If they wish to save democracy, the leadership of the Democratic Party must start actually leading, showing more (some?) courage and genuine outrage, and never compromising with authoritarians.
The Trump administration violates the law and constitution on a daily basis. The argument that as the minority party Democrats are helpless is bogus. The Republicans have never been helpless when in the minority. They have used every mechanism possible, fair and foul, to stop, slow down, amend, and derail Democratic measures.
Democrats, at least the leaders and corporate Dems, have been too nice. They are playing by the rules of a game their opponents have changed beyond recognition. The old game is over.
Only radical action can impede Trump. Democrats must stop cooperating with him and his henchpeople. Do not vote for any Republican measures that advance his authoritarian agenda as seven did a few days ago to fund ICE, which operates outside the law as a form of domestic terrorism.
To be worthy of their name, Democrats must join with other democratically minded people and propose a measures designed to protect and advance democracy, as well as reverse the anti-democratic measures of recent years.
I have drawn up what I call the People's Charter for the USA. It derives its name from the democratic program drawn up in the UK in the 1830s. It had six points or demands. Five became law. My charter is longer but I believe American citizens should demand all of them.
- 1. Abolish the Electoral College, a thoroughly anti-democratic institution. People in other countries find the Electoral College bewildering and idiotic. Because it is.
- 2. Prohibit gerrymandering. Create an independent, non-partisan commission to draw up boundaries of congressional constituencies. This is done in other democratic countries.
- 3. Overturn the Citizens United decision of SCOTUS. It is responsible for hugely increasing the influence of big money in elections. Nothing like this exists in other democracies.
- 4. Prohibit political ads. They are virtually useless as information, misleading or untrue, insulting, and damned annoying. Prohibited in most democratic countries.
- 5. Introduce proportional representation or ranked voting to end the stranglehold of the corrupt two-party system. Some people will argue that this would make efficient government impossible. Ask yourself, is what we have now efficient?
- 6. Make the Senate representative of the country. It gives the less populated states as a group more power than the highly populated states California with 40 million people and Wyoming with only half a million have the same number of senators. This is grossly undemocratic.
- 7. Make voting simple, safe, and convenient. Voting is an obligation. It should not be a survival test, torture, or a danger. Eliminate voter suppression of all kinds. Other democratic countries do not try to limit the number of people who vote. They encourage voting.
- 8. Fund public education adequately and fairly. Public college and university education should be free or cheap, as it was when I went to college and university in the late 60s and early 70s. Why are we short-changing our children and dumbing down our voters?
- 9. Establish a national, affordable health care plan that covers everyone. The present for profit system is a disgrace and an international laughingstock. The system costs the US twice as much as in other developed nations, and the results are worse in terms of mortality and morbidity. Scores of millions are uncovered or inadequately covered. Health insurance must be affordable, universal, and disconnected from employment. The present system turns many workers into virtual serfs tied to their jobs.
- 10. Require the payment of a living (not minimum) wage for all adult workers. Why should workers have to have two or even three jobs to make ends meet?
- 11. Reduce the period between the election of the president and the inauguration to two or three weeks, preferably less. This would have minimized Trump's ability to create havoc after the "stolen election" of 2020. In the UK and many other countries, a new administration generally takes over immediately after the election. This can be done because the parties have already selected the members of the cabinet and other ministers.
- 12. Reform the judiciary. Judges should be selected by professional bodies, not by presidents and Congress. This includes the Supreme Court, whose bias towards Trump is flagrant and dangerous. Justices of the SCOTUS and all judges should serve fixed terms, not for life. They should operate according to a code of ethics established by an independent board of legal and political scholars.
