From Sandy Tracy
Darwin

A recent article in the Leader (Tuesday, April 29) reported on Sen. Norm Coleman’s visit to Hutchinson to promote his health care initiative. Coleman is quoted as saying that every American should have affordable health care “outside a government-run program.”

On Thursday, April 24, I was one of nearly 60 people gathered at Coleman’s office to discuss ideas for funding universal, single-payer health care (which is government-funded but not “government-run”), early childhood and college education, affordable housing and more. We presented Sen. Coleman with the results of a study by the National Priorities Project, which shows that we can easily fund these and other priorities — with considerable money left over for debt reduction — if we bring our troops home from Iraq.

The country is sinking ever-deeper into recession and concerns about the economy are growing in the minds of voters. In a recent SurveyUSA poll, 56 percent of Minnesota voters indicated that they worry about the economy “a lot.” And a staggering 67 percent of Minnesota voters would rather invest the billions we’re dumping into Iraq each week on critical priorities like health care, education and infrastructure, versus only 28 percent who think we’re better off continuing to fund the war in Iraq.

George Bush, John McCain and Norm Coleman have the wrong priorities, throwing away billions of dollars in Iraq while critical needs at home go unmet. When we delivered the report to Sen. Coleman’s office his state director, Vicki Tigwell, promised a response from the senator. I look forward to seeing how his stated priorities align with those of most Minnesotans.