2-N}/2 for the number of possible interactions).My Liberal Agenda
We hear a lot from the conservative bank about a "liberal agenda" so I thought I would put mine together:
- Values
- Voting
- Citizenship
- Immigration
- Taxation
- Social Programs
- Education
- Government Size
- Military
- Gun Control
- Missile Defenses
- United Nations
- World Politics
Just for starters.
(Go to End)
Values
As a liberal American I feel that values important to keep and hold for America are: Freedom, Liberty, Justice, Equality, Democracy and Human Rights. These are the values that inspired the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution. These are the values that make America special to me. They allow for dissention in opinion and action, and they allow for a wide variety of beliefs.It is possible to have personal values in addition to those above, but if they are not universally accepted they do not belong with values that are universal.
Whatever additional values should be considered must be universal: are they values that can be applied to any group of people without detriment or discrimination, and are they ones that non-Americans would want to secure for themselves as well -- not because such values should be approved by others but because America should be a model for other countries to emulate for the values that America protects and cherishes for all it's citizens.
Voting
The most critical element to preserving this country is real voting rights. There should be no control of the voting process by any one or more groups for their benefit. Our current methods of voting do not fulfill the criteria of a fully just and equal system free of special interest control; certainly it is not a model for other countries in the world to adopt. The biggest problem is the disenfranchising of voters second choices: once the primary preference vote is cast you are no longer allowed to chose who comes second, third, fourth, etcetera. The system we have currently guarantees a bitter two party system. This needs to change. Voting reform needs to be seriously discussed and revisions made to ensure that this becomes the case, whatever those changes are. There are other methods.
Citizenship
One of the criteria for voting is citizenship. In the beginning people became Americans just by being here (although some were denied that), and this is still the default way to become an American. We need to ask what criteria makes a person "American" that deserves the basic rights that all Americans enjoy. To me anyone who lives in America, shares American values, pays taxes and contributes positively to American society should be considered a citizen. If this criteria was good enough for the original Americans it should be good enough for us.
Immigration
There should be no boundaries to people wanting to immigrate or to work across the borders. What is the difference between moving between states and between moving between nations? Look back at those American values listed above. Most of the problems with immigration and border control are caused by the regulations on immigration and work and not by people wanting to disrupt this country. This is an artificial problem.What better way to spread American values than to make them available for more people?
Taxation
Taxation is the way government is paid for, and like it or not, as long as we have government we will have taxation. The question is how to collect it equitably.Government is what allows the social-cultural-economic system to operate. It ideally holds people to a higher standard of behavior than they would otherwise be inclined, such as providing good pay and benefits and a safe environment to workers rather than maximizing profits for the few. When this is done well then the social-cultural-economic system does well and gross national profits rise.
The real rate of taxation for any period is the cost of government divided by the gross national product. Whether that tax is collected immediately or later is irrelevant: the cost has been incurred and the money spent, even when it is borrowed to do so. Deficit spending is a tax on the future without a plan on who pays for it or when it is paid, and is financially irresponsible.
Let there be a national sales tax that automatically adjusts to changes in government spending and gross national profit: increase government spending and the tax collection automatically adjusts upward; decrease spending and it automatically goes down; the economy expands and the tax rate goes down.
State taxes should operate on a similar basis to the national tax for the same reasons.
Local governments usually operate on the basis of property taxes, and in this regard all property should be taxed, for all properties receive the benefits of the local government in police protection, fire protection and the like.
Social Programs
All tax exemptions, credits, tax breaks and other adjustments are really social programs designed to redistribute the taxes into a more equitable or just pattern.Let's call them what they are and incorporate them with all other current social programs (social security, unemployment, welfare, medicare, veteran benefits, etcetera) into one government tax redistribution program. Why have multiple agencies all doing essentially the same things?
In terms of user fees, those that benefit most from the American economy that is protected by the American (federal, state and local) governments should pay more for benefiting from the system, while those who do not benefit from the system should pay less or even get a refund.
However it is worked out, this second system is basically a "from each according to their ability to each according to their need" system that should preserve human dignity and allow each person to improve on their condition by contributing to it.
Each State could also incorporate a {property tax redistribution} system to offset the impact of local property taxes on those least able to pay the property taxes (the biggest problem for a purely property tax system is that it is not related to income or the ability of the property owner to pay the tax -- particularly the retired and the medically challenged and the elderly).
Education
We have evolved a public education system that is much larger and complex than was ever originally envisaged. Does it really fill the needs of this country or are there changes that can benefit all Americans? Frankly, I think some education is wasted on some people, and their continued presence in the education system holds back other people.Currently we guarantee public education through High School at no cost to the students (albeit usually all paid through local government via property taxes), with little regard for the willingness or ability of the student to learn.
The system is rigid. Let us end the formal structure at the end of Middle School and allow students to decide to go on to High School or do something else. End the local tax burden at this point.
Make High School optional, make it only for those who want to go, and make it a State run program financed by State taxes rather than local.
Let anyone who wants to go to High School later in life to return without cost, make High School more of a {campus \ early university} type school with differing schools in a city offering different specializations, and extend the program to include an additional 2 years for an associates degree. Some High Schools could be very science oriented, others very humanities and arts oriented, and others very trade oriented.
Ensure that those Associates degrees give the same basics as are covered in the first two years of any college, so those schools can concentrate on a 2 year bachelor program specializing in the major area of study of choice. This would be advance placement courses on steroids as far as Universities were concerned..
There is also a debate on what to teach in the schools, we should concentrate on the skills needed to communicate and to make rational decisions (math and logic) and how to learn in the elementary and middle schools and allow freedom of choice on what to pursue in High School.
Government Size
In one very real sense the part of the size of government is proportional to the interactions between people rather than the population. This means the size of government goes up with the square of the population (the actual formula is {N
In another sense government size is directly proportional to what we as a people want government to do for us. People demand and get a lot more services than they used to get from their governments.
For any discussion of reducing the cost of government to be realistic it must address what programs we as a people want to keep and what we don't want to keep.
Comparing government to business as a model of {success for value} is a false concept because profit is not a valid motive in government programs, rather the opposite is what is desired. This is one of the reasons that the whole program of privatizing health care and bringing HMO's into the mix has resulted in a sky rocketing of medical costs -- these companies are taking profits out of the system that were not part of the mix before (and they are doing it on the scale of large American corporations). A better model would be a non-profit cooperative, but then, ... that is what good government should be, eh?
The National Guard should be a purely volunteer organization, where members can refuse to be restationed without loss of status.
I have to wonder how any American can justify sacrificing any of the values that make America special for any reason, even if it is sacrificing the ability of other people to have them: either freedom is right for everyone or it isn't; the same with Liberty, Justice, Equality, Democracy and Human Rights. And if they aren't for everyone we may just as well pack up and go home and forget about being a role model for the world to emulate.
The environment is part of world politics: we only have one, it is in our best self interest to take care of it.
(Note: this is an essay and as such represents the opinions of the author. You can e-mail comments to me at RAZD8@yahoo.com)