Just like Newt's only better: A Democratic Contract with America

[Melodybe]

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1 The Progressive Tax Act: the Bush tax cuts must be repealed, we must introduce a progressive tax system, it is imperative that the congress work to eliminate the massive budget deficit and return to an era of balanced budgets and fiscal responsibility.

2 The National Privacy Act: the unconstitutional aspects of the Patriot Act must be repealed, the US government my NOT use the armed forces to spy on American citizens,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.

3 The Media Reform Act: the Telecommunication Act of 1996 must be repealed, media ownership must again be regulated and the Fairness Doctrine must be re-instituted.

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.

5 The Affordable Health Care Act: America must move toward an affordable universal health care system, 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 Healthy Respect for Science Act: 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 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.

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-America

Tamyrlin79 and I wrote these over the phone last night, what do you think?

[meegbear]

1. Now get it printed in the Murdoch owned TV Guide

and we're on our way!

[bryant69]

2. That's a good idea.

Maybe call it something different, but the basic ideas are solid.

Bryant
check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

[Melodybe]

3. I actually like calling it the same thing because it steals their thunder

and points out how they have abandoned their own Contract.

I have to give Newt credit I actually agree with some of the things in his Contract for America.

[Melodybe]

4. I think we should send this or something like it to all Dems returning

or running for Congress in 2006.

[hedda_foil]

5. The FAIR SHARE TAX act.

Progressive taxation is about paying your fair share!

[Melodybe]

8. Ohhhh! I like it, the Fair Share Tax

It has a nice ring to it.

We should come up with peppy names for all of them.

[mopinko]

6. wrong number one

number nine should be number one.

[Melodybe]

9. I agree, in typing though I didn't pay much attention to their order

we should.

[flaminbats]

7. What about the American democracy act?

a constitutional amendment requiring both the President and Vice President to be elected by the nationwide popular vote...not by some preselected electoral college delegates..

[murielm99]

10. Where did this come from?

I would like to bring a copy of it to my meeting. But I want to credit the person who wrote it.

[Melodybe]

11. Tamyrlin79 and I wrote it last night on the phone

We have our own little think tank and this is what we came up with.

However the order they are in is wrong, Election Reform should be first and Media Reform should come next as those are the two biggest issues threatening democracy.

Also the Progressive Tax Act should now be changed to the Fair Share Tax Act.

[brooklynite]

12. Thematically correct but needs to be simpler...

I agree that the party needs a simple and common message to run wit in the '06 elections (I mentioned this to Pelosi and Emanuel earlier this year); however, some of your ideas are either too unclear as to WHY this is important, or are too detailed in terms of proposals (visualize the postcard that Newt used to pull out of his pocket).

Some specific recommended changes:

1 The Progressive Tax Act: the Bush tax cuts must be repealed, we must introduce a progressive tax system, it is imperative that the congress work to eliminate the massive budget deficit and return to an era of balanced budgets and fiscal responsibility.

* The second sentence is the important message
* You need to explain why progressive taxation is important
* Focus instead on "unfair tax benefits for the very rich" and "paying their fair share"

2 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.

* too many ideas in the same area
* needs to be a simpler message: "restore and preserve our constitutional rights to privacy and personal decision making"

3 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.

* Drop this; The issue of media "fairness" doesn't resonate with the average voter (they're only concerned that their cable and phone bills keep going up).
* However, consider as an alternative a statutory ban on private media being paid to disseminate government propaganda

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.

* Needs a LITTLE detail on how ("conservation and technology to reduce our dependence" vs "lifting restrictions on drilling")

5 The Affordable Health Care Act: America must move toward an affordable universal health care system, we must cut inflated drug and medical equipment prices and better regulate insurance companies.

* Good, but try to work in a reference to the issue of "profits over patient care"

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).

* Needs to be simlied for clarity

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.

* This all deals with national defense, rather than foreign policy
* The core issue here is the government lying to public about reasons for war, and irresponsible decision-making. Don't set foot into absolutes where you can be accused of "risking our national defense" (the average voter doesn't care that we launched a pre-emtive war; tey care that we did it for erroneous/trumped-up reasons).

8 The Healthy Respect for Science Act: 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.

* Drop this; its too narrowly written to resonate with most voters
* Consider instead a positively-oriented "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

9 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.

* Rename the "Right to Vote Act"
* Some of this may be tricky re: States rights ve Federal intrusion.
* Simply the language. Core issue for the average voter is the right to vote (not get turned away), the right to vote in a timely manner (no 8-hour lines) and right to have vote counted;

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.

* Drop the National Guard reference; the average voter doesn't understand the distinction, and you don't explain what use the NG would be put to otherwise
* Build up the fact that our borders aren't protected today. Outside of political activists, I don't think the average voter appreciates this.


Also, take a look at a thematic thread I put together back in March:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=132&topic_id=1684663

[welshTerrier2]

13. great start ...

really glad to see you included foreign policy ... probably should enhance this to cite the importance of being respected in the world .. that's a critical component to our national security ...

and, while i am totally opposed to a draft, the words you used "may NOT be reinstated" are too strong ... we need to be sensitive that in certain extreme circumstances, a draft could be necessary ... finding a better way to word that would be useful ...

[Auntie Bush]

14. How about a TRANSPARENCY in Government Act?

[Melodybe]

15. Nice, we can one up Newt and add that.

[Vyan]

16. Alternative Names

Contract to Restore American Democracy (Subtle Star War Reference, but the name "Contract" is still something that is design to be easily understood by the Right Wing - it's their word, and world, re-creating reality through Contract Law)

New Democratic Convenant (In reference to Clinton's "New Convenant", which was his response to Newt's Original Contract)

New Democratic Pact (This is a bit more like Contract, without being a business reference - and also like convenant without sounding particularly religious).

And of course you can split the difference...

Pact to Restore America - to the vision of freedom, privacy and honor that it once embodied.


Vyan
http://vyan.blogspot.com

[Vyan]

17. New Theme on Taxes

Taxation:

One of the biggest problems with Progressive is their falling into the "Tax and Spend" trap headlong. Republican are always going to win that arguement with the claim that "It's your money, you know how to spend it better than the government does. What Democrats need to do is call their bluff. Instead of seeking a straight repeal of the Bush tax cuts, we should seek to have them put their money where their mouth is -- by providing tax credits to people and industries that manage to find ways to save the government from having to spend.

In short, if you give an American a job instead of shipping jobs overseas - Americans don't need unemployment insurance, so that business should get a tax credit/deduction for how well they spent their money. If an employer like WalMart wants to keep all it's current tax subsidies, sure they can -- but in exchange for providing their employees with better healthcare options. Result - their taxes stay the same, but the burden on federal, state and local tax budgets to pay for all these working people who are currently using Medicaid - goes down.

We shouldn't seek to simply raise taxes, we should seek to create a tax policy that makes government spending unneccesary where possible - and ultimately will help bring the deficit down, not send it through the roof.

This is how we can seed to "End the Birth Tax" of the Deficit, and at the same time avoid being accused of waiting to "keep the underclass down, because without them the Dems would have no constituents".

Vyan
http://vyan.blogspot.com