Stephen Pizzo: '10 pledges to demand from Democrats'

[phantom power]

I picked my favorite four, but they're all good. Pizzo claims he adapted these from another essay by Bob Borosage.

(He's also wrong about hydrogen being an energy source, and I'd include nuclear. But I won't quibble)

We Will Bring the Troops Home. Our military has been stretched to the breaking point through a series of unwise deployments, particularly the war in Iraq. We will begin rebuilding America's all-volunteer military by first setting a date-certain for withdrawal from Iraq, beginning with National Guard and reservists. We will pass legislation requiring US troops begin leaving Iraq at the rate of 15,000 a month. We will work as closely as possible with Iraqi government officials to make this withdraw orderly while continuing to provide them the resources needed to train and equip their own soldiers and police forces.

We Will Make Public Officials Accountable. When public officials fail to do their job, as in the pre-9/11 and WMD intellegence faliures, we will require an independent investigation be launched so that no official's actions, regardless of rank or position, escapes review. We will detail action on the urgent needs that this Administration has ignored: Improve port security, bolster first responders and public health capacity, and require adequate defense planning by high-risk chemical plants. And we will attack fraud, waste and abuse, beginning with the pork-barrel squandering of national security funds.

We Will Unleash New Energy for America. We understand that the "age of oil," is nearing an end. Therefore we pledge to launch and fund a concerted drive towards real energy independence for America. We must approach this task with the same sense of urgency, funding and attention that the nation gave to the Manhattan Project. We will focus these efforts solely on mainstreaming renewable, non-polluting sources of energy such as hydrogen, wind and solar, with the goal of achieving total energy independence no later than 2020.

We Will Make Work Pay Once Again. There are only three nations on earth with such a vast disparity between rich and poor, Russia, Mexico and the United States. It is a disgraceful effect of GOP economic policies that favor corporations and the wealthy while ignoring hard working Americans. While CEO pay has moved steadily upward, the pay of working Americans has fallen, in many cases below the official poverty level. We promise to reverse that trend, beginning by passing legislation raising the minimum wage to a level that reflects current economic reality. We will encourage workers, including white collar workers, to take a hand in their own destinies by joining unions, as well as becoming shareholders in the companies that employ them and fully participating in both union and shareholder activities. We will insist that any companies that receive government contracts pay the prevailing wage.

[Options Remain]

1. I found them kinda weak actually.

But maybe its because I want to be two steps down the road not just one.

TearForger

[phantom power]

2. I think they work best as just the ten "bold" headings.

Once you delve into details, you always lose effectiveness, since everybody disagrees on the details.

Over at Gadflyer, there's been a couple of articles today that make a fairly persuasive argument that any policy positions at all are irrelevant, and that elections are won and lost on which candiate most successfully attacks the others's character. If you accept that kind of reasoning, we may be wasting our time even with 10 bullet points.

[txaslftist]

3. I don't think that's exactly right, but I think it's close.

I don't think the winning candidate is the one who best succeeds in attacking the other's character so much as he is the one whose character is best contrasted against the other's character.

The guy who looks honest, steady, competent and brave beats out the guy who seems shady, unreliable, inept and cowardly. There are, of course, a million different shades of this.

Watch the Democratic Primaries in the presidential selection for '08 and you will see why this distinction is important. If they follow their previous practice, they will expend vast amounts of energy attacking each other, and the "victor" will be the one who emerges least scathed. Every ding and scratch in his paint job will be used by the Republicans to tear him apart, because they quite wisely will avoid a messy primary fight.

Our primaries in the past have been a vicious circular firing squad. I hope we can do better, but I'm frankly not optimistic. For better news, however, you can't get much mor shady, unreliable, corrupt, inept and cowardly than the Republicans look right now.

'06 at least is likely to be a good year for us.