ROCHESTER — Presidential candidate Martin O’Malley issued a challenge to voters and to his fellow Democratic challengers on Sunday when he asked all of them to stand behind a four-point plan he said can help cut gun violence in half.
About 100 Strafford County Democrats attended their fall social Sunday night and heard from two presidential candidates and representatives of two other campaigns.
"The sickness in our country of gun violence has to stop" said O’Malley. "We bury thousands of Americans who needlessly die violent deaths as a result of our society’s obsession with guns. There is not another developed nation on this planet that has the same problem. This week we saw another nine people struck down by gun violence."
O’Malley said his state, Maryland, has put together legislation that has been effective.
"We took action after Newtown, Conn.," said the former Maryland governor. "We passed legislation that had comprehensive background checks, and banned assault weapons. We need to apply this to our country in order to cut gun violence in half in the next 10 years in the U.S. That is one of my goals, and with a specific road map, we can."
O’Malley urged everyone at the Democratic meeting to get whoever they choose to support behind his plan, that being a ban on assault weapons, having all gun buyers licensed and fingerprinted, using the full power of the federal government to refuse to buy guns not equipped with the latest safety features, and making illegal gun trafficking a federal crime.
O’Malley said New Hampshire voters have a sacred responsibility, a gift they give to the nation.
"At a time when big money is taking over, here, the individual voter here matters," he said. "And you insist on meeting each of us, two to seven times before you make up your minds."
O’Malley addressed the need for debt-free college, restoring labor and wage policies, keeping minimum wage above the poverty level and making sure there is equal pay for equal work for men and women. He said he supports a sensible approach to climate change, paid family leave, and no longer turning a blind eye to reckless behavior on Wall Street.
Former Rhode Island Governor Lincoln Chafee said the next president must be a world leader, with a vision for the future.
"Look at a candidate’s record, what they did, their character, and their vision for the future," said Chafee.
He started his political career as a Republican, but Chafee said what he saw while in Washington during the Bush administration changed his mind.
"I saw right away that Bush was not living up to his promises, from day one," he said. "He was divisive, arrogant and I voted against his tax cuts for the wealth, against the war in Iraq. I invite you to scrutinize my record. I have the courage to take tough votes for the long term. I have no scandals, a strong backbone, and a vision for the future. I am concerned about the direction this country is going."
Saying his state had the strongest roll out of the Affordable Health Care Act, he urged voters to stand behind it.
"Let's not turn over the apple cart with all the Republicans looking to destroy this," said Chafee. "It’s a good thing. We are having a great experience with it in Rhode Island."
Speaking on behalf of the Bernie Sanders Campaign was Jerry Greenfield, co-founder of Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream.
"It’s business as usual right now," said Greenfield. "Politics is more of the same, more money for wealthy and less for everyone else. The system isn’t broken; it’s fixed, rigged. It’s no accident that 90 percent of wealth goes to the top 1 percent. The laws are written by politicians bought with millions of dollars of campaign contributions. Bernie led the fight to change this. He is the real thing."
Greenfield said Sanders is not about reading polls and figuring out what to say to get elected. He said he is about justice and sound financial sense.
"He’s been saying the same thing for 20 years, leading with his heart," said Greenfield. "The U.S. is the richest country in the world and we can do better. We can divide the pie more fairly. We need to end the social security cap, restore the estate tax, institute a financial transaction tax and get rid of offshore companies that do not pay taxes. We could generate hundreds of billions of dollars a year to invest here."
Sanders wants to give access to college to qualified students regardless of their ability to pay, Greenfield said. He believes that healthcare is a human right so he supports universal health care.
"Bernie knows that we cannot allow people to exploit workers with unfair wages," said Greenfield. "If we raise the minimum wage; we put money in people’s pockets. They spend and stimulate the economy."
Massachusetts Rep. Katherine Clark came to represent the Hillary Clinton campaign, calling her the most experienced candidate running for president.
"It’s been a long and painful week," said Clark. "We have 151 members of congress who voted to shut down our government over Planned Parenthood. I don’t care what your feelings are about them but there are no federal funds going to abortions. It’s about health care for people in underserved communities. Hillary stands with choice and the reason I speak for Hillary is that we have to keep pushing issues that matter to us. She is a leader on women’s equality. She knows peace come from diplomacy, not war. She fought for the Family Medical Leave Act. We need a leader on these issues."
Clark said Clinton is a champion for education because it changes lives.
"She is focused on the crippling cost of college education," Clark said. "Our dream is that our kids do better than we did, and that can’t be if we cripple them with debt."
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