Grace Ross, the Green-Rainbow Candidate for Massachusetts governor, spoke to a handful of Tufts students Friday about the widening gap between the rich and the poor and flaws in the state's criminal justice system.
Throughout the speech, Ross consistently argued that government has lost sight of the people it is supposed to serve.
"Somehow we have to get the idea that the Armani suits know how to run the government better out of our head," she said. "We have to start believing in our own capacity to govern ourselves."
Continuing in this vein, Ross criticized conventional politics that emphasize cracking down on criminal offense, arguing that more punishment will not result in less crime.
"Crime won't be deterred by tough-on-crime policies since people, when committing a crime, don't usually think about the long-run consequences," she said. "We have to provide other things to do that are more constructive than crime [punishment]." The government should focus less on criminal justice and more on education, which is itself a form of deterrence, Ross said.
"Over a fourth of the kids in Massachusetts drop out of high school without a diploma," she said. "That's pretty serious ... Most of our major cities also have spiraling murder rates among our youth. We had those in the 90's, and we got out of them, so we know how.
"When the government can't afford to pay for heat in schools during the winter and books, kids get the message that they don't matter. They need to get the message that everybody matters," Ross continued.
Ross also discussed the socioeconomic conditions in Massachusetts, noting that although the state boasts the third highest income in the nation, the disparity between rich and poor is increasing at the third fastest rate in the country. Exacerbating this, she said, is the disproportionate tax burden that rests on the shoulders of the less wealthy.
Ross then spoke about immigration, arguing that social equality requires not only tightening the economic gap, but also granting law-abiding immigrants the rights they deserve.
"We are in the state that said 'no taxation without representation,' and all of those illegal immigrants pay taxes," she said. "They [pay] more taxes than the rest of us, since they can't even get back their social security payments."
Ross also attacked the wastefulness of the state's healthcare system, suggesting that it be made universal.
"Right now we lose 39 cents per dollar spent on health care on administration and advertising," she said. "Other civilized countries provide healthcare that has three cents per dollar spent on administration."
Environmental concerns figured heavily into the latter part of the discussion, as Ross returned frequently to the topic of global warming.
"[If elected], the first thing I'd do is bring the National Guard home [from Iraq], with the justification that we need them to start building dams to protect us against rising water levels due to global warming," she said.
"I've noticed that single mothers have been worrying about global warming," she said. "They might not know the science behind it, but they know it's not safe for their kids to play outside."
Ross acknowledged that she is a long shot for governor but said her policies are in line with what the majority of constituents support.
"The funny thing is that I'm the majority candidate, meaning that Massachusetts doesn't want to continue the war in Iraq, and they want universal healthcare, and I support all of these, yet I'm seen as an outsider," she said. "I don't think we have a clue what's going to come in on Tuesday."
"There's a lot of people under the radar who will vote for me," she said.
