The biggest "problem" that I think are perceived with the Democrats is that they don't "stand" for anything. I think that the Democrats desperately need a "Contract with America", although a lot of it will take some salesmanship and we need to make sure we put this into Democratic frames instead of Republican frames. In this diary, I'm describing what I think needs to be done, and am leaving the question of how to sell it to other people. This list is not all inclusive, just some items I think we need.
In my opinion, the primary problem facing America in the early 21st century is the oil problem. It suffuses all we do, so my thought is to create a plan that includes energy policy as a centerpiece, both as a national security and an economic security issue.
This plan is my own plan. Most of these items are stuff that the government is going to have to move on initially. Hopefully, the government can work out some public/private partnership deals and try to offload some of this onto the private sector once the plan gets moving. This plan is hardly exhaustive: it's more a list of ideas than a fix-all solution.
Read More