Take the Pledge of Liberty

3 Responses to Take the Pledge of Liberty

1. Bullwinkle says:

   1/30/2007 at 7:24 am

   Don’t mean to overreact, but here’s a blog I wrote last year that takes “Liberty and Justice for All” as its theme:
   MY PLATFORM

   In recent polls, even Republicans have shown their disenchantment with the Bush Administration. On the international front, only the most partisan Republicans refuse to accept that Iraq is a disaster, that the war was initiated on false pretenses, that the world is now more vulnerable to terrorism, and that we are increasingly returning to the cold war danger of a nuclear war initiated on the Korean peninsula or the Straits of Taiwan or the Straits of Hormuz. On the economic front, nobody is surprised that with oil men (and women) in command, record gasoline prices are regressively sucking food money from the poor and funneling it into oil company profits, or that the Bush administration is systematically attacking anything that benefits the poor and middle class, starting with trying to turn Social Security into just another mutual fund, or that record numbers have dropped out of the job market in despair of ever finding meaningful work. But the Democrats have not benefited in the form of rising support as the decline in Republican support occurs. (“Dems not drawing Bush ex-partisans” By John Aloysius Farrell Denver Post Washington Bureau Chief ).

   The 2004 election proved that Americans prefer to vote for someone, not against someone. Notwithstanding the extraordinary 2004 presidential campaign that turned a genuine war hero into a coward and vice versa, Kerry lost mainly because he was unable to convince America that he stood for something other than opposition to George Bush.
   So what should the Democrats stand for? The examples of John Hickenlooper, Mayor of Denver, and Governor Richardson of New Mexico show that a leader who addresses people’s problems instead of fighting culture wars can garner high approval ratings.

   So, Number 1 – NO MORE RED HERRING CULTURE WARS! When the right brings up the morality of abortion, gay marriage, evolution, stem cell research, the right to die, and whatever other hand-waving high-volume ideas, ignore them! Most people don’t care and are not affected by these issues. And those who do care have already made up their minds.

   Number 2 – “LIBERTY AND JUSTICE FOR ALL.”
   Domestically, this means staunch support for the Bill of Rights, even for those groups and individuals that we don’t like. This means tax and social policies that assist and empower the weakest among us and enhance upward mobility. This means schools that are educational institutions, not vehicles for brainwashing children according to an ideology. This means affirmative action to create equal opportunities, not equal outcomes. This means a legal and administrative system that pursues racial justice.
   It also means vigorous prosecution of white collar crime that destroys middle class Americans. It is not just the loss of personal savings and the increased uncertainty for the future that is at stake; it is also the lack of accountability of the perpetrators and the cost to the economy in jobs, retirement funds, insurance payments, and personal and family security. From the S&L scandals of the first George Bush to Enron, WorldCom and securities fraud at Merrill Lynch, it is the middle class that suffers, and the perpetrators who get off too lightly.
   Internationally, this means that America does what is necessary to regain the respect of nations and people by representing the rule of law; that rules of fairness and justice apply equally to all; that we all share the same planet and breathe the same air; that the weak and helpless and persecuted will have a champion to mobilize international protection and assistance; and that America will stand up for and fight for these ideals as part of the community of nations.

   Number 3 – “GOVERNMENT IS NOT “THEM,” IT IS “US.”
   Especially after the 2005 hurricane season, it is clear that government is the institution that a society creates to take care of the issues that affect us in common. In a simple closed society, this primarily covers national defense. But the complexity and interdependency of the modern world means that the role of government has expanded since the foundation of the United States. Market forces and private actions alone do not adequately address the creation of socially important infrastructure – both visible and invisible. The visible infrastructure includes roads, the levees on the Mississippi and other rivers, access to facilities that address basic human needs like health, education, and care of the weak, poor and disabled. But the invisible infrastructure of laws, property rights, judicial systems, is also crumbling and must also be maintained. And underlying all of this, the mutual trust on which societies rely for the functioning of the political and economic system is disappearing.

   Today the Democratic Party simply is viewed as a party that simply panders to a different set of special interests than Republicans. As long that is the perception, it will continue to lose at the polls.

   MY 10 POINT PLAN
   (1) On Public investment: invest for the common good
    Invest in public infrastructure – roads, ports, public transportation
    Job creation
    Beef up public health care institutions; hospitals, clinics
    Prioritize infrastructure that has high positive “spillover” effects
    Preserve and protect the “commons”
   (2) On Education:
   (1) Create a path out of poverty:
    easy access to education and training for the poorest
    skills – based training;
    expanded vocational schools;
    scholarships based on need
   (2) Improve American competitiveness: Students are the “product”
    More emphasis on effective teachers – less emphasis on technology.
    Less emphasis on teacher testing; more emphasis on teacher training
    Better salaries to attract better teachers
    Promotion paths for teachers combined with “up or out”
    Easier teacher certification for subject matter experts
    Homogeneous grouping
    Better administrative support for teachers to maintain orderly classrooms.
    Specialized high schools – vocational, math/science, arts, etc.
    De-politicization of text book content
    Curriculum standards with flexibility to local needs and interests
    Sensible standardized testing
   (3) Education is not brain-washing or propaganda
   • Strong emphasis on history, geography, culture and physical fitness as well as basic skills
   • International as well as national focus
   • Foreign exchange, language programs and study tours at all levels
   • Restrict “faith-based” teaching to “faith – based schools”
   •
   3.On Health and Safety:
   (1) Food and drugs must be safe as part of national security and the public interest. No system is foolproof, but the balance of error must be in favor of ensuring high quality.
   • Inspection and monitoring of the food supply maintains trust and is in the interest of producers and consumers.
   • Rewards to R&D must be substantial, but not create and allow abuse of monopoly power
   • Greater acceptance of foreign drug testing and experience can speed introduction of new remedies.
   • Greater access by Americans to foreign sources of supply that meet accepted standards.
   • Increase funding of public health institutions
    Stronger enforcement of health and safety rules, environmental standards
   (3). Affordable Health Care for All: Health care must support the weakest among us – the poor, both young and old
   • Medicare and pension reform to ensure that coverage is available
   • Greater market competition for drugs and medical services
   • Stricter enforcement of fraud and oversight of billing practices
   • Removal of antitrust exemption for insurance companies
   4.On Crime: Justice for All
   • Strong liability rules on gun manufacturers and dealers.
   • Prevention programs for at-risk kids and juveniles
   • Neighborhood policing and cops on the beat
   • Aggressive antitrust enforcement
   • Aggressive fraud and consumer protection
   • DNA testing wherever feasible for capital convictions
   • Aggressive civil rights protection
   • Vigorously prosecute white collar crimes with punishments that correspond to the level of damage done
   • Decriminalize minor drug offenses

   5. On Economic Policy: Investment in infrastructure and people
   • Restructure of budget according to GAAP to distinguish between consumption (e.g. military spending, government operations) and capital investment.
   • Strong export focus to enhance US job creation
   • Investment in public infrastructure that creates spillover economic and social benefits
   6. National Security: Liberty for all
   • Heal relations with Iran
   • Heal relations with allies
   • Reform the UN to be an effective institution
   • Aggressively seek alternative energy to reduce strategic vulnerability
   • Streamline readiness plans for emergency
   • Focus on preventing bad people instead of bad things; better coordination with international allies; back off excessive and intrusive passenger inspections.
   • Refocus defense budget to support troops fighting insurgencies instead of buying large weapons systems.
   • Seek international accords on NGO warfare (e.g. Al Qaeda)
   7. On Energy
   • Dramatically increase R&D for alternative energy sources, especially hydrogen.
   • Ease environmental restrictions on expanding existing refinery capacity
   • Explore increased use of nuclear energy and focus R&D on reprocessing or disposal of radioactive waste.
   • Tax credits for conservation investments
   8. On Taxes
   • Raise threshold for alternative minimum tax in line with inflation
   • Investment Tax Credits for businesses that buy capital goods, favoring purchases from US providers
   • Extend Investment Tax Credit to include education investments by individuals
   • Reduce taxes on savings income
   • Increase taxes on high levels of interest income
   • Tax stock options above a threshold
   • Progressive pollution taxes
   • Increase grazing fees and extraction fees from federal lands
   • Charge broadcasters for use of the spectrum based on auctions
   • SELECTIVELY lease federal lands for grazing and mining to private sector at market rates
   9. On Environment
   • Emissions and pollution trading
   • Explore alternative nuclear waste disposal methods
   • Vigorously enforce existing laws on water and air, endangered species
   • Wetlands preservation
   • Encourage telecommuting
   10. On Foreign Policy: Leader not Master
   • The suppurating international sore that is the Palestinian – Israeli conflict lies at the root of most of the fault lines affecting international tensions around the world. First priority in foreign policy must be to create a sovereign Palestinian state that is economically viable and democratically governed.
   • Use of the military is the last option, not the first; but there must be no hesitation when it becomes necessary.
   • The world must agree on a set of principles founded in international law by which nations can intervene in national affairs to prevent and punish tragedies like Rwanda, Darfur, Kosovo, etc.

   Reply
2. Anonymous says:

   8/16/2007 at 5:04 am

   i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america and to the republic for which it stands one nation UNDER GOD indivisible with liberty and justice for all

   Without God the pledge is incomplete, just like how without God the world would be in trouble.

   Reply
3. Fruktata says:

   8/16/2007 at 6:23 am

   Why, Anonymous, are you so dedicated to putting America under the rule of the Christian religion?

   And why, if you’re so sure that’s the right thing to do, are you not willing to even put your name down next to this theocratic declaration of emnity to secular democracy?

   Reply