General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: It should terrify us that about 40% of Americans stand with the creature [View all]LiberalLovinLug
(14,153 posts)Including 60 seats in the Senate, they should say "screw bipartisanship" and first thing, rubber stamp all the 200+ bills that Democrats have already put into the inbox for the Senate. Raising the minimum wage, and enacting stricter gun background checks, dreamer legislation, to name a few that would be done quickly.
That would only be the beginning. Create a new "fairness act" requiring any network or radio station be held accountable for propagating lies. That or be forced to not use the word "news" for their network. And that also would include large social media platforms that distribute political ads like FaceBook. And that radio daytime political talk should be balanced.
Then go after gerrymandering all across the country. Make it a federal oversight.
Make federal elections.....actually have federal oversight. Paper ballots unless it can be proven that a machine cannot be hacked, and that there are paper trails.
Start to form the initial stages of transforming the medical system into a single payer funded system.
I'd go further even. Pass new anti-Citizen's United legislation. And make federal elections publicly funded. And require networks to provide for free equal time for both parties.
And then appoint two more supreme court judges. Nothing in the constitution saying you can't.
Oh....some will say, That's too much too soon. Bullshit. I'm sorry to admit Repubilcans are way ahead of us in this tactic. You KNOW Repubicans will oppose anything, even the mildest gun restrictions for instance. So do what they do to us, overwhelm them with legislation. And real change.
Would there be a chance the MSM will be frothing in their talking head mouths every day? Pundits like Clapper going 180 for instance? Yes. But the plan would be to be able to introduce Americans to the possibilities. To also show that they are not the "do nothing Democrats". Love what they do or not.
Personaly I think it would galvanize our side. It would garner more voters for us because they'd see us do more than incremental advancements, that promply get reversed at the next Republican administration. Such drastic changes would be difficult to overturn quickly, especially when many have gotten a taste of the pro-people bills that they were just starting to take advantage of. Dare them to take it away.
And maybe a new Republican admin would be able to reverse some, but the trick is to pass so much that even if we eventually lose some, we will come out ahead.
As one small example to make my point; putting aside my disappointment in Obama for not fighting hard for the public option, the ACA and the debate on health care, exposed the ugliness of the "pre-existing condition" excuse policy. Now, its tough sledding for Republicans to pass bills that allow insurance companies to once again use that weapon against coverage for their clients. By adding that requirement to the ACA, and also children being able to use their parents insurance longer, is forcing the GOP to relent now on those issues.
In the same way, many advancements like these would only be appreciated AFTER they existed. And even if only some survived, it would be worth it. So go full def con 5 if they ever hold all 3 branches.
But I don't hold out much hope they will follow that suggestion. They are too used to the cap-in-hand method. And that they will self edit to make sure as not to offend all the left over deplorables that wouldn't vote for them even if it were between American Democrats vs. Russian mobsters.