Protecting the Middle Class

By Russ Warner

"The heart and strength of America is found in its middle class."

It is becoming more and more difficult for hard working people to achieve the American dream of home ownership, particularly here in California where housing prices have skyrocketed. Despite this, they have proposed scrapping the property tax deduction and severely reducing the mortgage interest write off.

When Bill Clinton left office, we were on the road to eliminating the national debt for the first time since Andrew Jackson was president - more than 170 years ago. The Bush administration has transformed that record surplus into record deficits, focusing on short-term policies that benefit large corporations and harm the middle class.

Education is at the core of this country's basic promise - that all Americans should be able to make the most of their potential. We need more than a slogan to ensure that our schools are properly funded, so that every young person receives the skills they need to succeed in life.

In California, one in five - more than 6.4 million people - lack medical insurance. Quality health care is a basic right that should be afforded to all Americans. It's time we put the well being of every American first and stop bowing to the medical and pharmaceutical industries and their Washington lobbyists.

Russ Warner will be a leader in the fight to eliminate wasteful governmental spending and begin the work of reducing our growing national debt. He will draw on his life experience and core middle class values as he calls on Congress to increase funding for education, to provide quality health care to every American, to secure our future by promoting environmentally responsible use of our natural resources and to expand middle class tax relief.