Out of Iraq, No War on Iran

Deborah favors immediate withdrawal of American troops from Iraq, and calls on Congress to stop funding this tragic war and occupation.  She also strongly opposes the drumbeat for a wider war with Iran, and other nations.  We need a foreign policy based on mutual respect for, and cooperation with, the peoples of other nations.

Civil Liberties

Deborah has long been opposed to policies of the Bush Administration that impinge on civil liberties, including the U.S.A. PATRIOT Act itself, and policies and practices that circumvent rights guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution, including the right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures, the right to be free from cruel and unusual punishment, and the right to habeas corpus.  She opposes all forms of torture, and calls for an end to practices of extraordinary rendition, and to closure of the prison at Guantanamo, and other prisons where alleged “enemy combatants” have been held for lengthy periods without trial.

Campaign Finance Reform

Deborah believes that we should not choose our leaders based on their personal wealth or fundraising prowess. Other qualifications are more important. We should judge our candidates based on such qualifications as education, experience, creativity, and ideas for change. We need to establish a system of public financing of Congressional campaigns and mandated media coverage of Congressional candidate forums and debates.

Choice

Deborah believes that for most women, there can be no decision as personal, and perhaps as painful, as the decision of whether or not to have an abortion. The emotional pain that many women feel when faced with this decision should not be compounded by legal restrictions on a woman's right to choose. Deborah believes that a woman should be supported, emotionally and financially (if necessary, with public funding) in any decision she chooses to make with regard to this sensitive and very personal aspect of her life.

Cuba

We should end the U.S. embargo of Cuba, and normalize relations with that country. Our current policy only gives the Cuban Government an excuse to clamp down on civil liberties there. Both the U.S. and Cuba would benefit by opening trade, travel, and cultural exchange with Cuba.

The Death Penalty

The death penalty is wrong and should be abolished. The poor and members of racial minorities are affected disproportionately. Contrary to common belief, confessions and eyewitness identification are not always reliable. DNA evidence can often establish innocence, but such evidence is not always available. Under the current system, many who receive the death penalty are poorly represented in court. But even with the best possible system, with all possible safeguards, mistakes will be made because humans run the justice system, and human beings make mistakes. There is no way to compensate a person once you have taken his or her life.

Education

Deborah is proud to say that she is the product of the public school system. She attended local public schools in Chevy Chase, Maryland, graduating in 1966 from B-CC. She feels that she received an education of very high quality. But she realizes that times have changed. The kids are still good kids, and many of the teachers are still highly motivated, but there are new strains on the system that need to be addressed.

Deborah supports major initiatives of Federal assistance to public education at all levels, from pre-Kindergarten through college level. We must give all of our kids, including those disadvantaged by poverty and differences in language, opportunities to advance, through education, as far as their abilities and motivation will take them.

The Environment

Deborah has long been a supporter of protection for the environment. In California, when she ran for Congress against Bill Thomas in the 21st Congressional District, she defended the Federal Endangered Species Act in Congressional candidate debates. As a lawyer, she worked with a team of environmental attorneys to prevent a cement plant near Mojave from polluting the air by burning tires. She was an active member of the Sierra Club for years when she lived in California, and when she moved back to Maryland became an active member of a local chapter (but left in disagreement over that local chapter’s stand on the issue of a proposed light rail on the Capital Crescent Trail). For a while before she left that chapter, she served on the Transportation Committee. She advocates improving public transportation, is a great fan of the Metro system, and she encourages incentives to get people out of their cars by advocating car pooling. She favors the preservation of green space, both large areas of park land, and smaller, stretches of wildness within urban areas. She believes that we live on a planet with a fragile environment, and we must protect it.

Gun Control

Deborah supports the common sense gun control measures. She also supports the licensing of owners of firearms, and the registration of firearms, and the implementation of requirements that gun owners and gun users carry insurance to cover the injury and damages caused by their weapons. We have licensing, registration, and insurance requirements for people who drive a car. We should require no less with regard to firearms.

Health Care

Deborah believes that health problems are always best addressed early. New screening techniques for various forms of cancer when shown to be effective and without risk, should be made widely available to the general public. We should treasure our own National Institutes of Health, and be sure that it is adequately funded.

But the real problem with our health care system is that so many of our citizens lack basic health care coverage. The United States is the only industrialized country that does not have universal health care. An estimated forty four million people have no health care coverage at all! Many others have some insurance coverage which is inadequate to their needs. Deborah recalls a conversation that she had with a young woman who was working in an arts supply store. She was covered, but her employer had recently changed plans, and her doctor, an endocrinologist with whom she had a long established relationship -- was not on the new insurer's list. Unable to afford to pay for her doctor out of pocket, the woman was faced with the heart wrenching choice of severing a relationship with a doctor she knew and trusted.

Universal health care is an idea whose time has come. Basic health care should be considered a right, not just a privilege for the wealthy. It is outrageous that people living in the wealthiest country on Earth must suffer and die because they have no health care insurance.

For those who lack compassion for others, there are selfish reasons to support universal health care. Contagious diseases will spread without regard to whether or not infected individuals have insurance. Therefore, we all benefit when the sick are provided with treatment. Also, the uninsured flock to hospital emergency rooms for needed treatment. The expense is born by all of us indirectly in the form of higher health insurance premiums.

We need a national, universal, publicly financed health care system, which gives people quality health care, gives the patient a choice of health care provider, and insures that health care decisions are made between doctor and patient -- not by HMOs.

Workers' Rights

Deborah has experience in labor law, having worked in the past as a staff attorney for the United Farm Workers, AFL-CIO. She also has direct knowledge of the working world, having held a part-time job as a clerk at a convenience store, and a temporary job waiting on tables, when she was a teenager.

In Congress, Deborah will support legislation insuring that workers maintain the right to join a union, to organize others, and to engage in collective bargaining. She supports legislation banning the permanent replacement of strikers.

Deborah also favors legislation implementing a substantial increase to the Federal minimum wage.