Are you concerned about family values? That’s why we need to elect Democrats. Democrats founded the Department of Education in America. Democrats passed the Family and Medical Leave Act to prevent working parents from being fired when they have to leave work to care for a sick child. That act had been on hold for years because Republicans opposed the idea.

Republicans also opposed the World Health Organization (WHO) code to hold formula companies accountable for their unethical marketing tactics that harm mothers and babies. While the rest of the world signed the WHO code in 1980, babies in the United States had no protection from unscrupulous corporations until Democratic President Bill Clinton took office. Democrats have a bill before the House now to protect breastfeeding mothers from discrimination and offer them a tax break for contributing to the public health.

Speaking of children, Democrats also implemented the State Children’s Health Insurance (SCHIP) program that provides health care for millions of poor children. Democrats continue to fight valiantly for the program in the face of funding cuts and repeated vetoes by Republicans.

Are you concerned about Christian values? The last president who actually attended church was Bill Clinton, a Democrat. The next-to-last president to attend church was a Democrat, too. Jimmy Carter preaches, teaches and has written numerous devotionals. As for the current crop of presidential hopefuls, Democratic frontrunners Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have a history of Christian faith that includes conversion, church membership and attendance. By contrast, John McCain is so loosely attached to any church that he changed his credentials from “lifelong Episcopalian” to “been a Baptist for years” mid-campaign.

Are you looking to protect our personal freedoms and civil liberties? That’s why we need to elect Democrats. Republicans have conceived attack after attack on the rights we hold dear. Bush launched the Patriot Act, suspending the right to habeas corpus. Habeas corpus protects us from unlawful arrest by preventing authorities from detaining a person without evidence of a particular crime. Without habeas corpus, we can be arrested without ever breaking the law, and held indefinitely.

Republicans continue to chip away at our civil liberties by spying on Americans through the telephone companies. Although the companies’ actions are illegal and a violation of privacy, blanket immunity protects the companies from prosecution.

Perhaps you are concerned about the economy and prefer to vote for fiscal conservatives. That’s why we need to elect Democrats. The last president to balance the budget was a Democrat. The last president to preside over a budget surplus was a Democrat. Republicans have not so much as broken even since the Nixon era. In fact, President Clinton left office in 2001 with a $127 billion surplus. By 2005, President Bush had burned through that extra money and accumulated a $319 billion deficit.

After another term of Bush, the deficit has spiraled to $9.4 trillion at the time of the writing of this article. The deficit will be higher when you actually read this piece, since it is increasing by $1.7 billion per day. In case you’re wondering what this means to you, your personal share of the budget deficit is $31,001.26 and rising.

Sure, Republicans will cut funding in the name of tax relief. They cut school lunch programs, health programs, and help for the elderly. They cut school funds to help special needs kids — both gifted and learning delayed. Federal and state cuts mean that individual school districts must raise property taxes, suspend programs, or lay off teachers. Look around you and notice that they are doing all of the above just to make ends meet and stay solvent.

Republicans like to call Democrats “tax and spend.” In reality, it is Republicans who tax and spend — but they cut important programs while doing so. They spend everything in the budget and more, then use the budget as an excuse to hurt the helpless. After your child’s special needs teacher is let go, do you think you will receive a tax refund based on her lay-off? Hardly. That money is needed for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

The war in Iraq costs Americans some $275 million per day. According to the New York Times, the $1.2 trillion spent on Iraq up through January is enough money to fund the following U.S. improvements — an unprecedented public health campaign that doubles cancer research funding, treats every unmanaged diabetic and heart disease patient, and saves millions of lives through global immunization. In 10 years, this program would only use half the money. We could also fund a preschool program for every 3 and 4-year-old in the country, and give New Orleans a gigantic reconstruction boost.

The rest of the money could be spent improving national security by implementing the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission, which Bush chooses to ignore. We would still have money to finance the war in Afghanistan to hold back the Taliban, and fund a peacekeeping force to stop genocide in Darfur.

Are you concerned about security in a time of war? That’s why we need to elect Democrats. Let’s look at security on a local level. Notice that the sheriffs of Whitfield, Walker and Catoosa counties are all Democrats, and all known for their ability to keep order and provide safety. Nationally, the same is true. It was a Democratic president who won World War I. It was a Democratic president who won World War II.

What exactly is the Republican war legacy? Vietnam? Korea? Afghanistan and Iraq? Republicans do not even declare war properly. They surely don’t know how to declare peace.

Democratic leaders are our best hope for a brighter future.

Jeannie Babb Taylor may be contacted at jeannie@babb.com, or you can leave a public comment on her blog at JeannieBabbTaylor.com.