Prometheus 6

I went ot a John Edwards fundraiser yesterday. They got this "Small Change for Big Change" tour working, $15 a head. Kind of the inverse of your typical Republican fundraiser. I got email asking if I was interested in blogging it, so I'm still uncommitted because I didn't make the donation.

I wasn't a huge venue but the joint was packed, seriously. The crowd sort of looked like the Deaniacs grew up. Out of the couple hundred there I could count the Black folks, excluding me, literally on one hand but I've been watching long enough by now not to put that on anything but choice.

Edwards as you know is focusing on poverty and he ran down the list of his issues and positions thereon. Two surprised me. He promised to regulate predatory lending out of existence. Good, bringing back usury laws would be a good thing. Tough...I'm pretty sure the Feds could do something with federally chartered banks but the 'good faith and credit" thing would keep the door open for usury by state chartered banks.

He also promises free college tuition in exchange for 10 hours per weeks public service (I think) work. He said they're doing that in North Carolina already. I like that; I also like the program they have in New Mexico where people who attend their state schools and go on to public sector jobs in NM have their interest waived for as long as they work in the state's public sector.

He supported requiring a living wage. And, of course, his universal health care/insurance program was mentioned. I put the slash there because he said "health care" but everyone is actually talking health insurance.

Edwards then went to the nations' moral stance. Iraq, of course, but he promised to close Gitmo if it's still open if he's elected. Now, the whole legal argument for Gitmo is so shot full of holes by now that they're already talking about closing it down. But it was a pretty big applause point. Fighting the African genocides (Sudan and AIDS) was also an applause point. I myself applauded.

And, of course, the search for biofuels was raised. This is where I think the speech was weakest because he expects too may goods to flow from the mere existence of a biofuels industry. He thinks biofuel will be the methadone to the heroin that is oil. He thinks a global switch to biofuels will force the Middle Eastern countries to switch their economy from being oil driven to a knowledge and technology driven one. Edwards also said the wealthy yet land-poor nations, needing land for their own biofuel production, will naturally turn to Africa, creating commerce to lift their standard of living too.

These are speculations that gets no support from history or what I know of the current state of affairs. Gasoline, which for all the price complaints is still the cheapest liquid you can buy, is by no means the only thing extracted for value from oil. Switching from petroleum to biofuels will not reduce th amount of oil solid by a single gallon. And then there's Africa, where like too many leaders worldwide are trained to care about no more than their cut.

Still, of the front runners Edwards is the most progressive by far. Sen. Obama has apparently offered up more positions and I still need to see what they are for myself.