Our Democracy is hanging by a thread. The threat of dictatorship looms large, as one of the two major parties' candidates has unabashedly stated that he will be an autocrat "on day one." In this highly-computerized telecom era of super-surveillance and drone warfare, any collapse of the United States' government into fascism will inevitably be permanent. It will be George Orwell's 1984, from which there will be no escape. Ever.
We MUST not let that happen!
Due to their own selfish purposes, the fascist party that used to be conservative has endorsed a platform known as "Project 2025." The scary things found within this publication are well documented, and should serve as a wake-up call to all concerned citizens. Yet I wonder, if there's such a think-tanked, well-defined agenda for the side of evil, shouldn't there also be one for the side of good? Shouldn't there be an agenda to re-build Democracy rather than tear it down?
How about we have our OWN "Project 2025?"
Well, I think there should be one. As such, I've outlined my proposal for such an agenda. All of you out there might have different ideas, but I think all or nearly all of us can agree that the ones I've listed below are the ones worth championing. People may disagree on the order of priority I've assigned, but they cannot, I think, argue with the substance.
So, here we go.
Our OWN Project 2025:
A Liberal "Contract With America" (Sorry, couldn't resist.)
To help ensure the survival of Democracy, primarily here at home, but also internationally, I propose the following agenda items be implemented upon securing a Democratic victory in November of 2024. We must not waste the next four years the same way we did the last twelve that Liberals have held the White House. By January of 2025, we must therefore begin implementing the following items:
1) The Fairness Doctrine MUST be reinstated. For those who don't know, the Fairness Doctrine used to require media outlets to give equal time to any controversial or divisive issue - until Reagan destroyed it by stacking the FCC with conservative partisans, who gutted the rule. Since then, many media outlets have continually ratcheted up their conservative propaganda, and for the last two decades, it has raged completely out of control. By all that's just and holy, THIS MUST BE STOPPED! We need this as badly as we need oxygen! For-profit, partisan news reporting has gone completely off the rails, and has done so for decades. It has driven nearly half our nation completely insane. The level of partisan hatred has been escalated to the extent where many would prefer an absolute monster rather than a liberal. Enough is enough! The government must mandate that news outlets present both sides to any political or reasonably divisive debate. (Notice I say, "reasonably divisive." I don't want this rule to allow flat-earthism, creationism, moon-landing denialism, holocaust denialism, or any other crank conspiracy idea to receive equal time.) What's more, this rule change must NOT exclusively come from the FCC! It must also be reinforced with legislative action, or better yet, a constitutional amendment.
2) News outlets must be required to deliver news, not propaganda. Any news outlet which does not adhere to a set standard of truthfulness should have the word "News" legally stripped from its brand. (For example, "Fox Tabloid Press.") That media outlet may continue saying whatever it likes, so there is no violation of freedom of speech, but they may not mislabel themselves. One cannot sell a poisoned can of soup. For precisely the same reason, our laws must recognize that fake news should not be allowed to sell itself as real news.
3) The Supreme Court must be de-politicized! A new rule, enacted through legislation or, better yet, constitutional amendment, must require that all future SCOTUS vacancy nominations be approved unanimously by all remaining justices, BEFORE going to the Senate. This forces the justices to select candidates based on professional standards rather than partisan ones, and congress must approve based on qualifications, not biases. The result will be, eventually, nine balanced, reasonable justices, all without a political agenda. We REALLY NEED this!
4) The Voting Rights Act must be strengthened. Contrary to what the current iteration of SCOTUS may say, we are not in a post-racial America, not remotely. As such, voting rights protections must be extended, strengthened, and rigidly enforced.
5) Elections must have a spending cap. If our sports franchises can live with a spending cap, so can our electoral process! Media outlets have every reason to throw gasoline on the political fire, knowing that they can cash in on uncontrolled ad spending every 2 years, and REALLY cash in every four years. The Citizens' United ruling, which effectively overturned McCain/Feingold, must be reversed through legislative action. Stop feeding the dragon!
6) The Electoral College must be abolished. The Electoral College has failed in its primary directive, which namely is to safeguard against demagogues, like Donald Trump, from ever gaining office. In 2016, Hillary Clinton was the clear winner of the popular vote. It was the EC's sworn duty to reflect the will of the people in its outcome. It failed. As such, it is a vestigial part of our nation's structure which serves no other purpose except to thwart Democracy. It must be done away with!
7) Reproductive health care must be reinstated and strengthened. Preferably, this is to be accomplished through legislative action or constitutional amendment rather than simply replacing conservative SCOTUS justices with more liberal ones. The American People overwhelmingly support abortive care. It's time our nation reflected this, permanently. Take away the option to outlaw abortion, and conservatives will be forced, at long last, to abandon it as an issue. We may already be speeding towards this outcome in a similar manner to that of Ireland in 2018, when the population there overwhelmingly voted to overturn their draconian anti-abortion laws.
8) Gerrymandering must be outlawed by federal mandate. It is an obvious conflict of interest for a political party in power to draw its own legislative maps. The temptation -- no, tradition -- is for the maps to be drawn in a way which favors the incumbent party. This must stop! At bare minimum, states and municipalities must hand over the drawing of legislative borders to a neutral, non-partisan entity.
9) Our electoral process must switch to a ranked-choice system. Right now, our electoral process is a zero-sum game, where factions inevitably coalesce into a binary choice - which is truly no choice at all for all except the most extremist of citizens. That must end! People deserve a means to select their candidates on a most-desired to least-desired basis. This must be done by means of legislative action, or better yet, constitutional amendment. Ranked-choice voting must be instated. The sooner the better.
10) Voter participation must be increased. Too few Americans participate in the electoral process. Even in a "good" election year, only about 2/3rds of voting-eligible citizens actually show up to vote. In 2016, when the Electoral College handed the election to Trump against the will of the people, only 57% of the nation even voted. The U.S. ranks 31st in terms of voter participation, getting out-performed by nations like Uruguay (94.9%) and Turkey (89%)! This is unacceptable! Voters must be encouraged to participate in the electoral process by: a) making Election Day a National Holiday, giving workers a day off to ensure they get to the polls, b) by providing a small financial incentive to participate, such as an additional $10 off one's income tax if one votes.
11) The Second Amendment must be amended and clarified. Extremist interpretations of the Second Amendment have greatly threatened the lives of ordinary citizens in recent years. Commonsense restrictions against assault rifles and similarly-styled weapons are continually eroded or removed, while restrictions on defensive weapons, such as tasers, remain high. This is absolutely upside-down. A clarifying amendment to the Second Amendment must clarify that citizens have a right to small-caliber weapons of self-defense, but NOT military grade offensive weaponry. One doesn't need an AK-47 to hunt deer, and grandma doesn't need an uzi to protect her back porch.
12) The President is NOT above the law! Legislation or, better yet, constitutional amendment, must overturn the insane SCOTUS ruling that gave Donald Trump blanket immunity for "official acts." Trump may be grandfathered out of such legislation, but at least no future would-be dictator will avail himself of such a (quite literal!) license to kill. While we do not wish to have every former president spend the rest of their lives in court, we must also recognize that certain categories of crimes, such as fomenting insurrection, pilfering top secret documents, or leaking state secrets, are inexcusable, and deserve no protection.
13) Separation between Church and State must be strengthened and re-emphasized. This nation was founded upon religious freedom. Yet many Evangelical Christians see the wall separating Church and State as an obstacle to overcome rather than as a bulwark which shields their freedom. The religious people who fled to the United States did so in order to safely hunker down behind said wall of separation. Today, the descendants of those brave souls now try to undo the wall their forebears fled behind. How violently shameless! In large part, the erosion of our Democracy has come directly at the hands of Christians who believe themselves disenfranchised because favoritisms granted to them in the past are being rightfully taken away in favor of non-favoritistic religious freedom for all creeds. What's more, removal of reproductive freedoms have come at the hands of religious zealots who wish to legislate people's private lives. This must end, once and for all! a) The Johnson Amendment must be strengthened and strictly enforced. Churches must not engage in politics, lest they wish to forfeit their tax exemptions. b) Failed experiments such as voucher programs, which are ultimately meant to divert public funds to private, religious schools, must be secularized or eliminated. c) Activist judges with a clear, religious agenda must be identified and dismissed.
14) After shutting out would-be dictators here at home, we must ensure the same holds abroad. Fascists such as Vladimir Putin and Victor Orban must not be allowed to remain in power. We must adopt a doctrine of isolation, sanctions, and, if need be, military intervention in order to remove them. No Democracy, Western or Eastern, should be allowed to collapse into dictatorship, and no nation with a chance of establishing Democracy should be denied. It must therefore be seen as the duty of all free nations to band together and ensure freedom for those nations who are not yet blessed with such.
That's it. Have some ideas of your own? Let me know! I'll add them to the list if they're good.
Eric
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