From Organic Family Magazine No. 9

What the Democrats Should Do and Why

by Tara Dirst and Kevin Sommerfield

1. Invest in clean energy and push for a reduction of greenhouse gases - specifically make this a long-term strategy, not something dependent on renewal every two years at the whim of Congress.

This policy would benefit all Americans, even those involved in the oil business. If they would start accepting the dismal long-term prospects of oil, and diversify their own industry by investing in alternative technologies now, this would have the effect of promoting American wealth and decreasing the effects of global climate change. Republicans and free-traders are fond of touting the United States as having the best innovators in the world - why just look at the technologies that we have exported to the rest of the world! Well, we should promote America as being innovative and entrepreneurial - through strategic government investment. By reducing our dependence on oil and investing in clean energy, this is a real idea - something that we can actually DO - that can improve our society. The disintegration of GM and Ford should tell us that we need to plan for the future and that our government should enact policies that are far-sighted, instead of simply hoping that cutting taxes will spur investment into something somewhere that really will only ultimately lead to dead-end, low-wage jobs.

Another reason for promoting this policy, and one that can really go without saying, is that reducing our dependence on oil can eliminate our need for impractical, destructive policies in the Middle East and reduce our vulnerability to terrorist attacks.

2. Promote fair trade - have penalties (in the form of tariffs) for products from countries that manufacture goods in environmentally degrading ways and/or who violate workers' rights, and have favorable trade agreements with those countries who do the socially responsible thing.

Republicans state that we can't support initiatives like the Kyoto treaty because other countries won't follow it and/or it will make us uncompetitive. As the world's largest market, America can influence other countries to be socially and environmentally responsible. This will benefit the U.S. economy by reducing the outsourcing of manufacturing jobs. Both traditional Roosevelt Democrats and environmentally-minded Democrats would support such an initiative. This also can promote American businesses, and in particular smaller U.S. businesses, because it would reduce the competitive edge of international companies who pay their workers slave wages and who do not worry about the environmental impact of their production process.

3. Promote a true Israel-Palestinian peace plan

The hands-off "strategy" of the Bush administration in regard to the Israel-Palestinian conflict has failed miserably. The conflict raises fuel prices and promotes ill will toward the United States . Israel is not attempting to deal with the situation because it is not being pressured to do so by their number one supporter, the United States . Palestinians and Muslims all over the Middle East see America as hypocritical since we have stated support for democracy in the Middle East, but when Hamas was duly elected we rejected their government and support Israel's theft of Palestinian money - contributing even more to the dire economic situation of Palestinians. The irony is that America and Israel did nothing to promote or assist the government of Fatah, through our ignoring the Israel-Palestinian conflict, which ensured the election of Hamas, and now we are unwilling to deal with the will of the people. While a solution to the conflict is unlikely to happen soon, at least we can mitigate the distrust many have for America as a result of our disastrous foreign policy.

4. Bargain down the price of drugs in the Medicare Part D drug plan.

The Medicare drug plan (Part D) was a wonderful bi-partisan initiative aimed at improving the health situations of millions of senior citizens who couldn't afford prescription drugs. By not allowing the government to bargain with drug companies to provide the drugs at lower cost because of the enormous quantities involved, drug companies reap economic benefits at the tax-payers' expense. The Veterans' Affairs Administration already uses their leverage as large-scale consumers of medication to drastically reduce the cost of those medications as compared to the prices paid by Medicare Part D, so the U.S. government should re-write the law to allow for a reduction in the cost of drugs - not only for the consumer, but for the tax-payer.

If you are citing this work, please use the following citation information:

Dirst, Tara and Kevin Sommerfield. 2007. What the Democrats Should Do and Why. Organic Family Magazine 9:42.
available at: www.organicfamilymagazine.com