in Government, Observations, Politics 815 Words

A 10 Point Progressive Plan

College of Political Knowledge

2024 Election Series

As the election slowly grinds into the minds of our fellow citizens I would like to offer up a quote for them to consider…..

Political parties exist to secure responsible government and to execute the will of the people.

From these great tasks both of the old parties have turned aside. Instead of instruments to promote the general welfare, they have become the tools of corrupt interests which use them impartially to serve their selfish purposes. Behind the ostensible government sits enthroned an invisible government owing no allegiance and acknowledging no responsibility to the people.

To destroy this invisible government, to dissolve the unholy alliance between corrupt business and corrupt politics is the first task of the statesmanship of the day.

The deliberate betrayal of its trust by the Republican party, the fatal incapacity of the Democratic party to deal with the new issues of the new time, have compelled the people to forge a new instrument of government through which to give effect to their will in laws and institutions.

Unhampered by tradition, uncorrupted by power, undismayed by the magnitude of the task, the new party offers itself as the instrument of the people to sweep away old abuses, to build a new and nobler commonwealth.

That is a quote from 1912 Progressive Party (Bull Moose)….it rings even more true today than in those days.

As the Congress slowly returns to what they pretend is normal…. Progressives in the country have released a 10 point plan going forward……list of 10 policy objectives….as usual Progressives have some great ideas but the so-called ‘centrist’ Dems will fight this plan tooth and nail and then there is the Repubs who cannot get behind anything that would benefit us peasants.

The plan is ambitious and very based on reality…..

A coalition of national progressive advocacy groups on Monday released a list of 10 policy objectives that it believes President Joe Biden should embrace to consolidate support for his high-stakes electoral rematch against presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump.

The platform—released by Our Revolution, Progressive Democrats of America (PDA), and the State Democratic Party Progressive Network—frontloads the threat that Trump and the fascist movement at his back pose to basic freedoms and democracy itself.

“The 2024 presidential election presents a challenge for progressives to preserve and amplify our voice while fighting the most dangerous threat to U.S. democracy in our nation’s history,” reads the platform’s introduction. “Our best strategy to advance both goals is to become state and national Biden delegates at the state and national Democratic Party conventions, and to elect Joe Biden for a second term. Throughout this process, we must advocate for a progressive policy agenda that builds and expands upon progressive elements of President Biden’s original Build Back Better (BBB) plan.”

“With our support and voice,” the document adds, “progressives may persuade and enable President Biden to achieve more progressive policy objectives during his second term and prevent a fascist takeover.”

The first plank of the agenda urges Biden and the Democratic Party to “develop and repetitively use more aggressive messaging against and educate the public about the dangers of fascism including exposing and condemning Project 2025, the fascist blueprint for a second Trump administration.”

https://www.commondreams.org/news/progressive-coalition-platform

Like I said an ambitious plan and one that I will endorse whenever I can….but the real test will be those Progressives in Congress will they go bold or will the wimp out as they have done so many times before?

Then there is the ‘Progressive Promise’ from the Progressive Caucus in the House….

  1. Advancing justice, dignity, and peace for all. 

At the Progressive Caucus, we believe that government must be the great equalizer of opportunity for everyone. We are committed to passing legislation that advances justice, dignity, and peace for all people. 

  • Realizing the goal of a universal, high-quality, Medicare For All health care system for all. 

  • Advancing the right of every American to retire with security and dignity.

  • Ending poverty and income inequality and securing a living wage for all people.

  • Protecting the fundamental right to organize. 

  • Ending mass incarceration and advancing equal justice under the law.

  • Taking urgent, inclusive, and transformative action on climate change. 

  • Upholding the fundamental reproductive rights of all people. 

  • Ending our forever wars, cutting the bloated Pentagon budget, and prioritizing diplomacy.

  • Advancing humane, fair and just immigration laws.
  • Advancing racial justice and equity. 

There is more so read on…..

For me these principles are more in line with my thinking than the mainstream Dem which is a little better than a conservative.

Sadly there is no major candidate that will fight for these principles in 2024…..instead we will have the usual corrupt POS that has plagued our system for 40+ years.

Will I have to go in search of an alternate candidate?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

32 thoughts on “A 10 Point Progressive Plan”

  1. The one item on the agenda above all else should be “To forever prevent somebody like Trump and his crowd from ever getting power in American politics, period.”

    Reply

      1. Then change the damned constitution to protect the very democracy it was written to protect. We don’t need some nazi to get into power someday.

      2. We need a Constitutional Convention but with the idiots in charge in Red States no changes will occur. Sorry to be a bummer chuq

    2. Once the Red states take over the country there will be no more constitution… the scrotum (scrotus)(scotus) is working on that angle right now preparing for their new strongman to ascend to the throne. From that point on, the whole country will be in a state of constipation without a constitution because what was once the constitution will become a historical relic that is pretty to look at but won’t mean a damned thing to the average citizen who will be preoccupied by trying to keep their citizenship revoked if they displease the dictator and get themselves deported to some awful place — or worse.

      Reply

      6. Some of them thought it would not either… especially the Jewish veterans who had fought for their country during World War I— WRONG!

  2. THE ONE ITEM THAT SHOULD BE INCLUDED IN THAT NEW DEMOCRAT PROPSAL IS, “TO MAKE SURE THAT NOBODY LIKE TRUMP AND HIS CROWD EVER GETS ANY KIND OF POLITICAL POWER IN AMERICA FOREVER.”

    Reply

  3. This is a general reply, chuq, for anyone reading it… not toward you specifically. I’m all for a lot of this, BUT… there are many numbers of caveats in all these lists that we (the people) sincerely need to divorce ourselves of the populist rhetoric as we create these initiatives.

    First off, we live in a hugely complex society governed completely by our economics that affects all facets of life. So it would be appropriate to remember that “grabbing” at one concept to “fix” will mean somewhere along the line something else (and someONE else) could be affected… or “unfixed”. There is a yin-yang to all this. Sadly… we need our legislatures to continue as forums for debate. It’s often lamented, democracy is NOT perfect… so and we should quit waving the flag of 18th century-style Minuteman patriotism as being all-goodness, and instead carry the product of the Founding Fathers that our strength is in the following the Constitution they created.

    Second point to remember…. we (meaning the country as a whole) have gotten here precisely because of all the things on these lists needing to be “fixed” or remedied.. and as a result of many other things that we “like”. So, what is the HERE I am talking about? We are the most powerful country in the history of mankind. We’ve created the greatest democracy of all time. We’ve built all this on a foundation of free market capitalism.. and we’ve built all this on a foundation of our Constitutional precepts that have held for nearly 250 years. My point… we need to tread softly and not throw out the baby with the bath water, like a torch-bearing mob of reckless populism.

    Thirdly…. I would encourage all to consider just who or what the “enemy” here really is… and it’s not the rich.. it’s not big corporate America making a profit off of the “poor Middle Class”. It’s not all about how bad Big Pharma might be, or how Big Oil does nothing but drill the little guy for profits. It’s not even all about that the rich keep getting richer and not paying taxes. It’s not about insurance companies not covering what you might have thought they should cover. Does Big Business make profits? Of course! And they employ people like you and me to do that. Does Big Business abuse their pursuit of profits? Some do. So, we should regulate. Do the rich and does Big Business not pay their “fair share” of taxes? For sure that needs attention by Congress. But if you don’t know how corporations operate then you best go back to Business 101 and keep that in perspective. If their liabilities go up, then that can affect stockholders (who pay taxes on those profit dividends)… and then can all easily affect prices to the public. My point.. it’s “fun” to blame business but it’s business that has brought this nation to the power that it has become. We should regulate where necessary and not because us common folks can’t buy big homes and airplanes and we want a piece of the pie as a gimmie. Free Market Capitalism is the reason the country was even started in the first place.

    My class is now dismissed. 😛

    Reply

    1. First the free market is a myth. Second profits are good but none is being used to help this nation….our tax dollars are paying for everything…..and that is not ‘fair’….third…profits are okay but not when they are used not for the betterment of the nation but rather to buy Congress to do their bidding and protection. chuq

      Reply

      1. Those are pretty big generalities. That’s not to say at all that excesses of all that do not exist, but context does matter. Buddy John in here is alleged to be the big businessman in his past. I was just a little guy businessman. He should know.

      2. It is an election year so generalities is what we do….I’m sorry I do not see the ‘free market’ as working for good that is unless you are on a executive board…..free market implies competition….I just do not see it. chuq

      3. The damn Arab Oil Embargo of the 70’s blew me outta the water. I had a retail electronics store back then. The government bailed out Chrysler because they had more employees than I did. Damned if Iacocca didn’t pay every dime back. Survival of the fittest.

      4. I see another oil exec has been found concluding with OPEC on gas prices. Chrysler was bailed out again in 2008 the government helps with large company survival….not the fittest just the biggest. chuq

      5. Well, like I mentioned, it becomes, in part, an issue of the number of employees being displaced and tossed into the local (state) unemployment rolls all at once, and of course, other things like maintaining the local tax base, the local economy (the ripple effect of local supply chain businesses), and if the company has government contracts it’s likely prudent to help them along to keep that element of the supply chain intact, especially if the contracts are national defense related. I suppose if you want you can likely claim Congressional payoff conspiracies, and back room deals, etc. While I am sure that has happened, I tend to think not so cynically until it’s proven corrupt. But that’s just me.

      6. 12,000 registered lobbyists is a bit more than a conspiracy….remember donations are not illegal…..bribes are…..semantics in my book. chuq

      7. I am not fond of the lobbyist part of peddling influence either. Although, I believe all political donations must be made public so it’s not like the money giving is kept a secret. Maybe there’s a difference between PAC money and re-election money. I’m not up on that.

      8. All donations regardless should not be given directly because they are Congress spends about 3 days a week actually working the rest of the time is travel and fundraising….they are part-time help with better benefits than 70% of the country. chuq

  5. Our Labour Party had some great plans during the election build-up. Those plans won them the election with a massive majority. So guess what? Now they have scrapped all the plans as ‘too expensive to deliver’, and blamed the previous government for spending too much money. That is the way of political plans and promises, sadly.

    Best wishes, Pete.

    Reply

  6. A lot of the German war veterans thought that “It would not go that far” too….they had fought for Germany in the World War and they thought they would be honored…WRONG…I do not trust anything that smells like an oppressor or sounds like an oppressor or walks like an oppressor …

    Reply

      1. somebody mentioned that America could never go as far as the Germans went in the 1930s and 40s and my response to that was the Germans certainly allowed themselves to go that far too…too many people are unaware of the dangers of a Trump presidency.

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