Four specific notions that could help to save us all

Last week I issued a three-parter that proposed several dozen fresh tactics for the Enlightenment side of our current culture war. And as a unifying umbrella, I made them part of a "Democratic Newer Deal"... both satirizing and learning-from the most agile polemical maneuver of the last 40 years - the so-called 'GOP Contract With America.'

Whether or not you liked my using that overall umbrella, the thirty or so proposals merit discussion in their own right! Some of them -- maybe ten or so -- are ideas that have been floating around on the moderate-liberal agenda, but that I've meddled-with, in order to add some punch, or judo spice.  Or zing.

         Others are wholly my own.

Some of the proposals take the form of internal reforms that Congress could enact on their very first day - of a session whose majority consists of sane and decent people.      

For example, pause and envision this reform and procedural rule. One which no future GOP-led Congress would be able to retract! 

Distributed subpoena power: We shall establish a permanent rule and tradition that each member of Congress will get one peremptory subpoena per year, plus adequate funding to compel a witness to appear and testify for up to five hours before a subcommittee in which she or he is a member. In this way, each member will be encouraged to investigate as a sovereign representative and not just as a party member, ensuring that Congress will never again betray its Constitutional duty of investigation and oversight, even when the same party holds both Congress and the Executive.

Think about that for a sec. very soon each Representative or Senator would view that personal, peremptory subpoena -- whether one per year or per session -- as a treasured and jealously-guarded prerogative of office. Possibly useful to their party or to confront major issues, or else to grandstand for the folks back home. Either way, they will balk at any attempt by future party leaders to terminate the privilege. And thus it could become permanent. And the minority will never again be barred from calling witnesses to interrogate the majority.

Or look at another internal reform that I'll talk about next time... to reconstitute the advisory bodies for science and fact that used to serve Congress, but were banished by Gingrich and Hastert and company, because... well... this Republican Party despises facts.

Other proposals would be legislated LAWS that seem desperately -- even existentially -- needed for the U.S. republic! Like this one I have offered annually for the last fifteen years:

 

We shall create the office of Inspector General of the United States, or IGUS, who will head the U.S. Inspectorate, a uniformed agency akin to the Public Health Service, charged with protecting the ethical and law-abiding health of government.  Henceforth, the inspectors-general in all government agencies, including military judge-advocates general (JAGs) will be appointed by and report to IGUS, instead of serving beholden to the whim of the whim of the cabinet or other officers that they are supposed to inspect. IGUS will advise the President and Congress concerning potential breaches of the law. IGUS will provide protection for whistle-blowers and safety for officials or officers refusing to obey unlawful orders. 

Wouldn't everything be better if we had IGUS right now? Go back and read the full text.

And then there's this one - a way to bypass the corrupt Citizens United ruling by the suborned Supreme Court - using a clever and totally legal means, that is supported factually by Robert Reich. Though I think my approach is more likely to get passed... and to work.

 

THE POLITICAL REFORM ACT will ensure that the nation’s elections take place in a manner that citizens can trust and verify.  Political interference in elections will be a federal crime.  Strong auditing procedures and transparency will be augmented by whistleblower protections.  New measures will distance government officials from lobbyists.  Campaign finance reform will reduce the influence of Big Money over politicians. The definition of a ‘corporation’ shall be clarified: so that corporations are neither ‘persons’ nor entitled to use money or other means to meddle in politics, nor to coerce their employees to act politically.

There are others, like how to get every child in America insured under Medicare, while we argue over going the rest of the way. We'll get to that amazingly simple method next time.

But here's another one that is super timely because - as reported by the Strategic News Service - "Huge new botnets with 40M+ nodes are available to criminals on the dark web..." That's Forty MILLION computers around the world - including possibly the one you are now using to view this - have been suborned and turned into cryptic nodes for major cyber crime. 

Indeed, we are now far more open to cyber attacks than ever, now that the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has been downsized by a third! And the Cyber Safety Review Board (CSRB) dissolved, and the Critical Infrastructure Partnership Advisory Council (CIPAC) terminated. Hence, here's a reform that might address that... and it might - if pushed urgently - even pass this good-for nothing Congress.

THE CYBER HYGIENE ACT: Adjusting liability laws for a new and perilous era, citizens and small companies whose computers are infested and used by ‘botnets’ to commit crimes shall be deemed immune from liability for resulting damages, providing that they download and operate a security program from one of a dozen companies that have been vetted and approved for effectiveness by the US Department of Commerce. Likewise, companies that release artificial intelligence programs shall face lessened liability if those programs persistently declare their provenance and artificiality and potential dangers. 

Again... these and maybe 30 more are to be found in my big series on a proposed "Newer Deal." I'll try to repost and appraise each of them over the next few weeks. 

Almost any of them would be winning issues for the Democrats, especially if they were parsed right!  Say, in a truly workable 'deal' for the American people...

     ...and for our children's future.

       == Political notes ==

While we all should be impressed with Gavin Newsom's people for expertly trolling old Two Scoops, it's not the core tactic I have recommended for 20 years. Though one fellow who seems to be stabbing in the right general direction is Jimmy Kimmel, who keeps offering to hold public, televised challenges to check the factuality of foxite yammerings. 

 

Kimmel’s latest has been to satirically take on Trump's crowing about his 'aced' cognitive test. That test (which is not for IQ, but to eval senility or dementia) was accompanied by yowling that two female Democrat Reps were 'low-IQ.' Kimmel's offer of a televised IQ vs dementia test is brilliant. It'll never happen. But brilliant.   In fact, Kimmel's offer of a televised mental test is a version of my Wager Challenge. 

The key feature is REPETITION! The KGB-supported foxite jibberers have a tactic to evade accountability to facts. point at something else and change the subject. Yet, no dem - not even brilliant ones like Pete B and AOC - ever understands the power of tenacious repetition. Ensuring that a single lie - or at most a dozen - gets hammered over and over again.

All right, they ARE doing that with "Release the Epstein files!" Will they learn from that example to focus? To actually focus? And yes, demanding $$$ escrowed wager stakes can make it a matter of macho honor... honor that they always, always lose, as the weenie liars that they are.