Last night, I posed the following question:
If you had supreme authority over the nation for a day, what social policies would you want to enact and why? Feel free to be as idealistic or pragmatic as you prefer.
Tonight, I'd like to answer that.
It's a tricky question, though, isn't it? I mean, right off the bat, it posits that you get to be dictator for a day, which goes against pretty much everything we believe in. So the first thing you have to decide is, are you going to allow yourself the day to be dictator, or are you going to step down and return government to the people, even knowing who the people are who will be running it?
But just one day wouldn't hurt, right? I mean, the next day, everything's back to normal. Congress could decide to repeal everything you just did. So there's no real lasting harm. Right?
Well, let's just say I don't have the proper mentality to be a politician and move on to the more substantive portion of the question.
There are certain realities that need to be considered, foremost being that whatever policies I enact, I want them to be able to last at least a year. If they can last a year, there's a good chance they'll be permanent. So that necessarily means I need to have enough support in at least one house of congress to prevent repeal. But at the same time, I'm an idealist. Incrementalism has never sat well with me. So I want the policies to do more than inch us forward.
I don't think there's much I could do about Citizens United and other corporate interests given only one day. And as much as I'd like to end corporate personhood, given that we're dealing with SCOTUS rulings on this, it would basically take a Constitutional amendment, which probably wouldn't be seen as legal beyond the day I inserted it. So that's out. However, I would fire Geithner and hire Steiglitz (or another similarly competent economist; it's a short list). Worst thing that could happen is the administration has to go through the confirmation process if they want to bring back Geithner. I'll take the chance.
I'd end NCLB. Just end it. It was a bad idea compounded by poor implementation, and bringing it back would require voting on it again. I don't think it would pass, again.
I'd end subsidies for oil companies and all other large corporations. That's one I expect won't last, but it would certainly be popular, and if there's enough public support, it could ruin a few politicians' careers.
Public Option. I give this 50/50 odds of survival. I'll take it.
Oh, and the salaries for all elected federal officials is minimum wage +10%, and they get their healthcare the same way the rest of us do, through the newly created public option. This I suspect gets repealed the next day, but while they're dealing with it, they're not dealing with the others.
Could I do more? Probably. But too much more, and I risk congress repealing it all in one go rather than fighting over it piecemeal. So even though it's far from my ideal, at least it has a chance of doing some good.
So, how about you? You've had a day to think it over, now. What would you do?
A Perfect Conversation is a group for republishing diaries that:
A) Challenge the DK conventional wisdom.
B) Provide information which may lead to new ideas.
or
C) Push for action that is innovative or not just playing defense.
The point is not to agree (or disagree) with these diaries. It's about challenging ourselves to rethink our political philosophies, activities, and issue positions.
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