US must invest in social programs, undo military buildup.

Former 1988 Democratic Presidential nominee Michael Dukakis warned of skyrocketing deficits under Trump at CSUF.

By Alfredo Santana

Former Democratic presidential nominee Michael Dukakis criticized President Donald Trump’s policy to beef up the military and to inject funds to build a new generation of aircraft bombers to wipe out terrorists in the Middle East.

Before an audience of about 300 people, composed of retirees, activists and representatives of political parties in Orange County, Dukakis, also a two-term former governor of Massachusetts,  warned injecting funds to assemble more “Stealth” bombers will skyrocket the federal deficit in times when money should be invested  in social safety programs.

He indicated the B-2 bomber is irrelevant to ISIS, the terrorist Islamic group operating in Syria, organization which doesn’t have weapons to combat airplanes capable to deploy nuclear bombs that sneak under radars.

Individual terrorist cells who claimed allegiance to ISIS launched attacks in the Boston Marathon of 2013, killing three people and injuring dozens, and in the city of San Bernardino, CA. in December 2015,  leaving 14 people dead and 22 injured.

 Each B-2 Spirit Stealth bomber has a price tag of about $737 million.

“What are we doing? We should invest in children development, infrastructure and environmental issues, which pose more serious threats to the world,” Dukakis noted at the Rotary Club room in the library of California State University Fullerton on Jan 21, 2017.

Dukakis, who deferred from studying law to join the Armed Forces from 1957 to 1959 before graduating from Harvard University, said the buildup touted by Trump doesn’t make sense in an international landscape that poses a reduce threat of an arms’ race.

“Since World War II, the US has felt compelled into foreign affairs. No country has intervened more brutally, aggressively and constantly than us,” Dukakis said. He acknowledged the demise of Chile’s Salvador Allende as part of the US’ lack of sympathy for the socialist president.

 

Dukakis mentioned the US spends more money today than Russia and China combined in arms and military equipment, 27 years after the dissolution of the former USSR and the end of the Cold War. 

Dukakis defined President Bill Clinton’s 1990s policy to expand NATO into Ukraine, which borders with Russia as provocative.

“Of course Russia’s going to react. If this doesn’t stop, we are going to spend billions and billions of dollars on this nuclear stuff,” he insisted. “Also, the notion of China interfering in international navigation is preposterous.”

He called for both Democrats and Republicans in Congress to stand against more militarization of the Southeast Asia region, and to stop all the “nonsense,” and to defeat terrorists in Syria and the Middle East with the cooperation of regional nations.  

However, Dukakis said he’s “very worried” about North Korea President Kim Jong-un, and defined him as a “dangerous kid,” with whom Russia and China must work to craft a resolution that bans all of its nuclear activity.   

Affordable Care Act

Dukakis jabbed Trump for his twisted set of national priorities, and said the Affordable Care Act  was a long overdue plan the country owed to its citizens.

He estimated that “95 percent of all people covered are working people. Many are low-income, others are middle class. But they are not resting. It was time to provide affordable healthcare to working Americans,” Dukakis noted.

The 1998 Democratic presidential nominee attacked the brand of populism linked to Trump, explaining the Republican billionaire ran on a platform aiming to repeal the Affordable Care Act and Medicare, programs designed to improve the lives of ordinary people. On the contrary, he said, Trump will slash taxes to benefit the wealthy.

He lambasted House Speaker Paul Ryan’s plan to gut Obamacare, and said retirees want stability in their lives, and detest plunging into a healthcare market with vouchers to shop around.

Also, Dukakis called to pass legislation for about 700,000 DACA students, the undocumented immigrants who arrived to this country as children with their parents, but “by all intent and purposes are Americans.”

He stressed the Democratic Party needs to overhaul its canvassing and recruiting efforts at the grassroots levels, and borrow a model called “Precinct-base captain community organizations,” or platforms setup with 150 to 200 members who ensure voters are informed about public issues, how they work and candidates' stance. 

“While I was in law school, I put on a nice pair of shoes and visited all households in my local district, and I won. I had a team of 10 to 15 precinct workers who helped me. It’s not rocket science. We need to get serious about grassroots organizations that affect thousands of people,” Dukakis indicated.