A NEW CONTRACT FOR AMERICA
For the first time in literally years, we are hearing the words "moderate" and "Republican" in the same sentence, not merely once, but repeatedly. This has been going on for nearly a month now, and shows no sign of stopping. Republicans who had been pounding their chests and proclaiming their conservatism on every possible public occasion are now, suddenly, backing off from supporting Bush's proposed budget, not merely for rhetorical purposes, but to the point where he cannot get it passed.
A few postings back, I mused about the possibility of a New Bull Moose Party, led by John McCain. Now it's starting to look as if the moderates could actually take back the Republican Party, leaving the Hard Right to form their splinter party (Christian Republicans?)
And, quite a while earlier, I also mentioned how badly the Democratic Party needs some Southern governors in the presidential pipeline. Well, they have one now: Mark Warner, the former governor of Virginia, who just proved his potency by getting his successor elected governor.
At this point, the Democrats need to stop battling about who the 2008 candidate is going to be, and start working out a serious platform for him. Pundits are suggesting a Democratic version of Newt Gingrich's 1994 Contract for America. I think that's going a little far, but it does have possibilities. Let me make some suggestions:
1. Health care. Handled properly, this could be the magic bullet. The current system of employer-based health insurance is not only bad for workers, it is horrendously bad for business. It puts American businesses at a huge disadvantage in dealing with businesses in nations where health care is the responsibility of government. It has been the major or only cause of most strikes and labor disputes over the past ten years. It adds $1500 to the cost of every American-made automobile. It is a historical fluke, the result of a deal with the devil made by Harry Truman and John L. Lewis. WE CAN DO BETTER.
2. Science. Another area in which American business is getting trounced: most of our science and engineering graduates come from outside the US. Most of our research and development is happening in military areas, funded by DoD money. Our research in genetics is being forced outside the country by government fiat against funding stem-cell research. WE HAVE TO DO BETTER. WE CAN'T AFFORD NOT TO.
3. Tax fairness. Teddy Roosevelt knew the value of requiring the people and corporations who have been enriched by the American system to repay the favor. Let's get back to that model.
4. "Moral values." Fiscal responsibility is perhaps the most important positive moral requirement for governments. We cannot keep piling up deficits for our grandchildren to pay. We now know, (as we did not before the Clinton administration) that a US government can not only eliminate deficits, but accrue surpluses. We've done it before, within living memory. Let's do it again.
5. And the other "moral" issues? This is perhaps a more daring proposal, and not quite so much of a slam dunk. But how about the Democrats becoming the party of Minding Your Own Business? Back in the '90s, I was suggesting that the next Democratic platform include a promise that no American will ever again be required to testify under oath about sex between consenting adults. I still think that's a worthy goal, and might be a very popular one.
Closely related and even riskier, but worthy of serious consideration, would be the end of the War on Drugs. It has cost huge amounts of money. It has not reduced drug use appreciably. All it has done is created new, cheaper, and more dangerous drugs of choice, most notably methamphetamine. (The house my husband grew up in, whose most recent owners turned it into a meth lab, has been all but destroyed by the resulting fire and explosion.) And all the War on Meth has brought us is more hassle in trying to treat our own cold symptoms. (Have you tried to buy Sudafed lately?) If this trend goes on, the next recreational drug will probably be made with aspirin and milk of magnesia, and over-the-counter self-medicating will become impossible.
So let's decriminalize recreational drugs, regulate them at least as strictly as we regulate alcohol and tobacco, and put some of the savings into addiction treatment programs. This will also free our prisons to accommodate the really dangerous criminals, and to rehabilitate those who will sooner or later end up back in our communities.
Oh yes, and what about abortion? I still like Clinton's goal of making it "safe, legal, and rare." And I have been uncomfortable for a while about both the Democratic Party and the women's movement making the right to abortion the keystone of their ideology. I believe there is a lot more to both liberalism and feminism than the right to choose abortion. I also believe that most abortions result from either:
a. ignorance--we are doing a lousy job of sex education
b. poverty--anything that makes single motherhood more difficult makes abortion more likely, or
c. sorry, guys, male irresponsibility. We need to educate young men to be willing to ask themselves, when contemplating unprotected sex, "Would I want to be paying child support to this woman for the next 18 years?" (BTW, some young men apparently ask themselves this question after a pregnancy has occurred, and their answer is sometimes homicide, which is now the leading cause of death among pregnant women in the US.)
So why can't the Democratic Party espouse sex education programs and job training and child care for young women and men?
6. Education for non-college bound youth. Which is closely related to the issues involved in abortion, and also to crime, drug use, and poverty. And, BTW, the success (such as it is) of the military in recruiting young people for whom we have not set out any other path toward useful adulthood. We do not expect a new high school graduate to have any useful skills or knowledge, but we offer very few affordable and accessible ways to attain them.
In the first place, we need to reshape high school education so that it teaches more (and more positive) intellectual and vocational skills, and fewer negative social skills (like bullying, binge drinking, and casual sex.) We need to create a generation of high school graduates who can support themselves and take the next steps toward adulthood with the help of the communities they live in. Then, we need to make post-high school education available to every high school graduate.
Stay tuned.
A few postings back, I mused about the possibility of a New Bull Moose Party, led by John McCain. Now it's starting to look as if the moderates could actually take back the Republican Party, leaving the Hard Right to form their splinter party (Christian Republicans?)
And, quite a while earlier, I also mentioned how badly the Democratic Party needs some Southern governors in the presidential pipeline. Well, they have one now: Mark Warner, the former governor of Virginia, who just proved his potency by getting his successor elected governor.
At this point, the Democrats need to stop battling about who the 2008 candidate is going to be, and start working out a serious platform for him. Pundits are suggesting a Democratic version of Newt Gingrich's 1994 Contract for America. I think that's going a little far, but it does have possibilities. Let me make some suggestions:
1. Health care. Handled properly, this could be the magic bullet. The current system of employer-based health insurance is not only bad for workers, it is horrendously bad for business. It puts American businesses at a huge disadvantage in dealing with businesses in nations where health care is the responsibility of government. It has been the major or only cause of most strikes and labor disputes over the past ten years. It adds $1500 to the cost of every American-made automobile. It is a historical fluke, the result of a deal with the devil made by Harry Truman and John L. Lewis. WE CAN DO BETTER.
2. Science. Another area in which American business is getting trounced: most of our science and engineering graduates come from outside the US. Most of our research and development is happening in military areas, funded by DoD money. Our research in genetics is being forced outside the country by government fiat against funding stem-cell research. WE HAVE TO DO BETTER. WE CAN'T AFFORD NOT TO.
3. Tax fairness. Teddy Roosevelt knew the value of requiring the people and corporations who have been enriched by the American system to repay the favor. Let's get back to that model.
4. "Moral values." Fiscal responsibility is perhaps the most important positive moral requirement for governments. We cannot keep piling up deficits for our grandchildren to pay. We now know, (as we did not before the Clinton administration) that a US government can not only eliminate deficits, but accrue surpluses. We've done it before, within living memory. Let's do it again.
5. And the other "moral" issues? This is perhaps a more daring proposal, and not quite so much of a slam dunk. But how about the Democrats becoming the party of Minding Your Own Business? Back in the '90s, I was suggesting that the next Democratic platform include a promise that no American will ever again be required to testify under oath about sex between consenting adults. I still think that's a worthy goal, and might be a very popular one.
Closely related and even riskier, but worthy of serious consideration, would be the end of the War on Drugs. It has cost huge amounts of money. It has not reduced drug use appreciably. All it has done is created new, cheaper, and more dangerous drugs of choice, most notably methamphetamine. (The house my husband grew up in, whose most recent owners turned it into a meth lab, has been all but destroyed by the resulting fire and explosion.) And all the War on Meth has brought us is more hassle in trying to treat our own cold symptoms. (Have you tried to buy Sudafed lately?) If this trend goes on, the next recreational drug will probably be made with aspirin and milk of magnesia, and over-the-counter self-medicating will become impossible.
So let's decriminalize recreational drugs, regulate them at least as strictly as we regulate alcohol and tobacco, and put some of the savings into addiction treatment programs. This will also free our prisons to accommodate the really dangerous criminals, and to rehabilitate those who will sooner or later end up back in our communities.
Oh yes, and what about abortion? I still like Clinton's goal of making it "safe, legal, and rare." And I have been uncomfortable for a while about both the Democratic Party and the women's movement making the right to abortion the keystone of their ideology. I believe there is a lot more to both liberalism and feminism than the right to choose abortion. I also believe that most abortions result from either:
a. ignorance--we are doing a lousy job of sex education
b. poverty--anything that makes single motherhood more difficult makes abortion more likely, or
c. sorry, guys, male irresponsibility. We need to educate young men to be willing to ask themselves, when contemplating unprotected sex, "Would I want to be paying child support to this woman for the next 18 years?" (BTW, some young men apparently ask themselves this question after a pregnancy has occurred, and their answer is sometimes homicide, which is now the leading cause of death among pregnant women in the US.)
So why can't the Democratic Party espouse sex education programs and job training and child care for young women and men?
6. Education for non-college bound youth. Which is closely related to the issues involved in abortion, and also to crime, drug use, and poverty. And, BTW, the success (such as it is) of the military in recruiting young people for whom we have not set out any other path toward useful adulthood. We do not expect a new high school graduate to have any useful skills or knowledge, but we offer very few affordable and accessible ways to attain them.
In the first place, we need to reshape high school education so that it teaches more (and more positive) intellectual and vocational skills, and fewer negative social skills (like bullying, binge drinking, and casual sex.) We need to create a generation of high school graduates who can support themselves and take the next steps toward adulthood with the help of the communities they live in. Then, we need to make post-high school education available to every high school graduate.
Stay tuned.
posted by WiredSisters at 7:43 AM
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