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Global Poverty Needs More Candidate Discussion
We're now in the midst of the presidential caucus and primary season and all the polls, pundits and predictions that come with it. It's great fun for a political junkie, but sometimes vital issues get overshadowed.
As a member of the advocacy organization ONE, I'm working with 2.4 million other Americans from all walks of life to bring attention to an issue that doesn't always get heard through all the politics and sound bites: the emergency of disease and poverty in Africa and the poorest parts of our world, and what America's role should be in ending it.
I know it's not an issue you typically hear about during an election. But it must be heard. Around one billion people in Africa and around the world struggle to live, feed and clothe themselves on less than $1 a day. Diseases like AIDS and malaria (which America eradicated here at home in 1949) are killing thousands every day, ravaging communities that are fighting to escape the cycle of extreme poverty. Like never before, we have the proven, effective medicines and technologies to change these tragedies and save lives-and garner goodwill for America in the process.
If you ask a presidential candidate, each one will say they are against this kind of brutal poverty. I know. Everyone is against global disease and extreme poverty. But the issue is too important for platitudes and lip service. ONE members like myself want specifics. We want to hear commitments on how the next president plans to erase malaria, increase access to clean water and deliver more lifesaving AIDS drugs to the people who need them. And like never before, we are earning those specifics.
For the first time ever, voters who care about these issues have gotten all the major candidates-from Hillary Clinton to John McCain-to speak directly on camera about their policies, and all voters can now see it. On ONE's new website, www.ONEVote08.org/ontherecord, voters can watch these videos and compare the candidates side by side on these vital, yet until now under-the-radar, topics.
I hope the readers of this paper will take the time to view the website and learn a bit about an issue that's time has come to be heard and addressed in this year's campaign.
Aba DeGraft-Hanson
Princeton, N.J.
As a member of the advocacy organization ONE, I'm working with 2.4 million other Americans from all walks of life to bring attention to an issue that doesn't always get heard through all the politics and sound bites: the emergency of disease and poverty in Africa and the poorest parts of our world, and what America's role should be in ending it.
I know it's not an issue you typically hear about during an election. But it must be heard. Around one billion people in Africa and around the world struggle to live, feed and clothe themselves on less than $1 a day. Diseases like AIDS and malaria (which America eradicated here at home in 1949) are killing thousands every day, ravaging communities that are fighting to escape the cycle of extreme poverty. Like never before, we have the proven, effective medicines and technologies to change these tragedies and save lives-and garner goodwill for America in the process.
If you ask a presidential candidate, each one will say they are against this kind of brutal poverty. I know. Everyone is against global disease and extreme poverty. But the issue is too important for platitudes and lip service. ONE members like myself want specifics. We want to hear commitments on how the next president plans to erase malaria, increase access to clean water and deliver more lifesaving AIDS drugs to the people who need them. And like never before, we are earning those specifics.
For the first time ever, voters who care about these issues have gotten all the major candidates-from Hillary Clinton to John McCain-to speak directly on camera about their policies, and all voters can now see it. On ONE's new website, www.ONEVote08.org/ontherecord, voters can watch these videos and compare the candidates side by side on these vital, yet until now under-the-radar, topics.
I hope the readers of this paper will take the time to view the website and learn a bit about an issue that's time has come to be heard and addressed in this year's campaign.
Aba DeGraft-Hanson
Princeton, N.J.
posted by Trentonian at
10:36 AM
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