A RENEWED DEMOCRATIC PARTY
PROJECT 2028 AND BEYOND
What do I want from a renewed Democratic Party? Succinctly put, a Democratic Party that refocuses its attention and works to serve America’s most impressive strength, a vibrant middle class.
Personally, I fully recognize I am a relative nobody within the Democratic Party. I am just an old loyal supporter who wants to offer something other than the money I am being incessantly asked to contribute.
So, let me start there; I want a Democratic Party that does not want my donation to the party or any of its candidates. Why? The one thing anyone who looks at our electoral system today will have to admit is that it has been bought and paid for by the wealthy. And let’s not bullshit one another, it’s true of both parties. We will never again be the party of a strong working class if we keep sucking up and quietly advancing the concerns of the super wealthy; that’s the Republican Party’s job. Going forward, the new Democratic Party should be strongly and consistently advancing publicly funded elections. Additionally, gerrymandering must be done away with, and one-person-one-vote elections implemented. If we ever want a strong and vibrant middle class in America again, we need to be the advocates for free, open to all, and democratic elections; anything less is manipulative money-dominant gamesmanship.
Dwight Eisenhower accurately warned us (back when being a Republican was an honorable option) about our military industrial complex. Yet today, we have a healthcare complex and a fossil fuel complex to name just a couple more that are advancing their best interests and not the interests of a viable middle class. The military industries need to be in the business of protecting us and cease being the largest arms dealer in the world. The healthcare industries are passively killing us if we don’t pay up, and the fossil fuel industry is killing us so they can stay in business. I would like to know, therefore, that my Democrat Party is trying to keep us alive and healthy, not get us killed while our representatives suck up large campaign contributions.
Next, the Democratic Party needs to promote the cause of and fight for balanced budgets and reducing our national debt. It’s time to cut the crap; as much as we would like to be all things to all people, life and political systems don’t work that way. We are hell bent budgetarily on burdening future generations with an unimaginable debt if we keep spending trillions more than we are bringing in. Maintaining tax cuts for the 1% is an outrageous and obscene loss of income and enhancing the military’s already distended and murderous budget is going in exactly the wrong direction. Plus, those fossil fuel industry subsidies and tax breaks are ghastly.
As a big picture matter, the Democratic Party must be forcefully engaged in advancing renewable energy resources. The Earth is in bad shape, and America needs to be leading the way out of this life-threatening mess (which we benefited mightily from), not exacerbating it as the Republicans are currently doing. Before we spend a lot more money trying to get to Mars and terraforming it for human life, we must repair the damage we are doing to this planet that currently sustains life. Living on Mars represents a massive expenditure, sustaining life on Earth is an essential and affordable investment for future generations.
Artificial intelligence (AI), is now and will continue to dramatically change the world. The Democratic Party leaned into neo-liberalism starting in the 1990’s and the result was the hollowing out of our manufacturing communities and brought about the loss of the political support of the human beings negatively caught up in its philosophy. AI is going to make the impacts of neo-liberalism pale in comparison. AI is in the process of creating a new species of being that will revolutionize work and the role of human beings in the workplace. The Renewed Democratic Party must be fully engaged and educating the public in the moral and legal obligations this industry will require to serve not enslave the average citizen and the workforce. Working with the elite scientific and manufacturing communities in the name of protecting the average American is essential.
One additional note as I gaze into my hazy crystal ball of coming attractions; universal basic income (UBI). “The idea of universal basic income has gained momentum in the U.S. as automation increasingly replaces workers in manufacturing and other sectors of the economy.”
“The Bottom Line
Universal basic income proposes that the government regularly give every adult citizen a set amount of money, typically without conditions related to wealth or employment. The aims of such a system include reducing poverty and helping individuals meet basic needs. UBI proposals have been piloted in cities across the U.S., though they have been limited in scope. The idea of UBI has attracted significant attention since 2020, particularly given ongoing developments in artificial intelligence and automation.”
Implementing UBI would require a great deal of analysis. My only reason for bringing it up here is that as AI and advanced robotics increasingly take over the tasks of our workforce, one of the options a renewed Democratic Party may need to seriously evaluate is UBI.
An educated population is critical to our democracy. All citizens need to be schooled in how our Constitutional government is designed to work, and where it needs improving. Civil discourse, understanding our governments checks and balances, the rule of law, our Bill of Rights and the amendment process, a citizen's rights and responsibilities, the need for regulated borders, and more need to be common knowledge to a citizenry in any democracy. This knowledge cannot be assumed it must be intentionally assimilated. The proof of our failure to do this is now on full display.
Once we hopefully survive this catastrophic Trump era (this too shall pass, just not soon enough), which will ironically help usher in the need for a renewed Democratic Party, America will need to hit the ground running (a la Roosevelt’s 1930’s). This is just a start, but Democrats need a Project 2028.
I have recently offered one other set of thoughts in support of a renewed Democratic Party: