demoprog2

Issue #44

Last Update March 2, 2006

National For a Real Democratic Platform (II) by David Katz In our previous issue, I contended that Democrats, in order to regain their effectiveness as a political party, must stop acting like me-too Republicans. They must move away from their current stance, a political position previously occupied by the Rockefeller wing of the Republican party, and take a fresh look a the problems facing our nation. They must then present solutions to these problems that represent their best thinking, without excessive timidity.

The areas most critical to reassess are the economy, international relations, the environment, education, and health care. In this article I will spell out, for each area, the principals that must underlay any policy recommendations. Once these principals have been accepted, the actual policies can be created by those in the party with the requisite expertise.

With respect to the economy, the primary principle must be that the economy is composed of the economic activities of all our citizens. Any economic policies must benefit these citizens, and any economic measures that might negatively impact a significant segment of our population must be coupled with measures that ameliorate this pain. As a corollary, pain inflicted on our citizenry for the good of the country as a whole must start with those most able to withstand the blow, not the weakest and most defenseless citizens. Republicans are assiduous promoters of the trickle-down principle in economics; Democrats must see that that principle is applied to economic pain, as well as economic benefit.

Other economic principles must include: protection of our work force against a "race to the bottom" in which American salaries and benefits are held hostage to low-wage, low-benefit foreign competition; substantial antimonopoly measures; a reform of corporate bankruptcy laws to ameliorate the threat to worker contracts and pensions; and a return of corporate control from management to owner/stockholders.

In international relations, we must balance our overwhelming economic and political power with a cooperative attitude and a willingness to listen to the needs and desires of others. Ratification of outstanding treaties, genuine bargaining to resolve conflicts over protocols such as trade and environmental agreements that we have rejected out of hand as flawed, and a willingness to be subject to such important issues as World Court jurisdiction over war crimes and genocide are important steps in this direction. It is important to realize, and point out to the electorate, that a go-it-alone, arrogant international stance will result eventually in the establishment of an anti-US coalition, composed of US allies and foes alike, that will complicate both our security and our economic future.

When seeking to establish environmental policy, five basic principals should be adhered to: atmospheric pollution, whether by greenhouse gases, particulate matter or acid-rain producing chemicals, should be reduced to a minimum; pollution of groundwater, lakes and oceans, whether by industrial effluent, agricultural effluent or sewage should be reduced to a minimum; wilderness areas must be expanded; wherever possible, the cost of eliminating current environmental problems or cleaning up prior environmental problems should be borne by the entity causing the problem; global warming, clean air and clean water are not local, they are international in scope and international efforts and agreements will be called for. While cost-benefit analyses are appropriate in forming policies and evaluating courses of action, it is important that the full cost of inaction be measured as carefully as the cost of the proposed action.

Precursors to any education policy include the following principles: equitable funding, access to higher education, and flexibility. Equitable funding has two components: adequate funding, and the severing of basic educational funding from local property taxes. The first component assures reasonable class size, an acceptable physical plant, and money to pay for equipment, training, libraries, music and art programs and college guidance services, as well as remediation where needed. The second component moves the primary responsibility for adequate funding from local school districts, where parents may not have the resources to support educational excellence, to the state level, which at least has such resources, even if it often does not distribute them fairly.

Health care is the final critical policy area. Here again, agreement on basic principles will pave the way to developing effective and politically attractive policies. The basic principle should be that the health care system must exist for the benefit of patient population, which potentially includes all of us. This means that prenatal to the grave coverage must be available to everyone and affordable by everyone, and must include prophylaxis as well as curative and palliative services, and must encompass medications and mental health services as well as doctor and hospital expenses. How this will be financed, how patients will choose doctors and services, and what happens to patients and care providers who want to opt out are all difficult and serious issues. Whatever policies are developed, however, must ensure that access to quality care is not dependent on the patient's financial resources, any more that fire or police protection is.