I was recently reading a diary about the first week of Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren campaign for the 2020 nomination. Well, technically its an “exploratory committee” but let's not kid ourselves she is running and I am glad she is. She has been a consistent fighter for consumer protection and progressive causes for most of her life. Wall Street fears her, Republican’s don’t like her. (She’s quite fine with that) and she just might be your nominee for President of the United States.
“Different from others I don’t think Sanders will run. I like Bernie and I take him at his word, he just wants to change the conversation. ” I couldn't agree more with this statement. Sanders brought a lot of disenfranchised voters to the table. Some people thought that Bernie Sander’s platform was “unrealistic or he just wants to give us free stuff”. I have heard both of those multiple times but were they that unrealistic, to be honest. I once wrote a diary (and got major flack for it) about how some third parties bring ideas that are later incorporated into major party platforms. Not just to ruin elections.
To understand the liberal side of the Democratic Party. Yes, Liberal is a compliment. We must look at the election of 1912. (Note that all the candidates in the 912 elections would all considered to be Democrats in today’s political climate.) One of the candidates in 1912 was Teddy Roosevelt. The Republican Party was shifting to the right from 1912-1918 so Roosevelt created his own party called The Bull Moose Party. The Bull Moose Platform called for woman’s suffrage, limitations on work hours and federal regulation. The Democrat Woodrow Wilson won that election. Wilson’s top three accomplishments were 1.) The creation of the Federal Reserve. 2) Woman’s Suffrage and 3.) He avoided economic disaster by creating an eight hour work day. (1). See The Bull Moose Party was never elected to the White House but it changed the conversation. I could say the same thing about Bob Lafollette on how he gave way to the progressive policies of FDR but that's for another day.
With our understanding of history could we see some of Senator Sanders vision actually come into play. I won’t rehash the entire 2016 primary. I will just go through some of the Senator’s platform.
1. Debt Free College
This is not a crazy idea. It could start by pumping more money into our higher education system while freezing or cutting tuition in increments. Yes, There are many ways to do it without raising taxes. For example, Democrats in 1930’s saw revenue from repealing prohibition. Maybe if we treat marijuana like alcohol and tobacco. We could see increased revenue there? (Thoughts on taxing marijuana let me know in comments.)
America could have another economic stimulus package and a bunch of infrastructure projects. That would also generate some revenue and plus it would rebuild our roads and bridges. Remember deficits don’t matter. You could rebuild America and send people to school.
2. Medicare for All
Another not so crazy idea. Much like debt free colleges. You could do this without raising taxes. The first order of business would be to stop the price gauging of prescription drugs. Other than the gun lobby. Big Pharma is the most powerful lobby in America. Second. Is to allow people to import drugs from Canada. Lastly, Is to allow the federal government to negotiate drug prices. The first three things could be done in a couple days. If we bring down the cost of prescription drugs the fewer Americans will need to rely on insurance. Your medications could be $50, not $800
Lastly, is to create an insurance pool for medical procedures of any sort. The idea is to separate prescription drugs from actual medical procedures. If we can do that Medicare for all becomes a reality. ( If you have anything to add please let me know in comments.)
3. Rebuilding our Infrastructure
I think I addressed this in paragraph one. Like the first three. You can do this without raising taxes. It should come in three phases. 1.) Legalizing marijuana. Am I the only one who sees Weed as a money maker for America. (Exceptions for Hemp and Medical Marijuana). 2. Enact another stimulus package and start a bunch of infrastructure projects and bam easy infrastructure. 3.) Use Stimulus money to invest in high-speed rail. Think about it. If you could get on a train in Eau Claire, Wi to work in Madison or Milwaukee. Easy revenue right. In Japan, A 24-hour subway ticket cost $7.37 per day. High-speed rail is a no-brainer to me.
Soundoff on Warren 2020
I hope we have a bunch of great progressives to run in 2020. Beto almost turned Texas blue. Quite the accomplishment isn't it?. You also got Julian Castro (also from Texas) who gave a great speech at the DNC a couple years back. Sherrod Brown coming off a win in Ohio and is very progressive. Warren/Brown Think about it for a second. Senator Elizabeth Warren is one of my favorite Senator’s and I think will be a powerful candidate in 2020. Hope to have a vigorous debate with my Daily Kos family.
Thanks for reading. I always enjoy reading comments from my fellow progressives. More on Evers in the coming days. He gets sworn in on Monday.