Ideas for Democratic revival

There’s a growing consensus that one weakness that the Democrats had in 2004, 2002, and 2000 is that they didn’t stand for anything. Instead of fighting a national election based on big, overarching themes, they fought a dozen or so state-wide elections based on local issues. Sometimes local issues can win an election (see Mary Landrieu in 2002), but you need themes to capture a Congress or retake the presidency.

Some of these ideas are 100 % mine, others are borrowed. Some things the Democrats are already trying to do, I merely call for a new emphasis.

The New Contract (name is not important, just need a slogan)

1. Government Reform.
Democrats commit themselves to reforming Washington. Democrats propose campaign finance reform and changing the institutions that make Washington a rathole. One idea is to propose a corporate flat tax. If we had a corporate flat tax the whole Washington game of lobbyists trying to get special breaks for their industries would be up.

2. Universal Health Care.
Democrats renew their call for universal health care, preferably single-payer. Single-payer sounds radical to many people, so Democrats should talk about expanding Medicare to everyone. Medicare is loved by all. Politicians sometimes hear "keep government out of my Medicare!"

A lot of people forget that there is an economic case to be made for universal health care. In our private system, paper work and profit eat up 15 - 30 percent of all health care expenses. America spends more per person on health care than any other nation, but there is so much waste that measures of healthyness here are below measures in other countries. Medicare is a government program, but it is the most efficient health-care provider in the nation. For every dollar that goes into Medicare, we get 98 cents of health care.

3. Social Security.
Democrats move beyond the status quo on Social Security. Privatization is a fraud, but the system indeed has its problems due to the government’s perennial deficits. Three ideas are means-testing of benefits, raising the retirement age, and possibly upping the ceiling of taxable income.

4. Federalism.
Democrats reembrace federalism. If Alabama wants to ban gay marriage, it should have that right. I favor gay marriage/civil unions, but I would not want gay marriage forced on my state by the courts – these decisions should be made by legislatures and electorates, not judges. Federalism only meets its limits when what one state does will affect another – Illinois shouldn’t have the right to dump untreated sewage into the Mississippi. Federalism also meets its limits when a state is doing something egregiously immoral – e.g. segregation – personally I don’t think forbidding gay marriage is that bad. (taken to its logical conclusion, abortion should be a state decision, since I know returning abortion to the states would never pass muster from Democratic interest groups, this might have to be refined somewhat)
And some strategic stuff . . . .

Values

Democrats talk more about how "values" – including ones derived from the Bible – influence their decisions. There isn’t a lot in the Bible to justify Bushism, but there is a lot to justify help for the poor and environmental conservation. Kerry tried to do this, but his message was lost to the noise of Iraq.

When Republicans say "values," they usually mean abortion, gays, G-d, and guns. The Democrats aren't going to abandon their principles there, but there a few things the Democrats can to for people who worry about moral decline.

How about mandating a la carte cable television buying? If you only watch the History Channel, Fox News, and the Food Network, why should you have to pay for MTV, especially if you don't want your children watching that.

The V chip is a nice idea, but not everyone knows how to use it, and you're still paying for a lot of smut.

Help for the Working Poor

Democrats have to maintain their traditional commitment to helping the poor, but need to emphasize that the poor who are most deserving are the working poor. Democratic solutions to poverty should be ones that reward work – the Earned Income Tax Credit, the minimum wage, etc.

I don’t think these issues would be enough to carry the Democrats to victory unless we get a good campaigner with a nice biography as our nominee. I’m hoping our person in 2008 will be a governor, and not someone from the Northeast. I hate to judge someone by whom their parents were, but let’s have "no patricians" "no Senators’ sons" rules too.

Democrats also need to be aggressive in attacking Republicans. How do you expect the media to cover Republican corruption and evil if the Democrats don’t? Don't let the nominee do this though, just employ surrogates.

Republicans make noise about cutting the EITC, are against raising the minimum wage, are against expanded health coverage, are against all kinds of low-income tax credits. Those positions are immoral, if not unAmerican.