There are several trite accusations I hear from conservatives that drive me crazy.  You've heard them countless times before.   Liberals are all about hating Bush and nothing else.  Liberals just feel, while conservatives think (what a laugh).  Liberals never put forth any ideas, they just complain.

In as much as I hate fascists and people who spit on our Constitution, I do hate Bush and Cheney, and their minions.  I certainly complain enough about them, and what they have done to our country.  Personally, I think I back up my accusations quite well, and my pontifications are often accompanied by ideas; certainly a lot more original thinking than I am accustomed to hearing from the right, which basically can be summarized by 9-11, God, and fear.

So as a public service, I would like to start the conversation rolling on our shared wish-list of reforms (laws, Amendments, new rules) -- assuming we ever get the chance to implement them -- designed to strengthen our constitutionally limited representative democratic republic.  There is no doubt he Constitution is an amazing, if not perfectly erected, political edifice.  Unfortunately, its structural integrity has been called into question in recent years; just look how far we have sagged in just six and a half years of George Bush!  Inevitably there are weak spots in the framework that are currently straining under the load and threatening to catastrophically fail.  Instead of tearing it down and rebuilding (something that I am not sure we have the resources to do today), what can we do to repair it?  Here is my first draft campaign platform, that I would be using for my political stump speech (I'm not running).

  • Voting Integrity - it starts with the voting machines.  If we don't have an audit trail and an inviolate record of each and every vote cast, then we do not have a democratic election.  Likewise, "caging lists" are not merely an abuse of the system, they are high treason, and those engaged in voter disenfranchisement must be punished for treason and not white collar crime.  If Republicans are bent out of shape by the handful of people caught voting twice, then they should be hoping mad about the thousands or millions of people not even able to vote once.

  • Completely Publicly Financed Elections.  How do we get there?  We demand it.  When millions of Americans start saying enough is enough, our elected officials will start to listen or be replaced by people who are listening.  It's not enough to say, "well wouldn't that be nice."  We should be writing our elected representatives at all levels of government, and petitioning, and rewarding those that put forth public financing as there primary agenda.  We need to educate people, so that they recognize that if their tax dollars -- and not the corporate dollars -- pay for elections, in the final analysis they will save billions.  They will also have politicians who are not bought from day one.  Corporations are not people (more on that below), and they have no inherent right to make political contributions.  Cut them off.  Cut all donations off, because no one's free speech is stepped on if there simply isn't a mechanism for private political contribution.  Let everyone running for public office have the same amount of public financing for their campaign as every other candidate.  Then we can choose them on the merit of their message, and not the extent of its media saturation.

  • Lobby Reform.  I've written at length about the corrosive effects of lobbying on Capitol Hill.  Lobby interests were once intended to allow the voting public to amplify their voice enough to be heard by their Congressmen, and to educate Congressmen on the vast number of issues they are called to vote upon.  I think we can agree that lobbying as practiced today does not accomplish the original mission.  Rather, the lobbyists represent the select corporate interests of the select wealthiest individuals, they drown out the people's voice.  They disseminate propaganda, not information.  Once again, my proposal to end lobbyist access on Capitol Hill is to demand it, first by voting for Congressmen that swear off at least the largest lobbyist interest, and then by demanding legislation to outlaw the practice once and for all.  As I had previously suggested, each Congressman should have an expanded research staff assigned to be extensions of the legislator's brain; to review the reams of legislation passing the Congressman's desk every day, to help him or her sort out the complex issues of global warming/monetary policy/stem cell research/energy/etc.  We should pay for this non-corporate owned staff of researchers, because again in the long run, it will cost us pennies on the dollar to finance this rather than tolerate the wide open access that prostituted corporate lobbyists have to our law makers.  Alright, alright, I realize that this is putting the cart before the horse.  How do we get Congressmen who desperately need money for the next election to swear off the vast amounts of corporate money available if they leave their door open to the rich lobby interests?  Well, that's where sweeping campaign finance reform comes in.  Remove that ever-present money-raising pressure from our representatives once and for all, and then the lobbyists' grip on their short-hairs is removed.  The added benefit is to free up our legislators from the obligation of spending 3/4ths of their time money raising, so that they can actually do the job we elected them to do.

  • Statewide and nationwide implementation of instant runoff voting.  I keep promising that article on IRV, and I will get around to it eventually, but suffice it to say, IRV will break the two-party monopoly on politics and the associated stagnation of ideas.  We will be at greater liberty to cast our first vote for the dreamer or the underdog or the radical, without the worry that we just threw our vote away.  No more fears of the spoiler candidate -- suddenly the other candidates have to start taking them seriously, and maybe adopt some of their better ideas.  We also will be practicing a more true form of democracy, where our leaders get elected with the majority of the vote, and not just a fortuitous pleurality.

  • Apollo program for clean energy self-sufficiency, with the goal of being the world's exporter of clean energy.  I don't see any other way out of our massive debt hole, now nearing $9 trillion.  It's time we started being number one in something again, and it might as well be the next big thing (it is inevitable that someone will be doing this, because gas and oil will reserves will run out -- that's what happens when something decreases in amount as the number of people who use it keep increasing).

  • Massive Tax Reform and a return to a fair and truly progressive tax, at levels that will pay down the debt in our lifetimes and finance investment in our infrastructure.  I like the idea of a flat tax for its shear simplicity -- it will be a definite improvement.  Combine this with low-income tax credits and the flat tax is humane too.  However I still am a big proponent of progressive taxation, because I think that those who have benefited the most from participating in everything America had to offer should also be obligated the most.  Another option that I like is a consumption tax that occurs everywhere that money changes hand (and that includes securities exchange).  A consumption tax that occurs solely at the cash register would be markedly unfair and most burdensome to the poorest consumers.  A consumption tax that hits all financial transactions also hits the hedge-fund manager as well as the yacht fleet owner.

  • Universal Single-Payer Healthcare for all.  This would benefit me personally, as a physician who would like to practice medicine and not the art of billing/collections, and every other resident of this country.  We should not have to worry that the next ailment or accident will be the one to cancel our insurance, to be denied, to exceed our benefits, and to wipe us out financially.  We should not have to make a choice between a private health insurance policy or a car to get to work.  We should not be left  exposed because we lost our job.  We have a right to see our taxpayer dollars go to a tangible benefit that everyone of us will use, and not corporate welfare or endless escalations in military spending.   Kucinich has already proposed a concrete plan to make universal single-payer health care a reality.  I would like to see more candidates adopt this issue as their own, as well as the other items on this wish-list.

  • Immigration reform that is thoughtful and non-vindictive.  I've written about this at length.

  • Real investment in border and port security.  Ditto.

  • Rescinding the Patriot and Military Commissions Act.  Usual liberal reasons . . .  stupid stuff like these Acts are patently unconstitutional.

  • Abolition of Presidential signing statements and sweeping reform of Presidential Directives.  Who gave the Executive these powers?  It's not in Article 2 of the Constitution, and that is the place where Executive powers are quite clearly laid out.  Take them away.  Precipitate a constitutional crisis.  Let's have that battle that goes to the Supreme Court.  By the time it gets there, we'll have a Democratic president anyway, so we'll have all the Republicans on board with us.

  • End military operations in Iraq.  Not a precipitous pull-out tomorrow, but a rapidly staged pull-out that minimizes the chaos.  The civil war is already happening.  The genocide to come is probably inevitable -- it's our fault, but we are unable to stop it.  I have made the argument over and over that prolonging the agony will make it worse for everyone involved, and the very presence of US soldiers (and an army of unregulated contractors) serves as the catalyst to heat up the violence even more.  There will be a brutal sorting out of factions after we leave, but one thing is for certain:  without a shared enemy, Al Queda will be the next pariah and unwelcome guest.

  • Demonopolization of our industries, particularly the media.  This is not an overnight process, and I do not advocate that we wantonly break up all major infrastructure like we did Ma Bell (that wasn't as bad as we were told it would be, was it?).  But we simply have to preserve competition or face the tyranny of the "sole-provider.".  Demonopolization is not privatization -- it is the opposite.   We have allowed absurd deregulation and reconsolidation of our critical industries, and we have to reverse this trend.  This has gone as far as letting the industries write their own governmental regulations, and granting them the freedom to sell off our port security to overseas companies (in this case, Dubai).  We cannot tolerate a government of and by the robber barons.  Personally I think bringing back the Fairness Doctrine is a justified measure, because we are talking about "public" airways, and the government is far better than private entities in protecting the integrity of our public interests, whether they be National Parks or the radiofrequency spectrum.  Perhaps we can achieve the same result through private competition if the granting of FCC licenses is carefully monitored for basic compliance to objectivity, and market monopolies are broken.  I don't believe the idea that the majority of consumers actually want 90% conservative talk radio, or meaningless bobble-head TV news featuring all Paris, all the time.  In fact I believe that the Clear Channel network would probably make much more money if they promoted competing right and left stations in every market , and I believe that CBS would make money hand over fist with a serious no-thrills news hour hosted by the new Walter Cronkite.  So why would they deliberately choose to put forth an inferior, less-financially rewarding product?  Because the broader financial picture for these monopolies is to do things that will ensure the legislation to continue their monopoly dominance of the market, and continue their "most-favored-nation" tax status.  If airing Michael Savage on 200 channels and Glen Beck during prime-time TV is the price to pay for this special status, then that is a small price to pay.  So no, the sad state of the media today is not the natural evolution of the free-market place, and this is not giving the people what they want.  This is the opposite:  giving the people all that they are going to get, because they have no say in the matter.  This has to end.

  • Major investment in education, with extensive college scholarship help, or better yet, free education up to the college level for all Americans (the only way we will ever stay competitive).  It's going to cost a boat-load, and no doubt, I will be accused of being a big tax and spend Democrat.  Well, here's the difference between my proposal and what we have been doing under Bush.  Bush spends $1 trillion for a war, kills our children, kills brown people, destroys our international status, worsens our national security, neglects our domestic needs, gives a tax cut to the wealthy, doubles the debt, and makes no investment at all in our future.  I would spend a trillion dollars on universal access to college education, to make us a nation of people who can compete against any other nation in the world marketplace, so that we can make incredible breakthroughs in science and medicine, be up to the challenge of solving the many problems facing us today and into the future, and be intelligent enough to master our technology rather than become enslaved by it.

  • Forbid intra-session recess appointments.  I recently wrote an article on this subject, and I simply don't think an intra-session recess appointment was ever the intent of the Founders, nor is it justifiable in an age where Congress could be back in session tomorrow if an emergency were to occur.

  • Precisely define Executive Privilege and its limits.  This is not in the Constitution, and exists only as a result of recent judicial precedence.  While eliminating Executive Privilege outright would be ill-advised, strictly limiting its scope is most definitely in order.

  • Abolish the concept of corporate person-hood, at least as it applies to 14th Amendment citizenship rights.  Corporations are not born or naturalized U.S. citizens.  They are not persons in any sense that personhood was perceived in 1868 when the 14th Amendment was ratified, and to claim the same privileges and immunities as living breathing people is ridiculous.  They are for-profit legal entities, and do not have an inherent right to political speech, to make political donations, to finance lobbyists, and to organize interest groups; especially while enjoying exclusive non-people privileges such as a lower corporate tax rate and off-shoring their taxable assets.  Bush wanted to run government like a business, and now we see the results of his kind of stream-lined management style.  I have no problem with structuring a business-friendly environment for capital enterprise to thrive, and I have no problem with the free market, so long as free market doesn't step on fair competition.  But we need to get business and CEOs out of government; emphasizing the bottom-line of the minority stock-holders above the public welfare is killing us.
  • Get the churches out of government, and get government out of religion.  They are both fine things when done responsibly, but they don't mix well at all.

That's my preliminary list.  I'm sure I missed a lot.  It deliberately doesn't include returning to the gold standard and abolishing the Federal Reserve Bank, but feel free to put those on your list if you'd like.  The important thing is to start making your list, because if we survive calamity of the Bush Administration, we have a lot of repair work in front of us.