Run and Vote Progressive in 2008

If you believe in the value of physical exercise, that’s a good reason to support a progressive presidential candidate in 2008. Right wing politics are interfering with the ability of Americans to go outside and get some good exercise.

The right wing government has become so obsessed with protecting the profits of big oil corporations that it’s become dangerous in many places just to go outside for an invigorating run. Take, for instance, what’s happening in Salt Lake City, Utah, where it has become a major health risk to exercise outside.

The problem is that Salt Lake City produces a huge amount of air pollution, and the local geography gives little opportunity for that pollution to blow away to bother people somewhere else. So, the citizens of Salt Lake City stew in their own filthy air. Runner Monique Heileson explains how, during a five mile training run, she “started feeling lightheaded, started getting a little sore throat, finished up the run, went to work. By the end of the day I was coughing, sneezing. I could really feel it heavy in the lungs.”

Progressives have been arguing in favor of policies to reduce air pollution in American cities, but right wingers have been preventing those policies from being put into effect. As a result, people like Monique Heileson who want to exercise to improve their health end up just getting sicker.

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