“Except where safety demands action all federal funds for highways will be diverted to construction and restoration of mass transit systems, and to subsidizing fares.
“America will also begin immediately withdrawing its military forces from the over 700 bases it currently operates overseas, and the money that is saved by that drawdown will be used to help developing countries reduce their carbon emissions—a national security threat that far exceeds any other.
“The Iraq War will be ended immediately, with all troops brought home in the first two months of my administration. At the same time, the overall military budget would be slashed by 50 percent, with the savings diverted to veterans’ benefits, education funding, bolstering the Social Security system and expanding the Medicare program to cover all Americans. Finally, income tax policy will be reformed with a goal of slashing rates for those families that earn less than $100,000 while raising rates for those who earn more than that, on a progressive scale. No longer will tax policy reward or encourage wasteful and conspicuous consumption.
“The NAFTA deal and other international trade pacts that encourage American companies to shift investment and jobs overseas will be terminated and the National Labor Relations Act will be reformed to make trade union membership more widespread and easy to achieve. Companies that violate labor laws will be made liable for serious fines and triple damages.
“What do education, social security, health care, labor rights and income tax policy have to do with global warming? Simple. We need to change America from a nation of selfish strivers, each trying to out-earn, out-consume, and out-live each other, to a nation of people who care about the welfare of each other and our little planet. People who know their kids are going to get first-rate education, right through college, who know that their health care will be available when they need it, who feel secure in their jobs and who don’t have to worry about surviving in their old age, will be freer to think about solving the crisis that threatens the survival of their children and their children’s children.”
I’m sure there are plenty or arguments to be made about all the above proposals, and they are not meant to be the only answer to the crisis. Just a kick-start to thinking about the problem. More important is, what would the public response be to such a candidate call to arms?
I really don’t know the answer to this question because nobody is doing it. It could be that someone offering such a radical agenda would be laughed off the political stage. And of course, as Rep. Dennis Kucinich, a candidate who actually has made some of these proposals (though hardly all of them), has learned, candidates who step out of line and political convention are simply ignored by the media--not to mention being undermined by the Democratic Party leadership. Most voters don’t even know what Kucinich's positions are as a consequence.
It may be that we as a nation are so wedded to our flat-screen TVs, our out-sized vehicles and our absurdly over-sized homes, and so flustered by administration scare tactics regarding alleged threats of terrorism, that we will refuse to deal with the crisis that faces us and our children.
But at least someone ought to try to wake this place up.
I see a white cabbage butterfly on the bush behind my office. Usually that would be a good sign, but not in Pennsylvania just three days before December.
________________
DAVE LINDORFF is a Philadelphia-based investigative journalist and columnist. His latest book, co-authored by Barbara Olshansky, is “The Case for Impeachment” (St. Martin’s Press, 2006 and now available in paperback edition). His work is available at www.thiscantbehappening.net
“America will also begin immediately withdrawing its military forces from the over 700 bases it currently operates overseas, and the money that is saved by that drawdown will be used to help developing countries reduce their carbon emissions—a national security threat that far exceeds any other.
“The Iraq War will be ended immediately, with all troops brought home in the first two months of my administration. At the same time, the overall military budget would be slashed by 50 percent, with the savings diverted to veterans’ benefits, education funding, bolstering the Social Security system and expanding the Medicare program to cover all Americans. Finally, income tax policy will be reformed with a goal of slashing rates for those families that earn less than $100,000 while raising rates for those who earn more than that, on a progressive scale. No longer will tax policy reward or encourage wasteful and conspicuous consumption.
“The NAFTA deal and other international trade pacts that encourage American companies to shift investment and jobs overseas will be terminated and the National Labor Relations Act will be reformed to make trade union membership more widespread and easy to achieve. Companies that violate labor laws will be made liable for serious fines and triple damages.
I’m sure there are plenty or arguments to be made about all the above proposals, and they are not meant to be the only answer to the crisis. Just a kick-start to thinking about the problem. More important is, what would the public response be to such a candidate call to arms?
I really don’t know the answer to this question because nobody is doing it. It could be that someone offering such a radical agenda would be laughed off the political stage. And of course, as Rep. Dennis Kucinich, a candidate who actually has made some of these proposals (though hardly all of them), has learned, candidates who step out of line and political convention are simply ignored by the media--not to mention being undermined by the Democratic Party leadership. Most voters don’t even know what Kucinich's positions are as a consequence.
It may be that we as a nation are so wedded to our flat-screen TVs, our out-sized vehicles and our absurdly over-sized homes, and so flustered by administration scare tactics regarding alleged threats of terrorism, that we will refuse to deal with the crisis that faces us and our children.
But at least someone ought to try to wake this place up.
I see a white cabbage butterfly on the bush behind my office. Usually that would be a good sign, but not in Pennsylvania just three days before December.
________________
DAVE LINDORFF is a Philadelphia-based investigative journalist and columnist. His latest book, co-authored by Barbara Olshansky, is “The Case for Impeachment” (St. Martin’s Press, 2006 and now available in paperback edition). His work is available at www.thiscantbehappening.net
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