To the folks who will pick the next DNC chair:
3 core issues.
My #1 issue = We must champion the cause of Global Security. Ecological Health is the #1 priority. Period.
I want the real issues that face humanity during the coming years and decades put squarely on the table: potentially irreparable Climate Disruption ("global warming", warmer oceans, killer hurricanes, new categories of oceanic/atmospheric emergencies, etc), Fresh Water Risks (Aquifer Depletion), Nuclear Risks (loose nukes, bombs, power plants, tailings, waste), Toxic Chemical Risks (!!!), Tobacco-addiction epidemic (easily 100x more annual preventable deaths than from all terrorism ever), Genepool Risks (species extinctions, GMO-genetic-pollution, carcinogens, teratogens, etc).
Each of these is massively more important than the currently-framed issues of terrorism, national security, homeland security, etc -- or even our sacred cow of social security --- because these Global Security issues can completely undermine National Security, Homeland Security, Social Security, and Personal Security. And if you care about health care, then you should care about getting at root causes of illness and death -- and ensuring a healthy environment.
(If you're reading this and don't "get it"... take a look at Lester Brown's "Plan B"... or estimate the level of 3rd world famine in 2008 just due to China going from net grain exporter until 2002 to massive grain importer by 2006... or ask the farmers how climate disruption, desertification, water depletion, and dozens of other threats are combining right now to reverse centuries of increases in agricultural productivity.)
The GOP is moving in exactly the wrong direction on each of these fronts. Religious wingnuts are undermining the absolutely vital work we are doing in bringing down population growth rates. Birth control (including abortion), empowerment of women, old-age security, and movement towards universal access to education and communication technology are all proven potent approaches to reducing global birth rates -- which are still adding ~100,000,000 babies annually.
The flip side is that leadership is urgently needed to bring Americans forward into lifestyles that consume less energy and natural resources, and produce less toxicity and pollution and negative global effects. With 5% of world population, we still consume over 25% of it's most vital resources. Together with the rest of the world, we are "burning our capital" at breakneck speed.
Courageous innovators here and around the world have worked hard "against the grain" to pioneer what it will take to create an Ecologically Healthy Economy. ( If you want pointers, email me: ecohealth AT glassroutes.org ) Attractive solutions are becoming increaingly available.
Now, America must wake up and lead, rather than continue to slumber and sabotage.
My #2 issue = We must restore and ensure Electoral Integrity. You wimps at the DNC dropped the ball and let the GOP rig the electronic ballot box (not just Ohio); you were warned about Diebold and others, and did nothing effective. We need voter verifiable physical media in addition to fully transparent Open Source electronic vote tallying, aggregation, and reporting.
The decay of the democratic electoral process (#2, along with #3 below, and manifested as 2 stolen presidential elections in a row) is the root issue underlying our looming crisis in the Supreme Court, and in the rest of the Judiciary, and the Legislative, and the Executive. They've been working to suppress our voters and enlarge theirs (legally and illegally); and they've been working it strategically and effectively.
#3 Issue -- We must effectively combat Corporate/Institutional/Organizational Corruption. Fully convert the Democratic party to Internet-based fundraising from small donors. (Simultaneously, convert the Democratic party into the champions of the self-employed, freelancers, SOHO, and the rest of the 40M+ Independent Americans who work at least partly from home over the internet. Or else resign yourselves to genuinely becoming the minority party, as Americans flee the worsening corporate rat race of the dying industrial economy, and embrace energy-efficient, no-commute, internet-enabled, soul-satisfying creative work options.) Then bring all forms of Corporate Corruption into the light of day and into popular awareness. Polarize effectively -- demonize the Oil/Chemical/Tobacco/ Pharmaceutical/HMO Complex, as well as the Military/Industrial Complex; shine the spotlight on the profiteers, the lobbyists, the inside deals; on Enron, Halliburton, Carlyle, etc. A populist pitch makes as much sense today as ever: Big organizations control big amounts of resources, and don't do it to the benefit of the little guy. Ask yourself: why didn't we make a big issues out of ENRON during 2004? Cummon, be honest with yourself. OK, now go get a DNC chair who can simplify and hammer some real Value issues: "they are poisoning your children; they are stealing your money; they are selling you out".
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That's it. Go on the offensive. Do NOT get pulled onto their territory; do NOT buy into their framing; do NOT adopt their structuring and languaging. Any high school debater knows that going over to the other team's structure is the surest way to lose. Yet you guys have been "going on the defensive" for years now -- YOU'VE BEEN TAKING THEIR BAIT; YOU'VE BEEN FALLING FOR ROVE'S TRAPS -- so stop it!
So don't give me more blather about "Iraq" or "Terrorism" or "Gay Marriage" -- those are THEIR issues. They OWN those issues, they CREATED those frames, they CONTROL those games. You cannot win where the other guy controls the gameboard.
Don't give me anymore crap about the American people being too stupid to understand the real underlying issues. It's your job to frame the issues and communicate them effectively, so they connect and resonate and catch fire, and you better get a DNC chair who's capable of making sure that job gets done.