( – promoted by buhdydharma )
Welcome to the Progressive Platform Project!
The Progressive Platform we are building will be a sort of blueprint that we believe all progressives, especially candidates, should follow. It will be our beliefs as progressives, where we stand on various issues, and in many cases, what we believe needs to be done on those issues.
In the first post, the idea of creating a Progressive Platform was introduced. I had posted links to various political platforms, so everyone could get an idea of what we are trying to accomplish. Then you were asked to vote on what planks we should include in our platform.
This week we will briefly discuss planks for our platform.
The planks I had listed in the poll were (in order of their vote totals – highest first):
environment/energy independence
fair elections/campaign finance reform
economy/jobs
education
social justice
poverty
civil rights
health care
transparency in government
immigration reform
national security
oversight
This is the order in which we will be dealing with each plank.
What we will do this week in the comments is discuss what you believe progressives should stand for when it comes to the environment and energy independence.
For instance, I believe, as a progressive, that climate change is a real and present danger, that enough scientific data exists to conclude that the actions of humans have affected and are still affecting the increasing rate of global warming, and that we need to take action to both curb the current emission rate as well as promote cleaner energy usage. I believe that we can wean the country off of oil and other fossil fuels and create an entire green jobs sector.
This coming week, I will be thinking of more specific ideas to further this objective and will be positing them in the comments throughout the week and upcoming weekend.
So this weeks discussion in the comments will be what your beliefs are on the environment and energy independence and any ideas or possible solutions you may have regarding these issues.
Next week I will form what we have discussed in the comments into a coherent plank out for your approval and we can further discuss any tweaking to the plank.
Also, next week we will begin discussing the next plank, which is fair elections/campaign finance reform.
In addition, if you can think of any additional planks that should be included in the platform, please tell me in the comments!
One more note: you can always get to the latest Platform Project by clicking on the Progressive Platform Project link in the blog header.
This is a Progressive Blue project. We welcome all suggestions in the comments below; however, in order to affect the official platform, commenters may want to provide their input in the Progressive Platform Project diary at Progressive Blue.
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…Wow! Let’s start out big! This will bear into several other categories as this society is so deeply, deeply dependent on energy.
Our approach to this problem must combine thinking of innovations in jobs and the economy.
Start a new WPA, modeled in part on FDR’s Civilian Conservation Corps. Put people to work now building facilities and generation capacity for wind, solar, wave and other sustainables.
Develop alternatives to agri-business by giving incentives to local growers and farmers’ markets. Foster programs to eat locally and in season.
Build understanding through education of the futility and destructiveness of both a consumption society and a ‘throw away culture’.
Create and return manufacturing to the USA through tariff barriers and monetary incentives.
There is much more to say and do, but I’ll start with this.
I say give both sides 50 bucks and tell the MSM to divide their time equally. These are our airwaves and should be used as such. If one side wants to spend 30 minutes telling lies allow the other side 30 minutes to debunk the lies.
The only way we can ever get honest brokers is to make them be honest from the start.
So a reasonable platform would be…
1. Restore the Fairness Doctrine.
2. Whatever.
3. Whatever.
4. Whatever.
And so on.