Demand That These Bold, Progressive Policies Be Included In The Democratic Party Platform 2012! Sign petition below 1. Never Renew Bush Tax Cuts 2. End Political Corruption - enact the Fair Elections Now Act. Strictly voluntary. Matching funds. $100.00 maximum donation. Ban politicians from becoming lobbyists 3. End The Wars - (another form of corporate welfare). Immediately pull out of Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Yemen 4. End Bank Monopoly - break up the big banks, strengthen the Volker Rule, end the foreclosure crisis by giving bankruptcy judges the power to order reductions in mortgage principal owed 5. End National Addiction To Oil - begin with a carbon tax to reduce consumption, increase energy efficiency and make alternative energy more cost-competitive. Revenues generated should go to reducing payroll taxes to stimulate employment 6. Put Millions Back To Work - Federal government invest $2 trillion over 10 years through a national infrastruc(*)ture bank (run by engineers, not politicians) to create jobs now and increase productivity later. Fund with a millionaire's tax 7. Keep Social Security Solvent For Generations - raise the ceiling on income subject to the Social Security tax to $180,000. Congress could gradually slow the growth of benefits for middle and high earners while still allowing these benefits to rise in terms of absolute dollars and purchasing power. Lower-wage earners would receive everything they are now promised. Eliminate $4.8 trillion long-term deficit 8. Balance The Budget - over time by cutting the defense budget, end agricultural subsidies, stop corporate welfare, raise taxes on the super-rich, contain the explosion of health-care costs by adding the public option, allow Medicare to purchase drugs, give MEDPAC wider authority and allow drug re-importation 9. Encourage Upward Mobility In Society - make higher education free to families that can't afford it. Fund with a financial transactions and bank tax http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/PartyPlatform2012
While I'm a progressive down to my toes that doesn't make me blind to reality. It is time that both major political parties, both ends of the political spectrum confront our national problems with the realization that neither side is going to achieve all its objectives. Now is not the time for pie in the sky, but rather a stripped-down list of achievable measures that address the most significant problems. Unemployment, the annual deficit and the tax structure would more than enough to deal with. Leave all the rest to another day. The party and ideology that honestly faces these issues with sensible proposals rather than preordained, dogmatic responses will also win the day politically. Then we can move on to more idealistic concerns. While we may feel that our problems are insurmountable, this nation has faced and overcome far more difficult challenges. Within the lifetime of some still living we successfully confronted two much greater threats and did so because of rational leadership. The New Deal save the country's soul and rescued capitalism; World War II and the GI Bill saved the country's liberty and created the large middle class that went on to make America the greatest country in history. Roosevelt, though leftward-leaning, always opted for the pragmatic path, not the ideological. While conservatives were never happy with him and the liberals felt betrayed, he kept the citizenry with him and rarely lost a political fight. We all benefited.
