(4 pm. – promoted by ek hornbeck)
Barack Obama is going to win this election: it’s a little hard to wrap the mind around that idea, but darn it, Bill Clinton won in 1992 and knocked Bush the First out for the count, so why not believe? I think we understand that Obama is not going to enter his presidency with the progressive liberal agenda we would like to see. But this is a chance to put our agenda on the table and push it hard, because with a Democratic congress, the next four years could be a turning point for this poor Democracy of ours. Here are some suggestions for the agenda.
1. Pull the teeth of corporate interests that are eating us alive.
2. Put the bite on the national government to invest in public education.
3. Throw out the standards and practices that diminish the existence of so many of us.
4. Build from the rubble of our society one that cares about good health and a good environment.
Where will the money come from? The 12 billion dollars this country spends each month to keep confict alive End the war in Afghanistan and Iraq. Not only is war expensive, but it’s also bad for children and other living things.
Items for our agenda.
1. Pull the teeth of corporate interests that are eating us alive.
A. While interest rates are dropping, banks are raising their overdraft and maintenance charges. Who is affected by the raised fees? The ones who really need a bailout. I propose a forced reduction of all bank fees is a way to pass on the banks’ benefits from the bailout to the people.
B. Executive salaries are way off the charts. Place limits on the amount of difference allowed between top dollar and low wage jobs in any company or corporation.
C. Establish usery laws. Why be greedy?
2. Put the bite on the national government to invest in public education.
A. The national government passed responsibility to state governments who then passed responsibility to communities to fund education. The results are a regionally defined quality of education. Standardized funding of education is necessary to guarantee every school-aged child an equal opportunity for a good education and access to the necessary tools, no matter what the economic status of the family may be.
B. Charter schools and other forms of nonprofit schools take money away from the public school system. No public money should be given to apply toward private schooling. Period.
C. Too many academic institutions depend on the donations of military and corporate interests for survival. What puts the money on the table is what the institutions serve. Demand support by the states for state university systems.
3. Throw out the conditions that diminish the existence of so many of our friends.
A. Marriage for every couple that wants it.
B. Privacy, please. No phone tapping, no e-mail monitoring, no cameras on our private lives.
C. Prison reform. No more privately run prisons. Better living conditions for inmates. And reinstatement of citizenship privileges once the time is served.
4. Build from the rubble of our society one that cares about good health and a good environment.
A. Oil companies and their investors enjoyed a substantial profit this year. We were paying around $4 a gallon to make sure they got richer. Today, the price of a gallon of gasolene at my neighborhood station is $2.18. Because the per barrel price is so low, OPEC plans a reduction of oil production. Isn’t this a good time to force the oil companies to invest in alternate sustainable energy sources and put a cap on profits and executive salaries?
B. Also concerning the energy problem, and before T. Boone Pickens find a way to own the energy produced from sun, wind, and rain, let’s revise building codes to require solar power systems and solar-powered appliances in new home production and give 100% tax break for the cost of conversion to solar power.
C. Insurance for everyone! Edward Kennedy plans to introduce a universal health care proposal as soon as the new congress is seated next year. There have been meetings involving members of congress, insurance interests, medical groups, and business and labor leaders to assure everyone’s concerns are addressed before the proposal is offered. With a Democratic congress, there’s a very good chance that we will see this happen.
Please share your insights and ideas.
17 comments
Skip to comment form
Author
The four points are listed in inverse order of importance. At least a fifth point, number three in the list and concerning political reform, will be added. And I have yet to plug in points already made in entries by all of you. I plan to post a second draft next week.
One throw away sentence for the 1 million Iraqi’s killed in Iraq…the rest is about ME ME ME ME ME ME ME ME ME ME ME ME ME ME ME ME ME ME ……about US….
the US US A…..or is it the USA….
Americans care for NO ONE BUT THEMSELVES as illustrated in this diary about AGENDAS….
1 million dead and counting for an illegal war that everyone acknowledges is illegal….but everyone just IGNORES….
A large reason YOUR economy is down the tubes is because of the war…since HUMAN LIFE means nothing to you…or the any kind of life for that matter…YOUR EMPHASIS IS M O N E Y….maybe you ought to emphasize that …
This is another disgusting selfish diary that ignores anything that exists out of the suburban world of America.
although I don’t think we can withdraw from Afghanistan so easily: it was messed up before we got there, and we’ve fucked it over royally since then. And simply on humanitarian grounds (i.e. what the Taliban did to the women there) we cannot let the Taliban regain control. Not that tribal chiefs are any better! But the Taliban was truly evil in the way it treated half of the population: the female half.
Now, a question: I seem to recall reading, over at Big Orange, that an Obama presidency would keep intact a website for citizens to voice opinions. Do you know whether this is true? If so, it might give us a way to organize the netroots and exert a bit of progressive influence on an Obama presidency. Because, although I like him, he is far too conservative imho.
Let freedom ring and socialism envelop the county, creating a more caring and contributing society than the nasty anal retentive one stuffed down our throats for 30 years by a fascist Republican regime.
If Obama seizes the time and and makes bold FDR like change instead of DLC incremental change, the Republicans will smolder in ashes for 8 years before they can even get it together to wander in the desert for another 25 years. If he turns into Bill Clinton, they’ll be back in eight. The real fight to take our party back begins immediately.
Obama can be a good President and make history for being the first black President, OR he can be a great President and make history for being the first black President and saving the country.
This should be an agenda item of ours for its own sake. It is also another source of revenue for all the other things we want.
According to this study cited by ABC News in 2006, marijuana is a cash crop in the U.S. worth $35.8 billion, exceeding the combined value of corn ($23.3 billion) and wheat ($7.5 billion).
According to another study cited in the same place, legalizing marijuana would save the U.S. $7.7 billion annually in law enforcement costs, and legal marijuana would generate an annual tax revenue of $6.2 billion annually, if taxed like alcohol and tobacco.
You can buy a hell of a lot of education and healthcare for $13.9 billion annually.
We had our chance to get Obama to listen, but far too many Democrats decided it was better to shut up and get in line behind him rather than force him to adopt left-wing policy positions. What’s worse, we frittered away our chance to hold Congressional candidates to the proverbial fire. I think the only way we can shape things is to work toward 2010 by making sure progressive independents and Democrats are elected.
Primary runs are only half the equation. If they succeed, great, but we also need to have independent candidates ready to challenge recalcitrant Democrats in general elections. If politicians don’t fear losing the elected seats they hold, they won’t have any incentive to represent their constituents.
My advice is to start locally, if you haven’t already, and spend the next two years building up to state-level offices. Pick a local political party that has a record of getting results, and get disenfranchised progressives to join and organize. Hold meetings to figure out which members are best suited to run for public office and then pool money to get them on the ballots in your communities. Candidates should be screened for potential scandals, have records to match their rhetoric, and be able not only to communicate effectively, but seize and maintain control of the discussion.
Do that and you may be able to shape things in time for the 2010 midterm elections. The time to start is not then, but now, in 2008. Time’s wasting, so let’s get busy!