PNAC Plan (our version)

Ok lets face it, Project for a New American Century has a certain cache, and outside of places like DU and KOSS most folks have no clue what it is... so we can use the praise to propose the following Project for a New American Century.

Foreign Affairs

The country will join the rest of the world in the World Court, as well as Kyoto and other global weather control treaties that may come out. We will also reaffirm our commitment to the Geneva Convention, and will open fort with, all our detention centers. All detainees will be granted the status of Prisoners of War and treated as such. We will also work to dry the swamp that leads to terrorism by helping allied nations get secular educational free systems for all theirs children. (Yes this means Pakistan and S. Arabia)

We will protect our national inst erst, but our armed forces will only be used as a last resort. Never again will we use those armed forces for pre-emotive wars.

National Policy

The United States government will fund a Manhattan Style project to find and implement alternate fuels as soon as practical. This will reduce and in the end remove our dependence on fossil fuels. Other technically advanced nations will be invited to participate, for the faster we as a world stop depending on fossil fuels the better for the planet.

The Nation will be re industrialized and laws shall be passed that will protect the rights of workers to negotiate contracts and organize into unions. Any company (read Walmart) that engages in union busting will be fined.

In regards to illegal aliens, current laws on the books will be enforced and any company that hires ilegal aliens will be fined to the tune of 1,000 dollars per employee on the first offense. Second offense it will go to 10,000 and on the third the property where this occurred will be confiscated by the state. (How many stores can Walmart loose)

We shall demand a PROGRESSIVE tax cut, that will put the burden of taxes on the very rich... they can and should afford it. Henceforth taxes will be refereed as service fees to live in this nation. Those who do not want to pay their service fees, better look for a new place to live. Moreover, the corporate loopholes that permit a company to move to the Bahamas (a postal box) shall be closed. Companies that insist on these practices will be forbidden from pursuing State and Federal Contracts. They will also be treated as foreign companies, unable to get the incentives American companies have.

National Health Care shall be instituted, where all citizens will receive health care as a fundamental human right.

Education.... No Child left Behind shall be repealed, but that does not mean we don't need some reform. Here are the reforms proposed

School Funding, it is based on tax rates... in a school district all taxes will go to a central pool where it will be distributed equally to ever school in the District.

Children will be REQUIRED to take civics at sixth, ninth and 12th grades, where they will be REQUIRED to read the seminal documents of the country, and at 12th grade to pass a citizenship exam, similar to that given to naturalized citizens. They will also be required to register to vote.

US History shall be taught, not legends, history. We no longer shall have stories of Presidents who cannot tell lies in the curriculum, as much as Washington Irving if funny... but we shall have real history. Children will learn not only of the expansion to the West for instance, but about the Seventh Cavalry massacring sleeping people in the middle of winter. Our children will also learn of our Marines going into Nicaragua in the 1920s and how Sandino defeated them. They will also learn that Francisco Villa was never captured by Pershing. In other words what we teach our kids shall no longer be only the "nice parts."

Readying, writing and arithmetic will be emphasized as well, no calculators in any classroom before the 9th grade.

Politics

We shall endeavor to MODERNIZE the political system and open it to third and fourth and fifth parties by implementing Proportional Representation.

All voting systems belong to the people, no more corporate owned voting machines or software

We shall strive to eliminate any and all private financing of elections

Corporate Person hood has to go

Please feel free to add to this Project for a New American Century, for this is kind of a platform we should demand from our party.

but here's something I add...

Not only Health Care, but Basic Food, Clothing and Shelter are ALSO fundamental human rights, and should be provided. No money whatsoever should be required for BASIC SURVIVAL NECESSITIES.

now how do we get the Dems to actually run with something like this?

But, as my former Congresscritter, Lloyd Doggett would say...that dog ain't gonna hunt in the House. Fact is, too many Americans would equate this with the dreaded COMMUNISM, and it would never fly. The politician who suggested it would be committing political suicide...there are not many Socialists, like you and me, in America...nor enough people educated enough to understand the difference between Socialism and Communism.

What you and I are advocating for is simple Humanitarian Socialism, but too many would see it as out-and-out Communism, and you'd have the poisonous bunch from the right, deriding it as Communism, saying too many people would be lazy and just not work, because they'd be assured of basic survival with no work.

Of course, that isn't how I would work it, anyway. Those able-bodied, and of sound mind, would be assigned projects, community betterment projects, that they would work on, and, in that way, would "give back" to society for their basic upkeep. Those who were employed in other jobs would just be taxed to cover those same basic needs, which would also be provided to them at no cost. But, those without an outside job, would be assigned to something similar to FDR's CCC Program, no one would be allowed to be simply lazy and just survive off everyone else.

My ideal is that bad luck or bad economic times, or things beyond the control of the individual...should not imperil their very basic survival.

1) the addition of a Character program to the curriculum. Some states have it in various forms and I think it's an education that everyone should have.

2) making sure arts programs are taught and available to all

3) Why can't we make a HS diploma a requirement? I see so many HS drop-outs who think they know what they are doing because when you're 16 or 17 you know everything and you're always right. But, they are really just doing themselves a huge disservice. If we take care of other social issues then no one should have to drop out to help support a family. And, this will take the creation of some alternative programs like night schools, online schools and a larger GED program. But, without those basic skills that everyone needs, these kids are hurting themselves in ways that will affect them their entire lives!

How would you enforce point Number 3? You can't FORCE anyone to learn anything, or to participate in school, or in GED. You can HELP then, through online schools, night schools, etc, as you suggest...but how would you ENFORCE a HS diploma or equivalent GED as a requirement? Requirement for WHAT? do they not get basic benefits if they don't finish school? Does that mean we let them curl up and die?

I'm totally curious as to the enforceability of point number 3.

So it would be far, far from perfect.

But, it would stop those parents who now just throw up their hands and say, "well, Johnny's 16 now, so what can I do?". Most drop-outs do wait until it's legal to leave, so don't make it legal to leave. Most drop-outs, at least the ones I have experience with, also live at home, so you're also putting pressure on the parents to step in some.

And, no, it would have nothing to do with not granting access to benefits anyone else would have access to.

and no punishment would be attached to failure to have completed a HS diploma or GED program...so why bother making it a law? If ya can't enforce it, and don't intend to punish it, then what good is it for there to be a law?

I mean, it is unenforceable, and you propose no punishment for failure to abide by that law, so what's the point of having it?

I mean...that is a sure way to get rejected out of hand as being a Utopian. Let's face it, we have to inject some pragmatism into this.

worth it, how many people with Masters degrees cannot get a descent job? Ok, then we want kids to finish HS? So they can compete for the minimum wage jobs with those who are well over qualified for them (Masters)

Now to use a trite phraase from the right, but the market place will take care of this sort of... what do I mean? Once you have a nation well on its way to reindustralize those with the education will get better jobs. Also if we have unions, that are strong, those unions can make a HS diploma a requirement to enter any aprentenceship.

This means those who do not have a HS or GED diploma will be condemed to mimimum wage... this also reminds me, we have to have LIVING wage laws, but being able to survive does not mean you have many comformts... so we must make education have a value like it used to have a value beyond bragging rights that is.

Now you will always have a group of people who don't care to have a HS diploma, ok they will do the jobs nobody else wants, such as picking food and washing dishes, after all if immigration laws are enforced, the Ilegals will not be here to take those jobs. (Or the problem will be greatly reduced)

So it would not be a LAW or requirement of citizenship, or a law of the country...but rather, perhaps, a requirement of union membership...and thus, access to the better jobs. That makes sense. And adds value to education. Because...one can't FORCE someone to go to school, or get a GED or learn...but you can incentivize them to WANT to.

I was just pointing out that, making the HS/GED requirement a LAW...you were basically proposing something unenforceable, and you were also proposing no punishment for failure to abide by such a law.

Now, you are taking, I believe, the correct tack...in making it not a LAW...and by incentivizing people to WANT to complete an education, so as to have access to the better jobs.

That seems much more workable.

We need to work on a lot of details.

In time, it will all come together.