What I’m looking For In a Government

Hello, all.  Sorry for the long pause- I’m hoping to get back on the Wednesday track.  My effort to attract other writers hasn’t sustained, though I’m hoping to restart it soon.

Watching the scores of elections up and down the country, some in which genuine progressives may win, some in which the Democratic Party shows its willingness to favor bland centrism over bold ideas, and some in which truly decent public servants will struggle to hold on to their positions.  It’s hard to see anything good coming on November 4^th (with the possible exception of a Susan Happ victory in Wisconsin).

That said, I’d like to lay out what I’d like to see from candidates, and mention the ones I’m watching who have made these issues and positions part of their campaigns.

Health Care- no one is talking about public option health insurance, but Medicaid expansions are on the table in practically every state with a Republican governor facing reelection.  Millions of people are waiting for a chance to claim the government health insurance which is their right under the law, thousands of them suffer from illnesses whose treatment will either escape them or bankrupt them without Medicaid.  This is an issue where we can make Attlee and LBJ proud; even if only a few GOP governors lose, it’ll mean a lot.  Maine, Florida, Wisconsin, and Kansas are all reasonably likely to switch to the Democrats, and while I can only really support Michoud of Maine, all the Dems are supportive of Medicaid, and this is really important.

Environment- This has been a sore spot this fall- here in Wisconsin, our Democratic gubernatorial candidate took a long time to decide if she was for or against the unsafe mining deregulation and has said almost nothing since then, still less on emission control.  Meanwhile we continue damaging our climate apace- one bright spot (aside from the prices of solar and to a lesser degree wind energy being in free fall) is the late conversion of Charlie Crist against off-shore drilling, and his dedication to expanding solar power.  Here, as in many cases, the best candidate is up north and rather unlikely to win- Shenna Bellows deserves all the support we can give her.  This also dovetails nicely into the next category

Foreign Policy- The issue posing the greatest long-term danger to our environmental health, economic stability, and national sovereignty is the Trans Pacific Partnership, a treaty favored by the Obama administration, which, until Harry Reid heroically delayed it earlier this year, promised to invalidate and punish any regulation by any signatory country which can be shown to negatively impact the profits of a corporation in another signatory country.  Think about that for a minute.  Our food safety laws make it harder for foreign companies to ship lead-laced food over?  The regulation is suspended pending trial and our government is fined the difference.  Our emissions standards for vehicles hurt oil-producing countries?  They’re gone.  And then there are the labor laws- American companies relocating could sue our government for even maintaining a minimum wage!  Shenna Bellows is the only candidate I’ve seen who is talking about this and why it needs to be stopped.

As for Syria, few candidates are talking about the need to arm the Kurds, and none are talking about working with the PKK (we still label them as a terrorist organization, apparently out of deference to Turkey).

Taxes- few are talking about carried interest, inversions, and other cheats used to shield corporate and investment wealth from the people.  There does seem to be some general support for the Buffet rule which would in principle call for fixing some of these problems, but the Republicans won’t allow it.  Time to get serious and negotiate on this one again, though this reallyshould have been done leading up to the election. 

And finally, the issue that gets more press for not being talked about than for being likely to change- immigration.  The Democrats continue taking Hispanic votes for granted while their president deports record numbers of undocumented Workers, and the Republicans are openly petrified of accepting the presence of People of Color in this country, let alone granting more of them citizenship.  This really should be front and center, legalizing these critical workers is a matter of economic justice, social justice, and just good policy.

Of course, I oppose any and all restrictions on abortion, and I’m thrilled to see Susan Happ putting that out in the open in her campaign for attorney general. 

Got to get to bed- working an event with Secretary of State La Follette tomorrow!

Solidarität, Genossinnen und Genossen