Over the last several years, I've read much back-and-forth about the merits of the big tent and the downside of party purism. Yep, at some level, this is another of those diaries. I am not an advocate a progressive version of the teabagger political mentality. I, like Kos and many other Kossacks, advocate that we need to recruit and support the most progressive candidates we can get elected based on the demographics of the district they will represent. To that end, I am placing a call out to the community to answer the following questions. I will provide my version after the fold.
Specifically, what is your progressive vision for our nation?
Given the range of progressive issues, what are the "make or break" requirements a candidate must have in order to be worthy of your support?
How do we establish a candidate rating system that takes into consideration a variety of factors like district demographics, candidate positions, financial solvency, fundraising ability, professional background, etc?
How do we maximize our support to benefit our friends and instill fear in our opponents?
What resources and tools are currently available that can be used to drive a "progressive candidate electability model/index which could be attached to the Kos Electoral Map?"
While these questions may be simplistic or obvious, the truth is progressives still are not feared or respected by the powerful the way they need to be. Until we can "Scozzafava" the recalcitrant among our own elected representatives, our ability to forward our agenda is limited. We need the "best" progressives we can get and in order to do that, we need to be clear about our vision and priorities. As to what those are, offer your own suggestions in the comments. Here's mine...
My vision of a progressive America is this:
America is a place, an idea, and a manifested reality where every citizen is educated and healthy, business can thrive, yet is subject to the same standards of responsibility, accountability, and resources as the typical citizen, and every citizen is required to support the commonwealth in proportion to their means. Citizens engage in passionate civil discourse with a fully independent press disseminating credible information that supports and promotes the public conversation. In matters of public policy, the principle of separation of church and state shall be considered a categorical imperative.
In rough priority, my "make-or-break" issues:
- Equal rights and responsibilities for all - race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, corporate (enforcement of responsibility including mandatory dissolution (corporate capital punishment) as necessary).
- Mandated and enforced separation of church and state. Non-profit, "religious" NGO's involved in politics are not religious organizations, they are political organizations. Either remove their special dispensations or else enforce the prohibition of any activities that could be construed as political in character.
- Full employment for U.S. citizens and legal residents, first, last, and always!
- Pass EFCA to help curb business abuse of workers.
- Make top level executives stake their personal fortunes in excess of 1 million to the long-term performance of their company.
- "Free" health care, basic (but adequate) pension benefits, education (including technical and post-secondary) - paid for via taxes paid into "locked" trust funds. (locked means no borrowing by gov't, funds invested uniformly across via an index fund)
- Environment (a lot here)
a. convert to 100% renewable power generation within a decade - more importantly, decentralize vital utility infrastructure so every home gathers, produces, and/or recycles water, waste, and power. Excess is sold to grid for use elsewhere. Redundancy reduces vulnerability and decentralization reduces controlling power* of capital.
b. 350ppm carbon target mandate.
c. Ban hydrocarbons as a fuel source - OK as feedstock for recyclable materials.
d. Promote the redesign of urban areas to allow for reforestation, localization of food production, walkable communities, and mass transit.
Finally...
This last bit is somewhat technical. In the area of information systems, business intelligence is the next, great thing. The ability to use computer information systems to collect structured and unstructured data, compile it, analyze it, and then display that information in near real-time in a format easily understood by the user is a revolution who's time has come. While there are sites that compile voting statistics, voter demographics by region, and statistical analysis of polling results, I think the progressive community needs a single source index with "drilldown" capabilities. Live in CA-02 (like me)? Want to find out the current electability probability of a progressive in the district? How about the current incumbent's "progressive index rating?" (Note: Wally Herger sucks!) Other demographic questions: Who are the prominent progressives in the area? What organizations and organizational resources are available that could be mobilized? What's working/what's not?
These are all questions that potentially could be asked and answered using a simple display metaphor. I liked the idea of enhancing the Daily Kos Election Map. With a simple series of clicks, the user could find out the answers to all of the above questions plus a lot more for each electoral district. With such a tool, incumbents our of step with their district could be targeted, progressive candidates could fundraise, grassroots organizers could make connections with the broader community and monitor the progress of their race using an objective set of benchmarks.
Anyway, time to throw this proposal out to the community!