Thursday, October 4, 2007

The Farmer-Labor Platform

When America had progressive leaders:


On November 19, 1945, only 7 months into his presidency, Harry S. Truman gave a speech to the United States Congress proposing a new national health care program. In his speech, Truman argued that the federal government should play a role in health care, saying "The health of American children, like their education, should be recognized as a definite public responsibility." One of the chief aims of President Truman's plan was to insure that all communities, regardless of their size or income level, had access to doctors and hospitals.

If we were to put together a platform for a Farmer-Labor platform this would be plank one in my book. What should the other planks be?

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

My ideas for an FL party platform would be a combination of former State Senator Becky Lourey's gubenatorial campaign and U.S. Senate candidate Jack Nelson Pallmeyer's. http://www.mostimportantdecade.com/
The issues would deal with a healthy earth(reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 80% by 2030), a culture of peace(remove our MN national guard troops from Iraq), and governing for the common good (establishing a single payer health care system)

Anonymous said...

the last post was from me, classconscious not anonymous. still getting the hang of this.

peopleoverprofits said...

I think the platform should move to further democratize (with a small d) the state and country. This includes making the 1)senate more population proportional,2)making voting more reliable/having the electorate automatically registered to vote,3) creating a non-partisan board to draw House Districts so they are more balanced, 4)move to public financing and 5)move to instant run-off voting.

Just some suggestions...

Anonymous said...

Amen to more voting rights. I think that is a HUGE part of moving this country into a more progressive mood and keeping it there.
This election year is so rediculous. What kind of nonsense is it that the person who raises the most money is the best candidate. It's rediculous that candidates have already dropped out of races without a single vote being counted.
I'd want a plank to add to either the state constitution or the national constitution an equal pay law for men and women.

Anonymous said...

I went to caucus in 2006 to support, among other things, and vote for instant run-off voting. I went on to vote for IRV at my SD and state DFL conventions. I only support candidates such as Becky and Jack who support instant run-off voting. I think one of the great challenges is to hold politicians accountable before we give them endorsements or elect them.

Anonymous said...

Pass a non discrimination act to cover all people. Currently there is a bill in the house to cover gay and lesbians but it doesn’t include transgender people. How can we still be afraid of this? Everyone should be protected from discrimination.

Universal Heath Coverage for all people. Comparing this to shopping around for car insurance like Clinton’s proposal is not going to fix the problem and it’s not going to cover everyone equally. Also cover all prescriptions….the current federal program that some presidential candidates are in favor of doesn’t cover birth control. Why not?

Create fair and smart taxes. The middle class should not be paying more in taxes than the higher earners. We don’t need to be afraid of taxes.

Take down the fence! Not only is this not a solution to illegal immigration but it will hurt the wildlife and cut off their water supplies. Focus on the companies that knowingly hire and employ illegal immigrants.

Stop outsourcing jobs. Why is it so important to have the most money? Why would we rather have American workers unemployed struggling to find work due to job loss and hire someone in another country to do the job for a lower wage? Not only are we exploiting that country but we aren’t taking care of people right here.

Regulate goods coming into our borders. How many recalls and stories of lead paint fears do we need before we get a clue?

Allow marriage to all people. Stop blurring the line between church and state. Any 2 people should be allowed to marry in the eye of the state. If a church chooses to recognize that union as a marriage also, fine. It’s up to them and shouldn’t impact how we view “marriage”.

Stop funding abstinence only education. Could we try any harder to not prepare young people? This is ridiculous. Kids are having sex they should be informed of everything, no matter how scary it is.

Global warming is not a hoax. We are destroying our planet. Shouldn’t we do something about this?

Stop the war. And don’t start another one. Let’s learn what diplomacy really means.