Them Dems

WHOSE COUNTRY IS THIS? (LEADERSHIP ACCOUNTABILITY ACT)
[Authored by: Jack Dalton*]

Over the years this country has developed an aristocracy. The same faces seem to move in and out of the governing body at will. These very same people have lost contact with the average American citizen and the problems that they face just merely trying to survive from day to day. At the very same time, our so-called “elected” representatives pass law after law that pushes the majority of the country’s population further and further down the economic rung while the gap between the rich and poor grows ever wider.

Any level of accountability of what is ostensibly elected representatives seems at times not to even exist. To take this a step further, they pass laws that increase the level of impunity for themselves while they carp about the “Rule of Law” demanding that “law” breakers be severely punished. That leaves us with 2 million in prison, 60% of which are non-violent, first time offenders in, primarily as a result of the “War on Drugs”—it should also be noted that the majority are people of color, does racism come to mind?”

The level of corruption, hypocrisy and absolute b…s… is at a level that just boggles the mind. The buying and selling of congress by the moneyed interests and corporate entities is astonishing—it’s also destroying what is supposed to be a Democracy. To say this is unacceptable is a gross understatement.

Authoritarianism has already got a strong foothold thanks to the Bush cabal. With their stated objective of “starve the beast” they have deliberately created deficits that will make it almost impossible to maintain our current social programs. But then that is what they want. Guns over butter; profits over people; 55 new attack subs at a cost of $1.2 billion each; new aircraft carriers at a cost of $4.5 billion each; another $10 billion for “Star Wars;” all of this and more while at the same time 1.6 million people went bankrupt in 2003 with ’04 looking even worse; 70% of the “new jobs” created are in the service sector with an average hourly wage of $8.85 per hour. Have to make America “competitive” as the story goes. They will “compete” us to 3^rd world labor status.

All of this and more and all while corporate profits are at an all time high. Due to the fact that congress can’t seem to get a handle on all this and come up with a bill, act, law, etc., to address the corruption and hypocrisy that is currently running rampant within the body governance, I’ve started one for them.

A BILL: Leadership Accountability Act of 200X
(Corruption, Hypocrisy, and Hubris Discouragement and Rehabilitation Law)

The alienation of decision makers from the people threatens the union by abridging their constitutional protection and rights. The resulting lessened respect and trust attenuates governance.

Abuse of power, betrayal of fiduciary responsibility, and caving in to special interest groups has resulted in abuse of citizens. Legislation and policy have stripped the people of rights and property that are explicitly and implicitly protected by the Constitution.

To facilitate humane, compassionate, accountable, and equitable governance, the following sanctions are enacted to enhance respect for The Bill of Rights and the Constitution:

1: Whosoever creates, facilitates, supports, or directs the execution of laws or policies that abridge, suborn, deprive or nullify individual civil liberties and constitutional rights is guilty of a crime against the constitution.

2: Rehabilitation shall emphasize restitution for the type of harm caused by the laws or policies initiated, facilitated, supported, or enforced by the violator.

(A) Violation of the oath of office which includes the provision to uphold the Constitution.

(B) Failure to uphold shall be regarded as constitutional incompetence; necessitating conservatorship until rehabilitation and restitution are complete.

4: The legislature is directed to create, enact, and implement enabling legislation that includes

(A) Economic sanctions include forfeiture of salary and accrued retirement benefits, attachment of wages and benefits, forfeiture of property, credit restriction with proceeds marked for restitution and costs.

(1) Personal penalties include jail, prison, boot camps, half-way houses, house arrest, probation, and disenfranchisement

(B) Education and testing on the United States Constitution and constitutional law shall be included in conditions of probation/parole.

(1) The corrective programs shall report yearly to the Bureau of Criminal Statistics enumeration of program activity with specific penalties for non compliance or failure to report.

*Jack Dalton is a disabled Vietnam veteran, writer and activist. He is a columnist for the POAC and has a blog—Jack’s “Straight-Speak” The article above was authored in 2005, but it is compelling today as it was when originally published.

If Dems win in the 2006 and 2008 elections, but fail to define what they stand for, the country will be no better off. Here's how Democrats can again become a great party: -- Stephen Pizzo*

Finally someone, mainly Stephen Pizzo, author of Inside Job: The Looting of America's Savings and Loans, has come up with a progressive contract that truly makes sense and could coalesce the Democrats into a united force in 2006.

Building on ideas from Bob Borosage's recent article in The Nation, A *Real* Contract With America, Pizzo has come up with ten progressive pledges to demand from our Democrat leaders – if we are to support them in next years mid term elections. These are pledges which I totally agree with and I pass them on to you.

The current issue of The Nation magazine contains an important essay by Bob Borosage, head of the Center for America's Future. Like many of us, Bob has spent the last few years watching in awe and shock as the Democrats triangulated themselves into irrelevancy. With there being no realistic hope a viable progressive third party will emerge – he and other progressive thinkers have been trying to figure out how to round up our wayward mule team and get it hitched back to the right wagon. . . .

But winning only because the other team committed too many errors is not the same thing as governing. It's simply being the only other alternative - the lesser of evils. And that's not a foundation upon which greatness can be built. . . .

So I took the points Bob listed in his article, "embellished" them and put them into the form of 10 contractual pledges Democrat candidates can and should embrace. Here is my list, which began as Bob's list, and will hopefully become every Democrat's list:

If elected to office I promise to fully, enthusiastically and aggressively work to pass legislation that achieves the following goals:

Our military has been stretched to the breaking point through a series of unwise deployments, particularly the war in Iraq. We will begin rebuilding America's all-volunteer military by first setting a date-certain for withdrawal from Iraq, beginning with National Guard and reservists. We will pass legislation requiring US troops begin leaving Iraq at the rate of 15,000 a month. We will work as closely as possible with Iraqi government officials to make this withdraw orderly while continuing to provide them the resources needed to train and equip their own soldiers and police forces.

The revolving door between corporate lobbies and high public office must be closed. We will pass legislation prohibiting legislators, their senior aides and executive branch political appointees from lobbying for two years after leaving office. We will let the sun shine into the deepest corners by requiring detailed public reporting of all contacts between lobbyists and legislators and the timely posting of such contacts on the Web. We pledge to apply these rules to all, regardless of party, as one way to take big money out of politics.

When public officials fail to do their job, as in the pre-9/11 and WMD intellegence faliures, we will require an independent investigation be launched so that no official's actions, regardless of rank or position, escapes review. We will detail action on the urgent needs that this Administration has ignored: Improve port security, bolster first responders and public health capacity, and require adequate defense planning by high-risk chemical plants. And we will attack fraud, waste and abuse, beginning with the pork-barrel squandering of national security funds.

We understand that the "age of oil," is nearing an end. Therefore we pledge to launch and fund a concerted drive towards real energy independence for America. We must approach this task with the same sense of urgency, funding and attention that the nation gave to the Manhattan Project. We will focus these efforts solely on mainstreaming renewable, non-polluting sources of energy such as hydrogen, wind and solar, with the goal of achieving total energy independence no later than 2020.

We will pass legislation rescinding Bush's tax cuts for the already wealthy and corporations in order to create more jobs here than overseas. We will accomplish that, in part, by using the additional tax revenue to create good-paying jobs rebuilding America's decaying infrastructure.

There are only three nations on earth with such a vast disparity between rich and poor, Russia, Mexico and the United States. It is a disgraceful effect of GOP economic policies that favor corporations and the wealthy while ignoring hard working Americans. While CEO pay has moved steadily upward, the pay of working Americans has fallen, in many cases below the official poverty level. We promise to reverse that trend, beginning by passing legislation raising the minimum wage to a level that reflects current economic reality. We will encourage workers, including white collar workers, to take a hand in their own destinies by joining unions, as well as becoming shareholders in the companies that employ them and fully participating in both union and shareholder activities. We will insist that any companies that receive government contracts pay the prevailing wage.

We pledge to fix America's broken healthcare system, a to do so quickly. We will study and then propose a single-payer, universal, healthcare system to be in place no later than 2015. We will also immediately reverse the Republican shameful sellout to the pharmaceutical industry by empowering Medicare to bargain down drug prices and allowing people to purchase drugs from safe outlets abroad.

We pledge to strengthen Social Security. We will not risk Social Security by privatizing it. Instead we will modernize Social Security by, in part, recognizing that people live and work longer than they did 75 years ago. We will also modernize the ways the Social Security Trust Fund is invested to assure it always grows at least as fast as core inflation. We will also require companies to treat the shop floor like the top floor when it comes to managing their pensions and healthcare benefits.

We will immediately stop and reverse current GOP efforts to cut eligibility for college grants and to limit loans. Instead we will offer a contract to American students: If they graduate from high school, they will be able to afford college or the higher technical training needed to be successful in today's economy. We will pay for this by preserving the estate tax on the wealthiest multimillion-dollar estates in America.

We will foster and lead an aggressive international alliance to track down stateless terrorists, capture or kill them and confiscate their assets. Captured terrorists will always be treated in accordance with international law. We will increase efforts and funding to track down and secure "loose nukes." We will detail action on the urgent needs that this Administration has ignored: Improve port security, bolster first responders and public health capacity, and require adequate defense planning by high-risk chemical plants. We will also affirm the reality that no nation can ever be secure as long as its borders are not. We will bring order and security to our borders by increasing border patrols and controls and by instituting a fair, manageable and humane guest worker program. We will also aggressively prosecute employers who employ or exploit illegal immigrant workers.

So, maybe you should email or mail this to your elected representative and let him/her know that, if they intend to run for re-election the price of your vote is their signature on this document.

Stephen Pizzo is the author of numerous books, including Inside Job: The Looting of America's Savings and Loans, which was nominated for a Pulitzer.

Bush’s approval/disapproval ratings continue their slide into October. TPJ’s latest chart:

		Approve	Trail Month	Disapprove	No Opinion	Spread

FOX	10/11-12/05	40		51	9
NBC/WSJ	10/8-10/05	39		54	7
Pew	10/6-10/05	38		56	6
AP-Ipsos	10/3-5/05	39		58
CBS	10/3-5/05	37		58	5
Zogby	9/29 - 10/2/05	43		57	-
Newsweek	9/29-30/05	40		53	7
	October Average	39.43	1.88	55.29	6.80	-15.86

	September Average	41.31	1.91	53.75	4.81	-12.44
	August Average	43.22	2.38	52.33	4.33	-9.11
	July Average	45.60	-0.60	49.00	5.30	-3.40
	June Average	45	1.50	49.83	5.33	-4.83
	May Average	46.5	1.10	48.33	5.17	-1.83
	April Average	47.60	1.28	49.00	3.20	-1.40
	March Average	48.88	1.13	46.00	5.13	2.88
	February Average	50.00	1.00	46.29	3.71	3.71
	January Average	51.00		44.71	4.00	6.29

The fundamental question for Democrats remains relatively simple; is Bush’s decline the Democrats’ gain? The answer to that question is problematical.

Pew Research Center reaches the same conclusion that TPJ expressed last week; Democrats are not faring as well as one might expect.

First, Pew specifically asked whether the next presidential administration should offer different policies than the Bush administration. The question is well designed to test public opinion of Bush administration policies as well as a desire for change.

The breakdown is not surprising. Conservative Republicans are the core of Bush’s support and Bush largely holds that base. Democrats and Independents have largely abandoned Bush policies and even Moderate/Liberal Republicans are split almost evenly.

Looking at the two charts above, Democrats might envision large gains in the Congressional elections next year. Democrats could well be disappointed.

The public perceives that Democratic Party Congressional leaders are no better than the Republicans:

[W]hile Bush and his party are struggling, the Democratic Party continues to be viewed in the same negative light as the Republicans. Only about third (32%) approve of the job Democratic leaders in Congress are doing, while the same number has a positive view of Republican congressional leaders (32%). Both measures have declined slightly over the past month (36% approval for each in mid-September). – Pew Research Center

Current polling does suggest that citizens are abandoning radical Republican policies and are looking for change. Citizens are not convinced that leadership by Democrats is any better than the leadership offered by Republicans. Democrats have simply not yet made the case that they are the Party to lead America.

Walker Cronkite offers Democrats an interesting suggestion heading into the 2006 mid-term elections – call a convention to formulate a platform for the election.

The key to a Democratic success in next year's Congressional election is clearly in the party leadership's coming up with a campaign that does not concentrate on the Bush administration's failures but offers alternative programs to fix what it believes is wrong with the Republican agenda.

A suggestion by which the Democratic Party could command the greatest public attention for its positive agenda: It could within weeks call an extraordinary midterm convention to draw up its platform.

The convention would not need to be expensive. The delegates could be those who attended the 2004 convention. Their meeting would be open to the public and of course the press.

In sharp contrast to the secrecy of the Bush administration, it would let the public, if only remotely, share in the construction of the Democratic platform.

Although local issues might cause some candidates in next year's Congressional election to veer from the platform on comparatively minor issues, the basic principles of the party would be clearly apparent.

The voting population would for the first time in many years have an unobstructed view of those principles that differentiate the Democratic Party from those of the Republican Party. – New York Times (emphasis added).

Cronkite’s call for a convention is bold and creative. The National Democratic Party should be actively considering the idea.