10-Point Plan to Rebuild the US after Bush's Destruction: Redux and Explanation

[rec_report]

10-Point Plan to Rebuild the US after Bush's Destruction: Redux and Explanation ----The Rec Report --By Michael Rectenwald Saturday, 17 Mar 2007

The Republican Party avows and holds positions that are anathema to the lives of millions, if not billions. The Republican Party, officially or unofficially, declaims the reality of Global Warming. The Republican Party disavows the science of Global Warming because its corporate sponsors in the oil and automotive industries are powerful forces within the party. These latter hire apologists to produce counter-, junk science to stand in opposition to credible science-to the detriment of our species' survival. They are bent on denial at all costs and must be removed from power, because their power imperils human life on the planet.

Secondly, the Republican Party, at least in its current neoconservative configuration, is hell-bent on War. The basic principle seems to be to incite whatever ideological opposition there is against the US into militaristic confrontation. Such an approach is anathema to the interests not only of the US citizens, but of the world's population. The situation in Iraq is a prime example, but the current confrontational mode with Iran is also apiece with this posture. Rather than "fighting terrorism," the Republican Party is mass-producing it, as numerous studies have made clear. Rather than negotiation with those who differ with them ideologically and politically, they try to stir them into taking some action that will then justify a military attack. The Republican Party is doing more for terrorism than all of the Al Qaida and other radical Islamic propaganda combined. One may speculate on whether or not the Republican Party, tied so intimately in economic collusion with the military industrial complex, actually wants permanent, military-promoting war at all costs, or not. Regardless, that appears to be the effect.

<snip>

See also: 10-Point Plan for Rebuilding the United States after Bush's Destruction ----The Rec Report --By Michael Rectenwald 15 Mar 2007.]

[Selatius]

1. Number 10 is the worst one on the list from a practical standpoint.

For 10, the problem with starting a party that is to the left of the Democratic Party is that you fracture the voting bloc and could conceivably hand over the victory to the Republicans. Remember that our voting rules are written so that the party that wins the plurality of the vote, not the majority of the vote, wins the election. Of course, the situation works both ways. (See Joe Lieberman)

This is not a two-round voting system like the French General Assembly. This is not Germany's MMP representation system, and this most certainly is not a system built on proportional representation. This is single-seat district representation instead. This is the reason why the US only has two viable political parties. When you have a system where each district is represented by only one person, the tendency is that only two parties become viable. This is known as Duverger's Law. What makes it worse is both Democrats and Republicans engage in gerrymandering of districts, which only solidifies the two-party grip on power.

If people want to drag the Democratic Party to the left, then it's time people start a mass opposition movement not built on winning power necessarily but built on advocating a platform of several reforms. A good example to emulate is the Civil Rights Movement/Anti-War Movement of the 1960s. Another great example is the Labor Movement of the 1920s/1930s or the Populist Movement of the late 1800s early 1900s. These movements were not necessarily political parties, but they were just as powerful in effecting change because they threatened the existing power structure with obsolescence if they did not give into the demands.

At the current rate, the anti-war movement is still gathering steam, but it's already causing Democrats in power to alter their behavior to some degree.

[rec_report]

2. On Point 10:

Point 10 is implemented after the Republican party is non-existent.

[rec_report]

3. Note: This essay is a follow-up to MDR's '10-Point Plan.'

Here is the intro, which I should have included:

In my previous Rec Report, entitled, "10-Point Plan for Rebuilding the United States after Bush's Destruction" (for which I have received much flak and a fair number of death threats from militant right-wingers--which in itself more than vindicates much of what I wrote), I made the following two points that seem to have roused the most ire from rabid Republicans, some of whom suggested, not unsurprisingly, that my remarks constitute a contradiction.

9. Consider the possibility that the Republican ideology contravenes the Constitution because its policies and beliefs endanger the well-being of the people. Consider making the Republican Party illegal.

10. Start a party that opposes the Democratic Party from the left of the Democratic Party and makes the Republican Party a detestable relic of the past akin to the slave-holding Confederates.

<snip>

[nadinbrzezinski]

4. Making the Republican party ilega

given that making the democratic party ilegal from their POV, (read free republic ever?), I guess our authoritarians are starting to come out of the woodwork

Now given the history of the US, you will see the emergence of another conservative party, if this one should go away

The IDEOLOGY is not going away any time soon

So you want to dive them underground? And waht stoms them from driving YOU underground?

Never mind Freedom of Speech and all that jazz

[rec_report]

5. Global warming alone justifies declaring the GOP a threat to...

all living creatures on earth.
Here is the paragraph in which MDR addresses this point:

The Republican Party, officially or unofficially, declaims the reality of Global Warming. The Republican Party disavows the science of Global Warming because its corporate sponsors in the oil and automotive industries are powerful forces within the party. These latter hire apologists to produce counter-, junk science to stand in opposition to credible science-to the detriment of our species' survival. They are bent on denial at all costs and must be removed from power, because their power imperils human life on the planet.

[Selatius]

6. As the previous poster said, outlawing the Republican Party won't work.

The Republican Party as well as the Democratic Party are, ultimately, products of the campaign finance system in the US. By outlawing the Republican Party, another party will simply come into its place with the same or nearly the same ideology as before. The Republican and to an extent the Democratic Party became what they are today because we live under a "pay to play system." As long as there is no public financing of federal campaigns, then the ones with the most money will have a competitive advantage over those who are poorer in terms of raising funds.

You need a constitutional amendment that institutes public financing of federal campaigns as well as a 60 day ban on political advertising by anybody except the candidates themselves.

[rec_report]

7. Yes, those Amendments need to be implemented, but we also need...

drastic change in the US, not merely a moderate/middle-of-the-road pseudo-Democrat running the show (if we can even attain that 'accomplishment').
Polar Bear

[Selatius]

8. Yes, but banning political parties would not likely survive a constitutional test.

As it stands, I am pretty certain that such a ban would violate the 1st Amendment's free association clause. Find some other way that's less authoritarian.

[rec_report]

9. Well, most of what Bush has done (and not done) doesn't survive...

a Constitutional test and is authoritarian --yet, it's 'all good' (with most in the US). If people were genuinely outraged with Bush's fascism, there would be a greater outcry - I mean, more than merely dressing up in a Statue of Liberty costume and marching on a Saturday. Yes, any demonstrations against this regime are valuable, but we need more...

I understand your points, though. :)
Polar Bear