Last week I commenced issuing a ten-parter that proposed several dozen fresh tactics for the Enlightenment side of our current culture war. And as a unifying umbrella, Part One and Part Two began the series by examining – dissecting – the greatest political gambit of the last 40 years, and the greatest act of political switcheroo betrayal! Newt Gingrich’s successful-and-despicable “Contract With America.” The lessons we draw from it informed my own efforts to draft a Newer Deal for America. Thirty-Five proposed actions that Democrats can promise, in order to draw support from 60%-plus of voting citizens…
…and then quickly enact, in order to save the very structure of our republic. Saving for later the controversies and hail-Mary passes that will happen too! Once the Republic is saved.
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 starters, 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. Structures and procedures of the Inspectorate shall be debated and optimized for independence, professionalism and efficiency at detecting and correcting either misbehavior or errors.
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. All voting machines will be paper auditable. 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 affordably 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 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. And many counter-terror agents have been (suspiciously) re-assigned. 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.
IGUS shall supervise an audit of US and state government computer systems for access security, hygiene and modernization needs – prioritizing first those used by defense and intelligence agencies and the U.S. Treasury and Social Security systems. All disbursements by the Treasury shall be registered immediately on log that is visible to IGUS and to pertinent subcommittees in both houses of Congress.
NOTE that in February 2026: Google said it crippled IPIDEA, a massive residential proxy network that secretly turned millions of everyday devices into tools for cybercrime. IPIDEA hid attacks behind real home internet connections, making malicious traffic harder to detect and block than data center-based proxies. About nine million Android devices were freed, along with the removal of hundreds of compromised apps.
But that was just one botnet. There's a Sh**t tsunami of these parasites, out there.
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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. As next in part 5.
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 ==
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.
Next... onward to four more pragmatic, 60%+ proposals in Part 5!
