What do you want from Democrats in the 110th Congress?

I want the following:

Impeachment of * and Cheney in conjunction with investigations about the inception and crimes and corruption associated with this war.
Steps to end the war and bring the troops home
Repeal of the Military Commissions Act and restoration of habeus corpus
Repeal of the Patriot's Act
Universal healthcare
An initiative that actually gets us started on new energy policy this year, not in the distant future
Overhauling and OVERSIGHT of all regulatory agencies and sanctions to those which are not performing their duties
A raise in the minimum wage
Meaningful reform of the banking, finance, and insurance industries
A uniform process and standards for voting in federal elections eliminating paperless voting
Refusal to approve any more neocon appointments or judicial nominations until this administratin is out of office--no matter how much they tantrum



I'll add others as they come to mind, but what do you want?

One last question...

What will you do if they don't deliver?

that faces the stadium. The building owners and tenants put up a huge sign with office lights:

PEACE 2007

I think that says it all. The reaction of the people in the bar, even in the conservative town where I live, was amazing. Every single person cheered, with a whole bunch of "Fuck Bush!" and "Damned straight". This! in the reddest part of Illinois.

Plus the end of the Bush's and their little dog too

to bring back the troops, and to stand down from offensive postures around the world, several things would happen.

First, Bush's head would explode.
Second, tensions in many regions would start to fade. If we advised Israel (politely) that things had changed, and their policies had better, too, I think you'd see some real progress. If we started talking to, not threatening, Iran, perhaps we could return to the olive branch they offered us before we invaded Afghanistan. It might be too late, but setting impossible preconditions, and changing them repeatedly, does not make for any reasonable solution.
Third, our economic difficulties would lessen greatly. The money we waste in IraqNam could be used to fund schools, vet programs (And boy, do we need them) and to fix Social Security and other programs.

Peace truly is the #1 goal for the year. Unfortunately, the decider is decidedly against deciding in favor of something that might lessen his war powers.

repeal of the ?AFTAs and adoption of fair trade practices.

Immigration reform.

We have to stop the madness. The only beginning for sanity is to end the insane reign of the mad king and his henchpeople.

Repeal NAFTA/CAFTA

Non-renewal of NCLB, replaced by something that does not include mandated testing or federal control of curriculum and instruction.

Delivering: Would be, to me, a strong stance and aggressive work towards achieving now, rather than later.

What will I do if they don't deliver?

I will not give those who don't deliver my vote in any campaign.

There are some issues that are deal-breakers for me, permanently putting a rep on the "do not vote for" list, and my earning my active opposition:

War: funding war, approving war...

Iraq: any support for keeping troops in Iraq...

Patriot Act: support it, or fail to work to repeal it....

Paper ballots: Try to "compromise" on fair, free, accurate elections with paper ballots that can verify vote counts...

NCLB: posturing about "fully funding" this piece of shit will earn my permanent enmity. "Fully funding" a weapon of public ed destruction will not earn any brownie points. Vote against renewal. Period.

expect the 110th to deliver everything on the OP's wishlist. That's literally impossible.

like to see. Yes, I have an ambitious list, but there is much that needs to be righted in this nation and for large groups of people. I expect these people we put up there to deliver something meaningful. If they don't even try, then we should have left things as they were.

I simply hope that people understand the process well entough to grasp that your list is an impossible dream; a nice dream, but an unrealistic one.

Here's what I want to see:

Exhaustive investigations on all the wrongdoings of bushco in both Houses.

The restoration of Habeas. It's near impossible to repeal the MCA.

A significant raise in the minimum wage.

Self-policing on ethics issues.

A substantial effort to re-vamp election procedures.

Controlling the purse strings when it comes to Iraq.

"Controlling the purse strings when it comes to Iraq." - you don't favor us leaving?

And as my Senator has said, the way we got out of Viet Nam was through the Congress defunding the war. Do you see any other way to stop it in the face of bushco's stubborn insistence on "winning"?

And why would self-policing on ethics issues be a typo? I must be missing something.

Delivering: Would be, to me, a strong stance and aggressive work towards achieving now, rather than later.

I expect a strong stance, aggressive work, and votes aligned to the stance and the work. That would be delivering the service I expect. If there are not enough votes in Congress to enact such change, or if the idiot emperor would veto such change, that's a different issue, still to be addressed.

First we need reps committed to "be," to work aggressively for, the changes we wish to see.

forget that in order to get them they will probably need to override *ss's veto every time. This is not going to be easy. My sister said that *ss will do what *ss wants to do and we may have to work around that.

that gives left wing and moderate viewpoints a chance to be expressed over the nation's airwaves.

The previous congress was an embarassment to America and did nothing to protect us.

mega-corp ownership of media. Instead of 6 companies controlling 90% of all media, limit any one company to 5 newspapers, one radio and one TV (broadcast) and 3 cable or sat stations. the natural competition would improve product, increase access to other voices, and probably remove anne coulter, michelle Malkin, oRarely and a few others from the scene.

And if they fail... I don't know yet, apart from making my opinion known to my representatives in Congress at every opportunity.

I also think we have to let them know that we expect and demand that they do their duty, and most importantly (at least from their point of view), that we will stand behind them when they do it.

Redeployment of troops at the very least (preferably a full withdrawl). If they must cut the funding to make it happen, so be it. We're already broke anyhow, and eventually our debtors are going to stop giving loans.

A logical budget which at least tries to dig us out of monumental debt.

A Congress which no longer rubber-stamps anything and everything Bush wants.

Repeal of the Patriot Act and all other laws which infringe upon the Constitution and Bill of Rights.

A return to the times when diplomacy was our primary course of action, rather than invasion.

Improved rights and wages for workers.

Outlawing or enforcing extreme penalties upon companies which outsource jobs.

Improvements to health care, so that no American must go without medicine or treatment.

Voting reform with verifiable backups and paper trails. No more voting machines.

Higher standards enforced upon corporations and the FDA. No more feeding us poison.

Investigations from top to bottom. It's time to take out the trash.

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If they don't deliver, well, I won't be surprised. Very little surprises me after these last few years.

and get us out of this stupid war. If they'll do that, they'll win the 2008 races hands down. If they focus on the usual liberal pet projects, they'll lose.

The veto means they're limited in what they can do, unless they're willing to bring most of government to a standstill. As this President swaggers ever further into dementia, that might be preferable to the alternative.

What they can do is stop the war. Cut the funding - every last cent - followed by a specific allocation only for withdrawal. And no more foreign adventures until Bush & Co are gone. If that means dealing with a stronger Iran in 2009, so be it. This Administration can't be trusted to conduct foreign policy: everything it does undermines US and western interests and the common interests of humanity. It has to be stopped. And the world can't afford to wait two years.

my one and only want.

So that our Dems don't get caught in embarrassing ethics or conflict-of-interest scandals, robbing all of us of credibility.

The guts to stand up for us in the tough fights, without capitulating or compromising with the Constitution.

Investigations, subpoenas, and charges for law-breakers and unethical actions, no matter who....

And loud voices: Americans must know how we have been bankrupted morally and financially, so that we can rebuild our resources and reputation.

Diplomacy...everywhere worldwide that the US Congress touches must be shown and assured that the grown-ups are in charge again. That really starts in rolling back and appealing the awful signing-statements and Bill of Rights weakening laws enacted by the Bush cabal. Revamps of Homeland Security and Intelligence, eliminating the covert international and domestic propaganda machinery.

Etc etc....as all of you other astute DUers are enumerating....

To Investigate - To Investigate To Investigate - To Investigate

To Investigate - To Investigate To Investigate - To Investigate

then investigate some more!

and then act!

Actually, less than half. As much as solar, wind, and biofuels must be pursued, the critical issue is to convince citizens and governments to reduce energy consumption now. One good place to start would be in providing tax breaks for localization projects such as community farms/gardens.

for high office.

Not "steps" to end the war. Just end the bloody thing. A year is more than enough time to get out. Stop funding any part of it that isn't going to troop withdrawals.

End all campaign contributions that don't come from individuals. No corporate funding, no PACs, no nothing that gets around what a person as a person is allowed to donate.

An end to all faith initiative funding. If you're a religious group, that's great, but no tax payer dollars go to your efforts.

A federal Women's Right to Healthcare law, stating that insurance companies cannot discriminate against women by refusing to cover birth control prescriptions, and those who dispense prescriptions cannot block access to birth control.

Land reform.

a. The natural resources of this country, to include oil and water, are the collective property of all citizens of the Unites States, not of corporations or private companies.

b. Federal land must be managed in an environmentally sound way. This includes native landscaping which does not require weekly mowing and watering for all federal property.

c. All new building done under federal contract must use renewable resources, to include gray water systems.

d. Bar corporations and private companies from using federal parks and forests for private profit. Allow citizens to farm those parts of the lands which are currently not planted in native species (i.e. all lawn areas) for private consumption or for donation to charities and food banks.

A federal tax on all nonnative plants, excluding food crops.

A law to provide free and equal access to public education. An end to artificial school district boundaries that force poor children to go to schools that provide a few thousand dollars in funding to a student, when others in rich neighborhoods are getting sometimes two or three, or in extreme cases, up to ten times that amount of funding per pupil. If you can get to a district, you can legally attend school there, since it's paid for by public dollars. If the school doesn't have enough slots for eveyone who wants to attend, then a lottery system is used, instead of preferences based on what neighborhood your family can afford to live in.

Eminent domain of occupied residences should be illegal, for any purposes.
Private citizens and nonprofit groups can petition for eminent domain to claim buildings that have been vacant for at least 3 years. (priority on housing, not corporate welfare)

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I will probably have more after another cup of coffee.
If someone could come up with language about the WTO and World Bank, that would be great.

Off to Gitmo: Rumsfeld, Rice, Wolfowitz, Perle, Kristol, Bremer, Gonzalez, Chertof, Hannity, Limbaugh.....

Rendered to somewhere even uglier than Gitmo (for special interrogations): Bolton

I'm counting on Rep. Conyers, who will head the House Judiciary Committee, to move on sentencing reform. Down with mandatory minimums! Down with the crack-powder cocaine sentencing disparity! There are more than 500,000 behind bars for DRUG OFFENSES. That, my friends, is an outrage.

The "land of the free" is the world's leading jailer.

I agree with that, comrade, at least for cannabis possession; but without some economic reforms and assurances of employment most ex-cons--even the non-violent drug offenders--will most likely tend towards recidivism and repeat offenses. Really the central issues facing democrats are economic, and one doesn't have to rubber-stamp Karl Marx to realize that. And the vindictive mentality of some on the left ("lets' round up the GOPers") is, I believe, mostly mistaken (perhaps not completely): a better way to "get them" would be to repeal the tax slashes, and work towards various economic reforms, including anti-trust/anti-monopoly suits, and controlling speculation/investment by ueber-wealthy.

what kind of demand is that?

employment, job training, school aid, even social classes for those in prison +5 yrs, yup, that all is necessary.

Not only that, but prisons have become the sewers of society. Ever since raygun and bush 1 started cutting social services for the mentally ill, many mentally ill persons began to self-medicate in an effort to get some relief. Of course, few prisons offer any screening, and even fewer offer decent psychiatric services for inmates. It becomes a horrific cycle, they use drugs an a vain effort to relieve some serious psychiatric condition, they get arrested, they act inappropriately, they go to prison, they get no treatment, they get worse, they get solitary or extended sentences.

Instead of outpatient, inpatient or half-way centers for the mentally, our prison systems end up collecting these ill people and treat them like refuse.

then the pukes that they replace.

investigations,oversight,jobs, healthcare,diplomacy,affordable housing,etc...

I want lots of the things on your list, but ending the war by any means available tops my list by orders of magnitude.

If they don't, I won't call myself a Democrat anymore.

It's that simple.

not something like a ten percent cut based on 1990 levels, but real reductions.

Repeal of Clear Skies(pollution) and Healthy Forests(lumbering) bills that were railroaded through the last congress. These Orwellian schemes did nothing to help our environment. The repugs have undone in six years, a century of ecological progress dating back to Teddy Roosevelt.

"...investigations about the inception and crimes and corruption associated with this war."

Yes, but keep in mind how many "liberals"--like Hillary and Kerry-- signed off on the War effort of 2003. In addition to an investigation, the Dems should be willing to, well, implement some authentic progressive policies: say raising taxes--income, property, luxury items-- on wealthy (i.e repealing BushCo's tax slashes for the wealthy of 2002 or whatever). Anti-trust measures against corporate giants (Walmart, Microsoft, Ford, Bud, Hollywood Inc., pro-schports, etc) should be on the table, as should, for lack of a better term, cyber-socialism, including property reform, but also taking on some of the more stalinist aspects beloved by some in the Dem party (say the massive Dept. of CA infrastructure). Another modest proposal: banning all organized religious institutions. And legalization of marijuana. Maybe prostitution. Jubilee!

We have 2 more years of Bush and we have some SC Justices that are up that may be retiring. One thing the Senate owes the people who voted for them is to guarantee that there will be no more far right judicial nominations. Period. The Courts are supposed to be there to interpret the Constitution, not to push the Republican party line.

Particularly with respect to fraudulent banking practices (like late fees) capping credit card interest rates and other "fees" like ridiculous ATM charges. Oh, and so called "payday" loans, etc.

Talk about something that would go over well with the VAST majority of the population- even in the South....

Are the Dems too timid to take on the MBNA's? Some certainly are, even though these corporations give overwhelmingly to Republicans.