*Three Great Progressive Ideas*

[G_j]

THREE GREAT PROGRESSIVE IDEAS
The Nation

1) Get out of Iraq. 2) Make corporations accountable. 3)
Save small farmers. Congress's most progressive members
offer short proposals for where to take the country.

http://www.alternet.org/story/31258/

Editor's note: The Nation assembled 20 short political proposals authored by some of the most progressive members in the House of Representatives. The following is a selection of three of those.


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[rogerashton]

1. Well, yes, but ....

My New Orleans roommate had a story about a young couple who got married on a sudden impulse and checked into a motel for their honeymoon; but only then the male, a Catholic, had second thoughts.

"What's the problem?" she asked.

"Um, it's Lent," he said.

She asked:"To whom, and for how long?"

I feel that way about "corporate accountability." In principle, (as with sex) I'm for it, but to whom, and for what? To politicians? Employees? Local communities?

Likewise -- out of Iraq sounds good, but there is something to the idea that you can't unscramble eggs. Of course, you can fire the chuckleheaded bastard who dropped the eggs on the floor -- something we need to do.

As for saving the small farmer -- farmers big and small are no more than about 3% of the economically active population, and farming is a business. Why does "save the small farmer" make more sense than "save the small dry cleaner" or "save the small pharmacist?" Actually, I can think of a better case for "save the small pharmacist."

Unfortunately, slogans, particularly hackneyed old slogans, do not a vision make. The Republicans are the party of ideas -- bad ideas -- but in this world it seems that bad ideas beat no ideas.