A political agenda for the post-fundraiser era

If the Internet replaces the fund-raiser as the primary source of campaign cash for Democrats, that ought to increase our ability to pass laws that voters, as opposed to donors, like.

Ever since Tony Coehlo figured out that the only way to keep Congressional Democrats competitive in the money race was to sell out to Little Oil, we've been losing votes at the polls because things we'd like to do and that our constituents would like would cost too much in the way of contributions. Oil, financial services, telecommunications, entertainment, high tech, and various chunks of the health care and health-care finance industries have all be important parts of the Democratic donor base, and each has extracted its pound of legislative flesh.

That may be about to change.

Assume for the second that November goes well, with a big win for Obama and increased majorities in both Houses. Assume in addition that the Obama money machine can keep cranking even after he becomes President, and can substantially replace the usual big-money interests as a source of campaign funding for Congressional Democrats.

One implication of that ought to be that some popular (and in some cases populist) programs that Democrats have been shying away from since 1974 because they can't afford to lose the donors suddenly become possible.

So what's the list? What is it that the Democrats ought to do that they haven't been doing?

Here's my preliminary agenda. I'd be interested in suggested additions and subtractions. We're looking for stuff that (1) is good policy; (2) appeals to Democratic constituencies and (3) has been hard to do as result of donor power (as opposed to voter power).

1. Health care finance reform.
2. Taxing hedge fund "carried interest" as ordinary income. [List your own favorite outrageous tax code provision.]
3. Making cable TV operators common carriers charging regulated rates.
4. Bankruptcy un-reform.
5. Protecting credit card consumers from the various games the banks have been playing.
6. Protection of "fair use" against digital rights management.
7. Reversing the "Mickey Mouse Bill" extension of copyright to 99 years.
8. Making student loans a purely public program.
9. Reducing the concentration of media ownership.
10. Eliminating the indentured servant provision of the H(1)b visa, so that a visa-holder can work for any employer and isn't bound to the one which provided the visa.
11. Eliminating the protection for U.S. intellectual property holders in trade agreements. (Okay, so this one isn't especially popular. But the notion of making developing countries enforce our trademark and patent laws as a condition of trading with us is pretty damned unconscionable.)
12. Charging full freight for mineral and grazing rights on federal lands.
13. Limiting the capacity of sellers and employers to force consumers and workers to forgo lawsuits for an arbitration system rigged against the individual. (I'm not sure whether this should mean un-rigging the system or forbidding contracts under which people sign away, e.g., civil rights protections.)
14. Allowing federal agencies to make their data publicly available no matter what commercial data-reseller would lose money as a result.
15. Changes in agricultural policy. (As I understand it, much of the problem here is vote-driven rather than money-driven, but there must be some particular outrages that could be undone without losing many votes.)
16. Net neutrality.

That's a sample. Your suggestions?

Comments

[burnt]

"That may be about to change."

It is changing already... the fact that you are posting here is proof positive.

Many of us have issues that we believe should be brought to the forefront and acted upon. A number of them are directly related to the corporatism that has reigned supreme for a couple of decades, but most especially during the CheneyOilCo's coup of the last 7+ years.

Although I'm not going to go further than this generalization... mainly due to posting limits and the fact that it's Sunday morning, I will make this one suggestion. If you are serious, turn your effort into a website that consistently reaches out to those who would contribute to a prioritized list, and also provides some specific issue detail.

Those who might be in a position to turn progressive ideas into legislative action will need more than general suggestions. The blogosphere has certainly reached the level of maturity needed to assist with that change.

[Pocho]

Missed a few things. Maybe ought to take a look at Cuba, Bolivia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Nicaragua, China, Sweden, Norway, France, UK, Canada, and others to see how civilized nations go about doing things.

[tao53nyc]

14. Does this include everyone's medical data stored under HIPAA regulations? Careful what you wish for. On the other hand, maybe we'll all finally know what really happened at Roswell. It's better to embed every government employee - including elected officials - with an RFID chip so we can follow their every movement on the internet. In addition, all their official phone calls can be listened in on and their bank records made available. Their lives should be a completely open book, while at the same time we restore full 4th Amendment privacy protections for private citizens.
15. End all agricultural subsidies - beginning with that wasteful corn-ethanol fiasco. The family farm today is largely a myth, anyway. You're just giving corporate welfare to Archer-Daniels-Midland
16. I'm ambivalent on this - I hate placing restrictive controls in perpetuity on private corporations. Again, the net is not a public utility. We already pay "tiered" pricing for telephone services and cable/satellite TV. I wouldn't mind paying up a bit for more bandwidth, as long as I'm free to use it any way I wish - i.e., no "throttling" my torrent files. And it can't be monitored without a judge's warrant, with proof of probable cause.

Are Democrats ever going to get over the failed notion that big overbearing government is somehow a positive force?

[tao53nyc]

12. Every time the government "owns" something - especially land and water - the "usage rights" get politicized to the nth degree. Plus, you are tasking the same people who gave you FEMA, Amtrak, the IRS and the postal service to somehow be good stewards of "public" lands. This country is sinking in debt, and the federal gov't owns over 1/3 of the land (90% of Alaska alone). Perhaps a going out of business sale is in order, and those willing to pay the freight can steward their own resources. There is no clear-cutting on privately-owned and managed forests - did you realize that? But that doesn't jibe with your picture of the selfish, evil, greedy, capitalist exploiters your ilk have been selling for the last 100 years, does it?
13. Re-read your Constitution. People have fundamental human rights - given them by whatever God they believe in at birth. The role of Constitutional government is to PROTECT those rights, not "infringe" them. While I'm a big believer in enforcing contracts, no one can sign away "rights" they were born with - and the federal courts have the constitutional authority to put an end to such practices. A couple of class-action suits should do it. All judges have to do is follow the Constitution to the letter. (good luck with that)

[tao53nyc]

9. What are you going to do - force Rupert Murdoch to sell half his holdings? Other forced breakups? That worked really well for Microsoft, didn't it? The issue is not media concentration, especially as - one more time - the internet slowly makes Big Media increasingly irrelevant. The issue is that - except for people like Olberman - there are no independent reporters with the cojones to stand up and speak truth to power. TV news divisions used to be subsidized by the entertainment divisions because the focus was on seeking Truth. Today, news divisions are forced to be profit centers as well - so we end up with "Morning Joe" and "Fox and Friends" - infotainment heavily laced with pro-government propaganda. It's no better than Pravda was. How are you going to legislate your way out of that one?
10. How about we eliminate the H(1) b visa permanently and start retraining American citizens? We shouldn't have to "outsource" key skills to anyone - it's a national disgrace.
11. The very concept of "trade agreements" is "managed trade", not "free" trade. Trade agreements are meant to benefit special interests at everyone else's expense. Perhaps the government should just get out of that business altogether, and leave the problems of IP protections to the owners of the IP. Microsoft as more than enough money to negotiate its own trade deals with private companies in other countries.

[tao53nyc]

7. How about rethinking the whole concept of "copyright"? How about individual artists being forbidden to sell their rights to corporations in the first place? So a rock band, instead of selling their life away to Sony/BMG, has exclusive copyright to their own works always, and the label has to "license" it for a fee, over a fixed number of years? Of course, the internet, again, is making labels irrelevant, as "indy" artists are able to produce/sell their own materials without the huge blood-sucking middleman.
8. This will engender more defaults than ever. By liberals insisting that higher education should be some sort of egalitarian public good, you only succeeded in destroying its value. In decades past, a college degree was a guaranteed step up the ladder, because not everyone could get one - it took hard work, sacrifice, and money. Today, just about everyone has a "degree" in something, and they're mostly meaningless. MBA's, in particular, are like assholes - everybody has one. When you give away a "free" service, you only increase the demand for that service - and who is going to pay the bill?

[tao53nyc]

3. There's this little thing called "market competition" - have you heard of it? If you don't like cable, you can get DirectTV, or get your news on the internet. Cable TV is not a public utility, nor is it a necessity. Getting rid of it might do wonders to solve the problem outlined in #9.
4. I go back and forth on this one - there has to be some "stigma" associated with this, or it will be just too common. But it goes back to educating individuals on the proper uses of credit. It is a "moral obligation", and while some people truly get into situations beyond their control (terminal illness, paralyzing injury, loss of employment for extended periods), others simply allow themselves to get suckered in and get way over their heads. Bankruptcy should always remain the option of last resort, and it needs to carry a significant penalty, like: it's VERY HARD to reestablish credit again afterwards - and the dings follow you forever - no drop offs after 10 years. So...easier bankruptcy? OK...but there's a cost.
5. How about making it harder to get a credit card in the first place? How about individual credit card holders showing some personal responsibility and paying their cards of in full every single month? (Yes, I practice what I preach)

[tao53nyc]

That list just makes my skin crawl. But hey, maybe Dems should get everything they ask for eh? This is what happens in a "pure" democracy. Everyone gets to vote themselves bread and circuses at everyone else's expense. This country is already in an economic collapse because of it's incredible debt load, and, while you advocate making it easier for individuals to file bankruptcy, you make no stand on forcing the government to live within ITS means, if only to set an example.

1. Health "care" in this country is such a politicized, over-regulated mess that the whole thing needs reform - "finance" is a band-aid, and doesn't begin to cut it.
2. Let's get rid of our collective obsession over who's paying "enough" taxes. We're taxed to death, and targeting specific groups is just counter-productive. We need to get over our envy of the successful and create instead a truly level playing field so everyone gets an equal shot at their own greatness. We need to eliminate the income tax entirely, and the government needs to go on a severe diet.

[JFCooper]

1) Limit campaigns for federal office to federal funding
1a) force media giants to provide free political advertising to all candidates
1b) reinstate the FCC's Fairness Doctrine

2) Make television advertising for pharnaceuticals illegal

3) Use executive orders to gut the PATRIOT USA Act and the Military Commissions Act of 2006 until they can be repealed

4) Support democratically elected governments, even if their economic agendas are unfriendly to U.S. corporate interests.
4a) Stop supporting undemocratic governments

5) Fold micro-lending into Peace Corps and Ameri-Corps programs

6) Lean heavily on Israel to grant Israeli Arabs the same political status as Israeli Jews.