Let's get this out of the way first: I'm totally on board with a smart withdrawal from Iraq, healthcare for all, alternative energy, better education, a government that believes in science, and probably every last topic down the line that either Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton has made a positive issue statement for.
But I also understand there's limited bandwidth and limited understanding among the American public for the entire laundry list of what needs to be done.
My stuff is probably somewhere on that list, at about page 38 or 39 - I've been a progressive all my life, but I'm not hearing about it, probably because it's obscure, that I think (and I'm sure it will) the Obama presidency should address.
Let's get started!
- Fixing civil service - when last anybody paid attention to it, the Bush administration was removing anybody this side of sociopathic from civil service, and installing in their place Christian soldiers who didn't ask questions and spent our tax dollars and government time on ways to wage war on the poor and exalt their beloved GOP. From US Attorneys to interns, even Republicans sometimes weren't corrupt enough to remain in government employ.
This one's going to take a Rooseveltian effort, and by that I mean Teddy - whose job before becoming President was to root out from the entirety of government, every last patronage appointment. This is like that, except I also want the government to track down the people who used to work there, before George W. Bush and Karl Rove ruined this country, and offer them the back pay and pay back they deserve - that is, the people who carried out the order to dismiss them will now be their subordinates.
Consider that if you don't, you don't really have the workforce you need to implement your agenda - they're all calling Karl Rove at lunch to get the latest tips for throwing a wrench in it.
- Congress now works as hard as you do - no more of this 109th Congress crap where the session starts at noon on Tuesday and ends at noon on Thursday. Congress needs to be in full session for 4 hours from 8am to 12 noon, Monday through Friday - and committee/subcommittee meetings from 1pm to 5pm.
Along with that, without dispensing with the rules of parliamentary procedure, we say what needs to be said, and No More. We dispense with the unnecessary preamble, and in so doing, we get more work done. More bills get passed, there isn't time to load everything up with earmarks, and Congress can actually run on a record. There's too much of the Bush/Cheney stuff to roll back with the 111th Congress.
We also don't need a signing ceremony for each law we pass. It's more important, President Obama, to get it done than it is for everybody to have a fifteenth commemorative pen. Send some school supplies to inner DC if you have to, instead.
- You own your earmarks. No exceptions. Any expenditure has a Congressperson's name on it, and those are public.
- Interstate High-Speed Passenger Rail System. We run this on alternative energy, of course, and it evacuates cities when necessary, it helps people get to jobs in other cities, and it helps us wean ourselves from getting in the car and using the Interstate Highway System. This is faster and more extensive than Amtrak - Amtrak doesn't go everywhere, gives itself time penalties for "speeding," and a Vice-President Biden notwithstanding, isn't sufficient for commuting - we haven't got two hours in each direction, especially when we're working all five days.
- The Courts. An Obama Presidency needs to take a pro-active stance on restoring balance to the courts, and that includes making the obvious purges - let's start with the judge in Governor Siegelman's kangaroo court, for one. Congress will need to be on board with impeachments where necessary - and while we're at it, stiff penalties, including censure, for anybody trying to obstruct.
Honestly? It was tough to come up with five, let alone any past the first one, but I think this is almost coherent. I've probably got ten for the Golf Channel, though.
Thanks for bearing with me.