What's At Stake in This Election

A number of questions will be answered on Tuesday November 6, 2012.

Will Medicare be preserved or will it be turned into a voucher plan?

Will Social Security be preserved or privatized and tied to the ups and downs of the stock market?

Will Obamacare be fully instituted or will we go back to having 47 million uninsured citizens at the cost of 45,000 lives per year?

Will Pell Grants for college students be expanded or drastically cut back?

Will workers continue to have the right to organize and bargain or will this be taken away?

In foreign policy, Mitt Romney is surrounded by many of the same neoconservative advisors who believe most overseas problems can be solved militarily and who convinced the last internationally ignorant president into starting a war in Iraq. Will they be back advising the next president?

If they are, will the United States continue to follow strong but measured and effective international policies or will we initiate another land war in the Middle East, likely this time against Iran and/or Syria?

Will FEMA remain a federal responsibility or will it be privatized or turned over to the states, most of which lack sufficient resources to do its job?

Will the economic philosophies of Herbert Hoover and George W. Bush be reintroduced?  Or will we go back to investing in the education, technology and infrastructure necessary to compete in the 21st century?

Will child nutrition, aid to schools, head start, Medicaid, disaster relief, veteran's programs for PTSD and other such services be drastically slashed so millionaires can keep from going back to the tax rate they paid under Bill Clinton?

Will the capital gains tax be eliminated so people like Mitt Romney won't have to pay any taxes at all?

Will the sensible regulations on finance emplaced under Dodd-Frank be repealed, and the unimpeded exotic markets in risky instruments like derivatives come roaring back?

Will we throw in our lot with those who deny science or those who embrace it?

Will we elect those who scoff at human-induced climate change or those who intend to do something about it?

Will we safeguard the gains made over the past 60 years in voting rights, women's rights and gay rights or will we empower those who want to roll these all back?

Will we reaffirm the principle of the separation of church and state or will we put in power those who believe it is their obligation to use the power of the state to enforce their version of religion on everyone else?

Will a sensible immigration policy finally be put in place, or will racist and xenophobic sloganeering continue to serve as a substitute for one?

Will anonymous billionaires continue to buy elections and politicians or will sensible campaign finance trasparency and limitations be enacted?

In the final analysis, do we believe that community needs and interests can be served by the democratic process or do we believe that everyone is on their own?