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I hope he uses his State of the Union to present the moral and logical argument for his policies and for changes in the way our government runs. He should talk about all the accomplishments of progressive reform over the past 100 years, including Social Security, Medicare/Medicaid, rural electrification, civil rights, womens rights, veterans benefits, improved funding for schools, worker safety, greater protection of our food, water, and medicines, environmental protection, as well as victories in WWI and WWII.
He should awaken people to the fact that every advanced nation in the world, except those with small populations that are oil rich, have high taxes in order to maintain a high standard of living. He should explain to people that it costs a lot of money to run a great nation. Then he should point out that the wealthier you are the more economic opportunities you have, but the price for those opportunities is higher taxes. Then he should talk about the ill-gotten gains by the wealthy during the Bush years and tell them that they must play a bigger role in helping to reduce the deficit. He should call on them to take some personal responsibility for our economic crisis.
He should explain that the vast majority of poor people are honest and hard-working, and without health care these people will not be able to progress, will die young, and simply go to emergency rooms for free care. He should talk about saving the lives of children and the working poor as something that is a right for all Americans. He should explain, yet again, that our health care system is so out of whack compared to other nations that it's bankrupting not only families, but the country as well.
He should talk about the importance of the stimulus money to rebuild an infrastructure that in parts is over a 100 years old and in serious disrepair. He should explain that not only safety is at stake, but home values and jobs are at stake too. And then he should say explain why Wall Street must assume a larger burden in helping in our economic recovery -- namely that Wall Street ultimately ends up with much of the tax revenue, through military, educational, infrastructure, and other investments. Along the same lines, he should point out that public services allow people to buy food, which more often than not benefits the supermarket chains and the large farms.
He should also call to create a simplified tax structure that eliminates most deductions. But, it should be progressive, and in that it would lead to reduced taxes for the middle class andt higher taxes for the wealthy, at least until our economy is on sound footing. It is important, I think, that Obama talks about simplifying things, because that is a major Republican meme whether we're talking about taxes, HCR, or climate control.
He should ask the American people if they believe as the Supreme Court does that corporations have the same rights as individuals, and he should ask if they favor the separation of church and state as our founders saw, but point out that the separation of church and state mandates that don't ask/don't tell be terminated and gay marriage be legalized.
I hope that he does not give an address that simply a laundry list of accomplishments to date and ideas for the future. He needs to educate the American public, to give an intelligent defense of Democratic or liberal proposals. The State of the Union address provides the best opportunity for him to do so. If instead, he does a Bill Clinton, and simply lists lot of ideas, he will set himself and the Democrats up for further attack as the Republicans cherrypick every issue they disagree with.
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