For 2006 a Democratic Contract with America

[Melodybe]

Since we ARE the best think tank online here is our first project, to draft a Democratic Contract with America to send to all Democrats running for office in 2006.

Here is what Tamyrlin79 and I came up with and a few changes suggestedby brokklynite and hedda_foil:

In 1994, six weeks before the midterm elections, Newt Gingrich introduced the Contract with America, running on this the Republicans gained control of congress. For America to elect democrats we must have a new Contract with America and it must include these items:

1 The Election Reform Act: electronic voting machines MUST have an auditible paper trail, voting machine manufacturers must make their source code available to states using their equipment, and voting machines must be equally distributed proportional to population.

2 The Media Reform Act: the Telecommunication Act of 1996 must be repealed, media ownership must again be regulated and the Fairness Doctrine must be re-instituted.

3 The Fair Share Tax Act: the Bush tax cuts must be repealed, it is imperative that the congress work to eliminate the massive budget deficit and return to an era of balanced budgets and fiscal responsibility.

4 The Energy Independence Act: America must wean itself from its dependence on foreign oil, it is a matter of national security and environmental importance, we must focus on conservation and technology to reduce our dependence on foreign oil.

5 The Affordable Health Care Act: America must move toward an affordable universal health care system, the idea of profits over patients must be ignored, we must cut inflated drug and medical equipment prices and better regulate insurance companies.

6 The Ethics in Government Act: this bill seeks to reduce the influence of lobbiests in congress and governmental agencies, corporations WILL NOT be allowed to write policy (ie Enron writing our energy policy and pharmaceutical industries writing our drug prescription plan), their must be no conflict of interests for people appointed to head government agencies like the FDA, EPA, etc (pretty much all of Nancy Pelosi's recent bill on ethics).

7 The Decent Foreign Policy Act: the United States may NOT engage in preventive war, the administration may NOT for any reason lie to the American people under the guise of security, the United States will NOT condone torture and will adhere to the Geneva Conventions, a military draft may NOT be reinstated, an all volunteer army provides Americans with popular veto against any and all wars.

8 The Science for the 21st Century Act: promoting Government support for new scientific discoveries and development of technologies to improve the Quality of Life for all Americans, the government may NOT refuse to award grants to those studies that disagree with the current administration's agenda IE global warming and stem cell research.

9 The National Privacy Act: the unconstitutional aspects of the Patriot Act must be repealed, the US government my NOT use the armed forces to spy on American citizens,
the government has NO place in family matters (ieTerri Schiavo) unless a law is being broken, if the National ID is to go into effect it may not make available any personal information such as credit history, medical records, etc. Social privacy issues such as gay rights and abortion will also be protected.

10 The Real National Security Act: the national guard may NOT be sent abroad, our ports and harbors must be protected, and boarder patrol must be adequately funded to cut down the flow of illegal immigration.

Here is a link to Newt's Contract feel free to compare and contrast or add to any that I have above:

http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Contract-with -...

Here is a link to my earlier thread:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph ...

You have your assignment, how would you draft this?

"Do not despair. The misery that has come upon us is but the passing of greed" -The Great Dictator www.downingstreetminutes.com

[shraby]

1. Please find a different title for it.

The ideas are great but the title is too reminiscient of the Republican Contract with America.

[TahitiNut]

2. Call it a "Covenant" -- steal their thunder

:shrug:

[Ilsa]

4. I like that. Sounds much more personal than "contract"

And it can't be twisted into "Covenant On America."

[Melodybe]

3. That's the point, they are totally going back on

a majority of their promises from Newt's Contract with America. Makes them look like the liars they are and gives us the chance to say the talking point "they are in breech of contract" over and over.

[Melodybe]

5. So what would y'all change

I'm beginning to think ending the war on drugs for non violent drug users would be a good thing to add.

It wastes so many lives and tax payer dollars.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

7. The part on electronic voting needs tweaking.

As I recall, Andy Stephenson is quite adamant that "paper trail" is not sufficient terminology legally. "Voter-verified paper ballots" is the preferred terminology, I think.

Also, there should be more specifics in the health care part. Single payer or something else?

I'd add reducing dependence on oil by building up transit and intercity rail and fast-tracking research in finding replacements for non-transportation uses of oil.

I'd make the suggestions as simple and specific as possible. You need to have statements that can be stated in sound bites if necessary.

[NorCalDem]

6. It's unfortunate.

This would be a wonderful tool to get elected if the Democratic candidate endorsed it because the people would love it. Unfortunately, you won't find many who will because they can't back out on their corporate funding now. :-(

[Melodybe]

8. It still should be something we are working on.

[pstans]

9. Empowering America

Democrats need to start a campaign called Empowering America, focusing on renewable energy, our foreign dependence on oil, education, universal health care, strengthening the middle class, and helping people get out of poverty.

I read that 80% of Americans think the Environment is an important issue. (That goes against the picture the media paints of a Liberal tree hugging hippee saving seals.) This is a winning issue and could be effective considering Bu$h is the worst environmental president ever. By focusing on ridding our dependence on foreign, we can link a strong foreign policy into the theme.

By stressing universal healthcare, education, and strengthening the middle class, Democrats support policy to empower the average American. Bu$h has done the exact opposite by having lobbyists write legislation for the suffering billionaires.

Also throw in there that Democrats empower Americans to make their own decisions about their lives instead of the people in Washington. Toss in Schiavo and use the "no one is pro-abortion" speech that Dean has been using. Democrats trust you to make the important decisions in your lives.

[Melodybe]

10. I'd like to get a bunch of these together and then let DUers vote on the

final draft.

[vogonjiltz]

11. I see two weaknesses

1. 1996 is ancient history to most people, they won't remember or care that the Repubs had failed to enact alot of the proposals in the Contract on America.

2. The Rethugs were and are willing to phrase things in a sexy way so to speak. You know, ownership society=the own nothing society, unless you are rich. They do this because they are better liars than we are.

I think the Contract you propose should be shorter and lead off with what matters to most people. I say start with health care followed the national security proposal. Then we should talk up the tax equity idea and work our way down. Basically concentrate on the economic and security angle and worry about the election and media reform after we take power.

[Melodybe]

12. Sorry but we'll never get elected again if the voting issues aren't dealt

with. That should be priority number one, whether people are smart enough to get it or not.

But I put this up so we could disguss it and come up with something brilliant, I agree about sexing up the names, these need work.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

13. I agree with the suggestion of putting the bread and butter issues first

Your average voter is going to scan the list to see if there's anything that will benefit them. You need to start with health care and perhaps job security and affordable housing, so that people can see that there's something in it for the average person, and then they'll be more interested in reading the rest.

And keep the language as simple as possible. As I recall the Republicanites' Contract with America, the items were short and simple.

By the way, I like "Empowering America." It steals and reframes a favorite Republican term. It will drive them nuts. :-)

[vogonjiltz]

15. I also like the empowering line.

Also, I'm not saying any of these things aren't important. Some are just easier to hype up than others. I don't think that there is anything terribly important about sticking to a ten point contract htough I'm sure we can all think of more than ten things that wrong in this day and age that need to be changed.

[shraby]

14. Maybe a title

on the order of Empowering Citizens or Putting People First..making it more personal may appeal more to people.

[Melodybe]

16. I just like punching the repubs on their broken promises.

Whatever Duers decide, we just need to work on it until it's perfect.

[Melodybe]

17. Please either kick or nominate this to keep it from falling down the

memory hole, I hate having to find it over and over again, cause it is something we should be working on.