Here and There

Now that the Democrats have wrapped up Virginia, and by extension the Senate, and by extension both houses of Congress, it’s time to think about what we really want them to achieve (if you’re looking for “impeachment of the president,” go somewhere else).

Here’s what I’d most like to see happen in the next two years:

1. Develop a strong environmental protocol within the U.S., while negotiating internationally for a treaty to either expound on Kyoto, or replace it. Any new policy should include: the promotion of and incentives for alternative, renewable, and clean-burning energy sources; a shift in focus to developing our own sources of energy; new standards forcing U.S. auto makers to provide affordable hybrids and hydrogen fuel cell cars for average American consumers. Also: Fund research into a national regional rail system to ease the burden of short-range air travel. We have the rail infrastructure, and clean-burning trains are more readily available than their airborne alternatives. It makes so little sense to fly from, say, San Francisco to Los Angeles, when we have the ability to get there by rail. And the trip is only slightly longer.
2. Work with military planners and commanders on the ground in Iraq to come up with a new strategy of what to do there. Notice I don’t say “how to win there.” I avoid that intentionally. Even the most optimistic Army officials are no longer talking about victory. Also: The U.S. doesn’t need an active PR campaign to win back respect of the international community — it needs smart, culturally sensitive foreign policy.
3. Lower taxes for low- and middle-income workers, while raising the rate on the top earners back to what they were in 2000 (roughly 40 percent). Use that revenue to shore up Social Security and begin paying down the enormous national debt. Raise the minimum wage to at least early 21st century levels.
4. Do something about health care in this country. I admit, I’m still not sure single-payer, universal health care is the answer. Someone has to pay for it, and I’m not sure that burden should fall entirely on taxpayers (though they would be the direct beneficiaries of such a system, right? Still, seems to favor the chronically ill at the expense of those who rarely if ever visit the doctor). But the system we have now is broken, and too many needy people either can’t get the care they need, or are forced to wait a long time for services they can’t afford. That’s not right.
5. Give more research and development money to universities and businesses, promoting science and smart technology. This includes things like stem cell research, alternative energy, alternative modes of transportation (see item one, above) and communication.
6. Repeal No Child Left Behind, and replace it with a program the incentives teaching, rather than punishing it. Fully-fund all educational policies, removing the burdens placed by NCLB on the states. Education is a national issue, period. Tax credits on tuition, increased financial aid (both of which Democrats are speaking to) are needed badly. Like health care, higher education should be a right, not a privilege.
7. With the Judiciary Committee firmly in the hands of the opposition party, I hope that Bush will be forced to nominate moderate judges at all levels of the U.S. Court system, include possible openings on the Supreme Court.
8. (this will have to be a work-in-progress…)

Had a thought last night that the majority of what people do today, their industry, falls into one of three categories, all of which are loosely connected:

Medicine, technology, and bio-tech.

It took me a few minutes to think of professions and/or products that didn’t fall neatly into one of these three categories. Of course, labor and natural resources are still huge, but they’ve been eclipsed by the so-called “service economy” of the “global” network. And when you think of it, labor is basically a service.

I don’t foresee an end to academia, nor to basic resource-extraction or labor. I just see the vast majority of enterprise headed in these directions.