From 2002 Response to Project Vote Smart: (for Indiana State Senate race)

  Education and consequent economic development are my major priorities. It is not enough to say that one is in favor education. I will be an articulate, passionate, and informed advocate for state support of education at all levels. It is essential that that state universities remain affordable. I will also apply my experience as a scientist to bringing high-paying technology sector jobs to Indiana and to confronting the long-term issues that face our society.

From the Lafayette Journal and Courier, 3/2/2004 - Interview with Max Showalter

  We must show the world that a superpower can act with integrity and dignity. It is important that we have the respect of our allies, not just the fear of our enemies," said Sanders, who participated in a program in Siberia last summer to prevent the spread of biowarfare agents with experts from states of the former Soviet Union.

  "National security is broader than removing one's shoes at the airport. Job security and security from fears associated with the high cost of health care and health insurance are just as important."

From the Indiana Daily Student, 3/26/2004 - Interview with Allison Ricket

  "Students should be concerned about the ballooning debt and the corporations who are controlling the Congressional committees through lobbying," Sanders said. "To preserve democracy, people have to make voting a habit."

From the Lafayette Journal and Courier, 4/2/2004 - article by Marc B. Geller

  ..Sanders criticized the Bush administration for allegedly disappearing the budget surplus and U.S. credibility abroad and creating the illusions of Iraq's supposed weapons of mass destruction and a connection between the deposed Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein and the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.....for allegedly supporting Medicare legislation it told Congress would cost no more that $400 billion but instead carries a price tag of $534 billion.  Sanders pointed an accusing finger at (current Congressman Steve) Buyer, a lawyer who had served as a Reservist in prisoner of war camps during the Persian Gulf War, for taking an indefinite paid leave of absence from Congress last year after announcing he had been activated but then reversing himself two weeks later.

  "My message is that I am the Democratic candidate who is going to lift up the curtain on this act, that's going to expose these con artists," Sanders said.


David at the Indianapolis AFSCME forum

From the Lafayette Journal and Courier, 4/1/2004 - Letter to the Editor

  Republican Congressmen are once again playing their politics-of-resentment game of "Let's pretend we're going to amend the U.S. Constitution." The current ruse is just another in a long series of proposed reactionary amendments. It is ironic that the Republican Congress refuses to abide by the 27th Amendment, which is the most recent to be ratified. It reads, "No law, varying the compensation for the services of the Senators and Representatives, shall take effect, until an election of representatives shall have intervened." It plainly means that Congress cannot raise (or decrease) its pay during a term. However, the Republican Congress has routinely violated this amendment through congressional hocus-pocus. Congressional salary raises during a term are called "cost-of-living" increases and thereby somehow become permissible. This unconstitutional money grab has been supported by U.S. Rep. Steve Buyer, R-4th District, and is opposed by Sen. Evan Bayh, D-Indiana, and Democratic representatives from Indiana. Buyer feels he can get away with this, because he thinks that no one is watching and that the voters won't hold him accountable. I believe he is wrong.

  I pledge that if I am elected to serve as U.S. representative I will keep neither the most recent rise in salary nor any increase in congressional pay granted in this unconstitutional fashion. It is essential that the U.S. Constitution receive the respect that it deserves.

From a transcript of 4/21/04 Press Conference:

  Dr. Sanders stated that he would have a Congressional office open in Lafayette where it would be convenient for the majority of citizens of the northern portion of the 4th district. He also asserted that he would have part-time offices open in other cities in the district as well as a full-time office in the southern region of the district.
Dr. Sanders also discussed the recent allocation of $14 million of federal money to fund highway projects in the 4th district.
  “The comparatively small allocation is indicative of the low amount of clout that Congressman Buyer has in Congress. Furthermore, Congressman Buyer’s willingness to support expending all of the money on his hometown at the northeast corner of the district indicates his disdain for the rest of his constituents. The office of Congressman Buyer has expressly stated that the purpose of the allocation is to allow for better service to the Indiana Beach Amusement Park. It is interesting that the owner of the Indiana Beach Park is a generous contributor to Republican candidates and, a consistent contributor to Congressman Buyer’s campaigns.
  “I am not making an accusation. The matter is just another example of the ethical questions that surround Congressman Buyer’s service as a U.S. Representative. The people of the 4th Congressional District of Indiana deserve better service, and David Sanders is the candidate who can provide it.”

     David after speaking at Wabash College

Thursday, May 13, 2004--Dr. David Sanders, candidate for the office of U.S. Representative for the 4th Congressional District of the State of Indiana, appeared at a press conference at 9:30 AM Thursday, May 13, 2004 at the Tippecanoe County Democratic Headquarters, 320 Main Street in Lafayette.

Dr. Sanders began by asking for a moment of silence to remember the Americans who have died or been wounded serving their country in Afghanistan and Iraq. He then condemned the treatment of Americans at the hands of the Iraqi insurgents.

“I have compared the brutal mutilation of the Americans to the barbaric treatment of the body of King Saul by the Philistines as described in the Book of Samuel,” Sanders said.
He then expressed his disappointment that Congressman Buyer had decided to exploit the issue of abuse of Iraqi prisoners for political gain.

“I was not going to bring up the issue of Congressman Buyer’s deceiving Congress about being called to active military duty. I thought that Congressman Buyer would have the good sense not to revive it. His Republican opponent documented beyond a shadow of a doubt that Congressman Buyer took a leave of absence from Congress under false pretenses.”

“Congressman Buyer’s suggestions that if he had been serving as a lawyer in Iraq he could have prevented the abuses are inconsistent with the facts and are insulting to those members of the military who are serving in Iraq. His exploitation of the issue demonstrates that his earlier offer to serve was also a political maneuver. Congressman Buyer has made a number of public statements. Presumably he did so, because he wanted the voters to hear them. I’m going to help him out.”

Last week Congressman Buyer stated on the radio, “The Arab World. Don’t overreact here. Because look at what you did to our own four contractors and what you did with the bodies in hanging them from a bridge.”

Dr. Sanders declared, “Holding the entire Arab World collectively responsible for the outrages is a form of bigotry and is inconsistent with our stated goals in Iraq. I do not believe that the citizens of the 4th District want to be represented by an individual with this attitude. The war was not supposed to be about vengeance. The repulsive crimes done to Americans do not justify prisoner abuse by Americans.”

“One of Congressman Buyer’s responsibilities was to be a liaison with the International Red Cross. Congressman Buyer has publicly ridiculed their efforts to protect prisoners’ rights. Perhaps if the criticisms of the International Red Cross had been taken more seriously the abuses could have been stopped earlier.”

“Congressman Buyer may not have set the best example for prisoner treatment. He has bragged on two occasions in Congress about kicking an Iraqi officer who was crying on the ground in a prisoner camp. I am not alleging that this action is in any way similar to the abuses that have been documented recently. It just indicates his attitude
towards prisoner treatment.”

Thursday, May 20, 2004--Dr. David Sanders, candidate for the office of U.S. Representative for the 4th Congressional District of the State of Indiana, appeared at a press conference at 9:30 AM Thursday, May 20, 2004 at the Tippecanoe County Democratic Headquarters, 320 Main Street in Lafayette.

Dr. Sanders began by asking for a moment of silence to remember the Americans who have died or been wounded serving their country in Afghanistan and Iraq. He then continued to discuss Congressman Buyer’s approach to the prisoner abuse issue:

“I gave Congressman Buyer a chance to respond to his own words that I publicized. His response was typical of his approach; his Congressional (not campaign) spokesperson engaged in a personal attack.

“It appears that more of the public record needs to be brought to the voters’ attention. Congressman Buyer claimed to have served in the front lines in the Gulf War. Since when does the United States Army put its lawyers in the front lines? What do they do, wave their briefs at the enemy? Later Congressman Buyer acknowledged that he had been in “the rear echelons.”

“I am not questioning Congressman Buyer’s military service. I am questioning Congressman Buyer’s exploitation of the military for political purposes. Congressman Buyer claimed to have served in Kosovo and then backed down from this statement. He has claimed to have interrogated prisoners himself, although this is inconsistent with both his job classification and his official military biography.”

Dr. Sanders adduced additional evidence about the discrepancy between Congressman Buyer’s statements about his potential role in preventing the Iraqi prisoner abuse and his other words and actions.

“Congressman Buyer provided cover for the administration’s treatment of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay. He stated that they were “the worst of the worst” and “the leaders [of al-Qaida]” and did not merit POW status. We know that this is not true. The terrorist leaders were not sent to Guantanamo Bay. Congressman Buyer also said that complaints about the treatment of detainees “was a farce” and “a fictitious argument. The road to Abu Ghraib passed through Guantanamo Bay. Congressman Buyer helped to pave part of that road. Recently in Congress, after the details of what occurred in Abu Ghraib prison were known, Congressman Buyer stated, “The United States has not violated the Geneva Conventions.” He must be the last person on the planet to believe this. Even the administration admits that the Geneva Conventions had been violated. This [Congressman Buyer] is the man who was going to prevent abuses from happening? If there weren’t photographic evidence of the prisoner abuses, Congressman Buyer would still be denying that they took place. America and the 4th Congressional District of Indiana deserve better.”

On the Bush Administration and 1984:
"No one can now doubt the word of America."-President Bush's State of the Union address.

   It is now 20 years since 1984.  George Orwell's dystopic vision of the Western World did not come to pass.  Massive economic deprivation and systematic use of torture for political purposes have not become the norm in America and Great Britain.  The Stalinist Soviet Union, upon which Orwell modeled his Oceania, collapsed under the weight of its flawed economic system and repressive totalitarianism.  The human spirit was more resilient than Orwell anticipated. 
 
  At the core of Orwell's new political system were four critical elements-the use of perpetual war for political purposes, the control of human sexuality, the cult of personality and antipersonality, and the abuse of language and history.  The current application of the first principle is transparent.  There was the war on drugs.  Now there is the war on terror.  It is indisputable that we were attacked by a brutal and cowardly enemy.  Does this mean that any domestic or international action taken by the government is now justified in the name of security?  There is the Orwellian logic: "Iraq is now the enemy.  Iraq has always been the enemy." We need to engage in doublethink and forget about the Reagan administration support for Iraq and its tacit acceptance of the use of weapons of mass destruction by the murderous tyrant, Saddam Hussein.  We need to forget the Bush administration's stated reasons for war against Iraq.  We need to forget that we have left in anarchy much of Afghanistan where we periodically wipe out families and wedding parties by unfortunate accidents.  There can be no doubt about the success of the exploitation of the war for the stirring of nationalist passions in support of the political party in power.

     The second application is also self-evident.  President Bush used his State of the Union address to support the establishment of the equivalent of the Junior Anti-Sex League of Orwell's Oceania.

     Third, Big Brother. Coupled to Bush idolatry is Goldstein (the opponent of Big Brother) hatred. It doesn't matter who the Goldstein of the moment is. It is enough that the there is always some individual the mere mention of whose name is guaranteed to engender right-wing hatred.

  Finally, there is the assault on language and history.  No group has a monopoly on this practice of calling something by its opposite.  Obviously, the term, "shaheed," applied to a suicide bomber does not correspond to anything remotely like the English term, "martyr."  Translating "shaheed" as martyr is an obscenity; it should be left untranslated.  Nevertheless the right has made the debasement of the English language a central objective.  Newspeak is rampant.  Words are tested for emotional impact upon focus groups.  For the right what does "liberal" (or worse, "New York liberal") mean besides everything evil?  Taxes on the unearned income of multimillionaires are "death taxes."  Contempt for other people's lifestyles is called "family values."  Legislation favoring logging on public lands is called "Healthy Forests."  Legislation increasing air pollution is called "Clear Skies."  Republican candidates are advised to call global warming "climate change" to imply that it is less threatening and even desirable.  The Bush administration arbitrarily designates prisoners of war "illegal combatants" with no legal rights.  Women who advocate equal pay and an end to sexual harassment are called "Femi-Nazis" (a simultaneous insult to women, American World War II veterans, and groups persecuted by the Nazis).  Party Slogan:  FREE SPEECH IS PAID-FOR SPEECH.  At least, that appears to be the opinion of right-wing legislators, commentators, and lobbyists.  The only time freedom of speech is worth defending appears to be when campaign-finance laws try to limit the corruption of the political process.

   In general, for the right, the truth is malleable.  It doesn't matter if one speaks the truth as long as one's political agenda is advanced.  The Party would approve.

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