Article: More Nails, Please

There are still quite a few nails to be hammered into the coffin of the Republican Party and its version of conservatism, warped as it is by what must be the quintessential wedding from hell: bride radical Christian fundamentalism married to groom corporatism. Here are my nails of choice:

First, the Democratic Congress must enact new voting laws that insist on a paper trail in all elections.

Second, Congress must make voting for national elections obligatory, with a substantial tax levied on individuals who fail to vote.

Third, in its education bill, Congress must require all high schools to institute, starting in the 9th grade, mandatory history courses on the religions of the world. For too long have Americans been ignorant in this department. This subject is too important to be left to colleges and the world is too small to consider such academic matter an elective.

It would also be nice if Karl Marx is read in high schools, at least to show how far Americans -- and President Obama -- are from Marx's economic model (unless you are in the US Army). No one need be taught to agree with Marx, but two things become clear from reading him with any depth of understanding: Marx was a philosophical humanitarian and one of the greatest thinkers that ever lived. Marxists in the past might have made a dirty word of Marxism by their actions, which were anything but Marxist, but the same could be said of Christian followers of the Greek's Golden Rule (later preached in the New Testament), which is not tarnished by hypocrites.

Besides, Marx received a great deal of inspiration from ... Benjamin Franklin, and aren't we all Franklinists? (Sadly, no.)

Fourth, Congress must make scientific sex education mandatory for all students, starting in the 7th grade.

Fifth, Congress must strengthen US public education entirely, making it competitive not only with private schools in the US, but with the high standards of schooling found around the world.

Sixth, President Obama must go full throttle with his bottom-up tax plan. As the economic benefits to our society from its implementation become unmistakable, they will illustrate, once and for all, that "trickle down" theory and deregulation not only do not work, but are ruses that permit greed, do not promote self-regulation, and keep the majority of Americans locked in a modern form of servitude to the wealthy.

Seventh, President Obama must similarly go full steam ahead with a universal healthcare plan.

Eighth, President Obama must bring our troops home from Iraq and Afghanistan. He must concurrently be willing to open diplomatic relations with any world leader, all the time.

Ninth, President Obama must insist that Israel obey international law and cease and desist as an occupying force in Palestine. Terrorism in the name of Allah, perpetrated against the United States, will become a concern of the past.

Tenth, President Obama must, in his first term, cut the number of US military bases around the globe in half. America must quit its dead-end job as the world's police.

Eleventh, Congress must nationally set the age of consent to 15 for young men and women. Science has shown beyond a shadow of a doubt that there is no more direct assault on misogyny and the disempowering of women, the reptilian drive toward pyramidal stratification of power, and the tendencies toward superstition and belligerence -- key elements of Christian fundamentalism and corporatism -- than permitting and even encouraging our youth to explore their sexuality.

Twelfth, in relation to the issue of global destabilization from warming, Congress must provide subsidies for contraception around the world and serious incentives to women who undergo permanent sterilization. Of course, supporting green technologies and jobs, while stripping non-renewable energy of all tax breaks and incentives, should go without saying.

And finally, just a minor thing. President Obama must take back the Federal Government's power from the Federal Reserve to mint its own money, interest free.

A little payback to the Bush regime is also in order. President Obama must publicly reject the nefarious policies and programs -- including extraordinary rendition, torture, spying on civilians, and suspending habeas corpus -- that have become synonymous with the Bush Administration. A presidential investigation into the believable and scientific causes of the fall of the Twin Towers is in order as is an investigation into the run up to the war in Iraq. What did Bush and Cheney know and when did they know it?

After all that, nationally decriminalizing marijuana use and hemp production should be as easy as a pot brownie.

And of course, if we really went to the moon and if something extraterrestrial did crash land in Roswell, New Mexico, Mr. President, inquiring minds would love to know.

Indeed, those prone to healthy doubt will say you might as well believe in little gray spacemen if you believe the next four years will see these kinds of changes implemented. But a mandate for change has come. Along with that change, we can put legislation in motion that will forever undercut and prevent the right-wing radicalization of the American mind. A nail in time will save nine.