1)Promote unions and protect worker’s rights. The one thing that will get our economy moving and restore our democracy is to redistribute income back to the majority of the American people so that the productivity gains of the last 30 years go to the 95% of workers who produce the goods and service that we consume and not to the top 5% who expropriate them. In order to do this we must promote full employment and protect worker’s rights. The decline of unionization in the US is directly correlated with the concentration of wealth in the upper echelons of society. As worker’s wages have stagnated or fallen the incomes of the top 5% of US citizens has skyrocketed. The health and influence of unions are social indicators of the health and welfare of the society as a whole. The benefits earned by workers are the bell-weather for benefits that the whole society enjoys such as the 8 hour day, the 5 day week, unemployment insurance, paid vacations and other hard fought rights that are considered the hallmarks of our civil society.
2)End the wars, bring the troops home, stop intervening in other countries affairs. We have wasted untold trillions on illegal and counterproductive wars and interventions that have produced nothing more than blow-back. Our interventions have killed and maimed more innocent children, women and men than the conflicts we seek to resolve. We do not need armies or navies to secure our trade routes or sea lanes. Our armed forces are deployed to protect the foreign interests of multinational corporations. We should not entangle ourselves in the internal affairs of foreign countries or intervene in their regional conflicts except as mediators.
3)Change our system of corporate governance. Rescind corporate person-hood. Make corporations public trusts. Corporations were originally set-up to engage in productive work for the public benefit. Their fiduciary responsibility was to make a reasonable return on investment while preserving and protecting the commonwealth. They therefore could have their charters revoked if they failed to live up to those responsibilities. Corporations were not intended to have personal rights protected by the constitution. Their rights and obligations should be legislated and subject to citizen oversight. In order to reverse the “old boy networks” that have usurped control of our corporations it should be legislated that corporate boards should have representation of all stakeholders involved in their operations including workers, management, NGOs and appropriate government agencies.
4)Take the money out of politics. All candidates who meet a set of minimum requirements should receive equal amounts of public funds to wage their campaigns. Money is not speech and if needed a constitutional amendment should be sponsored to regulate campaign financing.
5)Raise revenues. According to the CBO 2010-2020 report if we rescind the Bush tax cuts we’d generate 7 trillion dollars in new revenue over the next ten years. If we upped the estate tax (as Warren Buffet and Bill Gates advocate) and stopped our wasteful military and war spending we’d generate trillions more in REVENUE. We could get our deficit and debt down to manageable levels within years not decades.
6)Create jobs. Both the private and public (governmental) sectors produce jobs. Public servants are indispensable and honorable members of the community. First responders, teachers, health care workers and those who staff government agencies are major social and economic assets. Rather than reducing public employment it needs to be expanded. Public spending also generates private sector employment. Companies to whom work is contracted hire workers to do the work that our nation deems essential. Employing more workers generates disposable income to increase demand to revitalize our economy.
7)End Outsourcing. Tax companies that outsource factories and jobs and give tax breaks to incentivize domestic manufacturing. By investing the money in productive activity, like a renewed space program, revitalization of our infrastructure, restoring the environment, developing clean energy, and investing in human capital (schools, clinics, health care and the jobs that go with them) we generate new enterprises which will lead to a boom in the private sector economy. Tax revenues would skyrocket and we could replenish our coffers to fund Social Security and Medicare for all, etc. It is public/private partnerships with strong democratic oversight that will jump-start economic growth and development. If we did all of that we would spur domestic demand and consumption and have sustained economic growth.
8)Protect the environment. Protecting the environment and restoring wetlands and degraded habitats will produce jobs and save our heritage for future generations. Conservation is a conservative practice.
9)Develop alternative energy sources. The technology to convert to alternative clean energy exists now. By investing in these technologies we will create new industries and new jobs. We will reduce our dependence on foreign energy sources and become more secure within our own borders.
10)Honor and protect all our citizens. Stop the genocide against the Dineh-Navajo, the Oglala Lakota (Sioux) and all other Native People and Nations, implement amnesty for undocumented workers and reform our immigration policies to allow families to reunite, stop all deportations, free and rehabilitate non-violent offenders by expunging their records, restoring their rights and offering them vocational training, repeal the Marriage Inequality Act and legislate full marriage equality, support equal pay for equal work.