Tumbs up for Atrios' platform
I love this proposal from Atrios:
We're the Decider
...I think the "liberal netroots" does have a fairly clear consensus on a number of issues. I'm not going to claim every liberal blogger or blog reader agress with everything on this list - that'd be ridiculous - but nonetheless I'd say there's a pretty obvious general consensus on the following:That's a party platform I could get excited about!I'm sure I could think of a few more things. I left off foreign policy because I find that most people who write about it imagine they're playing the game of Risk. It's nice to have nice bumpersticker doctrines which are ultimately meaningless, but basically "put grownups in charge" is my prescription. Kick the petulant children out.
- Undo the bankruptcy bill enacted by this administration
- Repeal the estate tax repeal
- Increase the minimum wage and index it to the CPI
- Universal health care (obviously the devil is in the details on this one)
- Increase CAFE standards. Some other environment-related regulation
- Pro-reproductive rights, getting rid of abstinence-only education, improving education about and access to contraception including the morning after pill, and supporting choice. On the last one there's probably some disagreement around the edges (parental notification, for example), but otherwise.
- Simplify and increase the progressivity of the tax code
- Kill faith-based funding. Certainly kill federal funding of anything that engages in religious discrimination.
- Reduce corporate giveaways
- Have Medicare run the Medicare drug plan
- Force companies to stop underfunding their pensions. Change corporate bankruptcy law to put workers and retirees at the head of the line with respect to their pensions.
- Leave the states alone on issues like medical marijuana. Generally move towards "more decriminalization" of drugs, though the details complicated there too.
- Imprison Jeff Goldstein for crimes against humanity for his neverending stupidity
- Paper ballots
- Improve access to daycare and other pro-family policies. Obiously details matter.
- Raise the cap on wages covered by FICA taxes.
...adding a few more things which would be obvious if we weren't living in the Grand and Glorious Age of Bush:...oh, and I meant to include:
- Torture is bad
- Imprisoning citizens without charges is bad
- Playing Calvinball with the Geneva Conventions and treaties generally is bad
- Imprisoning anyone indefinitely without charges is bad
- Stating that the president can break any law he wants any time "just because" is bad
- Marriage rights for all, which includes "gay marriage" and quicker transition to citizenship for the foreign spouses of citizens.
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