In my opinion, our politics have become fossilized; even stultified. The two parties are not appealing to voters; the ranks of the unaffiliated grow and the disillusionment of the electorate gets ever larger. It is time to break out of the politics of old and create a new awakening in American politics. I offer this plan as a way to break free of the old strictures and spark a new energy. Your comments are extremely welcome! Please note these are bullet points -- you and I will flesh these out as we move forward.
This is "The Plan":
•An economic, progressive populist agenda, focused on the economic elites that have outsourced our jobs, shifted the tax burden to the middle class and destroyed the fabric of our nation with wedge issues.
•Restore tax fairness - return to the Roosevelt/Eisenhower tax structure of a true progressive income tax;
•Tax stock transactions on Wall Street;
•End all tax subsidies to corporations;
•Re-write the tax laws to strip out most, if not all, deductions, and make the tax laws simple and progressive;
•Put white collar criminals behind bars for long terms;
•Encourage "whistle blowers" who expose waste, fraud and abuse of taxpayer dollars;
•Public financing of political campaigns and outlaw private contributions to politicians;
•Use the antitrust laws to bust up the big trusts;
•Institute a "wealth tax" to recover much of the money that has been looted by the top 2%;
•Tax companies that send American jobs overseas to punish this practice;
•Get rid of "free trade agreements" and institute large tariffs on imports to level the playing field between cheap labor from overseas that has resulted from outsourcing;
•Cut the military budget by 10% per year for each of the next 5 years;
•Leave Iraq and Afghanistan as soon as possible;
•Close many of the American military bases overseas and shift the burden of being the "world's police force" to other countries on a more equitable basis;
•Build up the unions as a counterbalance to corporate power;
•Institute "Medicare for All" as either a buy-in or through a broad based group of "nickel and dime" taxes;
•Institute a massive investment in clean, renewable energy;
•Legalize marijuana, for tax revenue and to cut down on crime;
•End the ridiculous "War on Drugs";
•Re-cast "conservatism" as being for privacy rights and against intrusion into people's personal lives;
•Reclaim God as not a divisive force.