As we struggle with the Trumpian assault on America, there is a way home, and there is broad public agreement on its elements. Whatever the immediate issues and outrages, we must persistently and relentlessly pursue the pathway home.
1. Get rid of dark money in politics. Getting this corrupting toxin out of our elections enjoys powerful public support all across the country; even slightly better in red-leaning districts. Yet most voters don’t know who opposes and who defends dark money.
2. Spotlight the climate denial machine. The fossil fuel industry runs the biggest and most corrupting political influence and disinformation operation in U.S. history. Calling it out is important truth-telling as the economic dangers of climate change fall upon us.
3. Make Polluters Pay. The climate denial machine perpetuates a free-to-pollute business model that violates basic principles of economics, fairness and morality, and puts us in grave danger. Polluters should pay, and people know that.
4. Restore the Court. The billionaire-funded scheme to capture the Supreme Court deserves equal attention to the climate denial scheme, and they overlap. The reforms we seek — a proper ethics code and term limits — are very popular, even across party lines.
5. De-corrupt the Tax Code. The unfair advantages of the very well-off and the biggest corporations must be corrected, both to lift economic pressure on families and to strengthen our nation’s finances. Billionaire freeloaders must be brought to heel.
6. Reduce Corporate Political Influence. America’s fifty-year experiment with corporate influence in our democracy, contrary to the plain wisdom of the Founders, has proven to be a dangerous failure. Out they go; back to government by the people.
Beyond the policy reforms, we need a tactical improvement. The reforms I recommend, we could have done. In part, ours was a failure of vision, determination and nerve. But it was also the result of being badly out-gunned. Big time. So on to the last reform:
7. Open an effective War Room. Far-right billionaires built for the Republicans a massive, often covert machine of political influence and disinformation. We have no such infrastructure, and our efforts tend to be sporadic, driven by momentary emotion.
We can achieve a gentle revolution, improving the economic conditions of Americans, restoring their voice as citizens, and rooting out massive present levels of corruption. Then, people will both do better in America and feel better about America.
