A Populist Agenda

9:30 pm EST October 26th, 2006 | Democrats | 8 Comments

As I’ve argued over these many months, I do believe the Democrats should have picked one or two initiatives to hammer home over the election year so people’s votes wouldn’t just be against the GOP but FOR Democrats. That is initiatives and not the mythical “plans” and “ideas” the Republicans are always mewling for so that the Democrats can introduce a plan and then the right says it isn’t a plan – because they happen to not agree with it.

But it seems that in the midst of all this, some Democratic ideas did break through. Based on Gallup polling, here are the top issues that people think are likely if Dems took over the House/Senate and – most importantly – that they would agree with:

* Increasing the minimum wage

* Pass legislation to provide healthcare insurance to those who do not have it

* Allow Americans to buy prescription drugs imported from other countries

* Set a time-table for withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq

* Conduct major investigations of the Bush administration

Intriguing to me is the timetable for Iraqi withdrawl (supported by 63%) as well as a call for investigations. I would venture that those are intertwined. Even the few remaining war supporters will admit that congress has just not done its job with oversight of the executive. They went from being overzealous with President Clinton to being rubberstamps for President Bush. People trust their president (at least in the abstract, President Bush has not been seen as trustworthy by the majority for a long time now), they just don’t want him to get away with murder.

As the poll also says, while most don’t think Dems will do it, they want the 9/11 commission’s recommendations to be put into action. Of course, Nancy Pelosi has already vowed that this would be a top issue of hers should we win. As far as taxes go, the only thing coming up with that that I see are the expiration of Bush’s tax cuts for the rich and the estate tax. I certainly think that the tax cuts should be allowed to expire, but I don’t see there being political muscle to repeal them now. Instead, the Dems should push through a Clinton-style middle class tax cut and get either the GOP senate or president veto it – it’s a great argument for 2008. The estate tax is not popularly opposed in everything I’ve seen, as it’s more a sop to the GOP’s idle rich class (Paris Hilton & co.), so that one ought to die on the vine.

The most intriguing thing about this poll is that with all the millions the right has poured into demonizing a possible Democratic House, and with President Bush using his unequalled bully pulpit to push a smear and fear scenario of possible Democratic control, the people of America think that Democrats would bring an agenda of issues they agree with if they were given power. They don’t see Democratic control as a bad thing.

In spite of the Democrats. Who I should add, should think of themselves as down by 20. (via Steve Soto)

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8 Responses to “A Populist Agenda”

  1. chuck says:
    October 26, 2006 at 11:13 pm

    Nobody would like to see Bushco in jail more than me but I have a few questions. When the investigations begin and the White House says screw you we’re not sending documents or witnesses and anybody who even thinks of testifying is halted from doing so because of “national security”, then what? Do we censure the jerk? Do you think those crooks give a damn about censure? Do we go to the Supreme Court and what then? What if Bushco takes us back to the days of all the way and defies the court? We will not get enough Senate votes for removal from office since it takes two thirds. Now what? Does the military step up? These are the very real and frightening questions we must be ready to face and have strategies for. What if the president were impeached and convicted but refused to go and invoked martial law because of “wartime” and “national security”? Anybody under 50 can’t really get the real gist of feeling that this generates when it actually starts to happen. The 2 weeks preceding the “Saturday Night Massacre” by Nixon were some of the most tense this nation ever had. The disclosure of the tapes, the refusals to turn over the tapes the firing of the special prosecutor were all stepping stones toward the Constitution going down in flames and the imposition of marshal law. I remember quite well all of the legal and political experts on both sides saying that nobody knows what can legally be done when a president defies the courts and an impeachment conviction and tries to call the military to his side to “defend the Presidency”.

  2. GravyPan says:
    October 27, 2006 at 12:27 am

    Chuck,

    They’re called paragraphs.

    I highly recommend them.

  3. Dugger says:
    October 27, 2006 at 9:46 am

    “Pass legislation to provide healthcare insurance to those who do not have it”

    So the minute you do this, every one now paying for health insurance out of pocket will wonder why they should pay for their own health insurance plus that for people, able or unable, who do not have it.

    Not practical.

  4. Nimrod Gently says:
    October 27, 2006 at 10:25 am

    We’ve been doing something slightly similar for 60 years and it’s turned out okay.

  5. GravyPan says:
    October 27, 2006 at 10:52 am

    So even if you’re a college kid who probably could afford it but chooses to waive coverage from their employer, you’re going to give it to them for free anyway.

    So where do I go if I need a life saving operation?

  6. nihilistic_disintegration says:
    October 27, 2006 at 12:17 pm

    Not practical.

    Hey, Dugger, I actually agree with you. (Never thought you’d see that, did you?)

    What we need the Dems to do when they take charge is pass legislation that provides universal healthcare to ALL AMERICANS.

    It’s high time we did something that would be good for the public and good for business. If it weren’t for the cost of health insurance, maybe GM would be building the new Camaro in the US instead of in Canada. (Just for one example.)

  7. Dugger says:
    October 27, 2006 at 5:23 pm

    Hey, Dugger, I actually agree with you.

    We both should be concerned.

  8. chuck says:
    October 27, 2006 at 10:02 pm

    Well gravy pan you may well criticize my writing style or construction but I see nobody answering any of the things I said. Your comment is about as useful to the topics as a personal attack.