What you won't hear about during the 2012 election
We鈥檙e on the cusp of the 2012 election. What will it be about? It seems reasonably certain President Obama will be confronted by a putative Republican candidate who:
Believes corporations are people, wants to cut the top corporate rate to 25% (from the current 35%) and no longer require they pay tax on foreign income, who will eliminate capital gains and dividend taxes on anyone earning less than $250,000 a year, raise the retirement age for Social Security and turn Medicaid into block grants to states, seek a balanced-budged amendment to the Constitution, require any regulatory agency issuing a new regulation repeal another regulation of equal cost (regardless of the benefits), and seek repeal of Obama鈥檚 healthcare plan.
Or one who:
Believes the Federal Reserve is treasonous when it expands the money supply, doubts human beings evolved from more primitive forms of life, seeks to abolish the Internal Revenue Service and shift most public services to the states, thinks Social Security is a Ponzi scheme, while governor took a meat axe to public education and presided over an economy that generated large numbers of near-minimum-wage jobs, and who will shut down most federal regulatory agencies, cut corporate taxes, and seek repeal of Obama鈥檚 healthcare plan.
Whether it鈥檚 Romney or Perry, he鈥檚 sure to attack everything Obama has done or proposed. And Obama, for his part, will have to defend his positions and look for ways to counterpunch.
Hence, the parameters of public debate for the next fourteen months.
Within these narrow confines progressive ideas won鈥檛 get an airing. Even though poverty and unemployment will almost surely stay sky-high, wages will stagnate or continue to fall, inequality will widen, and deficit hawks will create an indelible (and false) impression that the nation can鈥檛 afford to do much about any of it 鈥� proposals to reverse these trends are unlikely to be heard.
Neither party鈥檚 presidential candidate will propose to tame CEO pay, create more tax brackets at the top and raise the highest marginal rates back to their levels in the 1950s and 1960s (that is, 70 to 90 percent), and match the capital-gains rate with ordinary income.
You won鈥檛 hear a call to strengthen labor unions and increase the bargaining power of ordinary workers.
Don鈥檛 expect an argument for resurrecting the Glass-Steagall Act, thereby separating commercial from investment banking and stopping Wall Street鈥檚 most lucrative and dangerous practices.
You won鈥檛 hear there鈥檚 no reason to cut Medicare and Medicaid 鈥� that a better means of taming health-care costs is to use these programs鈥� bargaining clout with drug companies and hospitals to obtain better deals and to shift from fee-for-services to fee for healthy outcomes.
Nor will you hear why we must move toward Medicare for all.
Nor why the best approach to assuring Social Security鈥檚 long-term solvency is to lift the ceiling on income subject to Social Security payroll taxes.
Don鈥檛 expect any reference to the absurdity of spending more on the military than do all other countries put together, and the waste and futility of an unending and undeclared war against Islamic extremism 鈥� especially when we have so much to do at home.
Nor are you likely to hear proposals for ending the corruption of our democracy by big money.
Although proposals like these are more important and relevant than ever, they won鈥檛 be part of the upcoming presidential election.
But they should be part of the public debate nonetheless.
That鈥檚 why I urge you to speak out about them 鈥� at town halls, candidate forums, and public events. Continue to mobilize and organize around them. Talk with your local media about them. Use social media to get the truth out.
Don鈥檛 be silenced by Democrats who say by doing so we鈥檒l jeopardize the President鈥檚 re-election. If anything we鈥檒l be painting him as more of a centrist than Republicans want the public to believe. And we鈥檒l be preserving the possibility (however faint) of a progressive agenda if he鈥檚 reelected.
Remember, too, the presidential race isn鈥檛 the only one occurring in 2012. More than a third of Senate seats and every House seat will be decided on, as well as numerous governorships and state races. Making a ruckus about these issues could push some candidates in this direction 鈥� particularly since, as polls show, much of the public agrees.
Most importantly, by continuing to push and prod we give hope to countless Americans on the verge of giving up. We give back to them the courage of their own convictions, and thereby lay the groundwork for a future progressive agenda 鈥� to take back America from the privileged and powerful, and restore broad-based prosperity.
