Issues and Views

Below is a list of major issues and the views of Former Vice President Al Gore. These views were taken from public statements, speeches, debates, interviews, etc. from throughout Mr. Gore's career.

Abortion
Supports woman's right to choose and will defend against any attack.
Ban partial-birth abortion, except for maternal health.

Civil Rights
Tipper & Al pushed for voluntary record lyric labeling.
Confederate flag divides-remove it, but no boycott.
Review disenfranchisement of felons but keep the concept.
Affirmative action: mend it, don't end it.
Close gender gap; equal pay for women.
Find some way for civic union; but not gay marriage.
Eliminate don't ask, don't tell; allow homosexuals to serve in the army.
Repeal parts of USA Patriot Act that invade privacy and that violate civil liberties.

Education
Favors increased federal spending to cut class size, recruit teachers and assist districts in paying for special education.
Supports creating universal pre-school education and savings programs as well as assisting individuals in saving for college and higher education.
Against vouchers; build up public schools instead.
For-profit schools OK within public system.
Shut failing schools, but then re-open and turn them around.

Health care
Wants subsidies to ensure that children, even in working poor and lower-middle class families, have access to health care.
Would increase tax credits to make insurance more affordable to small businesses.
Would add a prescription drug benefit to Medicare.
Wants some form of non-government universal health care.
Physicians, not HMOs should make medical decisions.
Stronger penalties for HMOs who drop seniors.
Remove stigma and treat mental illness like physical illness.
Medicare Rx plan: you choose, Medicare pays.
Allow 55-65 year olds to buy into Medicare.
Protect Medicare's funds with lockbox.
Patient rights: power to doctors, but patients should have the right of appeal.

Social Security
Wants to use $1.8 trillion of the projected surplus over the next 10 years to secure program until 2050.
Social Security Plus: voluntary tax-free private investment.
Use stock market for private investment, not Social Security.
Privatization is stock market roulette.
Opposed cutting Medicare; commit more funds instead.

Immigration
English is our language, but being English-only divides us.
Citizenship for 1.2 million cleared backlog, but sacrifices quality.
More immigrants to alleviate labor shortage.
Immigrants from communist Cuba are different.
Immigration leads to diversity and cultural tolerance.

Agriculture
Existing policy needs to be replaced with a safety net that increases income assistance to farmers when prices fall, depressing farm income.
Safety net for farmers and focused rural development.
Supports ethanol subsidies and farm safety net.

Trade
Link trade to the environment and labor.
Agrees with unions on most of the issues, but not on free trade.
Free and fair trade means economic growth and jobs.
Protectionism only protects us from prosperity.
WTO requires Japan & Europe to deal with our trade issues.
Open markets with safeguards for labor and environment.

Taxes
Favors targeted tax cuts to help working families save for education and retirement.
Except for wealthiest, people should be exempt from estate tax.
Cut taxes for 99% of middle class, but not the wealthiest 1%.
Lower taxes for working families with targeted tax reform.
Save Social Security, Medicare, and address debt before cuts.
Eliminate the estate tax for the little guy, not the wealthy.

Campaign finance reform
Favors broad campaign finance reform that would ban soft money, provide free and discounted TV and radio time.
Favors tighter limitations on PAC and individual contributions.
Campaign finance reform will help end cynicism in politics.
Free TV and radio for candidates during campaigns.

Principles and religion
I have kept the faith with family and in office.
America's mission: prove that freedom and diversity work.
Teach morals and character in schools.
God should play an important role in life.
Voluntary school prayer is OK, if teachers aren't involved.
Respect the Constitution and others when affirming faith.
Faith-based organizations should replace government programs.

Crime
National hate crimes law is needed badly.
Invest in police and prosecutors to reduce crime.
Recognizes disparities in sentencing blacks.
Tough second-chance schools for kids.
More after school programs to keep kids out of trouble.
Lead a national crusade against drugs.
Careful death penalty for deterrence.
Use DNA techniques to make death penalty more fair.
Death penalty for murdering federal officers.
Crime plan: more police, tougher penalties, and victims' rights.
Three strikes law should apply only to truly violent crimes.

Gun control
Favors requiring child-safety locks on all new guns.
Wants gun buyers to obtain a photo license after passing a background check and safety test and to impose a three-day waiting period.
Focus on gun safety, not hunters and/or sportsmen.
Passed the toughest gun control law in 30 years and the same for the next 30.
Zero tolerance for guns at school.
Raise minimum age to 21.

Environment
Has supported strengthening clean-air standards, accelerating toxic-waste cleanup and expansion of public right-to-know rules.
Supports reducing emission of carbon dioxide and other gases to improve global warming.
Suppors the Kyoto Treaty
Supports national parks
Against drilling ANWR.
Global Marshall Plan: five strategic goals.
Global warming is a clear and present threat, but it is preventable.
The Bush Administration is entirely owned by special interests.
Tax credits and business incentives for energy efficiency.
Release oil from Strategic Petroleum Reserve.
Energy policy: focus on future tech & incentives.

Defense
As a Vietnam veteran, Senator and Vice President, Gore believes in the importance of a strong military force to defend America's vital interests.
The best technology makes the U.S. military the best.
Reform the military to a smaller, but more effective one.
Use military as last resort, only when effective and shared.
Sensible increases in defense spending.
Personnel: better pay, better housing, family services, and health care.
Test Ban Treaty is the tide of history; ratify it.

2003 invasion of Iraq
Opposed the invasion of Iraq due to repeated "false impressions" given by the Bush Administration.
Iraq posed no real threat to the United States, so preemption was unjustified.
The removal of Saddam Hussein was a positive accomplishment.
War with Iraq diverted attention from the real objective: Osama bin Laden
President Bush abused the trust of the people by exploiting the fears of the American people in order to take this nation on an adventure that had been preordained before the attacks of 9/11 ever took place.

Is there any update on this?

Good question AlGoreFan :D

The best person to address this issue, short of Al Gore himself would be the administrator of the GSC forum, Chris D Jackson of Loretto Tennessee.

My take is that Al Gore has been consistent in his principles. But new issues and challenges have arisen and need to be dealt with effectively. Mr Jackson is a very busy man, but we would appreciate any time he could spare for this website and forum.

I too would like to see an update of this great "cheat sheet", as it is 3 years old. There are certainly some refinements that could be made, for clarification if nothing else.

This would make a great source of info for those trying to drum up support at all the upcoming events and when canvasing neighborhoods.

Any chance we might be able to update by 7/7/07?! :!:

I'm all for Al and would vote for him again, but I have a problem with the global warning thing. He has a concert with all the stars joining in to support him. They all fly their big jets to these concerts. They all fly their jets to all concerts to promote their CD's. GAS, GAS, GAS. The global warming needs to start with them. The BIG stars. Also, I don't know about you people, but everyday I recieve at least 2 applications for charge accounts. JUNK mail using up trees to send this junk to us. If we want to open a charge, I'm sure we can find a phone number or a website to get one. This JUNK mail needs to stop. I live pay check to pay check, but I will make changes to help global warning, when and only when these BIG HOT SHOT stars start putting their money where their mouth is. John Travolta for one with his jets parked outside his door.Give me a break. These people make me sick. They don't need to fly for concerts. They can make their millions off their CD's and movies that they over charge for. Wake up America. The stars need to start making changes first.......

read:

"Live Earth was the greenest live event of its kind, setting a standard for sustainable event production and leaving a lasting eco-friendly legacy on the live entertainment industry. Through the guidance and expertise of the world’s leading authorities on sustainability, including the U.S. Green Building Council and creators of the LEED Green Building Rating System, Live Earth implemented first-ever Green Event Guidelines. Artist line-ups were determined based on existing tour schedules to minimize air travel and reduce the event’s carbon footprint. All concerts were scheduled to occur during the day to reduce power output and once events ran into the evening, all electricity was from renewable sources, either through utility supplied renewable energy, biodiesel generators, or renewable energy credits. Concessionaries were encouraged to use suppliers of biodegradable plastics while minimizing waste through a comprehensive recycling and reuse system organized at the venue. Live Earth staff and artist travel was off-set through carbon credits and ground transportation was limited to hybrids and high-efficiency vehicles. As proof of Live Earth’s continued commitment to sustainability, PricewaterhouseCoopers has been retained to independently assess Live Earth’s carbon footprint methodology and reporting procedures to ensure that it is accurately calculating and offsetting the carbon emissions from the concerts. As a result Live Earth’s achievement in identifying greening guidelines for the live entertainment industry and reducing its carbon footprint, the organization has been invited by British Standards Institution (BSI), the leading standards organization for the UK, to collaborate in the development of a comprehensive greening guidelines publication."

Are you calling them liars?

http://www.liveearth.org/?p=237

It was a great event and i'm glad Al did this. :)

NO, I'm not calling anyone a liar. Pretty defensive, aren't we? Ok, so they did good for the Green Live concert, (I didn't realize this) now, what about all the concerts they do through the year? Day after day, month after month, year after year. Are you telling me the RICH STARS are watching their usage and saving on energy? Doubt it. They are all a bunch of snobs, living in a world of their own. And how about the paper issue? How about Al addressing that.
By the way, I NEVER accused anyone of being a liar..so DON"T go there..

Oh, so Al showing them all how it should be done is not enough for one man? Now it is up to him to do it "Day after day, month after month, year after year"????

How are YOU addressing that?

LOL..Am I speaking in a foreign language or something? Why in God's name would I except Gore to take these rich idiot movie stars by the hand and lead them everyday to show them how it's done? :laugh: That's not Al's job. They all need to do it on their own. NO MORE CONCERTS unless they all have wings and can fly themselves.
Until then, ALL the people are not going to make an effort to help things, because all I hear is them complaining about the movie stars and how they live and DON"T do anything to help this world. They need to let people see they are making an effort. They are the ones I hear people complain about. The Rich Snobs with all the money that think they can do whatever they want because they are rich. Now, is that English enough for you? Nothing said here about Al taking people by the hnad and showing them anything. I don't know where you got that from.... :?:

We are all in God's hnads.

Because of Live Earth’s achievement in identifying greening guidelines for the live entertainment industry and reducing its carbon footprint, the organization has been invited by British Standards Institution (BSI), the leading standards organization for the UK, to collaborate in the development of a comprehensive greening guidelines publication.

Why do you continue to rail against this effort? It is not about everyone else who chooses to neglect this effort.

I asked "How are YOU addressing that?"

Here you are posing it the the LIVE EARTH team and Gore. Otherwise, why post it here?

Yes, 'algoraphobic,' "the communist moderator" deleted your post full of lies and AL GORE bashing. I guess someone forgot to read the rules before registering and re-registering.

It's your right to praise a liar, thief and a fraud, like Bush, but do it somewhere else. You're not debating the issues, just spewing out lies and bashing members, moderators and AL GORE.