Dishonesty is the Worst Policy

Democracy is a sham if members of the executive or legislative branch lie to the electorate, or if members of the executive branch, lie to members of Congress, to justify a particular foreign policy. This is especially important when military action is involved, as was the case with the Gulf of Tonkin resolution to justify expansion of the Viet Nam war, and with the allegation that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction to justify the 2003 invasion of Iraq. The consequences for government liars should be severe — including a vote of censure, impeachment, forced resignation, or expulsion from Congress.

Reinstitute the Draft for any Future Military Action

Democracy demands that sacrifices are shared by all citizens – not only citizens who have made military service their career. Decisions to take military action should not be made by persons whose own family members would not be exposed to danger, disease, disability or death by such action. There should be no educational deferment as there was in the Viet Nam war.

The United Nations

(a) Support the U.N. Keep up payments due to the U.N. even when the United States disagrees with a particular policy of the U.N. or a U.N. Agency.

(b) Do not engage in armed conflict in any country without first working with the U.N. to negotiate a peaceable solution and, if the U.N. effort fails, trying to gain U.N. support for U.S. military action;

(c) Work to eliminate fraud and misuse of funds by any U.N. Agency.

Israel and the Palestinians

The U.S. should:

(a) Consistently engage in diplomatic efforts to achieve peace;

(b) Urge Israel to stop  all settlement expansion in the occupied territories;

(c) Urge direct negotiations between Israeli and Palestinian leader, including leaders of Hamas  which does not recognize Israel’s existence as a Jewish state. Negotiating with enemies without pre-conditions is not a sign of weakness;

(d) Urge  direct negotiations between Israeli and Palestinian leaders. Urge all Palestinian factions to refrain from rocket attacks, suicide missions or other acts of violence against Israel. Support a decision by Israel to suspend negotiations if such attacks do occur.

(e) Urge Israel to make it easier for West Bank Arabs to travel within the occupied territories, and to cross into Israel for employment;

(f) Urge Hamas to accept a two-state solution. If Hamas refuses to do so even if Israel were to withdraw from most of the occupied West Bank and parts of Jerusalem, support an Israel decision to break off negotiations and not to withdraw from the West Bank or East Jerusalem, but do not support any Israeli expansion of West Bank settlements.

(g) Urge Palestinian leaders to require that school children’s history texts not contain blatant anti-Jewish falsehoods such as the long-discredited “Protocols of the Elders of Zion.” Textbooks should be historically accurate – for instance make it clear that the West Bank was under Jordanian rule and not an independent Palestinian State when Israel occupied it after the 1967 war.

(h) Urge Israeli and Palestinian leaders to deal reasonably with Palestinians’ claim of the right to return to their former homes in Israel. Some Palestinian Arabs fled Israel voluntarily during and after the 1948 war was started by Arab countries in protest against the U.N. resolution partitioning Palestine into an Arab and a Jewish section. But other Palestinian Arabs were pushed out by Israel. The number of Palestinians living in refugee camps in Jordan, Lebanon and Syria and not integrated into the host countries’ society has increased enormously. Their return to Israel would end the existence of Israel as a democratic Jewish state. But they should be financially compensated and their host countries should allow and encourage them to become citizens;

(i) Urge Israeli and Palestinians leaders to accept the idea that parts of East Jerusalem can be the capital of the new Palestinian State and other parts can be the capital of Israel;

(j) Urge Israel to ensure that its soldiers refrain from violence against unarmed civilians and from imposing economic hardship on Arabs in the occupied West Bank;

(j) Urge Israel to treat Israeli Arabs as full and equal citizens and not to discriminate against them in any fashion.

Negotiations with Perceived Enemy or Unfriendly Countries

The U.S. should be willing to negotiate with Iran and other unfriendly countries without setting pre-conditions. It makes no sense to negotiate only with friendly countries. Compromises cannot be achieved if issues are not discussed.

Iraq

(a) The U.S. owes a debt to the people of Iraq because no weapons of mass destruction were found to justify the U.S. invasion which has precipitated the current strife and bloodshed. However, after a certain amount of time of occupation, this debt should be considered discharged, at least with respect to the presence of U.S. combat troops. The hatred between Shiites and Sunnis existed long before the U.S invasion. The Iraqi government should be informed immediately that all U.S. troops will be withdrawn by a certain date; in the absence of a fixed date the Iraqi government has no pressing incentive to form and execute a plan for achieving peace between the fighting factions;

(b) Make selection of U.S. companies for Iraq reconstruction work subject to competitive bidding and close monitoring for honesty and efficiency. The performances of businesses in which any U.S. government personnel have now or have recently had a financial interest, should be monitored especially closely;

(c) Forbid torture (as defined by the Red Cross or the U.N.), of prisoners held by the U.S. anywhere, including Iraq and Guantanamo Bay. If torture does occur, punish the perpetrators promptly and severely. Punishment should not be limited to persons who inflicted the torture, but must include superior officers as well as government officials who authorized or did nothing to prevent the torture;

(d) In order for the U.S. to regain its tarnished reputation as a humane country, shut down the Guantanamo prison and refrain from “rendition ” — sending prisoners to countries known to torture prisoners. Alleged enemy combatants and terrorists must be tried promptly and have the right to counsel, including frequent access to counsel, and to habeas corpus.

(e) Provide wounded U.S. soldiers who have served in Iraq or Afghanistan or elsewhere with first-rate short and long-term medical care — psychological as well as physical.

Immigration

Have a generous policy for admitting “economic” as well as “political” refugees. Allow persons who have entered the U.S. illegally, but have worked and paid taxes, to legitimize their stay and be eligible to become citizens by a simple straightforward and low-cost process.

Streamline the Presidential and Congressional Election Process and Reduce Influence of Corporate Lobbyists

(a) Shorten the length of Presidential and Congressional election campaigns. Presidents and legislators are elected to perform governmental functions. Time spent on election campaigns and fund-raising events is time away from governing;

(b) Develop a system of exclusive federal funding for Presidential and Congressional election campaigns. Wealth, whether that of the candidate or that of the candidate’s supporters, is not an acceptable way to choose the best candidate. “Let the richest win” is anathema to democracy;

(c) Discourage Senators and Representatives from meeting with professionallobbyists representing special interest groups. Time spent with lobbyists is time taken away from listening to the opinions of their constituents. Impose a five-year wait before a former member of Congress can become a paid lobbyist;

(d) Prohibit or at least publicize all “earmarks” to discourage members of Congress from encumbering legislation with provisions that benefit their constituents and may have no relationship to the legislation’s main purpose, in order to enhance their reputation with their constituents.

Taxation

(a) Abolish the current Internal Revenue Code and Regulations. A law that needs several fat volumes to explain itself is unacceptable in a democracy;

(b) Enact an Internal Revenue Code that a reasonably literate taxpayer can understand;

(c) Institute a “pay as you go” policy for budget items, so that future generations will not have to pay for a previous generation’s budget deficits;

(d) Simplify or eliminate some income tax deductions. Allow fewer tax loopholes that primarily benefit wealthy individuals and big business;

(e) Make capital gains taxable at the same rate as ordinary income.

(f) To pay for federal or state services, make federal and state income taxes steeply progressive, especially for the highest income earners. There is a greater discrepancy between lowest and highest incomes in the U.S. than exists in any other developed country. There will be no shortage of well-qualified company executives and university presidents if their after-tax income is drastically lower than under the present tax system. People with incomes below a certain level would pay low or no income tax, and families whose income is below the poverty level would receive cash payments;

(g) Abolish or change the provisions of the alternative minimum income tax to prevent its application to low or moderate income taxpayers;

(h) Make corporate stock options income-taxable to the recipient at the market value of the company’s stock at the time of issue, rather than when the stock option is exercised. When stock options are exercised, provide capital gain or loss treatment for the difference in the stock’s value between date of issue and date of exercise of the option;

(i) Enact a federal sales or “value-added” tax with exemptions for basic necessities;

(j) Retain the federal estate tax for estates greater than one million dollars and make the tax progressively steeper for larger estates;

(k) Either abolish the income tax deduction for mortgage interest or re-institute the income tax deduction for credit card debt. Allow credit card debt to be discharged in bankruptcy. Current policies discriminate against taxpayers who cannot afford to purchase a home and need to use-high interest credit card borrowing for day-to-day expenses;

(l) In order to increase income tax receipts, require the Internal Revenue Service to make greater efforts to pursue high-income tax evaders and tax avoiders, including those with bank accounts in taxpayer-friendly countries;

Medical Malpractice

(a) Establish a workers-compensation-type system for victims of medical malpractice. This could make money available for the injured worker in a shorter time than damages won after a court trial. In addition, the elimination of a court trial with damages determined by juries, would counteract the high current cost of medical malpractice insurance which is beginning make some physicians reluctant to practice in certain fields of medicine.

(b) Monitor hospitals to reduce the number of negligence-related deaths or illnesses of hospital patients.

Poverty

(a) To ensure that every worker earns a living wage, provide for automatic increases in the minimum wage corresponding to the inflation rate of basic necessities such as rent, food, fuel, clothing, and — so long as universal free health care does not exist — health care;

(b) Provide free legal services to poor families without any restriction on the type of case that the legal services organization may handle;

(c) So long as there is no universal free health care, provide free health care services to low income families;

(d) Provide cash payments to families without an able-bodied worker;

(e) Make school breakfasts and lunches available — paid for by the children’s families, or, unobtrusively cost-free, for children of families in poverty;

(f) Provide unemployment benefits combined with education/ training programs to qualify workers for available employment opportunities.

The Criminal Justice System

(a) For persons who have been convicted of a crime committed without violence or the threat of violence, substitute a sentence of forty-hours-per-week mandatory community service for jail-time;

(b) For corporate crimes, mandate monetary penalties and community service by the corporation’s officers;

(c) To relieve current prison over-crowding, de-criminalize marijuana use;

(d) Criminalize rape of prisoners or other maltreatment by fellow inmates or prison officials. Exposure to such acts is not part of their sentence and violates the “cruel and unusual punishment” provision of the U.S. Constitution;

(e) Eliminate or at least moderate the “three strikes” federal sentencing provision that mandates a long jail sentence for a person who has been convicted three times of a crime – even if the third crime itself would have resulted in much lesser punishment;

(f) To reduce the recidivism rate, provide education and training programs for prison inmates to prepare them for earning a living after their release;

(g) Establish half-way houses for released prisoners to help them to live independently.

Education and National Service

(a) Abandon the “No Child Left Behind” policy in its current form; it has tended to emphasize teaching for tests at the expense of teaching for education;

(b) Instead of spending years on costly research or surveys to formulate satisfactory approaches to improving student learning in public schools, ensure that, at least in “under-performing” public schools in poor communities, the student-teacher ratio does not exceed ten students per teacher;

(c) Require that all young people, upon graduating from high school — or if they have left high school without graduating, when they have reached the age of eighteen — perform one year of Universal National Service — either in the U.S. for payment at the then-current minimum wage, or in other countries as Peace Corps volunteers. Every state or local authority would determine which and where services are most needed — everything from serving as mentors to school children, to helping farmers, to cleaning streets;

(d) Make further education available free of charge for “graduates” of Universal National Service:

(i) for those who have earned a high school or high school equivalency diploma, or are otherwise eligible to attend a post-high school educational or job training institution, give financial aid at any state-recognized college or job training institution of the student’s choice, provided that for the preceding three years the institution has not had an inflation rate higher than the nation-wide average, or if no institution qualifies under this rule, higher than the nation-wide average of educational institutions.

(ii) for all others, provide financial aid toward earning a high school equivalency or job-training diploma;

(e) Substitute federal or state income tax funding of public school education for the current local property-tax funding which promotes an education gap between students attending schools in well-to-do districts and students attending schools in poor districts. Provide enough funding in school districts with a high poverty rate to achieve a ratio of no more than ten students per teacher in a safe school building that is equipped with adequate text books, computers and other school supplies.

Health Care

(a) Create a single-payer, universal, free health care system, its administration following the Medicare model. Include nursing home care, care at home by nurses and nurses’ aides, and care in assisted living settings. The current private, multiple-payer system has led to increased health care costs, decreased coverage for the insured, and an ever-increasing number of the uninsured. This system has not achieved health cost savings — in large part because for-profit health insurance carriers have added layer upon layer of administrative costs;

(b) If there is no single-payer system, health insurance should not be tied to employment; losing or changing one’s job ought not to result in loss of health insurance.

Retirement Benefits

(i) Social Security
(a) Raise by three years the current retirement ages for eligibility for full benefits (these ages currently range from 65 for persons born in 1937 or earlier to 67 for persons born in 1960 or later), and make corresponding changes in retirement ages for eligibility for partial benefits;

(b) Do not “borrow” Social Security Reserve funds for other government expenditures to artificially lower the budget deficit; put back into the Social Security Fund money previously taken out.

(ii) “Stakeholder” Benefits

Encourage individual asset development in some form. For example, a certain dollar amount could be provided by the federal government for each newborn child, to be invested in government securities or government-insured savings accounts. Neither the child nor anyone else would have access to these funds until the child reaches retirement age or needs the funds for education, medical expenses or some other specified event.