crossposted @ Demspeak, dKos, and Rockridge
Here is a winning Progressive Platform:
Public Safety Should Not be Funded Through Charity.
Firefighters, First Responders, and Police Officers are integral parts of our communities. They ensure the safety of our families and neighbors. Progressives believe that it is unacceptable for these vital services to be funded through charitable giving and volunteerism. Progressives believe that fully funded, professional public safety is a wise investment for a strong community.
Access to Healthcare Should be Guaranteed to All Citizens.
Progressives believe that no child should go without medical care because their parents cannot afford a trip to the doctor; no citizen should be financially ruined by out of control health care costs; decisions for medical treatment should be made by doctors, not by accountants.
Progressives believe that freemarket ideology fails miserably when it comes to healthcare. What would you pay to save your life? Do you think that insurance companies don’t know the answer to that question? When a customer is willing to pay everything for a product, the laws of the market no longer apply.
Progressives will deliver healthcare to all citizens, not through the market, but through collective strength, shared responsibility and democratic self determination. Universal access to healthcare is a necessity for a strong community.
Public Transportation Should Be Supported and Enhanced.
Progressives believe that public transportation is a service that benefits all citizens. It saves time, reduces traffic and helps connect us to our community. Progressives will deliver safe, reliable, efficient public transportation in order to give citizens additional transportation options. Strong communities must have citizens that are free to travel.
Corporate Welfare Should Be Stopped.
Progressives believe that corporations are an integral part of America, but that they should not be given special treatment over and above that of citizens. At present, many profitable corporations get tax refunds and bear no tax liability at all despite making tens and hundreds of millions of dollars in profit. This is absolutely unacceptable. Progressives believe that corporations must be responsible tax payers and contribute their fair share to the wellbeing of our country.
Strong communities must have strong, healthy local business. Progressives believe that the best support we can give local business is to put an end to the special treatment currently being given to large corporations.
Full Time Work Should Pay Enough to Raise a Family.
Progressives believe that work is much more than a commodity. It is not a simple transaction. Full time work is a contribution to our community. Janitors ensure a clean environment, restaurant employees ensure that we can enjoy an evening out, store clerks, burger-flippers, garbage men, landscapers, salesmen, office personnel; all of these people are integral parts of our society.
Anyone who works full time deserves to have the ability to provide for their family. Progressives will work to bring back the ability of a family to be supported by a single wage earner.Providing children the opportunity to be raised in their home, by their parents, will help build strong communities.
Distributed Power Generation and Efficiency Will Help Families Become Self Sufficient.
Progressives believe that renewable energy is our future and that future starts today. Millions of jobs can be created by changing our focus from 19th century burning technology to 21st century renewable power. This renewable revolution can be started by helping residences shift to renewable sources of energy. Solar panels, windmills, passive solar homes, and efficiency improvements could enable families to produce their own power. This could save thousands of dollars per year for an average family, and would serve to jumpstart the shift to a clean energy America.
A renewable energy boom will create strong communities by breathing life back into abandoned manufacturing facilities across the country, and by helping American families provide their own power; empowering people through employment and self sufficiency.
Progressives Believe in Security Through Community.
Progressives believe that in today’s interconnected world that the only way to be secure is through community. No one nation can be secure as an island, and surely cannot be secure as an international bully. We need our neighbors to be our friends, to watch our backs, to help us protect ourselves, and in turn we will help them protect themselves.
Today, our country nakedly seeks our own self interest, often at the expense of many in the global community. We call ourselves Global Cop, but only act in our own selfish interests. What kind of cop seeks his own self interest over that of his community?
We need to abandon the Global Cop role and instead pursue the role of Global Problem Solver. A problem solver can act in his own interests and still solve problems for people. If we are really helping the world, the world community will understand that our interests will come into play, and as long as the rest of the community is benefitting we should be respected.
Progressives Believe in Supporting People and Communities.
Progressives believe that life is about more than chasing dollars. Our family, friends and neighbors’ wellbeing is important as well. We believe that supporting real live people creates strong communities.
Ensuring that corporations cannot roll over local business simply because they have bought a senator, because they get preferential treatment, or because they have the financial ability to do so will help ensure that community will remain healthy.
Making sure that people have access to fully staffed professional public safety ensures that the members of the community are protected and safe. Ensuring that a full time wage can raise a family helps create stability. Protection, safety and stability are necessary for a strong community.
Progressives put people first. People are more important than private interests. When private interests harm people, progressives will act on behalf of the people. We will help the people build strong communities so they can stand on their own against powerful private interests.
