in West Africa. I, too, wish that some candidate would address that crisis in a serious way.
I do not know if Eric intended that to be a one time post, but the idea of posting things we wish the candidates to say is a great one. I can not resist taking up the theme. I encourage you to leave your ideas of what the candidates should say in the comments.
I wish a candidate would say:
The next generations of Americans will face unprecedented economic competition from abroad. Our children will either have to become highly productive or they will have to compete with the third world to see who will work for the lowest wages.Our children will not become highly productive without healthy brains. A new study in the New England Journal of Medicine shows that one in ten of our children suffer lower IQs as a result of lead poisoning. Six million children have lost an average of more than 7 IQ points as a result of lead exposure. The leading cause of lead exposure in children is lead based paint in older homes.
When I am President, we will remove lead based paint from every house, apartment and condominium. We will no longer allow our children to suffer brain damage from exposure to lead in old paint.
That will be expensive, a one time cost of about $32 billion. I propose to delay implementation of scheduled tax cuts for those making in excess of $300,000 per year until all of our children are safe from lead poisoning.
The benefits of such a policy include almost $60 billion of savings in special education spending as well as the benefit of having children with healthy brains.
When I am elected President, we will have seen the last generation of American children with brain damage from exposure to lead-based paint.
Removing lead-based paint is good environmental policy, good social policy, good education policy, good health care policy, and good economic policy. Why are the candidates not discussing it?
I read that with Jonah curled up on my chest and lap. He's been pretty clingy what with having the flu, and sleep disorder every night. Jonah had severe lead poisioning.
Dick Army's position (lead == urban poor == blacks), that special ed isn't a republican issue, I can understand -- it is rational, albeit sick. Why dems aren't talking about abatement (and fuel efficiency) as an opportunity to clean up the housing stock and restart the economy is one of life's mysteries. I guess everyone is stuck in Iraq.
Posted by: Eric at December 27, 2003 07:43 PM