Congressional Race in MD 4th District

I attended a League of Women Voters meeting at which ten candidates for the Congressional seat all spoke. They were led by Al Wynn the incumbent and Donna Edwards the Democratic runner up in the last primary. Ten people speaking in an hour and a half doesn't leave much time for anyone. Still it was interesting to hear the outsider candidates who get very little attention in any media.

The main point that all the candidates agreed upon is that the United States is going in the wrong direction in far too many ways -- the war, the economy, migration, education, health care, personal liberty. The district includes many minority citizens, and half the candidates were black. There was an agreement that the blacks still are not getting as fair a break as they deserve. The debate was held in a senior citizen community, and there was an agreement that the rights of the senior citizens have to be protected against those who would scam them, as well as from failure of social security and medicare. It was interesting to hear the incumbent who has been in the Congress for 15 years saying that the election was about how best to change the country;s direction.

One very interesting question was what was the gravest threat to U.S. security. The candidates answered from different perspectives, and several seemed to be right. Donna Edwards saw the war in Iraq as worth her minute, and it qualifies as both a high priority short term threat and one that deserves prompt attention from the next Congress. Another candidate suggested that the economy was the problem, and clearly if the country can not maintain a strong economy it will indeed be insecure. George Mitchell said that the education of America's children was the problem, and in the long run a well educated population is surely the country's best security -- and certainly the education system needs to be improved. Someone said that we ourselves are the greatest threat to American security, and that too is probably true.