Reasons 10, 11, 12 to vote Democrat

20 Reasons to vote Democratic: The count continues.

Reason 10: Hospital tax. A change in federal guidelines led to a $90 million shortfall in Mississippi’s Medicaid program. Republican Gov. Haley Barbour and the state’s Division of Medicaid then decided to tax hospitals in order to make up the difference. That’s right – Barbour took it upon himself to help cover the shortfall by charging up to a 1 percent tax on the gross revenue of hospitals. Plans changed when Barbour reported earlier this month he no longer planned to impose the hospital tax this fall. That move, however, doesn’t erase this key point: Barbour sidestepped the Mississippi Legislature and was about to impose his own tax – something that surely would have been passed on to hospital patients, many of whom scrape their bank accounts to pay for medical care. Why take any chances Barbour might try something similar again in the future? Make a difference. Vote Democratic on Nov. 7.

Reason 11: Help working families. Republicans in Washington certainly can’t point to helping rank-and-file Americans – not with consumer prices on the rise and employee wages on the decline. Yet that’s exactly what President Bush and fellow Republicans are doing. And this comes despite the fact that Republicans have blocked raising the national minimum wage of $5.15 an hour, handed out tax giveaways to oil companies and sold America into debt. The facts, however, speak for themselves. Can the United States and the working class – the man-on-the-street who barely makes enough to sustain his family – stand another term with Republicans at the helm? Vote Democratic on Nov. 7 and make a difference.

Reason 12: Stop the tax increases. Republican Gov. Haley Barbour likes to talk about how he opposes any kind of tax increase, including raising the state sales tax, the state income tax and even the state tobacco tax. But take a closer look at the governor’s first three years and you’ll find a different story – one in which many local governments were forced to raise property taxes to help fund public schools because Barbour has fought fully funding K-12 education. Barbour passed the buck. At the same time, Barbour opposes proposals to cut the state sales tax on groceries and increase the state tax on cigarettes – a confused, mixed message, to say the least. Everyone has to eat, but not everyone smokes.