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# 213 Tuesday, August 22, 2006 - Wednesday August 23, 2006 - ENABLE THE DISABLED: PROTECT THE STEM CELL MAJORITY Have you heard this line before? "Oh, no, we could not get involved-it's political-we could lose our tax-exempt status!" As someone trying to get people to exercise their right to power, I hear it all the time. Most frustratingly, I hear it from the good guys. Like the Paralyzed Veterans of America. Talk about a group of people with a right to be heard and to be influential-paralyzed veterans, soldiers who are paralyzed, many wounded in the defense of their country? Who could be more universally acknowledged as noble? Once, they were the champions of research. But somebody got to them. Now, if you call the PVA and ask them to get involved in any kind of issue relating to stem cell research, they can't get off the phone fast enough. The opposition seems to feel no such conflict. If there was ever a group which (it seems to me) has no right to influence elections, it would be the Religious Right. Our Constitution specifically separates religion from government-does that stop the Religious Right? Not for a second. They use their free radio time, free TV time, and all the power of the pulpit to pound their message home. I will not soon forget the five-foot stack of anti-Proposition 71 literature I saw in the church my grandson was baptized in, or the accompanying pamphlet on five unforgivable sins, two of which were stem cell research (one was SCNT, which they gently described as killing babies). How about 70 million Voter Guides passed out by one Religious Right organization alone, the Christian Coalition, in 2000, (5 million given out in Florida) and 24 million (more carefully targeted) in 2004? But maybe I am worried for nothing, and the Religious Right given up its highly successful tactics? Take a look at "Conservatives Put Faith in Church Voter Drives" by Peter Wallsten, August 15, 2006. WASHINGTON - . evangelical leaders are launching a massive registration drive that could . mobilize new religious voters in battleground states. "The program, coordinated by the Colorado-based group Focus on the Family (an arm of which is suing California's stem cell research program-DR) .its influential founder, James C. Dobson, would use . information inserted in church publications. to recruit millions of new voters in 2006.. conducting a voter-registration drive, distributing voter guides and get-out-the-vote efforts.". "Everybody knows where their audience is, and we know who our audience is," said Phil Burress, president of Citizens for Community Values, an Ohio-based group coordinating voter registration with Dobson's organization. "Absolutely we can target who we want to register to vote," he said. "There's nothing that prevents us from doing that." ". in Ohio.the plan calls for 3 million bulletins detailing voter registration procedures to be placed in publications distributed by 15,000 churches. "The group will also distribute voter guides listing candidates' views on same-sex marriage, abortion, stem cell research and other hot-button issues. . evangelical leaders .were distressed by Congress's.support of expanded federal spending on embryonic stem cell research." --the Los Angeles Times, August 15, 2006 So should we do the same? No. I do not think Churches should be used by any political party. But we can learn from the Religious Right when it comes to registering voters. Whatever political party you support, we can all agree on one key non-partisan point: the vital importance of voting. Imagine for a moment that you did not vote. Even if you were a member of the largest group of potential voters in America-but you did not register, did not vote? Would your issues be considered by the politicians in power? Disability issues are far more than stem cell research alone, important as that is-issues like access, the erosion of the Americans Disability Act, unemployment, poverty, health care and many more. But if the disabled community does not vote.(I know, it's very difficult to get out of the house-but what about this?) I recommend a voter registration drive to enable the disabled, encouraging our families and friends to vote-- from the safety and comfort of your own home-using the absentee ballot. If we choose to use it, we have the power. If we vote as a block, no party could ignore us. You have heard the statistics about "one hundred million Americans with an incurable condition"-that is one in three people, not counting their families. But let's be more conservative. Let's just take a look at those Americans like my son Roman, who (and it hurts to say it) is specifically designated as disabled. Now Roman will definitely vote. No question. He would sooner stop breathing than skip an election. Would it make a difference if more disabled folks voted? Let's take a look. Potential voting population is huge: "There were 49.7 million people with some type of . disability living in the United States in 2000.or nearly one person in five."-U.S. Census Bureau, American Factfinder. Is there a party preference? Generally, disabled voters tend to vote Democratic. Bill Clinton won the disability vote 52% to 29% in 1992, and even more four years later, 69% to 23%. In the 2000 election, Vice President Al Gore was preferred 56% to 38% over George Bush, and the disabled turned out in substantial numbers to vote for him, an estimated 41%, providing a margin of some three million voters.-sources: Council for Disability Rights, American Association of People with Disabilities, National Organization on Disability, Harris Interactive. In 2004, however, disabled voters preferred Bush 49-41, on the basis of a single issue, terror/Iraq. Non-disabled voters chose Bush 54-36% on that issue. When polled on jobs and the economy, however, the disability community gave 50% approval to Kerry and only 39% to Bush, compared to the general public 45/42% response. With widespread disapproval of the Bush Iraq/terror stance, that single-issue barrier no longer exists. If helped with registration, (especially at-home voting), the disability community offers the possibility of strong gains to Democrats. Not only is the Democratic party the standard-bearer for stem cell research, a clear split between their GOP opposition, (one of the Republican party's goals next year is to criminalize SCNT) but long-term concerns like poverty, health insurance, and unemployment resonate among a community suffering disproportionately from such ills. The 2000 census lists 56.6 % of the disabled as having worked within the past year-implying more than 40% unemployed, a level not seen nationally since the Great Depression. Poverty? "The median income.was $12,800 for severe disabilities, $22,000 for those with milder disabilities, and $25,000 for those with no disabilities." Health Insurance? "19% of adults, ages 25-64 with severe disabilities, had no health insurance. About 17% of those with milder disabilities had no health insurance, while 16% of adults with no disabilities were without health insurance."-cited in Council for Disability, Stephen Ohlemacher, 5/12/06 Where do disabled folks live? The disabled potential voter is found in greatest numbers in the rural South. "Disability was more prevalent among families in the South . Almost two out of every five people with a disability lived in the South."-U.S. Census Bureau. Can disabled folks register on-line? Yes. Can disabled folks vote at home, using the absentee ballot? You bet. If they know about it. Folks, here is the long-term answer to political power-how we can protect and enhance the influence of the Stem Cell Majority. In groups and individually, we must make sure our disabled friends are registered, and set up for the absentee ballot. (I don't know how it works in your state, but in California, if you register on-line and click the button marked send an absentee ballot, one will come to your house for every election from now on.) We only have a few weeks left-because some states have a 90-days-before-voting deadline, and there are only about 120 days left. Please support a disability voting registration drive. Contact your local political party leaders, as well as people of power wherever they are. Contact your groups. Ask them to help register disabled folks, and to send out messages to the disabled, advising how they can register on-line, and vote at home. We can make the difference in battlefield states. Like in Missouri, where stem cell supporter Claire McGaskill is locked in a battle with stem cell opponent Jim Talent. The latest poll I heard, Talent just took a 2% lead, 46% to 44%. The month before, McGaskill had the lead by two per cent. The month before that, they were tied-but Talent has literally twice as much money to spend-and the President and Vice President are visiting that state so often to raise more money for Talent, they really should consider moving there, to save gas. But what if Missouri stem cell supporters helped every disabled person register on line, and they voted by absentee ballot? If unions can turn out 90% of their voters, and the elderly (like me) vote roughly 80%, then I see no reason why we who work for the disability community should not get similar levels of participation from our friends and families-not 30-40%, but 80-90%-- it is easy to register on line, if you are told about it. Enable the disabled! Register on line, vote by absentee ballot. It says in the Good Book, "the meek shall inherit the earth." But to quote somebody else, "Praise the Lord-and pass the ammunition!" Enable the disabled, remember in November- And register our voters, starting now. By Don Reed www.stemcellbattles.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn