Ask Lemmy

Codify Roe

Enact nationwide RCV at all levels of elections (anyone who is going to argue they can't, if Trump can destroy things you thought couldn't be destroyed, we can do the opposite)

SCOTUS term limits and packing (expand it from 1 court to multiple courts, have each case only seen by 1 court, split the incumbent fascists across the multiple courts so their extremist views only ever amount to a minority dissent)

Pardon all non-violent drug offenders at every level of incarceration (play hardball with state officials who don't cooperate)

Mandate all government buildings get their power 100% from renewables

How about reigning in Israel and not, like, genociding. That would be nice.

The god damned SCOTUS needs deep and meaningful reforms.

how about we quit dancing around those territories that should be states like washingtondc and puerto rico

Tax the rich & corporations based on their income, remove 90% of the tax deductions they can take. Make all businesses that do business in US borders pay taxes, no exceptions, even if they are located in another country. Regulate internet & cell providers like public utilities. Create strict privacy laws for all citizens. We are not a product to be exploited. Pass Human Rights laws for all Americans. Change the law to provide/allow personal banking from the central bank/Federal Reserve. Fix the USPS retirement funding requirement to allow a profit and growth of services. Tax churches. They are not 'providing support to the community' any longer. They are a business.

I feel a little weird about being your dancing monkey in terms of answering this question just because you singled me out and told me to, but sure:

The platform is a pretty good start; there's a lot in there about economic inequality and working on climate change which are two key priorities.

Most urgent things I would add to that:

• Peacekeeping in Israel + Palestine backed up by force of US troops and/or UN peacekeepers. Y'all (meaning Israel) have had your chance at running things and you failed. Be thankful you're not in the dock in the Hague, now get the fuck out of Gaza; we start shooting in 6 hours if you're still here
• Attempts to tamper with the ability of people to vote, or for their vote to count like it's supposed to (meaning having an impact in an unbiased and reasonable fashion), is a felony. Doesn't matter if you were a guy with a gun outside a drop box, a congressperson trying to pass a law, or a Supreme Court justice.
• Speaking of which, there are some justices we should be impeaching. If we win enough of congress we can put them on trial at least; we may not be able to remove them but fuckin' hassle them. Absolutely nonstop. Make it a priority to make people's lives miserable if they're trying to destroy democracy. That is a dead serious statement.
• Use the pre-Thatcher British solution for high rents: The government buys up a huge amount of property, rents it out at reasonable rates, which pierces the bubble so the rates from private landlords have to reduce also to stay competitive.

There are some other big things but that all is the most urgent I think. Even that is a pretty fuckin big list to be able to do.

Maybe something about internet propaganda, but I honestly don't see a real clear government-involved solution to that that I have any confidence in, is the only reason it's not on the list.

Rent caps, ownership of property caps (it should be illegal to make a business off owning so many homes and raising the price to the point that most can't afford a home as its a basic need just like water). Taxing the ever living shit out of the rich. Better funding for public schools and actually holding superintendents accountable for their actions and capping their pay based off of average pay of the other staff such as teachers/custodians/IT/maintenance in public schools. Price of groceries, then if theirs time price of almost everything else after COVID. It's not a free market it's controlled by the rich so control it back at this point.

Fix the fucking election system... No more gerrymandering, money out, make voting day a holiday, make mail in easy, zero bullshit restrictions making voting harder, ranked choice, no electoral college, get a handle on primaries too

Build some damn trains! Our cities are sprawling car-infested shitholes compared to more modern city designs around the world.

A single freeway interchange costs as much as a big light rail network for a medium sized city. It would transformative to build some modern infrastructure for once.

Combine that with educating city councils on how zoning laws and architectural rules determine how a city's space is used (usually very inefficiently and with ugly buildings). We're making a sprawling, bland wasteland out of the beautiful American landscape by sheer ignorance and short sighted greed.

Single payer healthcare.

Criminal justice reform (e.g., reform rather than punishment).

Overturning the NFA of 1934 and the GCA, strengthening the PLCAA.

Wealth taxes.

Returning the marginal tax rates to pre-1970 levels.

Eliminating SS tax caps.

Seriously address climate change.

Unwinding all book bans.

Enshrining reproductive rights in the constitution.

Single payer health care.

#1: wealth inequality
#2: climate change/environmental conservation

Other high priorities: bodily autonomy/abortion, police and prison reform (yeah, I know, never going to happen), strengthening voting rights and democratic institutions, replacement of aging infrastructure, support for Ukraine, SCOTUS reform, universal healthcare

It sure would be nice if we got some trains and other practical solutions to carbon emissions

My wishlist is basically:

• Tackle corporate overreach and monopolization both via urging strong legislation in Congress and utilizing existing Federal agencies regulatory power. Break monopolies, ensure fair practices, place regulations on data harvesting/usage, and protect consumers wherever possible.

• Support labor groups and rights. Crack down on union busting, non-competitive contracts, and companies dodging treating employees as actual employees.

• Continue developing a strong infrastructural base. Expand development of developing fields such as dynamic power grids, support growth of more efficient transportation mechanisms such as railroads, and push states to catch up on or begin much needed infrastructural overhauls.

• Reinforce US support for overseas allies against the major threats they are facing, including both military and economic collaboration. Support strong region collaborative alliances. The US should be a leader in protecting the free and democratic nations against the very real threats they now face.

Sorry if that's a little too vague. Or too specific. It could probably be rendered down to something like "tackle corporate power, support labor, build infrastructure, support allies".

Realistically, a lot of it could just be continuation of existing Biden policy:

• Aggressive antitrust enforcement from the FTC and DOJ, slowly changing the inertia of the last 40 years of allowing consolidation and the neutering of century-old antitrust laws.
• Continued pro-labor rulings from the NLRB to give workers more bargaining power as we unionize at Starbucks, Amazon, and other major workforces. Big union wins at automakers, airlines, logistics companies have emboldened new unionization drives at places like VW provide the momentum that need to be backed by government. Even places where unions have seen setbacks, like Mercedes Benz in Alabama, management has been running scared and trying to stave off unions with promises of unprecedented raises (which they've since reneged on after the union vote failed). We need to keep the pressure on, especially as the business cycle potentially turns to a tougher job market.
• Marijuana rescheduling is proceeding along, and hopefully will be complete by the end of Biden's term. The next administration will need to defend it in court, and implement the details for things like banking and medical research and licensing.

Some Biden policies need to be bolstered with a combination of both continued executive action and new laws passed through Congress:

• Many of Biden's environmental regulations have been rolled back in the courts. A Harris admin should keep pushing on these fronts, but with coverage from Congress where possible.
• Same with economic/workplace regs. The Department of Labor's minimum wage exemption guidelines are being challenged in the courts right now, with Biden trying to push for the minimum salary of overtime-exempt workers to be at least $58k next year (the $44k minimum took effect on July 1, 2024). The FTC's noncompete regulation, which would prohibit noncompete agreements for almost all workers, is tied up in the courts now.
• Biden's Department of Education has tried to implement student loan forgiveness, and lost at the Supreme Court. Now their watered down measures (easier repayment plans, interest forgiveness for certain borrowers) are in the courts, too. New legislation could fix this.

Abortion, contraception, and family planning in general needs a combination of both strong executive action and new legislation:

• Biden's administration has fought, with mixed success, to make sure that state bans on abortion don't interfere with federal priorities. DoD has official policy that pays for servicemembers and their families to travel to states where abortions are legal, if necessary to get care. DOJ and HHS are fighting to make sure that states can't prevent life saving care that some extremists believe constitute abortion. The FDA has expanded access and availability of abortion medication through telehealth and prescriptions by mail.
• Legislative areas worth fighting for include bolstering the authority of Medicare and FDA to preserve access to abortion and contraceptive care, including across state lines, removing the ban on federal funding for abortions, etc.

These are all pretty modest, but very important. The actual machinery of government is immensely important, and we need people who are effective at making sure everything is working for the people.

This is a little one, but: fix the post office.

Trump got a bug up his butt about mail-in ballots, so he put a postmaster general in place with a mission to destroy it. He pretty much has: the service is slower, more expensive, and less reliable than it used to be.

Biden was either unable or unwilling to remove him, but his term is about to end. Kamala will have an opportunity to put someone good in place who can rebuild what has been destroyed.

Increase protections for Trans people

There are too many, and too inter-related to really pick one out, but I agree with others to mostly continue Biden policies. As a moderate, he did start a lot of good things but it all takes too many years, too much money. We need to keep pushing.

My first thought is the environment. We’ve done so much damage for so long and still keep pushing back. The IRA was huge but barely scratched the surface. There is so much that needs to be done and time is running short

But you can’t work on the environment while being the biggest fossil fuel producer in history

And trains are such a key part of decarbonizing transportation but can take a generation or more

And you’re not getting anything done without fixing the courts

And somehow we need to unstick large infrastructure projects like transmission lines and power generation

And no one can afford this with the current wealth inequality and excessive cost of homes

I want her to spend a bunch of money on roads and highways, with the stipulation that to get any of it you have to buy your equipment (dump trucks, loaders, graders, etc) from an American factory that uses Union labor.

Better fire management of national parks. Time to start doing controlled burns.

Public money public good enforcement. We have laws on the books that federal money spent on rnd should go to opensource, but enforcement is abysmal. The Department of Education being the worst in this regard with a reckless policy of supporting the use proprietary systems built around selling surveillance of its users instead of supporting FOSS alternatives.

Departments need major restructuring. Way too much of federal government is bueracracies vs actionable positions. If we want a government that does, we need to empower doers and shorten the chain between them and president.