X-Message-Number: 22044
From: "mike99" <>
Subject: Re: #22032 - Who is Howard Dean?
Date: Sat, 21 Jun 2003 16:22:22 -0600

From: Thomas Donaldson <>
>For "Mark": who is Howard Dean and why should I vote for him?
>Remember that I am now a US citizen living outside the US, and
>may not have heard about some of the more obscure contenders.

Howard Dean is Governor of Vermont and also an MD (medical doctor). He is by
far the most leftist of all the current Democratic candidates. This makes
him very popular with the core Democrat voters. (Please note that the core
voters of any political party are its most ideologically extreme or "pure"
members and they are the ones most likely to vote in party primary elections
which determine who the party's candidate will be in the general election.)

I am neither a Democrat nor a fan of Howard Dean. However, I enjoy watching
him snipe at the more middle-of-the-road Democrats in the race for their
party's nomination. Dean has the freedom to speak honestly and directly
because he knows that the party faithful love that. This discomfits the
other Democratic candidates who would actually stand some chance of being
elected in a head-to-head contest with President Bush. They don't want to
lose their party's base to Dean, nor do they want to move to the left to
meet him, for fear that they themselves would then become unelectable by the
vast middle of voters. This is quite a dilemma.

I don't know if Dean has taken a position on cryonics, so I can't say
whether he would be good for us or not. His official website
(http://www.deanforamerica.com/) details his health care plan for America
but says nothing about "hot button" issues like stem cell research and
cloning. My guess is that Dean's socialized medical plan, while possibly
good for the numerical majority of Americans, might squeeze the quality away
from high-end, costly medical research and treatments that immortalists
desire most.


Michael LaTorra




Member:
Extropy Institute: www.extropy.org
World Transhumanist Association: www.transhumanism.org
Alcor Life Extension Foundation: www.alcor.org
Society for Technical Communication: www.stc.org

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