The Party of Effective Gov't will lead the country and win!

[napi21]

That's is a quote (almost exactly) from a statement made by Faried Zacharia (sp) on "this Week" sunday morning show.

The panel was talking about what should happen now, both in Iraq and the Gulf of Mx. Both sides of the argument agreed that the biggest part of the problems in both places is poverty, and NO ONE in leadership knows how to fix it.

Obviously, the current admin doesn't know, or they would have done something by now. The Dems seem to have very few solutions, and most are throwing $$ at a 1950's style system that isn't working either.

"Both sides need to start thinking outside the box, and come up with an EFFECTIVE SOLUTION! We all know that UPS & FED EX works, cell phones with cameras work, laptop computers work. We need to eliminate the old positions of big gov't or small gov't and find a gov't that works! THE PARTY WHO CAN FIND IDEAS AND PLANS FOR AN EFFECTIVE GOV'T WILL BE THE ONE THAT WINS!"


I happen to agree with that! I sure would like to find the candidates who can make it happen!!!!

[BurgherHoldtheLies]

1. Couldn't agree more...Dems need to use this language. nt

[napi21]

3. YES! As much as I love pointing out ShrubCo's faults and failures

I would love it much more to be hearing the Dems spouting solutions that MOST Americans can hear and say "HEY, that's a great idea, let's do it!"

The failures of the Pubs would then take care of THEM.

[barbaraann]

2. Unfortunately, he also said that the DLC was the model for that.

:-(

[napi21]

4. He said the DLC was the only group coming up with ANY ideas.

I didn't view that as total support of the DLC, but IF the only different ideas are coming from them, they deserve the plug.

[barbaraann]

6. Well, that's ridiculous!

Plenty of non-DLC Dems have ideas. For example:
http://dnc.org/a/2005/09/senate_democrat_13.php

[napi21]

9. Those are all ideas to help the victims of Katrina. Fareed was

talking about and entire Party plan to establish an EFFECTIVE gov't! There's a big difference!

I don't know what ideas of the DLC he was talking about because I never even check their site! Do you know why? Because I have been too influenced by the folks on DU! I accepted almost everyone's statements when they said the DLC was nothing but Pub lite and don't deserve any attention. Shame on me for just accepting that and not checking for myself!

In response to another post I read an interview of George Lakoff. I'm very impressed with his words and explainations. He does not answer the "effective gov't" ideas, but gives some suggestions on what the Dems could do to get those ideas!

http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2003/10/27_lakoff.shtml

[barbaraann]

11. The Dems have plenty of ideas for effective government.

That's the big reason most of us are here on DU. The problem is communicating and framing our ideas, not having them.

[GreenPartyVoter]

14. I don't buy the DLC line for a minute. What about PDA?

------------------------------------------------------
URGENT yet easy! Hold the government accountable for Katrina's aftermath
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4736062

[derby378]

5. Right out of George Lakoff's playbook

Republicans talk about "smaller government" but actually push for a government that's big enough to take away your rights, yet small enough to leave you on your own during a disaster.

Democrats should talk about effective government and then actively promote it; big or small is no longer a factor.

[napi21]

8. For anyone who hasn't read anything by Lakoff, check out this link!

http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2003/10/27_lakoff.shtml

SHAME OF ME! I admit, I haven't ever read any of his book, and I agree with almost everything he said in that interview in the link above.

I have listened to several cspan programs in the last few years whwere several different authoris, most linguists, have said the same things.

How do we get our Dems to recognize the truth in what Lakoff is saying?

Dear God, I wish I knew!!!!

[stray cat]

7. Party of lean and effective goverment

Fareed also said republicans are against government but pro-pork spending and thats why Bush's deficit is so large.

[bluedawg12]

10. Exactly! People feel in their gut that this in now a corporation

and special interest groups running the nation.

We must have a strong alternative.

The time is now!
http://www.emergingdemocraticmajorityweblog.com/donkeyrising/archives/001254.php

"July 25, 2005

Whites Moving Away from GOP
Pundits like to point out how dependent the Democrats are on the minority vote and, therefore, how vulnerable the Democrats would be to any weakening in that support. True enough. But it's also true--perhaps even more so--that the GOP is utterly dependent on high levels of support among whites and, therefore quite vulnerable to any weakening of support among these voters."

[OneGrassRoot]

12. Yes I saw that, too - PAY ATTENTION DEM LEADERS!!!! n/t

[CascadeTide]

13. The answer is education and lowering cost of living

Education is easy. Spend tons of money to build the education infrastructure so it's the best in the world. Set high expectation and inspire people to want to learn. All citizens get free tuition. Maybe easier said than done but I haven't heard anyone seriously talk about it.

The other way is to lower the cost of living so that it becomes a non-issue. People can live sustainable lives and lower the cost of living substantially using natural building materials, such as cob and adobe, to build their own house on the cheap. A lot of cities ban the building of these houses, which is pretty ridiculous since these houses last centuries and the materials are mostly little more than dirt and sand.

Add in the development of sustainable energy sources like solar and wind power and people will be able to live very independent lives and not need government assistance. But, that's not what politicians really want, no matter what the Republicans say.

[napi21]

15. What's the opponents complaint about cob and adobe?

I think I know what an adobe house is, but I never heard of cob??? Why are cities outlawing them?

I think things like that could be a step in the right direction, but only the first step.

I'm thinking about some other things completely new and different.

1. Limit the number of Senate and House aides per member.

Representatives' staff allowances can be used to hire up to 18 permanent and four non-permanent aides divided between the members' Washington and district offices. Up to $75,000 of a representative's staff funds can be transferred to his or her official expense account for use in other categories, such as computer and related services. The maximum salary allowed House personal staffers in 2005 was $156,848 (2001: $140,451).

Senators' personal staff allowances vary with the size of the members' states. Senators may hire as many aides as they wish within their allowance; typically this ranges between 26 and 60, depending on the size of the state and the salary levels offered to the staffers.

The maximum salary allowed to Senate personal staffers in 2003 was $150,159 (1999: $132,159); for Senate legislative staffers the maximum salary in 2005 was $153,599.

2. Create an alternate National Health care system that would only cover basic treatment for serious illnesses, but a very low cost. People would know, up front, there would be NO transplant coverage, no long term keom therapy, but would cover an emergency apentectamy, and most other emergency treatments.

Require every Doctor and medical professional to donate a % of his/her time pro-bono in order to retain their license, to support this new system, but exempt them from malpractice suits and totally overseen by the AMA if there are complaints.

3. Establish a National drug store where, for a small membership fee, Americans could purchase most prescription drugs at a very low cost because of the hugh buying power of such an organization. Eliminate the absurd drug bill that Congress passed last year to pay the costs!


Anyway, maybe my ideas are crazy, but you see where I'm heading with this. NEW ideas that haven't been discussed before.

[CascadeTide]

16. All of those are good ideas

Cob is basically clay, sand and straw mixed together, kinda like brick but it's monolithic so you just stack layers on top of layers. You can build some really cool stuff with it and it lends itself to creative design. Some cities have laws against building cob structures for reasons I don't know. I suspect it's mostly safety concerns and "traditional" building contractor's opposition. There are houses centuries old in the British Isles so its safety as a building material is unquestioned, plus it doesn't burn!

Things like this are a first step to making people's lives better but it's a huge step. You can build a cob house/natural materials house for less than a thousand dollars. It's a tradeoff between labor and cost but if you have help you can build it with a minimum amount of technical knowledge and money. This also lends itself to community building.

Cob only works in some environments but every environment has natural building techniques that are well suited for it. Check out some people have done with cob:
http://images.google.com/images?q=cob%20house&hl=en&hs=Irq&lr=&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&sa=N&tab=wi

this one is my favorite:

[napi21]

17. That's a really neat house, but the $1,000 is very unrealistic!

I don't know about you, but I want, and everyone deserves a house with electricity, plumbing, and at least the minimum appliances. Certainly, this type of house would be cheaper than what you can now buy, but you're sure talking about a lot more than $1,000!!!!

[CascadeTide]

18. yeah $1000 would be a very basic dwelling

but adding electricity and plumbing isn't all that much more expensive if you plan it well. Planning is the key to building things in a smart way to maximize your resources. If you build all of the rooms that need plumbing in one area you can do all of the plumbing on the exterior and it's very easy to maintain, same for electricity. All you have to do is build access points into the plan and run the wires.

The point is you can build a nice house for significantly less using the resources everyone has on a lot. Take a few month's rent and a lot of hard work and you can build something you own instead of kicking it up to the man ad infinitum.

I'm going to put my words into action next summer hopefully. It's too late to start building this in Oregon, the rains will be here soon...

[napi21]

19. Good for you! I wish you good luck and good weather to get it

built ASAP in the Spring! You're right, of course, heating, elec, plumb, and even A/C could be adapted, and I bet could all be done for hmmmm, $30,000. I hope you will send all of us pics of your new home, as you build it, and let us help you celebrate when it's done!

[CascadeTide]

20. I think it could be done for significantly less than that

Heating and cooling probably won't be needed in Oregon. It gets kind of cold in the winter but nothing that a good design and a fire can't overcome. Nobody here has AC really because there are only about 20 hot days and again, design would help it stay cooler. Today's housing designs are terribly inefficient when it comes to heating and cooling.

For plumbing I won't need all that much, 2 sinks and outlets for washing machine/dish washer. I'm looking into rainwater collection, greywater treatment systems and chemical toilets to cut down on and control what goes in and out.

I would love to be able to generate my own electricity also but I don't know that it's feasible now. Currently my electricity is all renewable: hydroelectric, wind and geothermal through Portland General so that's not so bad of an alternative (and much cheaper at this point).

It's a lot to learn but it's interesting to me and I want to be able to help others do this in the future. I'll keep you updated.

Edit: I won't be able to start building until June because our rainy season lasts through then. That'll give me plenty of time to read ;)

[BurgherHoldtheLies]

21. Kick