I'm reminded today of the famous quote that we don't live single-issue lives and we don't have single-issue struggles.
Yet, a multi-faceted agenda can still be articulated as a cohesive whole.
Here are the issues/struggles as I see them from my vantage point in the progressive center-left:
1) a spending/budgetary policy at the Federal and State levels which treats all residents with equal concern and respect, particularly: the homeless, undocumented residents, non-citizens wanting legal permanent status in the United States and people in low-density (rural) areas in need of healthcare;
2) economic policies to unleash business development and innovation, including: patent reform, elimination of civil forfeiture, government contracting reform, reduced and simplified corporate taxes, increased estate taxes, stringent investigation and censure of large firms with low levels of racial and gender diversity, tying increases in pay to increases in worker productivity, increased penalties for bad environmental policies, and increased infrastructure at public universities for non-profit/public sector social entrepreneurship incubation to solve targeted social problems;
3) the reduction and dismantling of the carceral state, including: the abolition of existing police departments and police cultures in favor of a different method of local sheriffs and citizen-governed professional policing power, sacrosanct voting rights for and automatic voting registration of all Americans of age, the abolition of bail and bond, mass nullification of quality-of-life local ordinances, minimum sentences and drug laws; the development of extensive counter-radicalization programming aimed at domestic terrorists; the mass commutation of sentences for non-violent offenders; the institution of geographically based diversity targets on jury composition; the payment of monetary reparations to non-violent offenders and their families for the mass displacement caused by mass incarceration; the abolition of most fees and fines;
4) a foreign policy favoring freedom and peace, including: the reduction of wars of choice and regime change operations abroad; increased global public health and disease-detection infrastructure spending; increased legal immigration quotas; a working social safety net for veterans and a massive asylum and refugee resettlement program;
5) and later work/school day times along with more coordinated holiday schedules to promote work-life balance. #GetFree #FreedomDreams
