Protecting the family and traditional marriage

Nothing is more important than the sacred institution of marriage and family. It is the foundation of our civilization. Every other issue we face, education, taking care of our seniors, crime, the drug problem, all these are connected to the family and therefore traditional marriage. The fact that my opponent minimizes the value of family and traditional marriage is disturbing.

As an experienced educator and teacher and coach, I know that the single most important factor that will determine whether a child will succeed or not in learning at school is the stability and strength and health of the family. The family is already under such great stress from the influence of the media and pop culture, as well as economic demands that often force both parents to work to make ends meet.

Therefore, we must do everything to strengthen and nothing to weaken the sacred institution of marriage. Nothing would weaken the family more than changing the very definition of marriage.

The people of Hawaii know this and in 1998 overwhelmingly voted for an amendment to our state constitution protecting traditional marriage. It was one of Hawaii’s greatest victories.

Unfortunately, our victory may be short-lived. Activist federal judges are on the verge of rewriting our U.S. Constitution in order to force same-sex marriage on the people of Hawaii and the rest of our country. Our state laws and constitution protecting traditional marriage could soon be torn apart by these federal courts. We need to do everything we possibly can to prevent a handful of federal judges from undermining the will of Hawaii people.

Unfortunately, not only is Ed Case not committed to strengthening the family, he is determined to do the opposite. To use his own words, Case has “championed the war” to legalize homosexual marriage (Gay and Lesbian Community Center, July 26, 2002).

Case actually wants federal judges to have the power to force legalization of same-sex marriage down the throats of the people of Hawaii, even though the people are overwhelmingly against it. That’s why, in 1998, Case did everything he could to keep the people of Hawaii from having the chance to vote on the constitutional amendment protecting traditional marriage.

That’s why Case recently voted against the Marriage Protection Act (HR 3313, July 22, 2004). The MPA would prohibit federal judges from forcing states like Hawaii to legalize same sex marriage. (The MPA would not amend the U.S. Constitution). It is also why Case opposes the Federal Marriage Amendment.

Ed Case is against anything which would interfere with the legalization of same-sex marriage. He wants federal judges to have the power to overturn the decision of Hawaii’s people on this issue. Our representative should be representing our values and our voices, not trying to undermine our values and the decisions made by our people.

Click here to read more about Case's record and position on same-sex marriage.

Battle Against Crime And "Ice"

I helped organize and host the first major grassroots initiative to fight ice on the Waianae Coast , and I feel fortunate to have played an instrumental role in helping to get it started. We need more initiatives like that. This community meeting as well as others that followed helped in the formation of People Against "Ice" (PA'I), which has been one of the leading organizations to motivate people to get involved in finding a real solution to the problem.

In addition to getting local people involved, it is very important to have increased police presence. As a result of legislation I introduced in the City Council, we have urged our state legislature to implement laws that give our hard working police officers the tools they need to fight "ice".

I also introduced legislation to request that state laws be changed to eliminate a requirement that judges give first-time "ice" dealers probation. Instead, it requires these offenders to do mandatory time behind bars. Our City Prosecuting and Attorney General joined me in supporting these important changes to our legal system.

I introduced a resolution to urge our legislators to bring back the "walk and talk" program, which would once again allow our police to catch drug dealers before they even leave our airports. Federal law enforcement officers have also asked that Hawaii implement this program.

Finally, I wrote legislation to ask that the State Department of Public Safety regulate the sale of psuedoephedrine, which is a primary ingredient in the production of "ice". It is common knowledge that drug dealers are buying these products in large quantities to manufacture "ice" and it is time that we stop making it so easy for them.

We also need to overcome significant hurdles in obtaining the necessary federal resources for law enforcement, prevention, and treatment. On a related matter, one of my primary goals is to ensure that our local communities have more of a say in how these resources are allocated. Rather than have that determined in Washington, local communities should be permitted to decide what drug they're going to use the money to fight. Marijuana or "ice", for example. Community involvement and decision-making is a critical component of the fight on drugs because the local community knows better than Washington, and getting them involved in the solution is the key to success.

In addition, we need to find enough federal support to keep the Weed and Seed program going. This has been a very successful program and, instead of closing it down, we should be starting new ones.

Since most of the community activism has been a result of initiatives by churches and religious organizations, I call on the federal government to partner with these groups to make funding available for their war on drugs through President Bush's "Faith-based Initiatives."

Healthcare: Prevention

We need to transform our health care system from one as much designed to cure us when we get sick as one designed to prevent us from getting sick in the first place. Simple changes in public policy and related laws can make a big difference.

Hospital infections

For example, The CDC says that each year nearly two million patients in the United States get an infection in hospitals, and about 90,000 of them die as a result of it. This is the fourth leading cause of mortality among Americans, behind heart disease, cancer, and strokes-killing more people each year than car accidents, fires and drowning combined.

Adding to this tragedy is the fact that the CDC says at least 50 percent of infections in hospitals are preventable! The CDC says more than half the deadly infections spread in hospitals could be prevented by simply getting doctors and other health-care workers to clean their hands in between treating patients.

Unfortunately, studies show that hospital workers wash their hands an average of only 40 percent of the time they should. We need to pass legislation that forces hospitals to publicly disclose details about the spread of infections among their patients. Since voluntary infection control measures aren't working, making this information public will force them to do a better job as patients seek treatment from the cleanest and safest hospitals.

In addition, since voluntary infection control measures are not working, we should pass legislation providing for independent monitoring of basic hygiene practices in hospitals.

Healthy eating

Another area where a change in public policy will be helpful relates to diet. Of the 10 leading causes of death in the United States, five are related to improper diet: coronary heart disease, cancer, stroke, and diabetes. These diseases account for over half of the deaths in the United States each year. Possibly 20 percent of them could be prevented by proper diets.

It is almost unbelievable that diet-related diseases cost the U.S. economy a staggering $730.6 billion each year in direct medical costs and productivity losses due to illness and premature death. Yet, we aren't educating people about the importance of diet.

Our typical diet in Hawaii today contains too much total fat, saturated fat, and calories, but not enough of other important elements such as calcium. Very little is being done to impress upon people how important it is to have a healthy diet-and motivate them to do so. We need to make this a priority.

Another example of how our system is focused on curing us when we get sick rather than prevention can be found among the health care practitioners who are in the "up front" part of the profession (as opposed to those who treat people after they get sick). Nutritionists, fitness instructors, dieticians, acupuncturists, chiropractors, and so forth are considered part of the community of "alternative medicine," rather than the real healthcare system. Since they play such an important role in helping us to stay healthy through prevention, it doesn't make sense. They need to be included.

Prescription drugs

We also need to make it easier and even less expensive for people to buy prescription drugs. The recent package passed by Congress, and which was supported by the AARP, has some good things in it, but it has to be amended and approved. People should be allowed to buy prescription drugs wherever they can get them cheaper, like Canada. We just can't let the giant U.S. drug companies continue to operate in a protected market, charging whatever they want. It's not consistent with the competitive spirit of a free-market economy and it drives prices up.

Conclusion

The challenges we face in transforming our healthcare system to focus on prevention is steep, as victory will require nothing less than social change. And improved hospital hygiene practices are a great place to start.

Campaign Finance Reform

I agree with the goal of campaign finance reform, but so far every attempt has failed and in fact made things worse. What is really happening is that incumbents are passing laws to make it increasingly difficult for challengers to defeat them. For decades, it has been almost impossible to dislodge an incumbent from Congress.

Essentially what happens is this: Congress passes tax laws to take money from the people's pockets and puts those moneys under their control and then as a collective body uses that pot of money to disperse in a way that increases the chances of their getting reelected. So in a sense, taxpayers are already underwriting the campaigns of every single incumbent.

In addition, members of Congress have voted themselves an automatic, annual pay raise of around $5,000. And they are able to use hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars to campaign in the guise of "informing voters."

I'm trying to inform voters, but I have to beg people for money in order to do it. Ed Case "informs the voters" and he gets to use money from my pocket even though I don't want to give it to him. That is what's going on here.

One of the biggest problems with existing campaign finance laws is that they essentially encroach upon the freedom of speech of the majority of people while consolidating power in the hands of a few. For example, corporations are not allowed to give contributions to candidates. I don't have any problem with this, but there is a big hole in it. The hole is that media corporations, both large and small, are able to use their vast power to promote or denigrate any candidate they want. Your newspaper, for example, could print 20 pages of pro-Case and anti-Gabbard propaganda and distribute that throughout the islands-and that would not be considered a campaign contribution even if your newspaper were a corporation prohibited from donating to any federal candidate.

But if John Smith and a couple of his neighbors printed and distributed 20 pages of exactly the same thing your newspaper printed and distributed, John and his neighbors would be breaking the law. In other words, the situation now is that the government gets to decide who gets to have freedom of speech. But the problem with newspapers is minor.

The biggest problem is broadcasting entities. A broadcasting company can put all kinds of "news stories" that make one candidate look good and another look bad, yet it is not considered a corporate contribution no matter how slanted the "story" is. So what's actually happening here is the giant media organizations, broadcast and print, are increasingly the only sources of information for the public.

If candidates want to try to communicate with the voters, they have to buy ridiculously expensive advertising time on the public airways which by definition belong to the public.

This brings us to one of the biggest dangers our country faces: the undermining of our democracy by the ever-increasing consolidation of the media. The media, especially the broadcast media, is in fewer and fewer hands. A handful of giant corporations, like Ed Case's cousin Steve Case's AOL-Time Warner, are becoming the sole sources of information, both political and cultural, for the American people.

This is as dangerous to democracy as was the broadcast medium in the soviet union being controlled by the communist party.

Of course, congressmen are generally very afraid to go up against the powerful media interests because those very same media interests have the power to make or break any politician. If any of Hawaii 's network affiliates KHON, KITV, KGMB or KHNL want to destroy my reputation or Ed Case's reputation or the reputation of anybody else, they have the power to do so.

It is like that in every congressional district so every congressman is absolutely afraid to stand up against media consolidation. But somebody has got to do it.