Karl's World
To paraphrase Joyce:
The shattering of glass, the toppling of masonry, and time one livid final plame.
Week of February 5, 2006 - February 11, 2006
Metamorphosis
We hear a lot that Democrats must learn to be a "party in opposition." But what might that mean?
An opposition party, it seems to me, subscribes to a set of principles and policy assumptions that clearly distinguishes it from the party in power.
Here are a few suggestions:
Progressive Taxation -- An opposition party would work to restore the progressivity that the federal income tax has lost in the past 30 years. At the state level, it would lean toward using income taxes as a principal funding mechanism over regressive measures like the sales and property tax. In general, an opposition party would promote policies that treat income earned from inheritance and investment equally with income earned from work, without privileging the former over the latter.
Support for Labor -- An opposition party need not give a rubber stamp to all the political positions of labor unions, but it should at least be committed to clearing away the obstacles to organizing workers. Such a party would not think it a bad thing if the percentage of union workers in the labor force returned to, or exceeded, the level of the 1950's.
Restoration of the Middle Class -- A key longterm policy goal of an opposition party would be to halt and reverse the erosion of the American middle class. It was largely the policies of the Roosevelt and Truman administrations that created a country where many single wage-earners could support a family, pay a mortgage,educate their kids and retire in modest comfort. It was in large part the policies of the last 25 years of Republican rule that put this dream out of reach of ordinary Americans.
Public Investment -- An oppoistion party would favor making significant public investments in health, education and infrastructure, financed through a tax system to which progressivity had been restored.
Robust but Efficienty Regulated Markets -- An opposition party would recognize that sensible regulation is necessary to make capitalism, or any economic system, function in the public interest. It would not hesitate to use government power to protect public health and safety, ensure transparent and honest operation of markets and, where appropriate, to limit monopolies and break up concentrations of economic power that work against the public interest.
An opposition party, it seems to me, subscribes to a set of principles and policy assumptions that clearly distinguishes it from the party in power.
Here are a few suggestions:
Progressive Taxation -- An opposition party would work to restore the progressivity that the federal income tax has lost in the past 30 years. At the state level, it would lean toward using income taxes as a principal funding mechanism over regressive measures like the sales and property tax. In general, an opposition party would promote policies that treat income earned from inheritance and investment equally with income earned from work, without privileging the former over the latter.
Support for Labor -- An opposition party need not give a rubber stamp to all the political positions of labor unions, but it should at least be committed to clearing away the obstacles to organizing workers. Such a party would not think it a bad thing if the percentage of union workers in the labor force returned to, or exceeded, the level of the 1950's.
Restoration of the Middle Class -- A key longterm policy goal of an opposition party would be to halt and reverse the erosion of the American middle class. It was largely the policies of the Roosevelt and Truman administrations that created a country where many single wage-earners could support a family, pay a mortgage,educate their kids and retire in modest comfort. It was in large part the policies of the last 25 years of Republican rule that put this dream out of reach of ordinary Americans.
Public Investment -- An oppoistion party would favor making significant public investments in health, education and infrastructure, financed through a tax system to which progressivity had been restored.
Robust but Efficienty Regulated Markets -- An opposition party would recognize that sensible regulation is necessary to make capitalism, or any economic system, function in the public interest. It would not hesitate to use government power to protect public health and safety, ensure transparent and honest operation of markets and, where appropriate, to limit monopolies and break up concentrations of economic power that work against the public interest.
I have confined myself to principles that most Democrats but few Republicans should be able to support. They used to be mainstream Democratic principles, but it is not clear to me that they are now.
It remains to be seen whether the Democratic party can rededicate itself to its own principles within a 21st Century context and become a true opposition party.
Advertisement
