I think that the time is right for liberals and conservatives to demand a different standard from their leaders, going outside the reach of corporate rule that is infecting both sides of the aisle. And the cornerstone of this movement should be a push to demand that politicians pledge to support the Fair America Platform.
While many of these concepts fit well within the Democratic party (when not ruled by the DLC, the corporatist wing of the Dems), many of these ideals can appeal to logical, compassionate, and honorable conservatives as well. And as a recent Time Magazine poll indicated, most of the concepts spelled out below enjoy a massive popularity advantage regardless of party affiliation.
The name Fair America represents a sense of honor and justice that supersedes greed. Coming from an economic populist framework, it will embody reigning in corporate control throughout politics as well. That’s a great place to start. In order to be a viable platform for Republicans and their followers, we need to define the goals as something that appeals to the conservative sense of virtue and fairness. Why fairness? Because rooting against fairness can easily be seen as unAmerican.
And by embracing this platform, actual conservatives can be seen as making a stand against today’s CORPservatives, pointing out their hypocrisy and corporate servitude. We can only hope that these conservatives, who now understand that they are part of the 99% who are legislatively powerless, take out the CORPservatives in the 2012 primaries and remake the Republican party.
When the handwriting is on the wall, adapting the Fair America Platform will give this new breed of GOP legislators a place to reinvent their party, distancing themselves from a dogmatic past. The Fair America Platform will give Democrats a place to put social, economic, and political justice center stage, just what America is clamoring for.
One of the keys to the universality of the Fair America Platform is to minimize the GOP hot button issues, since those are always the red flags that Rove/Luntz/the Kochs always lead conservatives around by the nose with. Take things like gay marriage and gun control out of the dialog, and there’s room for logic.
Here’s how the Fair America Platform would look, based around the concept that fairness gives everybody a chance:
Fair Taxation
-Create a new “1000 Families” top tax tier at 72% for those making $35 million or more per year.
-End all offshore corporate tax havens and close other corporate loopholes
-Stop allowing capital gains income to be separate from regular income for those making over $800,000 per year.
Fair Elections
-Mandate public funding of ALL national and state office elections, with paper ballots hand counted in each
-Turn back all laws aimed at limiting the ability to vote such as new “voter ID” legislation
Fair Representation
-Overturn the Supreme Court's ruling in the Citizen's United case which allowed unlimited corporate dollars to tip elections under the guise of free speech. This is likely to require a constitutional amendment reversing the court's notion of corporate personhood.
-Severely restrict lobbying influence in Washington
-Restrict and make fully transparent all 527C PACs, requiring full funding disclosures on any advertisements
Fair Job Opportunity
-End all tax incentives for sending jobs overseas
-Create corporate tax rate incentives for returning workforce to America
-Create another stimulus geared solely towards infrastructure and rebuilding state services such as education, local police and fire
-Add tariffs to imported goods to level the playing field for US manufacturers
Fair Individual Opportunity
-Restore Social Security’s solvency by raising cap from $106,000 to $135,000 with two more doughnut holes. For those making over $2 million a year, apply the standard rate to annual income between $2 and $2.05 million. For those making $5 million or more, apply the rate to income between $5 and $5.25 million.
-Create a single-payer healthcare system or Medicare for all
-Grant bargaining power for Medicare Part D prescriptions
-End foreclosure surge in banking industry
Fair Business Practices
-Strengthen EPA and all corporate oversight groups
-Restore Glass-Steagall Act which separated commercial banking from investment banking
-Break up monopolies to allow medium-sized businesses to compete
-Cap bonuses within companies that received bailouts
Fair Shrinkage of Government
-Use increased revenue through fair taxation noted above to balance budget, pay towards US debt
-Reverse the push towards privatization throughout government which adds a layer of profit to costs levied on tax payers, and also dilutes expertise and efficiency.
-Draw down all Middle Eastern conflicts, cut personnel at overseas bases in friendly countries
-Cut all new weapons programs by 80%
-End all oil subsidies
Fair Legislative Protocols
-Restore the Senate's filibuster rule to original concept where to maintain a filibuster, the opposing party must continue speaking to hold the floor and prevent an up or down vote.
-Restrict amendments and riders to bills so that bad legislation doesn't get to ride into law on the coattails of good legislation
Notice that the platform doesn’t make a point out of marriage equality or other divisive issues. Work can be done towards those goals, but by not putting them front and center we expand our scope.
Fairness. Honest people can get behind it. What of the above can Republicans find fault with in the context of fairness? If we link our agenda to honesty, integrity, and giving the average Joe a shot in the world, there are tens of millions that this could strike a chord with.
The Fair America Platform doesn’t have to start with bipartisan roots. It has that potential, and I’d like a world where Republicans see its adoption as a sensible alternative tea party pandering. But if its only impact is to reshape the direction of the Democratic party as a whole, fairness wins.
