9/21/2020

Liberty Leading the People

If we’ve learned anything from the Trump regime over the past four years it’s when you’re President, anything goes, nothing is illegal.  Trump and the GOP have demonstrated they're not interested in leading our nation but they simply want raw power to impose their minority will on the majority of Americans. Trump has taught us a valuable lesson. 

La Liberté guidant le peuple, painting by Eugène Delacroix commemorating the July Revolution of 1830, Public Domain.

 

So when the next Democratic president and Congress is elected they can simply use those powers that Trump has created in the executive branch to do whatever. The next Democratic president will make sweeping changes and when there is opposition simply use U.S. Marshals, the DOJ, ICE, Homeland Security and the FBI to enforce the orders. Otherwise, tie everything else up in court with endless delays. The agenda should be…

  • Add 4 more liberal justices to the Supreme Court for a total of 11.  NO white men. The new justices will be Black, Women, Hispanic, LGBTQ. Stop letting the rich evade justice. Make justice blind again.

  • Next, every person over 16 years old gets to vote. Felon? No ID? No problem.  No more political action committees or professional lobbyists.  No more gerrymandering congressional districts. Any public servant at any level caught performing an illegal act or act of corruption gets 10 years in prison or more without parole, no exceptions.  Public funding of campaigns. Anyone caught accepting foreign campaign money gets ten years in prison without exception.  

  • CEO salaries capped at 1000% of the lowest paid employee. With minimum wage at $20hr and increasing every year to keep up with inflation.  Corporations are no longer “people” with 1st amendment rights. No more tax loopholes. Everyone pays their fair share with 10 years in prison without parole for tax cheaters. Tax rates go back to post WW2 levels.

  • All Americans, from birth to death, get high-quality healthcare paid by taxpayers. I mean complete coverage to include mental health, vision and dental. Who decided that teeth and eyes are not healthcare?

  • Perform a complete audit of the military budget. Then, cut it by 30% and freeze it for 10 years. Swing hard away from guns, bombs, planes and ships to cybersecurity. That’s the battlefield of the present and future.

  • Fund Social Security so all retirees can live comfortably. Enact a sliding scale that reduces benefits for the rich.

  • Fully fund the public schools and pay teachers what they deserve. Tax funded college or job training for everyone who wants it. Educating people for the jobs of the future is the best social program I can think of. End homelessness and hunger. This is a hell of a lot easier then you might think. There are plenty of homes and food in this country.

  • Break up the big tech companies. Facebook shouldn’t get away with hosting Russians or others who want to destroy America. Bezos and Musk make too damn much money. I don’t quite know how to do this without violating the first amendment but let’s take a real close look at those who use media (internet or TV) to divide Americans and come up with solutions.

  • Invest in United States infrastructure.  High-speed internet to all homes in America. Clean water to all homes in America. High-speed rail that links all major cities. Tax-incentives to convert all energy sources to clean energy before 2030. Americans back to the moon by 2030 and to Mars by 2040.

  • Conservatives are afraid Democrats will take their guns. OK, let’s start the debate there. You may have a gun if you can provide a good reason why you need a gun for either home defense or hunting.  No good reason, no gun. No more open carry. No more stand your ground laws. Taxes on ammunition. Armed militias are now terrorist groups just like ISIS! You participate in a militia and you go to jail for 20 years. Use a gun in the commission of a crime and you go to jail for 20 years. Amendments can be changed or repealed and the Second Amendment is no exception.

  • Make ending racism patriotic. Attack it wherever it exists. Create a nationwide commission to identify racism, identify solutions and eliminate racism in government, schools, jobs, everywhere. Eliminate qualified immunity for police. Eliminate police unions. Until we confront and end racism this country will never progress at all.

  • I have a theory about taxes. American businesses large and small have been coasting for 40 years and have become fat and inefficient. Some shouldn’t be in business at all. If you raise their taxes it will make them lean and hungry. Make them actually, really compete. It will provide the incentive they need to innovate. Make them pull themselves up by their bootstraps and we’ll have better, stronger businesses in America.  


I don’t pretend to have all the answers. Much of this needs improvement. It's incomplete. Some of this will work. I’m sure some of these ideas may never work. But if you want to make America great again this is a good start.

I’m 63 years old and all these things should have already been done if it weren’t for the capitalists, corporations, conservatives and republicans who have blocked American progress for the last 40 years. I always thought the enemies of America would come from overseas. I never thought they’d come from within. The conservatives started this class and culture war. In many ways this is our second Civil War. We defeated them once and we'll do it again.  

Let the revolution begin. Vote, vote, vote and let’s use Trump’s example to actually make this the best country on earth.