Eat the View, which is currently in the lead in our online contest, is featured in today's Washington Post.
If Americans planted wartime victory gardens again, the argument goes,
Nina Hachigian writes a very <a href="http://www.tnr.com/politics/story.html?id=8dd2ecfe-88d0-405d-af94-6b17bd723ed7">thoughtful essay</a> in <em>The New Republic</em>
Via Michael Tomasky, an interview with veteran UN negotiator Lakhdar Brahimi, on how the latter would advise President-elect Obama to deal with the crisis in Gaza.He said that he will pay attention to
Let's democratize our election system. Either we could make election day a holiday, and keep all the polls open the same hours -- this sounds expensive. Instead, let's save money by switching to an all mail-in voting system. Let's have Instant Runoff Voting, national uniformity, hand count all ballots, and offer a tax-deduction for voting (instead of fining people who don't vote). All the candidates get a free Obama-style 30-minute infomercial, and full participation in the debates.
California, like many states is home to some super-wealthy companies that made fortunes from the US occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan. Oil companies like Chevron-Texaco and Exxon-Mobil saw revenues skyrocket. Isn't this war profiteering? And isn't it illegal? California could sure use their "windfall profits" to help balance our budget and modernize our infrastructure. Let's wring 'em dry!
Instead of warehousing criminals, waiting for them to self-educate and graduate from prison as better criminals, aren't we supposed to be rehabilitating them? Let's reeducate them, retrain them, rehabilitate them, and set them free with modern electronic monitoring. Why are we being so inhumane, wasteful, and stupid? Let's break the Criminal-Industrial Complex's hold on our shrinking budget.
Slash our weapons stockpile down to a few hundred bombs and warheads. Process the weapons grade fuel to be used in modern, smarter, electricity generating reactors. If other countries are able to figure out how to process spent fuel and recycle it, why can't we? I've seen smartly-engineered modern reactors that can use a variety of radioactive fuels. They cannot overheat or melt down. Let's reengineer our nuke power industry, while reducing our stature as a global bully.
Offer statehood to all the various US Territories, Protectorates, etc: from the US Virgin Islands, Marshall Islands, Wake Island, American Samoa, Puerto Rico, Liberia, ETC! The boost to our population will help tourism, labor, and innovations. And it would mean that we would have to make a bunch of new flags, and new state Quarters!
A real Minimum Wage that enables workers to buy products produced here. Henry Ford understood this. We need a Minimum Fair Living Wage for all workers.
Create jobs by rebuilding and modernizing our infrastructure: From fixing roads and bridges, to laying improved rail lines, sound walls, pedestrian safety measures, etc. This can all be done while installing solar photovoltaic panels or thin film photovoltaic skins on signs, billboards, locomotives and train cars, bus shelters, etc.
Education from preeschool through PhD should be free from public schools, or private schools that agree to national guidelines. We will earn the investment back from the wealth generated by these educated and inspired people through their careers.
MediCare for all: Open up the Federal health insurance system, MediCare and the VA for everyone to use. It should be free, like other modern countries.
The blind and disabled are a wealth of educated, resourceful, and hard working people that (by and large) just haven't been given a fair chance at a productive career track job. Provide the option of small business loans to everyone on SSDI and SSI. Send them to intensive small business bootcamps, we'll write up our business plans, work through workshops. At the end of the course, we should each receive a loan, and a toolbox of techniques, etc. Set us loose, and watch the economy blossom!
A fair living Minimum Wage that enables workers to buy products produced here. Henry Ford understood this. We need a Minimum Fair Living Wage for all workers.
Why don't we tax petroleum imports? If we do tax imported ethanol, why don't we tax imported oil? Along those same lines, why do we subsidize corn farmers who grow to make ethanol, but the sugar beet farmers with a superior product are left out in the cold? We can grow sugar beets very well, and they are easily fermented into ethanol. Why do we waste so much subsidizing corn for fuel, when sugar beets and other crops are far superior?
We have import tariffs in our laws, but they've been trimmed down to insignificant levels. We need to ramp the tariffs up steeply and quickly. Also, we need domestic content requirements so that jobs are created here and/or stay here. E.G: I want our people to be able to buy a car, produced in the USA. It needs to be lightweight, safe, efficient, and economical; I want shrimp and fish farmers to be able to sell their crops for a fair market price; etc.
