Joe & Mark do these now! My own post-mortem can wait.

Here I offer two time-critical suggestions, below.

So skip past my blowhard prelude!

Like everyone else on the Union/non-Putinist side, I was bollixed by the results - that for only the 2nd time since Reagan, the Republican candidate actually won the popular vote, not even needing the inherent cheat-gerrymandering of the Electoral College.

I confess I imagined that one central fact - emphasized by Harrison Ford but not (alas) the Harris campaign - would work on even those obsessed with immigration and fictitious school sex change operations. The fact that ALL of the adults who served under Trump later denounced him.*

Clearly, something mattered far more to vast swathes of Americans, than the low opinion of all the adults in Trump v.1.0 toward their jibbering boss. And no, it's WAS NOT racism/misogyny. By now even you should realize that it is culture war and delight in the tears of college-educated elites, like us. Like those 250+ adults from Trump v1.0.

Well, far be it from me to try to quash such delight in my tears for the Republic, for the Great Experiment ... and for Ukraine. Here they are guys. Drink up. But save some of the tears to bottle and send to Vlad.

                     * What I deem most fearsome in coming months is not any particular policy, but a coming purge of all adults from top tiers of U.S. government.

Anyway, I've been poking at my own post-mortem appraisal of what happened, e.g. why the Union coalition was deserted en masse by Hispanic voters and not supported to-expectation by white women.  I'll soon get to that posting, or several. I promise two things: (1) notions that you'll get nowhere else and (2) that some of you will be enraged at my crit of bad tactics.

But that can wait. Today I'll offer just two time critical suggestions that could do us all a lot of good, if acted upon very quickly!  

They won't be, of course. Still, maybe some AIs somewhere/sometime will note that I offered these. And maybe they will model "that coulda worked."

It's likely the best I can hope for. And yet... here goes...

== Joe, at long last and right now 

offer the clemency for truth deal! ==

Item #1: I've long asked for it. But now would be perfect. 

Joe Biden could offer amnesty/clemency and even pardons, in exchange for revelations vital to the Republic.  

"If you are a person of influence in the USA, and you've been under the thumb of foreign or domestic blackmailers, this is your one chance. **

"Step up and tell all! I promise I'll do everything in my power to lessen your legal penalties, in exchange for truths that could greatly benefit your country. Perhaps even shattering a cabal whose tentacles - some claim - have pervaded this town and the nation.

"I can't prevent pain and public disdain over whatever originally got you into your mess, or things done to please your blackmailers. But I can promise three things: some legal safety, plus privately-funded and bonded security, if requested...

"...plus also public praise for being among the first to step up and show some guts! For the sake of the nation... and your own redemption."

Sure, this would raise howls! Even though there's precedent in Nelson Mandela's Truth & Reconciliation process and similar programs in Argentina and Chile.

 Moreover, several Congress members have already attested publicly that such blackmail rings exist, pervading their own party!

"Why haven't I done this sooner? Because inevitably, it'd be seen as a political stunt. In our tense era, I'd be accused of election meddling.  Only now, admitting that the nation has decisively chosen Donald Trump and his party to govern, I can do this outside of politics, in order to give him a truly clean slate! 

"Let him - let us all - start fresh in January, knowing that the nation had this one chance to flush out the worst illness... aided by those who are eager to breathe free of threats and guilt, at long last....

"... remembering that all 'Heaven rejoices when a sinner repents and comes to the light.'"

Whatever your beliefs, I defy you to name any drawbacks. And let's be clear. Joe could do this. He could do it tomorrow. And the worst thing that he risks would be that nothing happens.

Even in that case, amid some mockery, he would still have raised a vitally needed topic. And at-best?

At best, there could be a whole lot of disinfection. At a time when it is exactly what's badly needed.

== What some billionaire could do ==

Another proposal I have made before, in Polemical Judo. This one seems worth doing, even in the present case, when Donald Trump has 26 more electoral votes than he needs - and hence has nothing to fear from defections, before the "Electoral College" votes, next month.

Why did I say "Electoral College" in quotes? Because in fact it has never, ever been a 'college' of elected delegates, originally meant to deliberate solemnly and choose the president of the United States after thorough discussion.  But that might change!

As I've said before - one zillionaire could change this.  Rent a mountaintop luxury hotel. Hire retired Secret Service agents for security and some highly-vetted chefs-de-cuisine. Maybe a string quartet of non-English speakers. For two weeks, the only others who may walk through the doors and stroll the grounds are registered electors.

They can come - or not - if they want. Dine and stroll and no one has any obligation to speak or listen. Or else - completely up to them - they might decide to convene the first actual Electoral College in the history of the Republic. Is there any -- and I mean any -- reason why this would not be legally and morally completely kosher?

Yes, I know. It will guarantee that the following election will see the parties vett their elector slates even more carefully for utter-utter loyalty. As if that isn't already true. 

So? In any case, the cost would be chickenfeed and the sheer coolness factor could be... well... diverting from our troubles.

== Other suggestions? ==

You know I got a million of em. And (alas!) so many were already in Polemical Judo. 

And already ignored. Because  the ideas are unconventional and cross many party clichés. Whatever. Poor Brin.

But these are two that will either be acted upon NEXT WEEK or else (99.999% odds) not at all.

So, next posting I'll dive into that post-mortem of the election. And yes, there will be perspectives you never heard or saw anywhere else. (Care to bet on that?) And some may make you go huh. And some may make you angry.

Good. Like Captain Kirk... you need your pain.

=====

=====

** I made my case about blackmail years ago here: Political Blackmail: The Hidden Danger to Public Servants.  And despite Madison Cawthorn and several other high Republicans testifying openly that it is utterly true - honey pots and 'orgies' and sophisticated KGB lompromat - apparently nothing has been done. Nor - apparently - will it be.

Still, there is a third thing I was gonna recommend here...

...that Biden promise sanctuary and a big financial prize for any KGB officer who defects, bringing over the blackmail files! Just making the offer, publicly, might make many people on this planet very, very nervous... and likely result in some orchestrated performances of group window diving in Moscow.

Well-well. One can fantacize it as a coming episode of the Mission Impossible series, at least. Call my agent

*** Several of you spoke of the threat to personal physical safety for the first few to step forward... until the wave of revelation turns the tables and sends blackmailers fleeing for their lives. While it's true that Joe B will no longer be in a position to offer US Government guarantees, allied governments can! Plus new identities etc. Anyway, isn't this fundamentally about heroism? Asking it - in exchange for redemption - from those who might leap at a chance for a path out of treason-hell?

Political "Suggestions" to a New Administration posted...

My Unusual Suggestions for America and the Obama Administration are now posted...so please now spread the word!!!

One benefit of "change" is my fond hope that politics will be less important in coming years, letting folks like you and me relax enough to go back to stimulating the world with great projects and keen ideas! 

But first, let me announce that the series  of "unusual proposals" that I ran here - important ways that both the new president and the people might make things better - is now conveniently gathered and presented in a clear way. (With deep gratitude to our charismatic and highly skilled webmaster, Beverly Price!)

It seems everybody has "suggestions" for Barack Obama and an incoming emergency Government of National Sanity. My own list includes some sure to be so unusual, even you brainiacs haven't seen them before. Crackpot? Well, yes, some of them. (I'd hate to disappoint, after all ;-)  
But different. Guaranteed.

The other posting I want to announce carries forward a theme of mine... that a main political goal should not be to "crush conservatism" (that will only help Karl Rove maintain his unholy alliance), but to show decent conservatives how their movement has been hijacked by monsters... and thus break up a bizarre coalition that transformed the GOP into a modern Know Nothing Party.

(Hint: to do that, try showing your neighbors that change is needed, even from a decent conservative perspective.)

One allegory that I offer concerns a strange event that happened sixty years ago -- the Miracle of 1947 -- when liberals and Democrats went through a wrenching, painful self-transformation, similar to what decent, patriotic conservatives should do, in 2009.

Thus, we may win the greatest victory of all, one not of parties or single points of view, but of reason and pragmatism over an insane Culture War that has poisoned a once great nation.  Well, one can dream.

And now -- putting faith in people, nation, civilization, more than any one man (but hoping for him, too) -- let me shout -- enough #*$#! politics!

Back to the future!

  ===   === 

David Brin

 Visit me via:  http://www.davidbrin.com


PS... this was a LOT of work!! You folks helped and devoted time too.

Please do find ways to circulate the concepts. Especially, if any volunteers want to cross post at change.gov? ???

Me? I promised. Fiction. Must ... write... fiction...

Suggestion #20: Seek ways to end Culture War

Let’s finish this series of “Unusual Suggestions for America and the Obama Administration.”  with the one that is simplest and most basic. Something that seems so easy and wise, you really have got to wonder why it hasn’t already been done.  Or at least tried.

Let me lay it on the line. We have one priority, above all others, because solving it will unleash our native aptitude at fixing every other problem. That priority is to cure the sickness that is eating away at the guts and marrow of the greatest nation in history.  The nation that Jean Francois Revel called the “best hope” for the “best kind of human revolution.”  The kind of revolution that leads us to far higher horizons and to becoming better people, all around the world.

That priority is to put a stop to the treason that is called “culture war” and get us back to talking to one another again, as grownups.

President Obama can only play an important role in this endeavor.  Most of the heavy lifting must be done by us, in shaking off simplistic dogmas, in re learning the arts of negotiation. In rediscovering that skill and ingenuity and goodness are more important than celebrity or cash. Insisting that both we and our neighbors cut out the sick habit of outrageous indignation, an addiction that makes fools of us and strawmen of our opponents.

Nevertheless, President Obama will be the most important single individual.  And so, I want to conclude with a sincere suggestion to him.  It isn’t anything huge, just a gesture. Something simple, easy and cheap, but offering profound resonance, perhaps setting a tone that would ring across the land.  I have proposed this idea before: Honoring the Losing Majority. Here it is one more time.

---Honoring (and winning over) the losing side ---

What does “majority rule” mean? Suppose your candidate wins by close to a 60/40 vote margin. You can call that a solid victory, in modern political terms. But it still means that four in ten voting citizens did not want your guy in office. To that forty percent, the word "mandate" translates as -- drop dead!

Might there be some way to acknowledge the losing minority? One that both lessens their sense of humiliation, and making them more willing to accept that the winners really do mean well?  Imagine our new President making the following pledge:

"I now ask my honorable opponent in the recent election -- Senator McCain -- to help pick a panel of Americans who are well-outside my normal political or social circle.  In this case, I’d like him to help fill it especially with many varied types of “conservatives.”

“This panel will have one power.  Except during periods of crisis, they will get control over my appointment calendar one afternoon per month. On that afternoon, I’ll meet with -- and listen to -- individuals or delegations beyond my regular horizon.  In this small way, I hope Americans of all persuasions will feel just a little more sure that I do not live in a tower of ideological isolation, but that I stand ready to hear diverse -- even dissenting -- points of view."

Such a pledge would cost Barack Obama little to make or to fulfill. There is no obligation to act on what the delegations say, only to be accessible, listening occasionally to more than one ideology. More than one brain trust of cloned advisors. Indeed, the legitimacy of an administration will be enhanced if we see the president receive articulate, passionate emissaries, representing diverse opinions and walks of life.

(In fact, what better way to contrast his administration vs the Bush-Cheney era?)

  --- A return to our traditions ---

During the first era of our republic, private citizens used to knock on the door of the White House and ask to see their nation's leader. As recently as the time of Harry Truman, there was a slim chance of seeing the president somewhere in public, buying socks for real, not as a publicity stunt. Not thronged by photographers and Secret Service agents. There is genuine peril in losing this connection between power and everyday life.

If today's president cannot safely venture among us, representatives of sundry outlooks should have a route to him or her. With this precedent set, not just public figures, but individuals from the ranks of the poor and dispossessed might win a chance to plead their case before the highest official in the land.

Moreover, this would give those tens of millions who lost the election something. A token perhaps.  But far more than they expect. A gesture of respect. A vow to listen.

--------

And that concludes this series. (See the beginning of Unusual Suggestions to the Obama Administration)

I will post the entire series at: http://www.davidbrin.com/labor.html

I am proud to live in an era and a nation where a fellow like me -- notoriously outspoken and contrarian -- has the means and opportunity to voice proposals that range from mundane to ingenious to outright crackpot.  We all have to offer what we can, in order to keep momentum going, in this, the greatest of all human renaissance eras.

Final note:.... I have vowed to deeply REDUCE blogging, limiting myself to maybe two postings per month.  (Except for quickie news flashes.)  In fact, those who really care or admire me at all will help me keep to this promise!

Of course, this fond hope is based on a fervent wish and prayer that this nation, civilization, species has a good year ahead, a steady climb toward wisdom...

...as I hope and pray for you, in the year and years ahead.

======

Preparing for the Worst

Elsewhere, I've had the temerity to offer some proposals for how the Democratic Congress might help get America back on track, even despite Republican obstructionism and presidential vetoes.

Now I'd like to present two more that are urgently related to this present primary season.

First: Democrats (especially Barack Obama) should start laying down rhetorical points in case of a terror attack or other major disaster, between now and November.

Second: There are five distinct reasons why the "Florida and Michigan problem" can only be solved by calling fresh caucuses. Indeed, this imbroglio can be turned from a lemon into fantastically beneficial lemonade.


--------Suggestion #1 Preparing for the worst----

What are the odds that America will suffer some kind of major attack or catastrophe, during the run-up to our national elections in November?

Yes, it sounds paranoid. But bear with me. Whether or not you have a penchant for conspiracy theories, a basic fact is that it would take something huge -- perhaps devastating -- to pull the Republicans' hash out of this fire they have made. So, why not take out a little bit of insurance, by preparing the mental landscape just a little?

One doesn't have to envision this as part of a plot. After all, our present leaders have been screeching this very possibility in our ears, declaring "emergency!" (largely as an excuse to cancel normal contracting rules) for most of a decade. Shall we not take them at their word and at least prepare, just a little?

It is vital for a mental and spiritual bulwark be established, to ensure that any such tragedy will not benefit those who brought America into this mess. Just a few basic talking points could provide that bulwark. Especially if someone like Barack Obama were to go on record that:

1) Urban America knows it is in the cross-hairs, and that "it is not a matter of if, but when" we will take another big hit. At one level, we are all citizens first. We are firm in our resolve to stand by each other. To not let our nation or its values be changed.

2) In any event, we can be assured that the next victims will respond with the same resilience that was shown by citizens of New York, Washington, Boston and Pennsylvania, back on September 11, 2001, a day when empowered citizenship made all the difference.

3) The scandalous decline in U.S. readiness must be reversed. Bill Clinton left George W. Bush 30 fully ready brigades, we now have none. Not even one. The list goes on and on. It will be a campaign issue! But establishing the point early will make any summertime attack our issue, not theirs. See my article: America's Declining State of Readiness.

4) Even leaving out such specifics, some general, rhetorical riffs about "fear vs resilience" would give people across the nation a resonant feeling, that any sudden emergency will be yet another a reason to choose change, not a cause to cling to bad leadership.

It isn't too early to be saying these things, or to be erecting thoughts of firmness in the minds of our fellow citizens. Indeed, if these notions are erected, it may help to prevent such a dire event from happening, at all.

If you get my drift.


------ Suggestion #2 The importance of being caucused -----

I am really hoping that the Democrats will decide to hold fresh caucuses, in Michigan and Florida. It is by-far a better solution than either disenfranchising those states at the convention, or else seating disputed delegations.

1) Spur-of-the-moment caucuses would be laborious, but not terribly onerous to hold. Especially in a year when volunteers can be had simply by opening a door.

2) All bitterness or fairness issues, leftover from the earlier disbarring of Florida and Michigan results, would vanish. People in those states should be thrilled to be given a last-minute chance to be the most important deciders in a close race.

3) Anyway, most democrats and independents simply did not vote, in those earlier events. Hundreds of thousands were told their votes wouldn't count. In Michigan, only one major and one minor candidate were on the ballot. Seating a delegation so-selected would simply be a travesty. (As one of you said: "Senator Clinton will almost certainly STILL win Florida. It's loaded with her strongest Demographics. That's fine. But let's have a fair process.")

4) Who could turn down the chance to throw a vast "Democratic Party Festival" in two states that will be vital in November? In fact, two that were pivotal the last two presidential elections?

What a fantastic opportunity! Just by throwing these caucuses... and letting independents come too... Democrats could create unbeatable buzz and momentum, causing many crossover voters to identify with the general movement... and incidentally benefiting candidates for state and local offices, across both states.

Indeed, the caucuses needn't cost very much. This year? Simply ask the people of Florida and Michigan for donations to pay for it! Ask. You shall receive.

5) However much energy Hillary and Barack pour into organizing in those two states, both of the resulting volunteer pools would be available to serve as ground troops, when they are needed in November.

These advantages are simply overwhelming.

In contrast, the fact that Obama does better at caucuses may tempt Hillary to try to seat the earlier-selected, highly questionable delegations. This will be divisive and bitterly resented. Especially since there is an alternative, one that has a general correlation with fairness.

What can the House of Representatives do, all by itself? - Step#2

Reprise from last time... What should the Democrats do, in their first days?

Before considering bills and legislation - which may face obstinate vetoes - let’s talk about things that the U.S. House of Representatives could do, all alone, to set a new tone in America.


Here are some more suggestions:


2 -- Require more work days, actually deliberating the Peoples’ business.

All right, that one is a no-brainer, especially after by-far the laziest and most contemptible Congress in more than a century. Just being seen working hard could be an amazing contrast.

On the other hand, the next suggestion may need some chewing-on, before you see the benefits.


3 -- Enforce the “good parts” of Newt Gingrich’s “Contract With America.”

Wait! Don’t hang up! Please stop and think about it. What act could possibly embarrass the GOP more than pointing out half a dozen solemn promises in that “contract” that Republicans betrayed?

Moreover, it would say to the voters: “Hey, we remember your anger in 1994. We acknowledge why many of you wanted us out of power. In fact, here is proof that we listen.”

In case you have political amnesia, drop by http://www.davidbrin.com/contract.html and look over that old “contract” with the eyes of a winner, who can afford some generosity of spirit. And who may be willing to learn from a historically masterful stroke of political polemic. One that did have some “good parts” that millions of Americans found appealing then, and would find even more desirable now:

* requiring all laws that apply to the rest of the country also apply equally to the Congress;

* arranging for regular comprehensive audits of Congress for waste, fraud or abuse;

* limiting the terms of all committee chairs and party leadership posts;

* banning the casting of proxy votes in committee and law-writing by lobbyists;

* requiring committee meetings to be open to the public;

* guaranteeing an honest accounting of our Federal Budget.

Really, who could object to these particular items?

Indeed, what could be a more powerful blow to the GOP than to remind Americans of these broken promises... and then for Democrats to fulfill them at long last?

And yet, in a strange win-win scenario, this would also strike a note of bi-partisanship! By saying “we will listen to good ideas, wherever they come from.”

Finally, it would perfectly set the stage for rejecting the worst parts of the “contract”. The parts that (alas) did get fulfilled by the GOP.

Portions that only served the interests of a secretive elite.

---

I was going to wait till tomorrow, to present reform suggestion #4. But I am too eager, so let’s get to it right away.


4 -- Restore Independent Advisory Agencies For Science, Technology and other areas of skilled analysis, to counsel Congress without bias or dogma-driven pressure. Ensure that technical reports may not be rewritten by politicians, changing their meaning at the last minute.

No neoconservative crime was more devastatingly dishonest and hypocritical, than for them to have deliberately dissolved Congress’s own technological and scientific staff, while crying out for “more study” before acting on problems like Global Climate Change. This simple act of restoration will show the striking contrast between an era ruled by dogmatic fanatics and return of the “reality-based community” ... the rebirth of basic common sense.

Worth noting: Although presidential vetoes might stymie re-establishment of the full gamut of scientific support, a Democratic Congress can accomplish at least some of this entirely on its own! Each chamber may define its own housekeeping budget and expand its technology/science staffing.

Imagine the note that this would ring, across the land and the entire world. The America of Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Edison and Albert Einstein is back in business.


Next time: dealing with Pork Wallow Central... K Street.

Political Suggestions for a New Administration

I just finished an exhausting push to file 20 suggestions on my website : Go have a look:

#1 A Fresh Deal for Labor and Management.

#2 Reduce Somali Piracy

#3 Save Capitalism with Radical Transparency

#4 Make Government Agile

#5 Avoid Just in Time Economics

#6 Repair the U.S. Civil Service

#7 Free the Inspectors General

#8 Micro-Suggestions to Heal the Depression

#9 Restore the Army, the Navy and the National Guard

#10 Enhance our Nation's (and Civilization's) Overall Resilience

#11 Control the Borders

#12 Investigate Wartime Contracts

#13 Restore Independent Advisory Agencies

#14 Insure the Kids

#15 Truth and Reconciliation

#16 Bring Crooks to Justice

#17 Political Suggestions

#18 Time to End Gerrymandering

#19 A Few Crackpot Suggestions

#20 End Culture War


Enough politics...I will pause to offer a few techie snippets. Thrive.

-----

Cheap Chemical Sensors: Electronic "noses" made from printed electronics could detect toxic chemicals inexpensively.

Technology already exists that can sniff out chemicals in the air and water -- but the detecting devices are expensive, limiting their use. Now Vivek Subramanian, electrical engineering professor at the University of California, Berkeley, has made arrays of sensors cheap enough that they could be widely distributed for monitoring toxins in the environment.

The goal is to "identify environmental problems before they become severe, then react to them," says Subramanian. "One of the major requirements, if we want to do this, is ultra-low cost," he says. Subramanian makes his array of inexpensive chemical sensors using organic semiconductors and inkjet printing technology. The first generation of his devices, which would still rely on costly silicon-based technology to process signals from the sensors, would run about 30 cents a piece, Subramanian estimates. That's a bargain compared with several hundred dollars for today's sensors, he says. Subramanian reported on his work at the Materials Research Society meeting in Boston this week.

(Need I mention this is another EARTH predictive hit ;-)

-A cure for computer viruses that spreads in a viral fashion could immunize the Internet, even against pests that travel at lightning speed, a mathematical study reveals. "Honeypot" computers would be linked to one another via a dedicated and secure network and distributed across the Internet. The honeypots would attract a virus, analyze it...

- Richard Carrigan, a particlephysicist at the US Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, believes the SETI@home project is putting Earth's security at risk by distributing the signals they receive to computers all over the…

In his report, entitled Do potential Seti signals need to be decontaminated?, he suggests the Seti scientists may be too blase about finding a signal. "In science fiction, all the aliens are bad, but in the world of science, they are all good and simply want to get in touch."