Bold ideas? Common sense

[illusionofjoy]

The Nation recently published an article consisting of the top ten bold ideas for a progressive resurgence. Of course, none of the ideas listed are really that bold or new, but they do share the distinction of being ignored as options for way too long as well as being strident departures from our current state of Republican oppression. I find this article particularly interesting because I am currently in the middle of reading Ted Rall's book Wake Up…You're Liberal! How We Can Take America Back From The Right. In it, Rall also describes several issues that Democrats and progressives could take up which would not only appeal to the American voter, but actually help said voter.

Needless to say, I pretty much agree with both works, however I do have some wishlist items of my own I would add:

Election reform
If anything is to ever change in the United States, progressives (Democrats or otherwise) actually have to have a chance of getting elected. In the past two federal elections, there has been strong evidence that Republicans have tampered with election results and voters themselves. Furthermore, the disparity between states and counties within states as to how votes are collected and tabulated lends itself to being prone to error. Finally, the fact that only a simple majority wins reinforces that affront to true democracy known as the two-party system. I wrote a journal entry on the 1^st of November in 2004 detailing exactly what reforms should be made.

Student loan amnesty
Until recently (with a change in legislation brought on by the corporate world's best friends, the Republicans), one could file for bankruptcy and get all of their debt erased…all of it, that is, except student loan debts. Of course, the Republicans have made it well nigh impossible to file for bankruptcy at all anymore, but let's not dwell, shall we? The fear of student loan dept prevents many from even entering college (and who can blame them) while those who take the plunge may end up paying off their debts well into their forties. I'll save my rant about how college is the worst form of false advertising when it comes to getting a better life in the real world for another time. What I will say is this: wouldn't the money being wasted paying back an educational debt be better off as disposable income that graduates can put right back into the economy? Many progressives argue to have loans entirely replaced with grants. I am all for that, however, I wish to take it one step further and make it retroactive: those in current loan debt, who can't really afford to pay it back without sacrificing a reasonable quality of life (the standard of which should not be set by a Republican), who end up having their wages garnished because they wanted some savings in case of an emergency, who have interests outside of being a corporate automaton – these people should all have their debts erased. End of story.

Those are my two big ones. While I have dozens of other smaller "pet causes," if I were running for office, I would include those two items on my platform along with effective homeland security (i.e.: actually keeping the terrorists out, rather than getting my rocks off wiretapping innocent Americans), socialised healthcare, a fair tax system (where the rich pay what they can actually afford), a nationalised educational system and social security reform.

Vote for progress and sanity.