The old galoot, in his increasingly doddering pre-dementia, is still kind of gobsmacked at how clearly the people have spoken.
We, the people, damned well don’t want corruption, gestapo in our streets or just plain filthy rich dudes, whether in Washington, Mar-a-Lago, Wall Street or tech gurus in Texas or California shoveling “stuff” at us while they squeeze the life out of our families or the life of this economy and nation.
So, we kicked out the old and brought in the new. As I said last week, no guarantees, hey, I might be old and slow, but here are a few ideas from an old dude who’s worn a few hats over the years.
Nationally, how about starting with significant Ethics legislation that term limit all offices and prohibit contributions from anyone holding any type of interest in issues before any office holder in the federal executive, legislative or judicial branches (including the Supreme Court) beginning immediately and punishable by immediate expulsion and prosecution of the office holder.
How about mandates stipulating that every American receive a strong education and preparation in civics and civic commitment and stipulating a minimum two-to-three-year community or military civic commitment after that education?
How about allowing every God blessed human being who wants to join us in our embrace of freedom and democracy to do so as long as they pledge their intent to immediately pursue citizenship and allegiance to this far from perfect, but pretty darned functional constitution?
How about significant “Commitment to Family & the Future” legislation which embraces increasing the minimum wage to $20/hr. within the next two years and $27 by 2035, universal health care & childcare/tax credits for stay-at-home parents, low interest rate/zero down payment mortgages for citizens who’ve completed their civic/military commitments and who’ve shown proof they’ve voted? Think about it. If we love and embrace families, seems like this ought to be our commitment.
How about significant educational reform that stipulates up to a 250% increase in teachers’ salaries depending upon community standards in their communities and federal grants to fund state school infrastructure investment and adequate investment in teacher salaries?
How about significant Environmental Protection Legislation which stipulates clear water, air and food standards including stringent standards for vehicles, manufacturers and agricultural producers?
And how about funding the above through returning to tax levels we had in place as a nation for years prior to the ridiculous pie in the sky fantasy of trickle-down economics the wealthy hoodwinked Republicans into buying into starting in the Reagan era? Look it up folks, we’d not even have a deficit now if we hadn’t gone down that rabbit hole almost five decades ago.
And, as a key part of our national ethics legislation, how about instituting immediate non-partisan ranked choice voting in all elections from municipal, to state, to national?
Why? It’s less expensive, encourages participation and requires voters to research positions if they really want to participate, rather than simply assuming a position based on party.
Hey, the old guy’s Catholic. He’s stood up for decades against corruption and maleficence against individual human beings’ weakness and against collective political or corporate attempts to corrupt our lives, our families and our souls.
God bless them and us. I’m sorry. That’s just plain evil and we pretty much have gotta condemn it to the fiery realms.
Death is bad. Defilement of our freaking souls? Hey, just a little bit worse.
Let’s get back to embracing fact, truth, ethics, humanity, commonalities, polity and, yep, love of one another. Let’s toss out the crap, bury it before it draws more flies and step up to do the work of embracing and growing our God blessed democracy.
