Tuesday’s debaters would do well to land on right side of these issues

Sunday, Oct. 11, 2015 | 2 a.m.

Tuesday evening the five major Democratic candidates for president will meet at the Wynn Las Vegas resort for their first debate. Nevada’s early position in the lineup of caucuses and primary elections, and our swing-state status, means there’s a lot at stake for these candidates in saying the right things.

If those candidates want the support of Nevadans going into the Feb. 20 caucus, as well as to be properly positioned for the general election, we have some advice on how they should stand on these nine issues of importance to those of us who live here.

Protect Yucca Mountain

States with nuclear power plants have eyed Yucca Mountain since the late 1980s as a place to bury spent but still highly radioactive fuel rods. No state offered to host a repository, so Congress shoved it down Nevada’s throat when we didn’t have the political means to fend off the bullies.

Years of research and loads of common sense have made it clear that Nevadans would be at significant risk if 77,000 tons of nuclear waste were buried 90 miles from the Las Vegas Valley, home to 2 million people and a thriving tourism industry that pays the lion’s share of the state’s bills. Then, too, there’s the inherent danger to states across the country through which the transportation routes would traverse. Today, companies in other states want to store nuclear waste. Let them have it, and leave us alone.

Reform immigration law

Study after reputable study shows immigrants who have entered the country illegally are a greater economic benefit to the country than a drain. They want jobs, they want schooling, they want to improve their lot in life — a goal that will benefit the country as well — and they pay property, sales and other taxes. Many have arrived here to join family members who legally entered or who were born here.

It would be the height of inefficiency and immorality to try to send home 11 million people who have come here over the past three decades — dividing families, stranding breadwinners, causing all kinds of chaos where it is not necessary.

An efficient and fair path toward citizenship makes sense, where people will no longer need to live in the shadows. For a nation built by immigrants, it is both the compassionate and the economically sensible thing to do.

Build on the Affordable Care Act

Obamacare has had its growing pains and needs some tinkering under the hood, but the fact is, more than 16 million uninsured people have gained health coverage — the largest reduction in the ranks of the uninsured in four decades. Yes, some rates have gone up, partly because of the righteous requirement that insurers extend coverage to people with pre-existing conditions (which accounts for about half of us). But rate increases also have slowed under some plans.

Overall, Obamacare is working. Years ago, when the welfare system was being reformed, the saying was, “Mend it, don’t end it.” We suggest the same attitude toward Obamacare.

Control access to guns

It’s not that there are too many guns in circulation — which there are, enough for every man, woman and child in America and sufficient to create the world’s largest militia — but that too many of them are in the hands of people who are not fit to own them.

There have been flaws — bureaucratically and technologically — in how background checks have been conducted, recorded and carried out. But the fact is, we need the broadest possible application of background checks to keep devices built specifically to kill out of the hands of criminals and the mentally unstable. The vast majority of Americans — including the vast majority of gun owners — favor expanded background checks. Lawmakers should pay attention to them, not the NRA bullies.

Protect public lands

Too often, our public lands are seen only as places to tap fossil fuel resources. But the very preservation of those lands — their beauty, their use as recreational land and the preservation of the American landscape — is equally justified We are called to be stewards in preserving pristine land for posterity. Besides, towns near public lands have built economies around tourists who come to fish, camp and hike. The release of federal lands for development should be allowed under only the most compelling of reasons.

Reduce student debt

We don’t want our college students’ entry into the real world soured by insurmountable debt. It’s even more troubling when much of the fault for that rests with the institutions themselves for lending habits that allow students to delay repayments for several years, only to then face the mounting cost of high interest rates as well. It’s time to fix this. At the same time, government needs to work with our higher education institutions to make education more affordable for the broadest possible segment of deserving students. It is an appropriate way to invest in our nation’s future.

Increase the minimum wage

The minimum wage too often equates to a poverty-level income for many of Las Vegas’ struggling families. In fact, the current federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour is about 8 percent less than it was in 1968 after being adjusted for inflation. (The Legislature has set a minimum wage of $8.25, still effectively less than the 1968 federal level.)

Increasing the minimum wage would in the long view benefit the economy, but more important, it would immediately benefit workers and their families living on the margins.

Expand clean energy

If ever a state were destined to be a poster child for alternative, clean, renewable energy, it is Nevada. So Las Vegas was the right place for President Barack Obama to pledge, at this year’s National Clean Energy Summit, $1 billion in federal loan guarantees for solar panels on residential rooftops, along with a host of other programs to promote clean energy. The federal government is best positioned to sponsor clean-energy initiatives, on behalf of consumers and the environment alike.

Fund Interstate 11

Of all the adjoining metropolitan areas in the country, the two largest ones that remain unconnected by a free-flowing interstate thoroughfare are Phoenix and Las Vegas. Congress has designated the planned freeway as the “Future I-11,” but the sooner it becomes a reality, the sooner the Southwestern economy can benefit by the direct linking of these two cities that are important to each other and the region.