Some basic inaugural discussion about goals?

[Eleanors38]

Projects we can start in no particular sequence:

1) Short concise statement of what we support for the betterment of this nation;

2) How do we do this? Exp.: Reform/takeover of the Democratic Party? New Party? Movement not based on a party?

3) The Big One: What is the best approach to massively legitimize ourselves to where the Movement is The thing to talk about & to be involved in.

[MannyGoldstein]

1. How about starting with your #1?

Let's build a platform based on Democratic ideals.

Perhaps a separate thread for each issue (Health care reform, military budget, minimum wage...) where we can debate an issue, then maybe come up with a list of possible positions on a issue and hold a vote.

[Eleanors38]

2. Okay, here's one:

All Americans are guaranteed a roof over their head, food and adequate health care.

(Maybe this can be trimmed down.)

[grahamhgreen]

27. Right to a Roof, Right to Eat, Right to Health?

[Eleanors38]

3. Another: Guaranteed liveable wage.

[grahamhgreen]

28. Living wage is already in the vernacular.

[Eleanors38]

4. But, wait: Protection and conservation of all water.

[Eleanors38]

5. Order now: Renewed protection of All individual rights.

[Eleanors38]

6. Plus: Reduce college loan debt by 2/3, pay off balance by

FICA check-off.

[Eleanors38]

7. Coming soon: Strengthen & protect right to unionize.

[Chathamization]

10. A few ideas:

Single-payer: States will be able to do this starting in 2017. Vermont has already started with this. I know California and Massachusetts have considered it from time to time.

Free higher education: Like City University some decades ago. There’s recently been movement in some places to make community colleges free, which would be a good starting point.

Climate Change: Needs to be addressed immediately. I think Joe Romm’s suggestions are a good jumping off point.

Infrastructure repair: Roads, bridges, pipes, sewers, and other essential infrastructure that is falling apart all need to be repaired as soon as possible.

Strengthening Social Security: Any shortfall in Social Security could be eliminated by raising the cap. When people talk about cutting Social Security, they’re making the choice to cut the program because they don’t want millionaires to have to have a Social Security tax on all of their incomes like most Americans do.

End poverty in America: Begin by ending child hunger. State that poverty in America exists because we choose to let it exist

End the War on Drugs: legalize safer substances, and treat the addiction to harder substances as a disease, not a crime.

Public public utilities: We can’t allow another Enron to try to manipulate the power supply for profit, or the cable providers to destroy the free internet.

Investment in innovation: acknowledging that the government has been responsible for scientific and economic booms, such as DARPA’s creation of the internet that lead to the tech boom. Acknowledging that these are investments where the payoff may be years off, but is often quite huge.

Then there are some important platforms where there’s an important idea to stand by, but the implementation and details are numerous and more complex:

End Prejudice, discrimination , and segregation: fighting against things like pay inequality, school segregation, suppression of minority votes, supporting things like gay rights and immigrant rights.

Smart and just foreign policy: So we’re not bombing the same people we were arming five minutes ago, or sending attack helicopters for dictators to use on their citizens while chastising other countries for their lack of freedom.

A “smart” government: streamline and modernize the government, give people easy access to things. The IRS should pre-populate tax information and send you information online, people should be able to complete most of the forms they need to online, less duplicate forms needed, information should be easily accessible online, etc.

[on point]

17. These are all great! ^^^^. Especially single payer.

Obama initially pushed one of the advantages of single payer, then inexplicably dropped it. That advantage is that it would make the US more competitive in international trade by lowering our health care overhead costs to match that of other OECD countries, which because of more efficient health care systems, have lower overall healthcare costs to their societies.

We could also agree with conservatives in the principle of simplifying the tax code, which is gummed up by special interests, by eliminating all theses loopholes. That is not the same as lowering the tax rates for the wealthy, which is what the conservatives want, and which we would not agree. One such simplification would be to return to the time where capital gains (adjusted for inflation), dividends and income were all taxed at the same rate. That would simplify the tax code plenty and also take away of of the games of the super rich whereby they manipulate their income to get the best advantage. This is not only a scam, but it distorts economic activity. Once all three categories are returned back to equal treatment like they were before, that game would go away.

[Eleanors38]

37. Good idea to promote small biz opportunity...

My suggestion: Reduced, phased-in fed tax on all new, small start-ups, so by the end of 1st fiscal yr, the business will have paid <60% of taxes compared to normal rate; normal rate thereafter.

[annabanana]

24. sigh..

These didn't USED to be controversial in the least. It was mainstream for Democrats AND Republicans when I was growing up.

[Segami]

43. Exactly.

[peacebird]

25. Good gawd, I think i am in love with the the folks here at PRG!

Great ideas!

[Jackpine Radical]

23. Roosevelt's 4 Freedonms is a great place to start.

From Wikipedia, a grand communual effort from which all knowledge flows:

This article is about Franklin D. Roosevelt's themes. For other uses, see Four Freedoms (disambiguation).

Engraving of the Four Freedoms at the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial in Washington, D.C.
The Four Freedoms were goals articulated by United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt on January 6, 1941. In an address known as the Four Freedoms speech (technically the 1941 State of the Union address), he proposed four fundamental freedoms that people "everywhere in the world" ought to enjoy:
Freedom of speech
Freedom of worship
Freedom from want
Freedom from fear
Roosevelt delivered his speech 11 months before the United States declared war on Japan, December 8, 1941. The State of the Union speech before Congress was largely about the national security of the United States and the threat to other democracies from world war that was being waged across the continents in the eastern hemisphere. In the speech, he made a break with the tradition of United States non-interventionism that had long been held in the United States. He outlined the U.S. role in helping allies already engaged in warfare.
In that context, he summarized the values of democracy behind the bipartisan consensus on international involvement that existed at the time. A famous quote from the speech prefaces those values: "As men do not live by bread alone, they do not fight by armaments alone." In the second half of the speech, he lists the benefits of democracy, which includes economic opportunity, employment, social security, and the promise of "adequate health care". The first two freedoms, of speech and religion, are protected by the First Amendment in the United States Constitution. His inclusion of the latter two freedoms went beyond the traditional Constitutional values protected by the U.S. Bill of Rights. Roosevelt endorsed a broader human right to economic security and anticipated what would become known decades later as the "human security" paradigm in social science and economic development. He also included the "freedom from fear" against national aggression before the idea of a United Nations for this protection was envisioned or discussed by world leaders and allied nations.

[grahamhgreen]

32. "Freedom from want", "Freedom from Fear"

Both of these are perfectly framed for our era.

Freedom from want entails all we need need to say about saving Social Security, et al.

Freedom from fear entails the fear of out of control police, and government spying.

Both of these do so in a positive way, instead of a negative (ie, stop govt spying).


The 'Freedom' tag could be used to form 10 platform positions.

I think 10 position is all that should be focused on. Making a hard focus the top 3.

[Eleanors38]

38. FDR and his advisors knew economy of language...

We don't have to be word-for-word, but we should have the same brevity!

[on point]

8. A discussion about principles we support, not just tactical positions

It has struck me that what makes the constitution great is it is about principles that stand the test of time. The politicians no longer run on principles, but on specific tactical steps. I think a re-discovery of those principles and an understanding of new ones would motivate voters and help decide larger strategic issues. Here are a couple of ideas for principles:

1. Sovereignty of the Body
The individual, not the state or a church, shall have Sovereignty over their own body.
(Covers the issues of contraception, abortion, draft, drugs, suicide for the terminally ill, others?)

2. Only registered voters in the district of the politician may contribute money to that politician
(Sorry corporations, you can't register to vote so can't contribute nor can people outside the district flood the election)

3. Regulations can be good because they
a) lower transaction costs (think weights and measures)
b) protect the public from predators
c) protect companies from unfair competition by forcing a level playing field
d) protect society from companies that externalize their costs and consequently provide more accurate market price information by making products contain all their costs in the price

These may or may not make sense, and other people may have better ones. But I think we need to get to higher level in our discussions.

[F4lconF16]

20. I strongly agree with the idea of your post.

What we need is to not only demonstrate that we will fight for voters. We also have to push back against the tide of anti-liberal/anti-socialist rhetoric of the right (and yes, I am aware that this isn't a group for socialist ideals, but I think many of our reforms will have to come from socialism to stand a chance--e.g., education).

We need to stand up and, as you said, "rediscover" our populist principles that the Democratic Party originally stood for. We need to make this the core of our reforms. If we can do what the right has done, except in reverse, then we stand a chance at making policy that will change something. As it stands right now, if we were to push for the things that others have stated in this thread, all the right has to do is scream "Socialism!!!111!!" and then half of the country will immediately oppose everything we do, and another quarter (the "moderate" Democrats) will listen to them. We need to take back the definition of socialism from the right, and make it so "liberal" isn't a bad word any longer.

[grahamhgreen]

34. #2 is very interesting. We should never use the term 'regulation' and innstead should use, say,

'rules', or 'laws', because nobody likes people who don't play by the rules and the term 'regulation' has been poisoned.

[Eleanors38]

39. I think you are right about "rules" & "laws."

[grahamhgreen]

45. Every time the term 'regulation' is said, it should be met with the term 'rules', ex.:

"Business has too many burdensome regulations"

"Don't you think companies should play by the rules?"

[yallerdawg]

9. Aren't you all gonna have to get simple?

Populist!

Not a rehash of Democratic Party platform. Not a Progressive Movement checklist.

Would we say Reagan, Clinton and Obama were essentially populist winners? Each had that one vague hook which kept it simple?

Obviously, Warren has the hook - the little guy is getting screwed - that is a populist message. If every Democrat, from coast to coast, delivered this one simple message, would that turn the tide?

[villager]

11. And what does Warren's ensconcement in a leadership position, as of this A.M.

...mean for possibilities of "messaging" for populist planks?

[yallerdawg]

12. She does stay on message.

Sticking with what you know is a good thing. Republicans are masters of staying on subject. No matter what you ask them, it all comes down to job creators and Benghazi.

We gotta fight fire with fire.

[villager]

13. It will be interesting to see if the Dem apparatus allows Warren to change *their* "message..."

...or if she'll still have to "go rogue" if they try to co-opt her...

[yallerdawg]

15. "Go rogue" was another populist message.

I think populism requires characters to deliver it. Teddy Roosevelt was a progressive populist. Huey Long. George Wallace. Our history is peppered with them. Sometimes they just move the party in a direction.

[villager]

16. Interesting thought -- that you need the "character" or personality to capture the "mindshare,"

...as it were, for the message.

That may be another area where Obama lost his mojo -- not only via the actual policies he failed to pursue, or caved in on, but in forfeiting his appearance on the national scene as an orator bringing change, into a rather tepid, compromise-riddled "leader..."

[Eleanors38]

40. I agree about simplicity, as in the 4 Freedoms

enunciated by FDR. Simple & clear.

I think whatever efforts are made to re-engender populist guts to the Party should continue regardless of Warren's new position and actions; we need better insurance things will change, and not merely store-fronted to keep "The Base" happy.

[Chathamization]

14. I think existing progressive groups like the DFA or WFP are a good place to start.

These groups are already working on this, so we might as well take advantage of existing networks, and encourage people to join.

Working inside the state parties can be very useful (I think most of the DNC comes from the state parties), but the problem I’ve found with that is that almost no one pays attention to state party politics. A small group of dedicated progressives could make a huge difference (and, I imagine, take over the party in most places). But one huge problem is getting even a small group together.

Ballot initiatives and candidates are good because they have the possibility of getting more publicity and connecting more activists. Locally, at least, it seems that having a few big pushes each year has done a good job at keeping progressive networks active.

[demwing]

18. My thoughts

You wrote:

1) Short concise statement of what we support for the betterment of this nation

Let's start with the SOP: "To discuss and debate issues, candidates, and strategies related to the promotion of progressive, populist reforms within the Democratic Party."

Modify it to add a short list of 3-5 actions:

• Put a Living Wage bill on the ballot in every state
• Promote progressive, populist, Dem Senate candidates in each of the 34 states with a Senate election in 2016
• Propose a Constitutional Amendment to establish that corporations are not people & that money is not speech

2) How do we do this? Exp.: Reform/takeover of the Democratic Party? New Party? Movement not based on a party?

The goal of this group is the reform of the Democratic party. I don't want to forget that...but how?

Im big picture terms:

We start right here with an idea
We organize a group of members from each state
We put boots on the ground in each state
We focus relentlessly on our group goals
We network with other, like-minded groups
We don't quit

3) The Big One: What is the best approach to massively legitimize ourselves to where the Movement is The thing to talk about & to be involved in.

1. Activity
Nothing dampens the spirit like the appearance of being dusty.

2. Acknowledgment
We get a DU celebrity to talk about the PRG somewhere. (Is Will Pitt available? What about Rep Grayson?)

3. Ambition
We need to think big, and follow up one action with another. Our reach has got to extend beyond our grasp.

[jeepers]

44. The big one is obvious

You'd need boots on the ground in all fifty states to find 34 states that'll vote through referendum petition and demand a constitutional amendment to end Citizens United. I think you'd be better off writing the amendment and demanding that congress pass it.

You can't really get any bigger than that.

What you are selling here is a voice for the people. You are telling the voters that they can cast a ballot in the next state election to require the federal gov't to nullify Citizens United. If they can do that then the Voice of America can and should shape our future.

I wouldn't stop there.

[on point]

19. Another goal: A national voter rights act that covers all federal elections

Probably can't cover state elections from national perspective, but if we establish rules for federal elections, may set minimum standards for states.

No voter ID, early voting of at least 10 days, minimum standards for voting booth for precincts so that repub and dem ones have equal access.

Also throw in goals of eliminating electoral college and going for national vote for president.
Add in ability for national referendums for laws and to initiate constitutional amendments to be on federal election ballots in order to get around our corrupt congress critters

[cascadiance]

21. A strong plank of any populist movement should be a fully educated and informed populace

A common complaint I hear online and even in some conversations from the past that I recall is that many look away from populist movements, feeling that too many of their fellow citizens aren't knowledgeable enough about what is going on in our system and not feeling the desire to participate, and that we need to focus energies on those who are informed and can drive themselves towards leadership of our government and what it does. Some don't realize the sense of elitism that this puts forth at times, when they even perhaps not consciously dismiss wanting a homeless person on the corner from participating as a bum that can be "herded" in to voting for things they shouldn't.

We need to make sure that ALL Americans have an access to a decent education as far as their intellects and desire can take them, and to encourage them to pursue it to the limits of their abilities, and to grow their abilities in any way possible.

This means:
o no need for anyone to have to go to a privately run elementary or high schools, or having such public schools be dependent in any way on private funding.
o decent publicly run schools available to everyone not purchased by donations from the Koch Brothers (i.e. Florida State Univ.)
o special education for those who have challenges
o decent schools in the city with lower tax bases
o Getting RID of college debt for kids is essential!
o Perhaps free bachelors degree education for everyone to put us on the same level as many other countries.
o Continuing education, especially for older people that become unemployed.
o A media not controlled by a small number of corporations that warps what trusted information people have access to about current events.
o Rewarding of strongly skilled kids, no matter what their station of life, to be able to develop those strong skills.

By having an informed citizenry, populism will work BEST, because then as equals and an informed citizenry, we can all make a collective better decision, and most of us then will also respect that more people should be a part of the decision process if they respect that they are all well informed as well, even if they might have disagreements.

Many of us complain that so many of the right wing tea partiers are "clueless" as to what is going on and that they are voting for their own self interest. Getting them to WANT a strong education and pursue it and being well informed in a non-biased way should minimize the hold that the corporatists have over them that allows them to use them so much. Even if we might still have strong disagreement with them on social issues, if they are at least well informed, I would hope that they would want more populist solutions too and many that perhaps we can agree on at some point too.

Another part of this is that people don't get "worked to death" to the point that they don't have time to pursue additional education for themselves, and time to inform themselves for their own sense of knowledge of what is going on, not just education for things they need to do on a job. Americans have been probably working too much in recent years compared to the rest of the world, not allowing them time to pursue education and to deeply look at current issues beyond headlines from corporate television news once daily.

In short, a strong eduction and well informed citizenry is a fundamental need of a decent populist movement anywhere.

So any candidate that wants our support who intends to put any kind of selective barriers towards people being informed and educated, should not get our support.

[PADemD]

22. Goals

1.) I think we should start with FDR's Second Bill of Rights:

Employment, with a living wage
Food, clothing and leisure
Farmers' rights to a fair income
Freedom from unfair competition and monopolies
Housing
Medical care
Social security
Education

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Bill_of_Rights

2.) I think we should call ourselves the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and still be Democrats. The Tea Party are still Republicans.

3.) We need to work on items 1 and 2 before we tackle item 3.

[EEO]

35. I like the Second Bill of Rights.

We should be called the Roosevelt Party, a faction within the Democratic Party. I am a Roosevelt Democrat and we are looking for Roosevelt Democrat candidates to represent our liberal interests.

[Eleanors38]

41. Just don't call it the Real Deal!

[grahamhgreen]

26. Use the term "Costly Trade Agreements" NEVER "Free Trade Agreements"

[Eleanors38]

36. Good idea.

[Maedhros]

29. Why don't we start at the beginning.

Restore habeus corpus. It is the lynchpin of Western civil rights since Charlemagne, we should probably not have thrown it out.

[grahamhgreen]

30. Everyone should watch George Lakoff, "Retaking Political Discourse"

In a nutshell, he's saying that we need to immediately appeal to voters emotions with our platform positions.

People do not have the time or the inclination, nor are they emphatically wired to respond to logical arguments.

We're going to have to start off with 10 things - a short list that people can remember.

Things that are the opposite of "big government", or "Keep America Safe".

One rule is to NEVER use the oppositions framing.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1017225755

[fadedrose]

31. maybe make some emails up

with our goals, requests and suggestions, or slow mail, or contact with Congressmen & Senators, and sign it with the name of our group.....wouldn't be a bad idea to have group members sign their name and state.

[starroute]

33. Progressives need to recapture the narrative

I read something the other day -- I don't recall if it came through here or at Facebook -- that more or less said, "Democrats have positions but Republicans tell stories."

I didn't agree with all the details of the piece, but the general thrust of it was persuasive. Most Americans don't follow policy arguments. Even issues like preserving Social Security and Medicare don't necessarily favor the Democrats, because the Republicans have gotten very good at using words like "save" and "reform" when they're really talking about cutting and privatizing. So we need a way to catch people where their hearts are.

The Republicans have recently managed to capture the main narrative of American history -- partly because progressives have gotten too embarrassed over slavery and genocide to quite embrace it -- and they're going even further now by trying to portray the Founding Fathers as Bible-quoting Christians. We need to push back against that. We need to retell the story of America as a nation of immigrants, of people learning to get along with others who weren't just like them, of an ever-widening circle of inclusion and acceptance that has been the source of the amazing creativity that has characterized this nation at its best.

It also wouldn't hurt to talk about things like free or low-cost education and health care as a way of freeing up the entrepreneurial spirit and allowing Americans to take risks and commit themselves to new ways of doing things. Or to pitch the process of responding to climate change and promoting alternative energy sources as an extension of the can-do response to challenges that has always made America great. In short, we should be figuring out where the GOP message finds its greatest appear and rather than ceding those issues to them we should be translating them into progressive terms (and showing up the GOP as hypocrites).

[Eleanors38]

42. And what better way than to have a young man or woman

tell the story of how college debt has robbed them of a future, and dragged parents down by the tens of millions. God! that issue is a hundred dollar bill waiting to be picked up.

[Zorra]

46. Here is a long list of what I basically support for the benefit of the people:

http://www.gp.org/what-we-believe/our-platform

I am not a member of the Green Party, and I am not recruiting. But the Green Party is a great place to draw ideas from without having to reinvent the wheel.

Populist Democat finds a way.

[demwing]

47. Kicked & Rec'd /nt