Selfish Hedonist

Okay, as promised earlier in the week, I am firmly committed to this project of trying to piece together platform of proactive, progressive ideas so that we can start moving away from playing defense politically to actually fixing some of the bad stuff going on in the world. The Democrats have found themselves the party of the status quo, while people are feeling unease in their lives and our country is at a crossroads. 2004 elections became more about mitigating or opposing the so-called "Bush agenda" or, even worse, about distaste for Bush himself (that lying, hypocritical, faux-populist piece of...).

It's time for us to go on the offensive, in other words.

Now.

I'm asking readers of this blog, even those who don't consider themselves overtly political, to think about their top three issues - things they'd like to see changed around the world - which we can then, collaboratively, piece together in a 7-10 part platform that progressives can proudly proclaim to the people. To get us started, here are three issues I would include:

1. universal access to affordable, good health care, particularly as a way to relieve small business of some of the stresses of health care costs
2. a collaborative, internationalist approach to world affairs with an emphasis on human rights, stopping terror before it starts (not just "killing the terrorists"), and transparent international bodies free of corruption
3. aggressive community and political organizing against usury and debt slavery

More on these topics as we continue, but I wanted to throw them out there.

How about you?

(On a separate note, I met Christine Cegelis a couple of nights ago and am very very excited about supporting her with my time & $$$. Illinois Democrats are underrepresented in the U.S. Congress. Cegelis can help us change that. More on Cegelis in the coming weeks...)