As I lay awake last night, cataloguing in my mind once again the index of atrocities being foisted upon us by BushCo and just the general state of things, I was reminded for some reason of the situation when Slick Willie first slid into the Preznitcy.
Back then the Dems had control of both houses of Congress too. Of course it didn't last long, just those 2 years from 92-94. So Clinton blew his opportunity (no pun intended) to drastically alter the direction of the country with his rare oversight of single party rule in the way that BushCo has. W got the Senate in 2002, as I recall, and look at what he has wrought in those 3 brief years.
Clinton is widely criticized for 2 big stumbles right out of the gate, those being "don't ask don't tell" and putting Hillary in charge of reforming the healthcare system.
I'm not here to be critical of the way he handled those things, though I would say he disappointed one his constituencies right away, thereby giving notice to other constituencies what they might expect if politically expedient solutions turned up. Hillary may have done a fantastic job on healthcare reform had she been given the chance, but by turning over such a crucial issue to the First Lady, well, let's just say the country wasn't "ready" for that.
And, thus, the door openend for RepubCo, and their maloderous "Contract With America". It sure sounds appealing, doesn't it? A "Contract". That has to be stronger than the usual "empty promises" we get from politicans, right?
Naturally, it was more bullshit. Still, it served the great purpose of solidifying a general idea of responsibility in people's minds, and gave all the RepubCo candidates a flag to rally around.
I think we Progressives should have a NEW Contract With America. We should call it that, specifically, I think, in order to highlight the various ways the previous Contract was nothing more than a cauldron of bullshit. And we can thereby take back the reigns of justice, fairness, commitment to the ideal of public service, and the leadership of the land.
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Here's the original Contract With America, for your review:
REPUBLICAN CONTRACT WITH AMERICA
As Republican Members of the House of Representatives and as citizens seeking to join that body we propose not just to change its policies, but even more important, to restore the bonds of trust between the people and their elected representatives.
That is why, in this era of official evasion and posturing, we offer instead a detailed agenda for national renewal, a written commitment with no fine print.
This year's election offers the chance, after four decades of one-party control, to bring to the House a new majority that will transform the way Congress works. That historic change would be the end of government that is too big, too intrusive, and too easy with the public's money. It can be the beginning of a Congress that respects the values and shares the faith of the American family.
Like Lincoln, our first Republican president, we intend to act "with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right." To restore accountability to Congress. To end its cycle of scandal and disgrace. To make us all proud again of the way free people govern themselves.
On the first day of the 104th Congress, the new Republican majority will immediately pass the following major reforms, aimed at restoring the faith and trust of the American people in their government:
FIRST, require all laws that apply to the rest of the country also apply equally to the Congress;
SECOND, select a major, independent auditing firm to conduct a comprehensive audit of Congress for waste, fraud or abuse;
THIRD, cut the number of House committees, and cut committee staff by one-third;
FOURTH, limit the terms of all committee chairs;
FIFTH, ban the casting of proxy votes in committee;
SIXTH, require committee meetings to be open to the public;
SEVENTH, require a three-fifths majority vote to pass a tax increase;
EIGHTH, guarantee an honest accounting of our Federal Budget by implementing zero base-line budgeting.
Thereafter, within the first 100 days of the 104th Congress, we shall bring to the House Floor the following bills, each to be given full and open debate, each to be given a clear and fair vote and each to be immediately available this day for public inspection and scrutiny.
- THE FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY ACT: A balanced budget/tax limitation amendment and a legislative line-item veto to restore fiscal responsibility to an out- of-control Congress, requiring them to live under the same budget constraints as families and businesses. (Bill Text) (Description)
- THE TAKING BACK OUR STREETS ACT: An anti-crime package including stronger truth-in- sentencing, "good faith" exclusionary rule exemptions, effective death penalty provisions, and cuts in social spending from this summer's "crime" bill to fund prison construction and additional law enforcement to keep people secure in their neighborhoods and kids safe in their schools. (Bill Text) (Description)
- THE PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY ACT: Discourage illegitimacy and teen pregnancy by prohibiting welfare to minor mothers and denying increased AFDC for additional children while on welfare, cut spending for welfare programs, and enact a tough two-years-and-out provision with work requirements to promote individual responsibility. (Bill Text) (Description)
- THE FAMILY REINFORCEMENT ACT: Child support enforcement, tax incentives for adoption, strengthening rights of parents in their children's education, stronger child pornography laws, and an elderly dependent care tax credit to reinforce the central role of families in American society. (Bill Text) (Description)
- THE AMERICAN DREAM RESTORATION ACT: A S500 per child tax credit, begin repeal of the marriage tax penalty, and creation of American Dream Savings Accounts to provide middle class tax relief. (Bill Text) (Description)
- THE NATIONAL SECURITY RESTORATION ACT: No U.S. troops under U.N. command and restoration of the essential parts of our national security funding to strengthen our national defense and maintain our credibility around the world. (Bill Text) (Description)
- THE SENIOR CITIZENS FAIRNESS ACT: Raise the Social Security earnings limit which currently forces seniors out of the work force, repeal the 1993 tax hikes on Social Security benefits and provide tax incentives for private long-term care insurance to let Older Americans keep more of what they have earned over the years. (Bill Text) (Description)
- THE JOB CREATION AND WAGE ENHANCEMENT ACT: Small business incentives, capital gains cut and indexation, neutral cost recovery, risk assessment/cost-benefit analysis, strengthening the Regulatory Flexibility Act and unfunded mandate reform to create jobs and raise worker wages. (Bill Text) (Description)
- THE COMMON SENSE LEGAL REFORM ACT: "Loser pays" laws, reasonable limits on punitive damages and reform of product liability laws to stem the endless tide of litigation. (Bill Text) (Description)
- THE CITIZEN LEGISLATURE ACT: A first-ever vote on term limits to replace career politicians with citizen legislators. (Description)
Further, we will instruct the House Budget Committee to report to the floor and we will work to enact additional budget savings, beyond the budget cuts specifically included in the legislation described above, to ensure that the Federal budget deficit will be less than it would have been without the enactment of these bills.
Respecting the judgment of our fellow citizens as we seek their mandate for reform, we hereby pledge our names to this Contract with America.
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Of course, it will need some tinkering, but my thought is to keep as much of the original as possible, not only as a means to highlight the veritable smorgasbord of lies contained therein, so easy to see in hindsight, but also to show our ability to take what should be a good idea and work with it to make it a great idea.
The Pubs may say, oh look, the Dems can't think of anything by themselves, but we can respond by noting our interest to work hand in hand with "our friends across the aisle" to take the nation to a better place (puke buckets may be needed for the initial phases of this project. Yes, for us, wise guy.).
For example, instead of "four decades of one-party control" we can point to the past 3 dark years of BushCo's version of one-party control.
We can go step by step through the document to show the various ways in which the Pubs failed to deliver on their Contract, and the ways we Progressives will strive to do so.
Under #1, Fiscal Responsibility, we can offer to re-establish pay-go, and bash them for running up this huge debt.
Under #2, Taking Back Our Streets, we can offer to "Strengthen Our Communities". We can have a a platform to deal with increasing hunger, poverty, bankruptcies, lack of healthcare, and so forth, afflicting the great backbone of our society, that being the middle class.
Under #3, Personal Responsibility, we can talk about our own responsibility as leaders, ending political cronyism and pork projects which are mortgaging our children's futures away. We can talk about Terri Schiavo and our rights to make our own decisions.
Anyway, I won't go through each one, you can get the idea. We don't have to match each by each, or we can if that suits, I'll leave that to the pundit class. Some may match up with our agenda, we may need some different ones. We may choose not to use the phrase "gay marriage" but instead speak of "civil rights". I leave it to the community to create the actual agenda.
We can talk about re-establishing America as a moral leader on the international stage, on fighting a smarter war on terror that attacks our real enemies, not conveniently made-up ones, engaging our friends around the world instead of doing our best to offend each and every one of them.
We can talk about reforming the healthcare system, rolling back some of the crimes of the past few years (perhaps in softer language - that's why I'm personally not running), and so on.
But the basic idea, to recapture the frame of responsibility being on our side, and to present the facts as everyone knows them to be, may just give us the opportunity to take back the House in '06, and give us some strength to get back in the saddle for '08 and beyond.
We can ask our candidates the simple question of whether they are willing to sign the Contract, just as that wave of Pubs did a half-generation ago, putting them in position to do what they've done.
Wouldn't it be fantastic if we got a similar opportunity, not only to undo what they've done, but to get us back on the path to true enlightenment, or whatever?
Thanks for reading.