Progressive Democrat Issue 101: A SIX-POINT PLAN TO RESTORE AMERICA
In a previous issue I wrote about a talk I heard in November by Hank Sheinkopf, a political consultant, formerly a member of President Clinton’s re-election media team, and a panelist on a local TV station's roundtable discussion. Sheinkopf is the ultimate Democratic insider and he came to discuss the 2006 election victory with us.
The core of his talk was that Democrats need to focus on just one message, and it was the message that ALWAYS works for Democrats since the 1920's: economic populism. Actually, I would use the term "progressivism" because that is how Theodore Roosevelt described it when it was Republicans who were the economic populists. But economic populism is a good term for it as well.
It's STILL the economy, stupid! That's the message.
Sheinkopf argues that it is the blue-collar vote that determines national elections. He narrowed it down to 500,000 white, male Catholics...but I suspect that you could use other groups as the key demographic as well. This group is often socially conservative, but when faced with bread and butter issues, they vote for economic populism. They will only buy into the wedge issues Republicans run on if they don't see the Democrats offering them economic populism. He suggests that the key to Democratic victory in 2008 lies in only four states: Michigan, Missouri, Ohio and Pennsylvania. I would broaden this list considerably and I still support Dean's 50-state strategy because it has been working well in getting state legistatures and House Reps. for the Democrats, but these four states are unquestionably important and we can focus on issues that would play well in these four states AS WELL AS many other states.
Not too long ago I wrote my own suggested national plan for Congressional Democrats. I want to revisit some of this specifically with Sheinkopf's comments in mind, because it seems to me that we really are on the cusp of some very good policy shifts that would be extremely popular among blue-collar Americans and would help the American economy considerably. The following should be the centerpiece of the Congressional agenda and with your help, we can get them to do it. Doing so will help ensure victory in 2008.
DEMOCRATIC ECONOMIC POLICY SUGGESTIONS:
1. First and formost, raise the minimum wage. The minimum wage has been stuck at $5.15 an hour since 1997...it hasn't even kept up with inflation. That means working Americans at the bottom of the pay scale are slipping further and further behind even as corporate profits of companies like Exxon/Mobil are reaching an all time high. We MUST help working Americans by raising the minimum wage.
2. Restore America's Infrastructure: Republicans have neglected our roads, our levees, our wetlands, all the things that keep American cities safe and the American economy moving. It is time to restore America: restore our wetlands and levees to protect our cities from disasters like Katrina. Restore our roads and railroads to keep our economy moving. And restoration of infrastructure also provides good, solid union jobs for working class Americans.
3. Education: good education correlates well with better income, reduced crime and reduced drug use. Many studies have shown that increased funding for education SAVES MONEY IN THE LONG RUN because government later spends less on dealing with the problems of drugs, crime and unemployment. More money for education. Increased testing is fine, but ONLY if schools are given the monetary resources to deal with deficiencies that are discovered by testing. Bush has FAILED as the Education President. It is time for the Education Congress.
4. Fair Taxes: Under Bush's tax breaks the top 1% got an unfair advantage over the vast majority of working Americans. And many giant corporations making record profits evade taxes altogether. It is time for the tax burden to be shifted off of lower and middle class Americans and time for giant corporations and America's richest to pay their fair share.
5. Energy Independence Part I: Restoration of America's manufiacturing From Michigan to Pennsylvania, our industrial heartland has been hurting for years. We need to find NEW solutions to restore our manufacturing heartland. The government should help retool the closed factories of Detroit, Flint, Pittsburg and all our blue-collar cities to produce new technology. Wind power, solar power, hydroelectric power, geothermal power...all of these require America to build the machinery to produce these new sources of energy. This is a way to jump start BOTH energy independence and a revival of America's industry. Why is Denmark the nation that provides the world with much of its wind power machinery? America has an opportunity here to provide blue-collar jobs throughout America providing America and the world with the machinery for clean, efficient and local energy production.
6. Energy Independence Part II: Local Energy means Local Jobs and Cleaner Air Our oil and coal based energy economy means energy resources must come from abroad or from across the nation. I recently wrote about a controversy in Nevada where a company wants to build a polluting coal powered plant, bringing coal across the country to burn in Nevada to fuel California while locals want to build cleaner power plants that use LOCAL resources like geothermal and wind. Local energy means local jobs and cleaner air. Geothermal and wind and hydroelectric are CURRENT technologies we can RELY on now to reduce our dependence on foreign oil, reduce pollution and create local jobs ALL OVER THE NATION. Wind power and biofuels production are already benefitting farmers in Iowa, for example. The Great Plains states represent one of the world's best wind power producing areas, something that would benefit states whose economies really need help. Together with my suggestion #5, we could create a huge number of much needed American jobs right now, reduce our massive trade deficit by reducing our need to import oil, and clean up our air in the process.
Please write your local media, and your Congress Critters to urge them to take this 6 point plan to restore America's economy. We could be the start of a real revival of not only the Democratic Party, but the American economy as well.
Click here to go back to THOUGHTS section and Table of Contents for this issue.
The core of his talk was that Democrats need to focus on just one message, and it was the message that ALWAYS works for Democrats since the 1920's: economic populism. Actually, I would use the term "progressivism" because that is how Theodore Roosevelt described it when it was Republicans who were the economic populists. But economic populism is a good term for it as well.
It's STILL the economy, stupid! That's the message.
Sheinkopf argues that it is the blue-collar vote that determines national elections. He narrowed it down to 500,000 white, male Catholics...but I suspect that you could use other groups as the key demographic as well. This group is often socially conservative, but when faced with bread and butter issues, they vote for economic populism. They will only buy into the wedge issues Republicans run on if they don't see the Democrats offering them economic populism. He suggests that the key to Democratic victory in 2008 lies in only four states: Michigan, Missouri, Ohio and Pennsylvania. I would broaden this list considerably and I still support Dean's 50-state strategy because it has been working well in getting state legistatures and House Reps. for the Democrats, but these four states are unquestionably important and we can focus on issues that would play well in these four states AS WELL AS many other states.
Not too long ago I wrote my own suggested national plan for Congressional Democrats. I want to revisit some of this specifically with Sheinkopf's comments in mind, because it seems to me that we really are on the cusp of some very good policy shifts that would be extremely popular among blue-collar Americans and would help the American economy considerably. The following should be the centerpiece of the Congressional agenda and with your help, we can get them to do it. Doing so will help ensure victory in 2008.
DEMOCRATIC ECONOMIC POLICY SUGGESTIONS:
1. First and formost, raise the minimum wage. The minimum wage has been stuck at $5.15 an hour since 1997...it hasn't even kept up with inflation. That means working Americans at the bottom of the pay scale are slipping further and further behind even as corporate profits of companies like Exxon/Mobil are reaching an all time high. We MUST help working Americans by raising the minimum wage.
2. Restore America's Infrastructure: Republicans have neglected our roads, our levees, our wetlands, all the things that keep American cities safe and the American economy moving. It is time to restore America: restore our wetlands and levees to protect our cities from disasters like Katrina. Restore our roads and railroads to keep our economy moving. And restoration of infrastructure also provides good, solid union jobs for working class Americans.
3. Education: good education correlates well with better income, reduced crime and reduced drug use. Many studies have shown that increased funding for education SAVES MONEY IN THE LONG RUN because government later spends less on dealing with the problems of drugs, crime and unemployment. More money for education. Increased testing is fine, but ONLY if schools are given the monetary resources to deal with deficiencies that are discovered by testing. Bush has FAILED as the Education President. It is time for the Education Congress.
4. Fair Taxes: Under Bush's tax breaks the top 1% got an unfair advantage over the vast majority of working Americans. And many giant corporations making record profits evade taxes altogether. It is time for the tax burden to be shifted off of lower and middle class Americans and time for giant corporations and America's richest to pay their fair share.
5. Energy Independence Part I: Restoration of America's manufiacturing From Michigan to Pennsylvania, our industrial heartland has been hurting for years. We need to find NEW solutions to restore our manufacturing heartland. The government should help retool the closed factories of Detroit, Flint, Pittsburg and all our blue-collar cities to produce new technology. Wind power, solar power, hydroelectric power, geothermal power...all of these require America to build the machinery to produce these new sources of energy. This is a way to jump start BOTH energy independence and a revival of America's industry. Why is Denmark the nation that provides the world with much of its wind power machinery? America has an opportunity here to provide blue-collar jobs throughout America providing America and the world with the machinery for clean, efficient and local energy production.
6. Energy Independence Part II: Local Energy means Local Jobs and Cleaner Air Our oil and coal based energy economy means energy resources must come from abroad or from across the nation. I recently wrote about a controversy in Nevada where a company wants to build a polluting coal powered plant, bringing coal across the country to burn in Nevada to fuel California while locals want to build cleaner power plants that use LOCAL resources like geothermal and wind. Local energy means local jobs and cleaner air. Geothermal and wind and hydroelectric are CURRENT technologies we can RELY on now to reduce our dependence on foreign oil, reduce pollution and create local jobs ALL OVER THE NATION. Wind power and biofuels production are already benefitting farmers in Iowa, for example. The Great Plains states represent one of the world's best wind power producing areas, something that would benefit states whose economies really need help. Together with my suggestion #5, we could create a huge number of much needed American jobs right now, reduce our massive trade deficit by reducing our need to import oil, and clean up our air in the process.
Please write your local media, and your Congress Critters to urge them to take this 6 point plan to restore America's economy. We could be the start of a real revival of not only the Democratic Party, but the American economy as well.
Click here to go back to THOUGHTS section and Table of Contents for this issue.
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