There is an old saying, every failure is an opportunity. I think that has to be the focus in the days ahead. I'm certain there will be much finger pointing, and assigning of blame, and the questioning of decisions without any help on my part; and I've learned over the years, you have to leave the past behind you. What is more important today is to make decisions on the future, and herein we find great possibility.
I know at the moment there is a mad dash for the DNC chair recently vacated by Debbie Wasserman Schultz. Before anyone arrives at any decision, I want to take a few to talk things over. One of the major flaws exposed by the last election is that the DNC has lost the voice of the people, and it has become a top down organization that to often makes its decisions through back door deals and smoke filled rooms. That in turn has lead to charges of corruption, and ultimately cost us the election. That has to stop, and it begins here, today amongst the party base.
Before we continue, the first question at hand, what do we want to achieve?
The answer is self evident, we want to promote and legislate a progressive platform that reflects our vision for the country. Now in order to achieve this goal, we have to broaden our appeal with a 50 State grassroots campaign targeted at the local, the state and the national levels. We need our platform to be presented in every branch of government from local school boards to the highest branches of the Federal Government in the Congress, and ultimately the Presidency. We have four years to enact this agenda, starting with the congressional elections in two years.
Our strength as a party is our diversity , our outreach to minority groups. An old maxim is that every strength is its own weakness. So it is with our party, in our reach for inclusion we have pushed out what conservatives have called the forgotten man. The Blue collar worker. That in turn cost us our northern firewall in the rust belt, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin, Iowa, and beyond. We cannot win elections without those states, and we can't take their votes for granted.
So to move forward, we need a strategy that appeals to the rust belt, to the working man, one that is built on our value of inclusiveness, and one that brings out the base to vote. This is no small task, yet I do not believe that these goal are mutually exclusive. To that end, I am going to take the time to outline my vision for obtaining this goal. Like Ronald Reagan, I have Three legs to my platform. I like to keep things simple, it is much easier to hammer home a few points.
1) Inclusiveness through empowerment
2) Clean out the corruption
3) A Balanced Budget Amendment
Inclusiveness Through Empowerment
One of the most powerful voices in the civil rights movement was that of James Brown. His motto Black is Beautiful. He has been called the Soul of the Civil Rights Movement.
Following the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., Brown offered a free citywide concert in Boston with hopes of avoiding racially-charged riots.
“At one point in this famous concert … when Boston was ready to go up in flames ... he said, ‘I used to shine shoes outside that radio station. Now I own that radio station.’ And then he paused and said, ‘That's black power,’”
In my platform, I want to emphasize diversity as strength. I think the platform of the left has too often taken on a connotation of being a victim. That in turn promotes a negative self image. I want to promote a positive vision for the future. I'm not saying we should be blind to injustice, and that we should promote equality and equal protection under the law. That said, if we are to make true progressive change in diversity, it has to be a message of hope and empowerment.
Regardless of race or gender, the biggest complaint we have with Washington is that it has grown out of touch with the people. If you look at every major institution, the church, the schools, the government, congress, the president, the court, the police, corporations, the FBI, the media, the political parties. Nobody trusts them anymore. We have lost our faith in society. We cannot continue down this path.
That is why today, we have great opportunity in front of us. We are a party without a leader. At this moment in time, we have the ability to implement change from the bottom up. This has to be our first focus when looking for a new DNC chair. For instance I know Howard Dean has put his hat in the ring. I must respectfully decline. I have nothing against him, and he has the experience for the job. However, if we make a top down decision to give him the job, then once again we have let the corruption back inside. It is not that he is a corrupt man to my knowledge, the problem is that he is a product of a corrupt system. If we are to save the patient, then we must cut the cancer out, we need a fresh start.
In my platform I have two basic agendas.
1)Term limits for Congress.
2) Take the money out of politics.
In this regard, Bernie Sander is the model for the future. He demonstrated that not only could he run without the aid of big money, he outraised the entire field, $27 dollars at a time. As for term limits, I propose 2 terms as a senator, and 6 terms as a Representative. That's 12 years for either branch, together a person could spend 24 years in office. Add in 8 years as a Governor or even a President, that's 32 years in office. That's enough.
A Balanced Budget Amendment
In 1992 I cast my first vote, it was not for President Clinton, I voted for Ross Perot. Year after year I hear people talking about our rising deficit, and nobody does a thing. The only constraint I have seen in my lifetime was President Clinton, and that was largely due to the fantastic economy in the nineties tech boom.
In 2008 when we had our financial collapse, that was something different than what we have witnessed in the past. Yes we have had bubbles, in 2008 the entire system was on the verge of collapse. There are primary and secondary currencies. The difference is very simple, with primary currencies, we have the ability to pay off our debt through our own currency. A secondary currency must pay off its debt through a primary currency.
After the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers the IMF was forced to protect the secondary currencies from the storm that had originated from the primary currency above all others, that is the US dollar. Now there was not enough credit on hand to achieve the task, so member nations had to band together to raise a Trillion dollars. The rescue of Lehman Brothers failed, the markets ceased to function, and the financial system had to be put on life support.
The consequence is that there have been winners and losers. The US was the big loser, China was the big winner. That is the financial environment that we find ourselves within. Many times we have been warned of the consequences of this path. Perhaps none have spoken more boldy Than Senator Ron Paul, and his presentation on dollar hegemony.
Today, we are 20 trillion dollars in debt, and Trump will probably double that in 4 years. He will have to keep troops in the middle east, he plans to build even more military, and then stimulate the economy with huge tax breaks for the wealthy and corporations and somehow pay for a trillion dollar infrastructure program. You can see the markets rising, because investors know this is the start of the Trump Bubble. Nobody wants to be left behind, they are buying on wall street like there is no tomorrow. Enjoy it while it lasts. When the bubble bursts, it will dwarf the collapse of 08.
If we are ever going to bring financial stability to the working families of America, we must bring our financial house in order. To this end, I propose a Balanced Budget Amendment. Its really simple, if you can't pay for it, you can't have it. We can deal with our debt later. For now, lets actually do something while we still can.
At any rate, those are the three legs of what I would propose for a new Democrat agenda. There are many more concerns, and they should be included, the key is that we hammer home these three messages. These our universal messages that can win in any district in America.
I wanted to complete my closing argument with my personal choice for the DNC chair, the person I think most capable of pursuing this agenda. I don't know if they are looking for a job, they have not thrown their hat in the race. That is exactly what I want in a leader, someone who does the job not out of self interest, rather out of duty for the greater good. A leader of the people would choose not to lead, they are chosen for the task. I would suggest Dylan Ratigan