Reform

“All the biggest challenges of our time are transnational: mass migration, growing inequality, the onset of ecological Armageddon. It's arguable that the politics of the nation state have become at best irrelevant, and at worst a hindrance, to tackling such global challenges. The outlook is grim.” Democracy and Truth, A Short History: Sophia Rosenfeld

Walter Shaub’s Ethics Recommendations for the Government

Democracy is better than dictatorship, but as wealth inequality becomes more extreme, government, motivated by oligarchs, gravitates to a strong man head of state, which Republicans favor. Trump refused oversight, discharged Inspector Generals, the DOJ was his Roy Cohn, the courts packed with right-wing ideologues, the GOP Senate let him get away with it. The President can become a dictator. It's a Constitutional problem, the GOP and SCOTUS are ok with it. Very wealthy want him as President because He can be bought. Putin backs him as do other authoritarians.

Good government makes decisions based on facts. Science is the best way to determine facts, media must be responsible informing the public, but Republicans censor or silence it in government.

Here are some suggestions for reform:

It takes good government to maintain a balance between democracy and capitalism. The more wealth inequality, the worse the government. Unfortunately, capitalism is winning now, so it is plundering and destroying the earth for profit. Climate devastation will be the mother of all market failures. We probably are destroying the planet for the kids.

We ought to have government that works for the people, not one that rips them off.

In a wealthy country, it should be possible to stay alive even if you are poor.

Democracy, Free Market, Transparency, inclusiveness, and open government are goals. Right now they are endangered.

The market should not be allowed to overpower government. If it does, fascism rules.

The US needs considerable restructuring to be able to address problems, but change is difficult enabling minority rule. The Constitution is very difficult to change.

Changes or new Constitution is probably necessary to fix what ails us.

Here are changes that might lessen the threat :

Standardize Ranked Choice Voting at all levels to break the two party monopoly and to be sure additional parties on the ballot are not spoilers. Polarization would be reduced.
Make election day a national holiday, perhaps combined with Veterans Day.
Restore the Post Office so that it is not a tool of voter suppression.
Ban assault weapons and large magazines.
Pass HR1, the For The People Act
The undemocratic, corrupt, radical, Supreme Court (SCOTUS) has made very bad decisions like Citizens United allowed big money to corrupt politics, gerrymandering resulted in one party States that do not represent the people, roll back of the Voting Rights Act, Campaign Finance Reform, corporate person hood, money is speech, weakening unions, loosened laws on corruption, women's rights, guns, unitary Presidency, ...other damaging, undemocratic decisions.
The Constitution did not give SCOTUS the final word, it begins ‘We the people’. A simple majority of the national popular vote should over ride SCOTUS decisions, for Roe it probably will. Major decisions should be automatically placed on the national ballot. A ballot initiative would also be appropriate.
Similarly, Constitutional Amendments should also be decided by a simple majority of the national popular vote. Minority government benefits from a Constitution that is hard to change, and there is a lot that needs change.
Remove insurrectionists from public office. The 14th Amendment says so. SCOTUS has all but erased the 14th Amendment.
Court decided that it is ok for Fox News to lie, but it is not. Free speech is almost unlimited, but media should be held to a higher standard.
States vote in presidential elections, not people, which is why we get disastrous Presidents without the popular vote. The National Popular Vote has passed in a number of States and should replace the Electoral College. Make the Electoral College unnecessary by passing the National Popular Vote.
Limit Presidential war powers including the AUMF. It's unconstitutional.
States vote, not people, so Presidents can be elected without the popular vote.
Limit Presidential power so that he may not pardon himself, his cronies, or co-conspirators.
See that the President can go to war only if the US is directly under attack. Otherwise Congress must authorize.
Empower the House of Representatives to remove the President for cause.
Regulate the economy so that it is not kleptocratic, corrupt and wealth disparities are not extreme.
Fund public media, privatized media is too easy to corrupt.
Restore limits on the number and type of media outlets permitted per owner
Restore the Fairness Doctrine .
Corporations are not people, have concentrated many industries, are engaging in stock buybacks, keep workers down, and respond to investors, not the public. They are the engines of inequality and badly need reform.
Enforce anti-trust law to reduce monopoly capitalism
Under Ike, the highest marginal tax rate was over 90% and government was able to do big things, the middle class thrived, families could do well on one income, and college was affordable. Republican tax cuts and wholesale privatization spoiled all that. Reagan accelerated the decline. Restore tax rates to Eisenhower levels when the highest marginal rate was over 90%
With adequate tax revenue, funding a solid social safety net would not be a problem. Like other developed countries, the US should be able to provide taxpayer child care, eldercare, college, healthcare, and alleviate poverty. Nordic countries do that and are the happiest in the world. They think they get a good deal for their higher taxes, and they do.
Strengthen social programs: healthcare, education, housing, nutrition, care, infrastructure.
Amend the Constitution by the National Popular Vote.
The constitution is hard to change benefiting minority interests, allow amendments by a simple majority of the national popular vote. Update the Constitution, but first decide how best to do it. A convention can be hijacked by the right if States rights control voting.
Respect international law including the nuclear ban, Geneva Conventions, etc.
Require a supermajority vote of Congress to withdraw from international agreements.
Support NATO as a mutual defense agreement, not a protection racket.
Recognize that no one is exceptional and cooperate in transnational problems.
Support the UN. Join the UN ban on nuclear weapons.
Obey the UN Charter.
Join the International Criminal Court
Mitigate climate damage. It might be too late.
Because large parts of the planet will become uninhabitable, expect mass migration. Immigrants are good for the economy, and instead of border fortifications, welcome them.

We should be able to learn from the success of other countries. I am not optimistic.

Previously

John Bolton threw out the pandemic response team so we were unprepared when it was needed. Newt Gingrich terminated the Office of Technology Assessment. James Hansen and climate experts were censored or gagged. The CDC was censored so that it lost the trust of the public just as the pandemic raged. Also the CDC is not allowed to study gun violence. Dr. Fauci was not allowed to speak freely.

Republicans are following the authoritarian playbook, they have attempted a violent insurrection which continues with changing voting laws, coincidentally gun sales have soared, there is a run on ammunition, and if they accomplish a one party state, they may govern in the same way as Orban or Putin. Right wing, authoritarian government is never good.

European kings often took their people to war, and it sometimes took violent revolution to remove responsibility from them, but they are mostly ceremonial now. We should do that for the Presidency because he is more powerful than the king we sought to overthrow.

Republicans have been making the Presidency more powerful for a long time. He could become a dictator. Congress needs the law to keep him in check, but it failed to do so. We have gone to war too many times at the Presidents discretion, sometimes to influence his own election.

Congress needs the power to remove the President from office when it is necessary. Congress was traumatized by the assault on the Capital. Clearly, it was violence incited by the President in an attempt to overthrow the government. Unsurprisingly, there were calls for Trump's removal using Amendment 25, or impeachment. When all has been done, including criminal processes, he should not be allowed to hold any office again. The 14th Amendment says so.

It is no coincidence that the US has experienced extreme wealth disparities and has been at constant war since WWII. We know that Nixon, Reagan, and maybe Bush went to war to burnish their own election prospects. They were sociopaths as are many GOP office holders. The US Presidency has gained power assisted by the Supreme Court, propelled by the GOP urge for a unitary President who could become an unchecked dictator.

When wealth inequality becomes extreme and monopoly corporations become commonplace, there is a new feudalism and that is when charismatic leaders and fascism emerge. It is government by the wealthy minority. Gun culture, fortified borders, surveillance, extreme military, and human rights abuse follow.

We never voted for an empire. The forever war cost us our standard of living, domestic tranquility, democracy and we are at risk of nuclear-armed Fascism. Disdain for climate decline or failure to control nuclear proliferation could signal the end of humanity.

Trump was a stress test for the Constitution, and it has failed in some ways. He was allowed to keep vital information from Congress, disdain oversight, appoint acting executives without Senate approval, pardon cronies, decapitate the DOJ, nullify long-standing treaties, lie about relations with Russians, tie up the Courts with issues to run out the clock, make ludicrous and deadly decisions that mishandled the pandemic, partisan politics nullified the impeachment clause of the Constitution, emoluments, nepotism, corruption ignored. He continues to control the Republican Party and is determined to come back.

The Supreme Court could have prevented Trump from any of these activities, but it is not a defender of democracy. It was captured and corrupted by big right wing money. To defeat democracy it is important to pack the Courts.

SCOTUS failed to maintain functioning checks and balances, and is itself a powerful anti-democratic force for fascism.

To fix our problems, we need fair elections, responsible media, progressive taxes like we had after WWII, accessible social programs, first-rate education, honest politicians who root out corruption, anti-trust. return to democracy, which needs careful cultivation:

The US should consider revising its Constitution.

An updated Constitution should make the Presidency a ceremonial office, enshrine the principle of one-man-one-vote, which means removing the Electoral College, partisan Senate and the Supreme Court and implementing a unicameral government. A single people’s assembly would effectively rule. The Nordic model is better, and would be improved with graduated wealth tax.

I am not optimistic.

It is time to reverse the new global division of labor with progressive taxation, massive public investment, union wages and the creation of a social safety net. This will redistribute income and wealth and stabilize the US economy. More economically equal societies are less stagnant. Greater income equality will spur GDP growth through consumer spending. It will also restore the US middle class. As of now, the current Obama Administration is thoroughly committed to continuing the neoliberal path out of the present crisis with certain back stops to mitigate suffering. This will not bring the deep structural changes needed to create a stable, more equal and more economically just society. The Smirking Chimp April 2009

"Like 1933 — which would be 2021 — we can see that it is now time to discuss universal child care, universal sick leave and a guaranteed income for everyone in our society.” Ed Markey

What's the Big Idea

The election and its aftermath have revealed weaknesses in our democracy. Here’s how we can fix some of them. (1/8/2021)

What Democracy Looks Like

The New Great Depression Is Coming. Will There Be a New New Deal? (5/2/2020)

A roaring stock market doesn’t make a healthy economy. In fact, the stock market may be inversely related to the well-being of the people. The US has the highest inequality of developed countries. Many people do without basic necessities: medical coverage, education. homeless, food insecure, indebted, life expectancy is falling. The environment is being destroyed for profit. Political power is wielded by wealthy elites and big business, not the people. Without basic necessities, there is no freedom.

The US was great when FDR’s New Deal got us out of the Great Depression. The top marginal tax rate exceeded 90%, damped down inequality, and sustained a middle class for decades. We mobilized for war to fight Fascism, FDR’s solutions expressed in his Second Bill of Rights, were written into Constitutions in post WWII countries, but not in the US.

A strong social safety net can assure that everyone has the basics for a dignified life. A high marginal wealth tax can pay for investments in universal health care (including vision, hearing, childcare, and long-term care), public higher education, basic research, supplemented income for the needy, well-maintained infrastructure, which would damp down inequality.

Study successful policies in other countries, especially Nordic countries like Finland, for improvement here.

Restore FDR’s agenda, drain the swamp, and fight Fascism again. We may yet lose WWII.

In our politics there are four neglected virtues that could light the path from where we are to where we ought to go: (1) respect for evidence, (2) tolerance of ambiguity, (3) caring about consequences, and (4) commitment to the common good. All are diminished by the ideology of radical individualism and neglected by much of the mainstream media. As our politics become more ideological, neglect of these four virtues in our political debates and media coverage exacerbates the polarization and gridlock in Congress. More attention to these tenets by the press and public would be a helpful antidote to our poisonous political culture." Tom Allen's book Dangerous Convictions: What's Really Wrong with the U. S. Congress

"As the War on Terror lurches from decade to decade, it will distract attention from far greater threats. Nothing decisive can be done to combat global warming or curb nuclear proliferation without American leadership. These, not terrorism, are the dangers that threaten the survival of the human race." from Geoffrey Perret's book "Commander in Chief"

House Democrats have a plan to actually drain the swamp. Senate Republicans are going to hate it. (1/3/2019)

How Democrats can wipe out the GOP and fix America (3/19/2018)

An Economic Plan For America: Bernie Sanders 12 Steps Forward(12/3/2014)

A Movement to Address Climate Change (10/12/2014)

When did we vote or have a national discussion that we must have an empire, foreign war adventures, universal surveillance, militarized police, and largely secret government ? In lax oversight of covert agencies an evil culture has grown up that ignores law, and accepts pre-emptive war, torture, renditions, off-shore prisons and honors the people that created the programs. Do you wonder that the US no longer has the moral high ground ?

Whistle-blowers are harshly punished, and the torturers go free. Real journalism is now for heroes. Media is corrupt. Elections are bought. The wealthy, having gamed the system, have reaped the gains from an increasingly impoverished working class. This looks like a Weimar moment.

Risk of economic collapse is much greater with loosened financial regulations. In the longer run, in a few decades, climate collapse is probably assured.

If we do more humanitarian relief instead of military violence, we would be much safer. We could downsize our military, scrap most of our WMDs especially nuclear arms, and abandon our quest for empire. We might then regain some of our civil liberties.

Insist the US join the UN ban on nuclear weapons.

It appears that war need no longer be fought with WMDs. Russians have shown that a relatively inexpensive cyber campaign can result in regime change as it has backing the Trump administration.

Assure election integrity

The way US elections are conducted, it is a stretch to claim that we live in a democracy. US decision-making has become dysfunctional, and we are on an obvious downward spiral. Citizens United has put elections on the auction block. Gerrymandering, the Electoral College, and voter suppression make the popular vote irrelevant. Our government is by a minority of oligarchs.

It should be easy for everyone to vote. Voter suppression and gerrymandering are criminal offences. So is foreign interference in elections.

Privatized vote counting is inherently untrustworthy. If we cannot have valid elections, government is illegitimate. (Please click on the word election for details.)

To have a real democracy, we need free and fair election. Range voting could solve a number of problems with US elections, and would be far more democratic than our current procedure. A third party would not be a spoiler. Public debate would be more robust. State of Maine has done this and it works well. We can hope that all elections will have standardized range voting.

The two party system is polarizing, it suppresses a broad exchange of views, Party loyalty (money) warps views of real issues. Media suppresses discussion. Neither party wants the other to accomplish anything, so nothing can get done.

We need to break the two party system. Instant Runoff Voting (IRV) or Range voting is a minimum and necessary change to be sure that a third party is not a spoiler. Right now, you may not be able to vote in good conscience for your first choice since a third party can be a spoiler.

Candidates, especially for high office, should have high qualifications, should be vetted to get on the ballot. As a minimum they should be required to release tax returns and pass an appropriate background check. The higher the office, the more thorough the check.

We need to rethink the silly race between states to be the first to hold elections. Nationally televised debates accompanied by internet polling could be a better way to select candidates or evaluate issues.

Make election day a national holiday. possibly combined with Veterans Day to remind people what it is about.

Presidential primary voting has become a race between States for campaign money and an opportunity for special interests in each State to exercise a veto.

In 2016 the parties offered two unpopular candidates. They failed to properly vet candidates. A minimum requirement to get on the ballot for senior political levels is release of tax returns and an appropriate background check. There should be other requirements also, so that candidates with no relevant experience are not allowed into senior positions. The Trump cabinet is notable for corrupt, unqualified, malevolent individuals who oppose the very purpose of the agencies that they run.

The influence of money in politics should be reduced because plutocracy and democracy cannot co-exist. The market is not democratic.

As Corporate media consolidates, which Republicans always favor, it does not serve the public interest because it is advertising ($) driven, belongs to hard-right Republican corporatists. Corporate media agents should be off the stage. Debates should be open to more candidates and run by independent NGO's...not corporate media.

Media is polarizing and should again be constrained by the fair use doctrine. Free public media should be the platform for political activity. Citizens United should be overturned, because it is now plainly financing a move to Fascism.

We need to see that elections are fair. Election rigging should be a high crime, including staging false flag events. After 9/11 we lost serious civil liberties with the Patriot Act.

The two major parties effectively exclude all competition. Excluding minor parties from debates has made discussion extremely limited. Although it is partly the fault of corporate media, major issues are usually not discussed leading up to elections. We discuss the Rev Wright or Rev Hagee, but real issues like health care, falling wages, shrinking benefits, or even the disastrous Bush foreign policy, are not on the table. Most Americans really don't agree with their government's policy, so elections have to be about wedge issues like immigration, gay marriage, or abortion. Republicans like to point out we are a republic, not a democracy.

Vote counting cannot be privatized to hard-right partisans if we are to have real elections. Partisans have installed machines that are blatantly hackable, and unauditable. Lieberman was one of the leaders on the HAVA (Help America Vote Act which perpetuated the problem.

The Electoral College ought to be abolished and all elections should use secure, standardized, transparent, open source, techniques. Privatized vote counting is not acceptable for trustworthy elections. Range voting would make multiple parties possible, widen the dialog, and make the process more democratic.

Senator Feingold proposed a Constitutional amendment that Governors should not appoint Senators. He is right.

We should be voting for an agenda, as well as candidates. After elections, the agenda should not be up to the candidate, it is up to us.

But each candidate in the US system makes their own agenda, often to benefit their major backers, call it corruption, and you only get to choose the least bad of them. Most likely, major campaign donors (oligarchs) get to shape the platform well before the election. (Just as Russian and Israeli lobbyists shaped the Republican platform.) Once elected, candidates frequently do not do what they promised. We should not have to guess what the outcome of an election means. The candidates should swear to faithfully implement the people's agenda. Clearly they are NOT doing that. They are visibly working for the corporate elite...and that's the very definition of fascism. Most people no longer agree with the direction taken by the US, how is that democracy ?

Although details might best be left to experts, we can all agree that we need to protect the environment, move toward a sustainable economy, avoid war, and maintain humane social programs. Unrestrained markets clearly do not accomplish any of these things.

We need to be sure that we have, as the Constitution mandates, provided for the general welfare. Even major corporations, like GM, now concede that privatized healthcare is NOT an option. The US is the only advanced country without national health care. For globalization to be on a flat playing field, healthcare should be universal...like every other developed country. Tax payer health is most efficient, with better outcomes and about half as expensive if costs are in line with other developed countries.

People should decide the agenda, not a single individual or even the President. We have seen what happens when the President is not particularly wise. (See Bush or even worse Trump.) It is clear that if hard-bargained international agreements can be nullified at the whim of each President, then the word of the US is not to be trusted.

See election reform and agenda

We should vote for an agenda, Not Candidates

We are doing it wrong. Each candidate has his own particular agenda, and financial backers funding their own interests. This has led to a government that does not respond to the people. There is wisdom in crowds that should be harnessed for decision-making. Candidates should be responsible for supporting and implementing the people's agenda. Failure to do that should be grounds for their removal.

What does the American public think ?

Conserve Energy

We need to leave fossil fuel in the ground and make a massive migration to renewable energy. We now have a limited carbon budget. Time is running out.

Oil is probably at or past peak production, and it makes sense to conserve energy for environmental, geopolitical, and economic reasons. Although it may be tempting to ravage wilderness areas, it is important to save unrenewable resources for future generations. It is an assault on the Constitution that Bush energy policy was made in secret and not subject to review. "Executive privilege" in a democracy is a dangerous myth. The Republican policy of maximum drilling is extremely misguided.

The debate on global warming, though still funded by some large conflicted corporations, is over. The US should take an active role in attempting to save the planet. Don't count on Republicans for leadership though. Trump made the US the only country not to join the Paris Climate Agreement, and doubled down on drilling.

Protect the environment

Continuing business as usual is going to result in slow but certain disaster. The latest IPCC report is a dire warning.

We should be careful of the planet so that future generations can be healthy and prosper. We should consider what our options would be if this planet becomes uninhabitable as inevitably will happen one day. CO2 will be in the atmosphere for millennia. Growth is causing climate change rapidly on a geological scale.

Corporations fight to use the environment as their toxic waste dump. Now we are seeing the results of that as global warming (better termed climate degradation) has shown itself in many ways. Conservation is necessary to minimize CO2 emissions and to mitigate the near-term possibility that oil production has peaked. The Bush record on the environment, as Robert Kennedy of the NRDC has written, was atrocious. The more we learn about near space, the more it becomes clear that there is no other accessible planet that will support life. Growing population means growing pressure on resources, and, of course, Republicans are on the wrong side of population mitigation. Take a look at the Earth Charter.

The Koch brothers, leading fossil fuel polluters, are committing almost a Billion dollars to buy the next election.
They want to continue polluting that has already been devastating to other species and will will ultimately make earth hostile for us.

We have created a mathematics that can remarkably model the natural world. Our computer models for weather forecasting, and long-term modeling like that at the Club of Rome, are steadily improving and on-track. Business as usual will soon bring climate collapse.
We have explored our solar neighborhood finding no other place where we could sustainably live. Yet, we are knowingly destroying our only home. We could recognize the problem and start to deal with it, but we don't. It is a crime against nature.

There is an extremely slim chance that technology, somehow, might save us, but don't count on it.

James Hanson, NASA scientist, said the Keystone XL pipeline will be game over for the planet. For Republicans, clearly money driven, it's a high priority.

Republicans, now a majority in our dysfunctional Congress, abolished the Office of Technology Assessment that might have explained the coming catastrophe. Anyway, they don't believe the science. They are to blame for dysfunctional politics that does not recognize, let alone address problems.

We should support sustainability goals, and rejoin the world's fight against climate change

We are destroying the planet for corporate profit.

Damp Down Income inequality

Income inequality, the extreme unfairness in our economy, is the result of wrong-headed, Republican public policy.

It is clear that the US has become corrupt. Lobbyists control Congress. Banks engaged in fraudulent activity were found too big to fail, too big to prosecute, and they are even larger now. Ratings agencies certified that toxic securities were AAA. Large accounting firms declared it all fine. Government regulators looked the other way. Media missed it, but then it all collapsed. See Lawrence Lessig's book: Republic, Lost.

Citizens United has exacerbated the vicious feedback loop in which large amounts of corporate money game the system and make wealth inequality even worse. It is devastating to democracy, and causes a wide array of social dysfunction. It has brought the US back to a condition of feudalism, loosely defined as rule by the extremely wealthy.

Fact is: the wealthy have won, and labor has lost about everything including the right to organize. It should be no surprise that the middle class has been on a downward path since Ronald Reagan, and, given Trump's proposed tax cuts for the wealthy, it will continue rapidly downward.

Wealth inequality and our fiscal problems can be mitigated with a stiff, graduated tax like we had when Ike was in office, a substantial estate tax so that the children of the wealthy don't have it too easy, strong social supports including universal health care, pensions that do not shrink, and affordable education appropriate for everyone's circumstances. Progressive taxes should burden financial speculators more heavily than wage earners. Income from hard work should be taxed more lightly than profits from speculation.

We could learn a few lessons from other countries, such as Denmark, , Finland, or Norway. Nordic countries perform better by almost every important metric because they are structured better.

Inequality, is a hallmark of bad government, can be controlled with a strong social safety net, progressive taxes, and inheritance taxes. Should it grow uncontrollably, which it probably will, the result will be authoritarianism.

Reform Corporations

Since the Supreme Court decided it: Corporations are legal persons with full rights. By law, their only obligation is to maximize profit for shareholders. Unlike people, they do not have to account for other stakeholders like the communities, workers, or consumers they are supposed to serve. Unlike actual people they can move to any country that they like to find the most favorable tax havens, cheapest labor, or most lax environmental laws. The TPP gives them the right to over-rule governments. Money can migrate, people cannot.

For decades SCOTUS has been partisan Republican corporate supremacists, which is why we are headed for Fascism. Republicans have reversed all of the high values demonstrated when FDR was in office.

Since American markets are not growing rapidly, some operations are no longer profitable or legal in the US (for example: the tobacco industry.) Corporations simply move operations to other countries where the markets are. They have no particular obligation to be good citizens, and often they are not.

Unlike actual people, corporations never die, have children, get married, get thrown in jail, and they usually plan only for the short term. That makes them short-sighted and unable to deal with issues like climate change, overpopulation, wealth inequality, overfishing, species extinction, deteriorating infrastructure, dysfunctional health care, toxic politics. Our largest corporations are lobbying mightily to be sure that no action is taken on any of these issues. When profit is the only motive, expect actions of a sociopath.

Real people are not so free to move to other countries, unless, of course, they are wealthy enough. With enough money, you can buy citizenship in other countries.

Since the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision, Corporations have been able to spend as much money as they like to buy government at all levels. Corporations have used their weight to avoid taxes, to pollute, to concentrate, crush competition, lobby for special privileges, reward CEOs exorbitantly, expand their power at the expense of consumers, pillage the environment, for all practical purposes transnationals renounce their US citizenship. As Lawrence Lessig has written so well in his book, Republic Lost, the Congress depends on the funders, not the people.Control of government by corporations is the very definition of fascism. There is ample evidence that the US is turning into a kleptocracy.

Now many corporations are busting unions, and migrating off shore to low wage countries while lobbying to allow low wage immigrants to work here Unions have been systematically weakened. Companies like Wal-Mart, while relying on the public for employee's healthcare, do not allow unions. (It is in the UN declaration of Human Rights that everyone has a right to join a union, but you wouldn't know that from recent US policy.)

Republican deregulation has caused broad lack of accountability, an alarming shrinking of public space, and a carnival of corruption. Congress responds to the funders, not the people. See Lawrence Lessig's Republic Lost.

Reform of corporate governance is necessary because democracy is not a corporate value. Financial instability and environmental deterioration make this even more clear. Workers should always have representation on corporate boards. Shareholders should have voting rights over corporate policy including limits on compensation. (There is in Switzerland.) The public and the various stakeholders should have a voice.

The free market is healthiest when there is competition among many entities. Since the US no longer enforces anti-trust laws, corporations have been free to consolidate by buying up competitors and becoming as large a possible. Corporate rollups create the oligarchy at the expense of consumers, employees, and other stakeholders. The framers of the Constitution were wary of concentration of power, but they did not take into account private power. The more consolidated the industry, the more regulation there should be.

Since anti-trust is mostly no longer enforced in the US, Corporate concentration has not only suppressed competition, robbed consumers of real choice, and been damaging in every industry: banks, retailing, media, pharma, health care, transportation and more. Deregulation assures that corporate abuse will not be remedied. They like to build moats that keep out competition.

Diversity of ownership should be a policy goal. That is particularly important for media. (see below).

Corporate good citizenship should be a requirement for continuing the corporate charter. Government regulation of markets, particularly those with few competitors, is a requirement for consumer protection, financial stability, environmental protection, a level playing field, and for democracy. The fewer the participants, the more need for vigorous oversight.

John Bogle suggested sensible reforms.

As Robert Reich points out in his book "Supercapitalism", corporations are not people. Since the Supreme Court has ruled otherwise, to get back to basics we need a Constitutional Amendment. The Supreme Court's decision in Citizens United must be struck down. A number of States have passed resolutions to make it happen.

Oppose media consolidation

It is a fundamental assumption of the the Constitution that concentration of power is dangerous. Although the Post Office was written into the Constitution, media was not comparable in the 1700's, it is necessary now to beware concentration of media. Not only has it become dangerously consolidated, because it is dysfunctional, corrupt, overwhelmingly corporate, and almost exclusively hard right-wing. Large internet companies are now concentrated (Google, Facebook and others) but Americans do not share the privacy protections gained by the EU.

The FCC, which represents large media, is revoking Net neutrality, in what amounts to an assault on consumers even a threat to free speech. In addition, we know that US covert agencies routinely shape media.

We need to assure that adequate information necessary for democracy and responsible citizenship is reliable and widely available. When media lies, there should be consequences. How did Rupert Murdoch come to own the Republican party and its megaphone, the right-wing noise machine ?

When corporations concentrate or even become monopolies, there is the potential for abuse. The fewer participants in a market, the more there is a need for regulation. Media has become too concentrated and it is a clear and present danger for democracy. Corporate media should NOT be part of the election process. Provide free public facilities for political speech, and prohibit commercial political advertising.

Concentrated corporate media does not serve the public interest. Since mostly corporations can afford to buy broadcast time, mostly their message is heard. Right wing shock jocks rule radio. They were, and are, cheerleaders for right wing profiteers and war because they participate in the profits of war. Keep them away from the debate stage. Many institutions including PBS have been compromised by oligarch zealots.

The frequency of pharma ads is probably stifling useful discussion of healthcare reform. (I am politely not using the word extortion here.) The US is one of only two countries in the world to allow pharma direct to consumer advertising.

Support free broadcast time for political campaigning. It is media expense that is the cause of campaign finance problems. Broadcasters, all progeny of major corporations, are a major enabler of fascism. That is why we need not only many participants, but also balance in media: some private, some public, and some academic, and government.

There ought to be a diversity of media sources that balance public and private interests. Jeff Chester's book "Digital Destiny" has excellent suggestions for reform. Since video is now the major source of American's information and most can not create it, there is a kind of illiteracy that further empowers corporate interests. The internet is becoming hostile to free speech, since armies of people now monitor and shape it.

Oppose further media consolidation, insist on a balance of stakeholders and diversity of views in mainstream media, and bring back the Fairness Doctrine. Insist on net neutrality.

Fix the Economy

Wall Street rules. Congress is dependent on money and that is how, as Lawrence Lessig has written, we lost our republic.

We should redefine the statistics we use to measure the economy. When we add up all economic activity, we sum both goods and bads. Miltary hardware only results in destruction. Nuclear weapons, although a heavy investment, fortunately have rarely been used. Such products ought not to be counted as part of our economic health. They are a waste. Endless war will certainly destroy US democracy. WMDs should be regarded a deduction from GNP, not an addition. They are not goods, they are bads. Inequality can destroy democracy. The empire can bankrupt us.

'Growth' is not a suitable goal for a sustainable economy. Jared Diamond in his book, Collapse, warns of the consequences when the economy overtakes the environment. Population overshoot now threatens human habitability of the earth.

Republicans, market fundamentalists, unwisely deregulated the financial community and we are now seeing the results. It should be clear to everyone now that regulation should be adequate to assure that speculator's risk is not passed on to taxpayers. In fact, government has had to bail out the private sector every time there is a slip. At times the bailouts look like crony capitalism, at best it is lemon socialism (welfare for the wealthy.) Bank deregulation is part of the Republican Scam.

"The very first priority will be to restore financial oversight to the finance industry." FromThe Trillion Dollar Meltdown: Charles R. Morris.

There should be a well reasoned discussion of those things best done by the public and those that should be privatized. Where few companies control a market, the private sector needs oversight. A free market is at its best when there are many competitors, where information is available and reliable, and where everyone is allowed to participate. This condition is rare in the US. Corporations prefer monopoly.

The private sector is not always the best choice: healthcare and eldercare are examples that demonstrate where privatization is not efficient or functional. Privatization of the military is particularly grotesque and could lead to a praetorian guard. The simple-minded Republican mantra that flat, lower taxes and smaller government are always better is just silly. It is, however, effective in keeping income disparities at extreme levels, removing the tax burden from the already wealthy, and making government an ATM machine for the well connected. Republicans have not made government smaller, nor have they been fiscally responsible. They did not pay for the wars that they provoked, they borrowed massively from third world countries (passing this debt on to the next generation), and enriched their cronies with much of the proceeds. Trump got tax gifts to the wealthy from taxpayer debt.

Republican policy is always regressive. They are unrelenting in giving tax cuts to the already comfortable while cutting programs that benefit the most vulnerable. They are not willing to accept that the Constitution provides also for the general welfare.

Capitalism is on a path to destroy the environment. It should be clear now that where there is a common public interest, capitalism does not work. (See Healthcare.)

Since the economy has been militarized, it is unlikely that we will ever again have the peace or prosperity that we once enjoyed. The six trillion dollar wars in the Middle East absorbed resources that were needed at home. Our infrastructure is in poor condition. The wars were pointless and Republicans that initiated them should not be allowed in public office. Under Trump the Republican party are traitors.

The Economic Policy Institute has produced an Agenda for Shared Prosperity. We are on a path to plutocracy, financial instability, social misery, and fascism. Unfortunately, appropriate changes are not visible now . Democracy or Plutocracy

Robert Kuttner comments on the success of the Danish model. We can only wish. (What you should know about Finland.)

David C. Korten's book, Agenda For A New Economy, has an excellent analysis and some solutions for our economic problems. Paul Krugman has accurately predicted economic events in his New York Times column for years, but there is no evidence that policy makers listen to him. Gar Alperovitz book: What Then Must We Do ? is an impressive blueprint for change.

Reinforce the social safety net

As offshoring and automation takes more jobs, it will become necessary to strengthen the safety net. See People Get Ready: The Fight Against a Jobless Economy and a Citizenless Democracy by Robert McChesney and John Nichols.

Republicans seem to think that money is the only problem, complain about taxes, and vow to make government smaller, but they never acknowledge that most US taxes are regressive and go to the world's largest military. See here. They blame the victims...it used to be welfare mothers but currently illegal aliens. US government, unlike Europeans, seems unwilling to acknowledge the Constitutional duty to "promote the general welfare" and, although the U.S. signed on to the UN Declaration of Human Rights, there is only a very selective recognition of its details.

The government should, as the only institution that can, assure the well being of the people: this includes guarantees of a minimum standard of living, access to healthcare, appropriate education for everyone, and decent eldercare. This is a moral value and lack of money for these things is no excuse. It seems Republicans are only 'pro-life' for the unborn.

Even though our distribution of income has become progressively worse, red ink is everywhere, the Bush Republicans pushed for unconscionable tax cuts for the wealthiest, and didn't bother to pay for their wars. That is a symptom of a banana republic: running large deficits to benefit cronies. Financial crisis could occur any time our foreign debtors decide to pull the plug. It looks to be just a matter of time now.

We should have a social contract. The very young, very old, disabled and sick (all who are not in the workforce) should be provided for from the commons. There is no excuse for an advanced country NOT to take care of its people. Right now there is a Federal War on funding or providing Long Term Care, youth are being forced into heavy debt for higher education, many are going without adequate health care, often their only job option is the military. A bake sale will not do the job.

Corporations should not be burdened with the costs of social services because, it is now plain to see, they become uncompetitive. Anyway, they are backing out and people are losing what little security they had.

The US made a fundamental mistake in making social programs an employer burden because, on a global scale, it puts us at a competitive disadvantage. The welfare state should be paid for with general taxes as is done in Scandinavian countries, such as Finland.

There should be an assurance that Social Security will remain strong, that health care will be there for everyone. Robert Reich in his book "Supercapitalism" advocates decoupling healthcare from employment. Doing this would make for a healthier population and a more robust economy. U.S. social programs: childcare, eldercare, homeless, poverty are all pretty bad.

Scandinavians may pay high taxes, but they do a good job taking care of their people. They pay ALL expenses for higher education. Elder care is a public responsibility. Their system is more democratic also, and their economy performs better.

Protect Civil Service

Civil Service was designed to keep skilled professionals in government without political interference. Project 2025 plans to do away with that, replacing them with political loyalists.

Homeland Security never was a goal of the Bush administration and we are not safer. They stripped away the National Guard for foreign war, directed security funding to red states, and generally ignored real security risks. The logical result of Republican individualism is what happened after Katrina. Lieberman was on the committee that quickly endorsed Michael Brown as head of FEMA. The Civil Service should be strengthened so that party cronies do not replace competent, experienced professionals. Bush habitually appointed ideologue incompetents, like himself, to high office. Everyday security has deteriorated substantially while Republicans used the government like an ATM machine.

Broaden Public Education

Charlie Savage writes (in his book Takeover) "In August 2004, Education Department researchers released a surprising study of test scores showing that students at charter schools were performing worse than comparable students at regular public schools. The findings were a disappointment for those in the Bush-Cheney administration who favored charter school funding. Less than two weeks later, Education Department decided to sharply cut back on the information collected about charter schools." (This pattern of suppression of ideologically unfavorable information was frequently seen in the Bush administration and Savage details some of it.)

Republican religious zealots damaged US education with their war on science. Dr. Hansen's book, "Censoring Science", describes the techniques used by the Bush administration to muzzle scientists. It's not just bad for policy, for general knowledge, but also for education. The US could easily lose its scientific edge to countries that are now importing our jobs.

Recognize that Republicans have a stealth program to privatize education...for their own indoctrination and for profit. It is heavily funded by plutocrats: Murdoch, Waltons, Gates, Bush, Broad and favored by Betsy DeVos.

Free Software and Open textbooks could improve education at reduced cost.

Finland, which pays for ALL education, has the world's best education outcomes.

Encourage the best professors at the best Universities to put their lectures on the internet. Some of our best Universities have done this already, but they need better incentives. Higher education could be cheaper, better, and more democratic. Lectures from our best Universities could be publicly available. It might be an antidote for ignorant, exploitative, partisan, corporate media.

Oppose theocracy

“Countries with a high percentage of nonbelievers are among the freest, most stable, best-educated, and healthiest nations on earth. When nations are ranked according to a human-development index, which measures such factors as life expectancy, literacy rates, and educational attainment, the five highest-ranked countries --- Norway, Sweden, Australia, Canada, and the Netherlands -- all have high degrees of nonbelief. Of the fifty countries at the bottom of the index, all are intensely religious." Greg Graffin and Steve Olson: Anarchy, Evolution, Faith, Science and Bad Religion in a World Without God

The Republican's War on Science, a direct result of their unholy alliance with religion, degrades our science education, introduces hateful prejudice into the political process, makes Middle East war look like a new crusade, and has very little value in policy making. Kevin Philips, Mark Crispin Miller and others have written extensively about this. Ralph Nader's comments on US support for Israeli bombing of Lebanon is instructive. Lieberman naturally has the interests of the Israelis at the heart of his agenda, but we need to be neutral so as not to be the recipients of (well deserved) blowback from the Middle East. Bush made comments that make the War in Iraq look like another crusade. We need to examine religions for their role in fomenting war.

Religions that urge violence are criminal. They should be taxed, their schools should be closed, their assets seized, and they ought to be illegal.

Insist on transparency in government

Secrecy in government is the enemy of democracy, and the Bush administration was reluctant to allow visibility into its dealings. That Bush is the son of a former President created enormous conflicts of interest, not the least of which was the flaunting of the law which would have opened Bush Sr's records to the public. Charlie Savage's Book "Takeover: The Return of the Imperial Presidency and the Subversion of American Democracy describes in some detail the process by which secrecy has all but kept the Congress from exercising its oversight role.

We need to have the Freedom of Information Act reaffirmed so that it cannot be pushed aside as the Bush administration did.

When government is secret, there must be vigorous, responsible oversight, protection for whistle-blowers, and safeguards for journalists. Encryption works. Free software is essential.

The law must be open and not behind a pay wall.

Defend the Constitution

"The American people are going to have to say, 'Enough of this business of justifying everything as necessary for the war on terror.' Either the Constitution and the laws of this country mean something or they don't. It is truly frightening what is going on in this country." Bob Barr, former GOP Congressman from Georgia.

Bush Republicans attacked the Constitution. It's not just that the "Patriot Act" was a frontal assault on the Bill of Rights, or that the Military Commissions Act negated Habeas Corpus, rolled back FISA, allowed torture, or dismissed the Geneva Conventions, they blazed a path to an imperial Presidency. These are the same people sworn to defend the Constitution and propagandizing for its strict interpretation. See Conyer's report on the Constitution in crisis.

During Bush's first six years, Republicans controlled of all three branches of government, had effective control of the press, and we had one-party government. Party loyalty among Republicans assured that the Bush agenda, which turned out to be extremely misguided, was US policy. There was no Congressional oversight of major issues. In short, Bush Republicans obliterated Constitutional checks and balances by misusing their party.

Real conservatives should want to protect the best features of the Constitution at the very least. Instead the Bush administration undermined the bill of rights, neglected important assumptions such as the avoidance of foreign adventures, the revulsion against concentration of power (whether it be the media, corporations, or the Presidency.), or the continued functioning of those 'checks and balances'. Long standing international treaties, like the Geneva Convention, negotiated over decades, were scrapped.

Andrew Bacevich pointed out: There is nothing in the Constitution that justifies an agenda of remaking the middle east. The framers knew to avoid foreign entanglements. We should participate in international problem solving instead of committing the US to endless war. Congress has thrust power on the imperial President.

Staying Bush's course means the end of our republic, and it confirms our path to empire. History has shown the likely fate of empires is destruction. It should now be obvious that we are a lot less safe now. War has become increasingly more destructive and our fate worse than those which have gone before. We are, as Noam Chomsky points out, on a path to an "Armageddon of our own making". See Chalmers Johnson's "Republic or Empire" in the January, 2007 issue of Harpers Magazine as well as his three important books.

Repair the Constitution

So far, the US Constitution has not failed completely, although government is dysfunctional. It is over two hundred years old and needs alteration. Larry Sabato's book, A More Perfect Constitution, is a good starting proposal. There is a serious threat from the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision.

There should be unmistakable Constitutional clarity that the President is not above the law and, given his penchant for 'signing statements', that he is on no account a legislator. 'Signing statements' by the President should have NO effect in law. If the Courts do not agree, (remember the Supreme Court selected Bush for office), we need a Constitutional amendment to make that clear. Establishing an imperial President signals an outright revocation of the Constitution.

The Supreme Court, packed with Republican corporate supremacists, has betrayed the Constitution by making government responsive to the plutocracy and not the people. Term limits and upper age limits for the justices would make sense.

Limit the Imperial Presidency

A President out of control has shredded the Constitution, broken the social contract, thumbed his nose at international law, and committed war crimes. He and his administration, even after leaving office, need to be held accountable.

The divine right royals in Europe no longer rule. They have been reduced to attending ceremonial events and most of their power has been reallocated to representatives of the people subject to recall. It is clear that we do not need a strong-man Presidency. It is dangerous. When the President is not too wise, as is sometimes the case, our national direction may be very misguided. When his advisors are sycophants, there are no limits to the damage he can do.

When the President is above the law, then the office has become too strong for the Constitution to survive. The Congress needs to be aggressive in its oversight and to do that it cannot allow the high levels of secrecy that now prevail. The President is unaccountable in his use of 'intelligence' agencies and they have been engaged in activities that Americans would not accept. There are obvious conflicts of interest when successive Presidents come from the same family. The Bush family has been particularly self-serving.

Bush used signing statements, 'executive privilege', secrecy, and war to enhance the power of his presidency and the Congress was only too willing to let him. It should be clear that 'executive privilege' does not have a place in a democracy. Records need to be as open as is reasonably possible, with the presumption that most documents should be open to public scrutiny. Secrecy allowed the war in Iraq to occur without real provocation, without good reason, with extremely poor judgement, and without public discussion. Jane Mayer reports that the "key piece of evidence buttressing congressional support for going to war against Iraq - was in fact fabricated to make the torture stop." (from the jacket of Jane Mayer's book 'The Dark Side'.

Congress made a grave error when authorizing Bush to go to war. As Chris Hedges put it: "A country that exists in a state of permanent war cannot exist as a democracy." (The Nation: Dec 10, 2007. pg 6.)

Atrocities committed by the CIA and rogue military agents can only be carried out in secret. Although their actions are mostly secret, it is public knowledge that the CIA engaged in torture, renditions, illegal wars, assassinations, regime changes, and that its 'intelligence opinions' can be twisted by senior administration. They trained very undemocratic strong-man states, military at the School of the Americas to practice atrocities. (See Naomi Klein's book Shock Doctrine.) Americans, like Germans of the 1930's, are complacent even though the atrocities are widely known. What should the good American do ?

In history, a strong-man head of state arises in the process of building an empire, civil liberties are curtailed, the military becomes the primary resource consumer, and people find that their needs are not attended. Corporations win. A powerful elite benefit, but the middle class disappears and most of the people are in extreme poverty. As the gap between rich and poor becomes wider, walled communities with high security become more common.

The President should not be able to set the agenda, he should have the responsibility of executing one democratically agreed on. He should be removed when his actions are at odds with the public good. Unfortunately in our rigged election process, we don't vote for an agenda, we vote for an individual and the agenda is often a surprise. Over time, unreported by corporate media, the agenda has become disaster capitalism. (See Noami Klein's book The Shock Doctrine: (also the video and this.)

Since we have a partisan Supreme Court, to save our republic it may be necessary to amend the Constitution to prevent a strong President from acting above the law or imposing a military dictatorship.

Constitutional checks and balances need to be maintained and in good repair. A President who can make war on his own word is too powerful and needs to be constrained. A President who is above the law is clearly not acceptable by any American values.

The Presidency has become too powerful and is a threat to the Constitution. Bush claimed to be a unitary President in a direct slap at the Constitution and in violation of his oath of office, His policy of privatizing everything including Social Security, healthcare, public schools thus removing them too from public accountability, was misguided, unpopular, and reflected not only Republicans trademark incompetence, indifference to the well-being of the people, but their insatiable grab for political power. As the unitary President, he made the agenda. That's wrong.

The concept of a unitary President is a betrayal of the Constitution and should be cause for impeachment. Bush Republican's character, supposedly Christian, includes willingness to torture, to ignore the law (in signing statements), to blithely override the will of the people (re-read the Declaration of Independence for an appreciation of this.) and certainly has no intention of protecting the checks and balances intended in the Constitution.

"Executive Privilege" and secrecy of vital information can render Congressional oversight impossible, thus destroying Constitutional checks and balances. Ignoring the Constitution, Bush in hundreds of signing statements, made it clear that he believed he is above the law. (When or if this is validated by his Supreme Court, we will officially live under a dictatorship.) Beware Trump.

The President should be prohibited from going to war unless the US is directly attacked by another state. The Constitution is clear: the "Congress shall have power to declare war,...and make rules concerning captures on land and water."

Going to war, as Ronald Reagan did, in secret should be an impeachable offense.
Lying to make a case for war is treason. Politicians can, and do, override the judgments of 'intelligence' professionals...even though information has been gathered at staggering cost under conditions of secrecy. Twisting intelligence should be a high crime. However it is another tool to enable massive military budgets, war profiteering, pre-emptive war, and a 'unitary' Presidency.

Checks and balances need to be restored. Congress, even though facing a corrupt executive branch, did no oversight. Even though Bush policies were failures, the Congress ceded him even more power. Party loyalty can trump the Constitution, and it has in the Trump administration.

The Constitution should be amended to restrain Presidential power. He should not be permitted to pardon himself or others for crimes he authorized.
Make intelligence agencies accountable and independent of politics

Secrecy corrupts democracy. Democracy can exist only when information is open to all.

Bush's father was head of the CIA, an agency skilled in rigging elections. Recently, covert agencies have become more powerful, the Freedom of Information Act has been seriously weakened. The US government now has little transparency. It is no wonder that it is so dysfunctional.

Evidence is abundant that Neocons intimidated intelligence agencies until they got the answers to justify war in Iraq. (Overriding professional 'intelligence' should be criminal.)

"Intelligence" agencies may be the president's Praetorian guard, enabling his grab for power. In fairness to CIA agents who were disgusted by Bush's torture and rendition orders, Ray McGovern points out that torture and renditions have been privatized to companies like Blackwater.

It appears that when the Bush administration did not get the results they wanted from 'intelligence agencies', they intimidated them until they got it their way.

Twisting 'intelligence' for political gain is treason and should be a high crime. Especially if it causes a war.
It is clear that covert agencies are a threat to our democracy. Vigorous oversight and suspicion is warranted for government activities that cannot be made public, but since lying to Congress has become a tradition, there is no actual oversight.
Secrecy

Reaffirm the Freedom of Information so that it cannot be pushed aside. (as the Bush administration did.)

The law should require that high-level officials keep complete, open records. Only with strong judicial oversight should they be closed. A revised Constitution should reject the 'executive privilege' claimed by Nixon, Bush, and Cheney. They are public servants, not dictators. Refusing to deliver needed information to the Congress should be a crime and an impeachable offense.

Covert agencies are not accountable. They not only have budgets that are large and hidden, they have been responsible for all US wars since WWII and many illegal activities. We know that the CIA has run drugs into Los Angeles, that Afghanistan under the Taliban produced almost no narcotics but now it produces a large part of the worlds drugs, the agency engaged in renditions, torture, assassinations, regime changes...and it has supported dictatorships in many parts of the world. If good US citizens were fully informed, there would be an even more massive change of politicians.

There must be some restraint, judicial oversight, of the governments decisions of what secrets to keep. The Bush administration's volume of 'classified' documents was unprecedented, and extremely anti-democratic. Without a doubt, the Bush administration's worst abuses occurred because they could keep their activities secret.

They succeeded in neutralizing the FISA court. They were able to do this, in addition to other crimes, because it was secret and because the Republican Chief Justice appoints all of its judges.

Information that caused us to go to war in Iraq was extracted using torture....in secret.

Having failed to learn lessons from history, we went to war in Iraq based on twisted information. The same people, some felons, who justified the massive and dysfunctional arms buildup in the Reagan administration and argued in the Iran/Contra hearings that the President is above the Law, also were responsible for twisting 'intelligence' to justify the war in Iraq. Although media is complicit in keeping Americans ignorant about these facts, Congress, unwilling or unable to access classified information, has failed in its oversight of the executive branch. Secrecy will likely be a fatal poison for the US Constitution.

We know that the Bush administration used secrecy to hide corruption, activities of covert agencies, black budgets, unsavory political activities, lawbreaking, ideological falsehoods, and an assortment of other lies. All of this is unconstitutional.

The Congress failed to exercise its Constitutional duty to determine, with due diligence, when it is necessary to go to war.

(It dramatically failed in providing oversight in the recent past.)

Keep in mind that the UN Charter forbids war without Security Council approval.

(The US has signed the UN Charter and made it the law of the land, but it no longer bothers to pay its UN dues.) Except for war profiteers, what have we gained from major wars of the last decades: Iraq, Afghanistan, Vietnam, or the ugly wars in Central America ... ?

To exercise oversight Congress should open proper investigations of war profiteering, and 9/11. It also needs to assert that signing statements are in violation of the Constitution.

Because there is so much information that is secret and kept from the Congress as well as the people, it is likely that Constitutional checks can no longer operate. Clearly, the people opposed the war in Iraq, while the President did not. Remember what it says in the Declaration of Independence: "governments...derive their power from the consent of the governed."

The evidence strongly suggests that the legislative and judicial branches, having become so servile in the presence of the imperial presidency, have largely lost the ability to respond in a principled and independent manner. Could the people themselves restore constitutional government? A grassroots movement to abolish the CIA, break the hold of the military-industrial complex, and establish public financing of elections may be theoretically conceivable but is unlikely given the conglomerate control of the mass media and the difficulties of mobilizing our large and diffuse population." Chalmers Johnson: Nemesis pg 269

Do Not build an empire.

Since media does not acknowledge it, most Americans are in denial that their government is maintaining an empire. They tend to believe what the media tells them. (Putin's comments.)

The Neocons plan to remake the world is in writing for anyone that cares to look. See Chalmers Johnson's book "The Sorrows of Empire", Noam Chomsky's "Hegemony or Survival", or John Tirman's "100 Ways...". Morris Berman's thoughtful outlook on the fate of the US is probably right. See his book Dark Ages America, the Final Phase of Empire. Berman thinks the outlook for the US is bleak. He is most likely correct.

The Republican agenda is globalization for the benefit of transnational corporations (aka imperialism), and everyone else will be a loser. We will also lose the Constitution, our democracy (what's left of it), our civil liberties, and our standard of living. (R's pretty much don't care about the environment either.) They are willing to sacrifice the future of their children and the well-being of the American people for empire. What should be obvious to everyone now is that worldwide empire cannot be supported by a weakening economy.

Control military expense

Ike warned about the growing power of the militaryindustrial complex, but most people seem unconcerned for the arms industry is widely scattered across the country among many Congressional districts. It is a very misguided jobs program. We spend more on the military than most other countries of the world COMBINED. As a result, weaponry is now our largest manufacturing sector, other industries have bled away to low-wage countries. An all-consuming military will inevitably lead to a national security state. (We are already well on the way.) War profiteering should be regarded as criminal, but its benefits seem to go to the very highest level of the administration. It is the world's most powerful military that is causing a tsunami of red ink. There will be blowback. The arms race is accelerating. Diplomacy should be our response to problems, not military action. Republicans have placed military response over diplomacy.

About Oreo Cookies

Get out of Iraq and Afghanistan.

Defend civil liberties

Unauthorized telephone searches, internet surveillance, library monitoring, financial record data mining, all threaten our basic rights. The Patriot Act is an assault on our civil liberties and on the Constitution.

"Congress approved and President [sic] Bush signed into law the Military Commissions Act of 2006, which does away with habeas corpus, the right of suspected terrorists or anybody else to know why they have been imprisoned, provided the president does not think it should apply to you and declares you an enemy combatant... Does that not basically mean that if Mr. Bush or Mr. Rumsfeld say so, anybody in this country, citizen or not, innocent or not, can end up being an unlawful enemy combatant? Jonathan Turley, George Washington University Constitutional Law Professor: It certainly does. In fact, later on, it says that if you even give material support to an organization that the president deems connected to one of these groups, you too can be an enemy combatant. And the fact that he appoints this tribunal is meaningless. You know, standing behind him at the signing ceremony was his attorney general, who signed a memo that said that you could torture people, that you could do harm to them to the point of organ failure or death. So if he appoints someone like that to be attorney general, you can imagine who he’s going be putting on this board." (From 10/18/06 CLG news) Keith Olbermann:

Call off the War on Drugs. It is a sham. Americans seem to have trouble learning lessons from other countries or from history. Compare results from prohibition, from the Netherlands, or from Portugal.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights includes the right to form a union. Republicans, notably Reagan, made union-busting a goal. They have been successful in propelling much of the population downward through wage cuts, shrinking benefits, higher tuitions, niggardly welfare, out-of-sight healthcare costs, and other predatory activities. They also brought the economy to its knees in the process.

Empire, militarization, secrecy, corporate supremacy, faux elections, corrupt media, and political dysfunction are rapidly undermining democracy.

We are headed for the national security state.

Respect international law.

The Declaration of Independence reads "a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.", but Republicans have shown only contempt for international law.

Because we have already signed these laws, it should be unnecessary to say this: The US should demonstrate an unwavering commitment to the Geneva Convention, human rights, the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty, the judgments of the World Court, the International Criminal Court, and the Millennium Goals for the UN. (It is wrong for an unwise, out-of-control President to nullify treaties made over decades. You know its right when John Bolton opposes it.)

The rest of the civilized world has rejected the death penalty, so should we. Take a stand against torture in any form. See this video of Yale Law School Dean Harold Koh: On Human Rights at the University Of Connecticut Sakler Lecture.

Make diplomacy a priority, not war. Bush foreign policy has been a disaster. If the US did its fair share in foreign aid, which is clearly does not, there might be a little good will and a decline in terrorism. You don't make a lot of friends with bombs. See Jeffrey Sachs book The End of Poverty

We should make the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights national policy. After all we did sign it. The reason it is universal is that it applies to everybody. Something the Republicans overlook.

Assure the UN a reliable revenue stream

To the best of my knowledge, not one senior New York figure seemed to be aware that there had been a long-standing Western strategy, led primarily by Washington, to keep the UN weak. Even during the Cold War, when Moscow and Washington disagreed on everything, both nations actively conspired together to keep the UN weak. They did so through a variety of instruments: selecting pliable secretaries-general, such as Kurt Waldheim, bullying the UN Secretary-general into dismissing or sidelining competent or conscientious UN civil servants who showed any backbone, squeezing UN budgets; and, of course, planting CIA and KGB spies in all corners of the UN system. All this was well known to anyone who worked within the UN system.
The Great Convergence: Kishore Mahbubani

Our most serious problems are global: climate change, nuclear proliferation, pollution, over population, ...and we need global institutions to deal with them.

The US should pay its UN dues.

The UN should take the lead in international crisis, not the US. Most Americans agree with UN goals.

Like the US early experiments in government (the Articles of Confederation), the UN has been given responsibility but no tax base. A Tobin tax would do the job of dampening speculative international currency flow, raise large amounts of revenue, and support the UN.

In the US a majority support the UN. The US does not have to be the policeman for the world, nor should it be.

The Millenium Development Goals should be at the centerpiece of US policy.

Sustainability should be a primary goal. That's why agenda 21 is importanrt.

Support the UN's Millennium Development Goals. Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vddX4n30sXY From http://www.betterworldcampaign.org/issues/millennium_development_goals.asp

Investigate 9/11

The 9/11 Commission was a whitewash. Reopen the 9/11 investigation. Release the redacted information on the Saudi role.

Stop the War on Drugs

The War on Drugs is the new Jim Crow.

See Mike Gravel's comments here.

Actively work for Peace

Traditionally the US maintained an illusion that it was interested in peace, but with the Bush administration the reality is evident. Both official political parties cannot wait to throw more money to the military. Even if the spending is wildly dysfunctional (like the BMD). What we have is a complete takeover of the US government by the military/industrial complex. Chalmers Johnson described the consequences in his book Nemesis. It is unlikely that we will have an opportunity to vote for a candidate that is committed to peace. War is too profitable for that.

The FBI has a history of surveilling and harassing peace groups.

A Department of Peace would be a good idea. We should rely on diplomatic and economic solutions instead of military ones.

See the Road map for Peace.

The True Patriot