My wife and I got to meet Jonathan George at the local Democratic headquarters yesterday. More than that, we had the opportunity to talk with him for a full 25 minutes.
It was a profoundly serious discussion, ranging from the need to pull our forces out of Afghanistan, end the war profiteering, end the privatization of the military and CIA, while insuring our military remains strong for justified and necessary future actions.
He served in high leadership positions under both the Bush / Cheney and Obama administrations. Having substantive conversations with the president, of either party, and communicating with him on issues, is nothing new to George.
We were very pleased to see that he understood and backed our stand on Medicare and Social Security, namely, these are not welfare programs, these are pension funds that we, at age 66, have paid into our whole lives. And even in retirement, as we are now in both programs, we pay over $7,200 per year for Medicare, supplemental medical, and prescription insurance coverage under the programs. That the GOP wants to just declare an end to these programs is unacceptable to us, and to him. He further understands that neither program is under immediate financial stress, that is a blatant GOP and right wing lie, and that simply taxing for both above the $110,000 and $185,000 level income ranges, instead of the current cut offs, will insure both programs are stable for the foreseeable future.
We found his entire manner refreshingly intelligent, insightful, informed, straightforward, forthcoming, yet balanced with the diplomatic skills that were clearly required for someone who functioned at the high and critical levels of the military and government which he did for many years.
Both of us are profoundly liberal and progressive in our views. George is a life long member of the NRA, but believes the radical stances of that organization, that makes it refuse to accept that maybe owning tanks and nuclear weapons is not really something individual citizens need, are not justifiable or reasonable. He emphasized from his own close interactions with and knowledge of Obama that the NRA claim that Obama wants to take away citizens’ guns is just pure, manufactured nonsense. Obama has taken no action or even hinted at any action in regard to “taking away people’s guns.” FWIW, we pointed out to him that we own handguns, and believe firmly in the right of citizens to do so.
But this relates to what we both understand about the mixed nature of the IN-09 district. Much of it is profoundly rural and conservative. And, to be blunt about it, the other supposedly more “progressive” candidates have pretty much a snowball’s chance in hell of defeating a Republican opponent in this district. And none of them have the deep experience and working knowledge of the military and government at the national level that George brings to the table.
Jonathan George will vote as a Democrat, and we think a good Democrat, not just another Blue Dog, but he will be able to appeal to all of the citizens of the district across the board in the general election in the Fall, and represent them fairly.
What is most important to us is getting the disastrous Todd Young out of office. He has hewed almost 100% to the mad Tea Party right wing philosophy of drowning the government in the bathtub, continuing the tax cuts for the super rich that maintain the current deficit, and voting on every piece of legislation that attacks women, for instance. He is an example of the very worst the GOP has to offer.
Jonathan George is not just an alternative, he is much more, he is a candidate that we feel we can truly get behind, support, and believe that he will not betray us once he gets to Washington. He also has the intelligence, experience, relations within the government and military to be a profoundly effective legislator and representative of the people of Indiana.
We intend to contribute to his campaign, and work to help him get elected. And we are encouraging all our friends to do the same.
