Democratic Debate Exposes Racism, Violence, Health Care Problems Plaguing US

Democratic Debate Exposes Racism, Violence, Health Care Problems Plaguing US

The deep roots of US racism, the loss of multiple thousands of lives to crime and domestic violence every year and the miserable state of national health care took center stage in the third nationally broadcast debate of leading candidates for the Democratic nomination for next year's US presidential election competed on a stage in Houston, Texas

WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 13th September, 2019) The deep roots of US racism, the loss of multiple thousands of lives to crime and domestic violence every year and the miserable state of national health care took center stage in the third nationally broadcast debate of leading candidates for the Democratic nomination for next year's US presidential election competed on a stage in Houston, Texas.

The ten leading candidates in terms of recent opinion polls were given more time to explain and defend their positions on major issues in the debate at Texas Southern University on Thursday night.

Senator Cory Booker, former Congressman Beto O'Rourke and former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Julian Castro all emphasized the deep roots and growing threat of racism in the United States

"White supremacy is a growing threat in this country and we have to root it out," Castro said.

Booker said the American people needed to have the courage to identify, condemn and eliminate the systematic racism that still existed in their society.

South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg said the problems of racism in the United States had existed long before President Donald Trump took office and would not disappear when he left it.

The race tensions and conflicts "preceded this president, and even when we defeat him, it will be with us," he said.

O'Rourke accused Trump of inspiring the gunman who killed 22 people in El Paso, Texas last month in a race hate-motivated mass shooting.

"Twenty two people were killed, dozens more grievously injured by a man carrying a weapon who should never have been able to buy in the first place - inspired to kill by our president," O'Rourke said.

Booker was also scathing about the toll of gun violence and the conditions of the criminal justice system and mental heath care across the United States.

"We have had more people killed by gun violence in my lifetime than in every single war" in the history of the United States, he said.

Some 17,000 people remained "unjustly incarcerated" for crimes they had not committed across the United States, Booker continued.

The candidates debated vigorously on their competing plans to expand health care. The cost of dealing with catastrophic diseases, especially cancers and heart diseases was ruining hundreds of thousands of lives, Senator Bernie Sanders said.

"Five hundred thousand Americans are going bankrupt," Sanders said.

O'Rourke said in his state of Texas, mental health care was woefully deficient and unavailable to many who needed it.

"The largest provider of mental health care in Texas is the county jail system." he said.

Former Vice President Joe Biden was a vigorous, confident presence in the debate. Castro attacked him for allegedly reversing his position ten minutes after he uttered it on his health care plan but a fact check confirmed Biden had not done so.

Sanders was the most outspoken of the candidates on the need to slash the US military budget.

"I don't think we need to spend $750 billion [a year] on our military when we don't even know who the enemy is." he said.