I write this as a response to wmtriallawyer's diary. I haven't been making a big stink over cabinent appointments. But I don't have a lot of hope that government we elected will be the government a lot of us want. As a progressive, here's what it will take to make me happy:
- Not-for-profit single payer healthcare. No, Obama didn't run on this. Sure, his plan is better than taking away our healthcare, which was McCain's plan, but seriously. If that's your bar, let's go ahead and replace your fire department with me urinating on you when you catch fire. It's better than burning to death! Obama has said that if he was building a system from the ground up, he would choose this. So I'm hoping he can find a path to get there from where we are now. Hell, we all know it's the best option (except for those investing in the sickness of Americans). So does every other modern country. Make it happen.
- Close the income inequality gap. The charts are mind blowing. Wealth and power are being consolidated into the hands of a very few. This has got to be reversed. I don't care how it's done, but if you read the income inequality issue of The Nation (I believe it was in June or July), those trends must be reversed. Oh, and I want our society to have some upward mobility, too. We're kinda sucking with that, lately.
- The power of corporations to influence government policy must be curtailed. Curtailed is too soft a word. The power of corporations to influence government policy should be destroyed. Here's something (though not required), corporations have long pushed for legislation that says that a union can't contribute to a candidate/cause unless 100% of the union members agree - we wouldn't want someone financing a candidate/cause they don't like, after all. Well, you get your legislation - for corporations. Public corporations can't lobby or contribute to a candidate/cause unless every shareholder agrees. I don't care how it's done, but it has to get done. They are destroying America for short-term self-interest - just like they destroyed the economy for short-term self-interest. It is what corporations do - especially the big ones.
- Ties in with #3. Cut the bullshit free trade that forces US labor to compete with sweatshops. Bring manufacturing back into the country. Rebuild industries like textiles. Again, Obama didn't run on this, but if he picks the right people to listen to, they can convince him that the current policy is destroying the middle class. America needs to go back to building shit rather than pretending to create wealth by reducing the asset to debt ratio of banks, and using all sorts of other financial instruments that boil down to nobody actually producing one goddamned physical thing that is of real value.
- Green. Energy. Not we'll reduce carbon emissions by 20% by 2020. We're going to have to overhaul the economy. We're going to have to get off the black goop we dig out of the ground. Sorry, I know you didn't campaign on doing this. But you did say that you would listen to science. Well, science says we're too high on CO2 right now. We have to figure out how to get it out of the air. We have to stop producing more of it. We need to net negative CO2 emissions for a while. Listen to the science. Get it done.
And that's my short list. I will continue to hold my tongue. You've got about four years. I will not cast judgement until then. Oh, one more thing, I don't want to hear one damn thing about the Republicans blocking you. We're in serious crisis. You have a huge majority in the House. You have a huge majority in the Senate (of wankers, true, but that's kinda my point). Obama has the White House. If you can't get it done now. You never will. I will not accept the excuse of "We don't have 60 votes in the senate" for the next 2 or 4 years. Get it done, or it's time to build a new progressive party in America. You have four years.