(The image above of the Democratic donkey is by DonkeyHotey.)The Democratic Party did very poorly in the 2014 mid-term elections. Part of this was due to too many people staying home on election day (people who would have pulled the lever for Democrats, if they had bothered to vote). But there was another factor that had an effect -- the lack of a coherent and unified plan that could easily be understood by the voting public.
In 2014, Democrats were turned loose to campaign on their own personal issues. The thinking was that they could tailor those issues to their local or state priorities. That turned out to be disastrous. It just left voters unsure of where the Democratic Party stood on the issues important to them, and it's very hard to turn out voters when those voters aren't sure of where the candidates stand.
The sad part of this is that there is a range of issues supported by Democrats, and also supported by a large majority of the public. The Democrats need to combine some of these issues into a "Plan for Prosperity", and make that plan the centerpiece of their 2016 campaign -- with every Democrat, from the presidential candidate to congressional candidates campaigning on that plan. This will make it clear that Democrats support the issues that ordinary Americans want, and give those ordinary Americans a reason to go to the polls and vote for Democrats.
Toward that end, I submit the following plan for consideration. Polls have shown that every part of it is supported by most Americans.
PLAN FOR PROSPERITY
1. Raise the minimum wage to at least $10.10 an hour.
2. Protect Social Security and Medicare (and oppose cuts to either program)
3. Eliminate the special "capital gains tax" for the rich, and tax all income as earned income.
4. Eliminate the tax breaks that reward corporations for exporting American jobs.
5. Eliminate the subsidies that allow profitable corporations to pay no taxes.
6. Rebuild our crumbling infrastructure.
7. Create a small tax on stock trades (0.05% to 0.10%).
8. Eliminate the budget deficit.
9. Maintain a strong national defense.
10. Support equal rights for all Americans.
There are probably some other things that many would like (including many other things I would like to see), but I think the plan needs to be short so it can easily be understood and campaigned on. I think a substantial majority of Americans can get behind all of the 10 points listed above. What do you think?
