litmus test for all 2006 and 2008 candidates . . .

[OneBlueSky]

House, Senate, and President . . .

"Will you support repeal of the 2005 Bankruptcy Act?" . . .

[Melynn]

1. Great idea!!!!

Make the Bankruptcy Act a campaign issue in 2006 and 2008. It's a issue that some Democrats (the ones who didn't vote for it) can win on.

[Wapsie B]

2. Yes and repeal of tort reform.

[me b zola]

4. I'll second that.

[Dave Sund]

5. Nope...

It's not "tort reform."

We (myself included) are falling into their frames too often. What's an alternative phrase we can use?

[sandnsea]

7. right to redress

When everything is privatized and corporates rule all aspects of government, we won't have right to redress because we'll need redress from corporations instead of the government. "Tort reform" is essentially removing our civil court rights, which is our right to redress if corporations provide all government services.

Or maybe right to redress covers it all without the sort of confusing explanation.

[Wapsie B]

10. True enough.

"Protection of personal liberties" ie the right to seek legal redress when injured by a corporation.
"Family Protection Act"
"Liberty Protection Act"
"Personal Freedom Act"

just brainstorming............you're right, we need to win the sound-bite war

[OneBlueSky]

3. kick . . . n/t

.

[bvar22]

6. This is the single issue that will separate...

This issue will separate the crooks whose vote has been bought by the RICH from legitimate Democratic Representatives. I generally argue against litmus tests , but I support this one. The Democratic Party has a cancer, and until this festering tumor is removed, LABOR and the Working Class do not have a Party that represents THEIR voice in our government.

I refuse to support, send money to, or vote for those who will advance the agenda of the RICH at the expense of LABOR, the Working Class, and the POOR. I no longer care if there is an "R" or a "D" after their names.

The issues of Economic Justice will determine the future Quality of Life not just for Americans, but for the World. This single issue is much more important than:

*who does or does not get an abortion

*who does or does not buy a gun

*whose god one does or does not pray to

*who does or does not get married




As long as the American public can be be distracted by these wedge issues as the determining difference between the two Parties, the looting and rape of the American Working Class & the POOR will continue. BIG MONEY could not care less which Party is in power as long as THEY own enough Democrats to muddy the water with the wedge issues.

The Working Class still has the power to change the direction of the USA. We can still Vote the Crooks OUT if the margins are sufficiently large.

The GREATEST ECONOMIC EXPANSION in the USA occurred during the late 50's and early 60's. The top tax bracket was between 70%- 90%,the PUBLIC owned the Utilities, Corporations were regulated, LABOR UNIONS were protected and honored, and TRADE TREATIES protected AMERICAN JOBS and Industry!!!

This economic philosophy allowed the growth of the Middle Class, and made the bounties of America available to majority of Americans (not just the rich)!

* Health care was affordable

* Education was within easy reach of the majority of Americans

* the gap between the MEGA RICH and the rest of us NARROWED

* Family owned Farms and Businesses could provide a good, INDEPENDENT living for Americans.

* The Civil Rights reform made these opportunities available to ALL Americans

The RICH were still RICH, and Corporations grew and made a reasonable profit!
Lets return to policies that WORKED for ALL AMERICANS, not just the RICH!!!!

Bill Moyers on Class in America
The vast inequality of this new Gilded Age didn't just happen.

Nature didn't ordain it, the market didn't require it, and Adam Smith's invisible hand doesn't sustain it.

What happened is the rich declared class war and spent what it took to win.


Not exactly a new story, of course, but the extraordinary new concentration of wealth and power created a juggernaut that makes it harder and harder for democracy to work for all.

The rich buy the laws and loopholes they want from Congress, and from the White House, they buy executive protection of their privileges.

So government winds up promoting the extremes instead of moderating them.

Look at the bill the House of Representatives recently passed to reform accounting and financial disclosure in the wake of Enron.

Despite everything we learned about the gang from Houston, the bill does not close the revolving door between accountants and their clients, nor will it prohibit accounting firms from making millions by selling consulting services to the same companies they audit.

Critics now call it the "Ken Lay Protection Act." And what happened the other day when the Senate voted on regulating energy derivatives, those mischievous devices Enron used to manipulate prices and gouge customers?

Why, Senator Phil Gramm of Texas, that old and faithful friend of Enron, managed to scuttle it.

Then there's the new farm bill that will give more than $50 billion in new subsidies to the richest and largest farms in America.

And the new energy bill that takes your tax dollars and transfers them to the richest energy companies in the country.

Remember our recent story about how Enron used stock options to avoid paying taxes in four out of the last five years?

Well, even as we talk, the White House and business lobbies, with Democratic Senator Joe Lieberman as their point man, are working to block reform of stock options.

Yes, the rich declared class war and won.

All that's left is for politics to divide up the spoils.

http://www.pbs.org/now/commentary/moyers7.html

[mmmbeer]

8. It's a pretty clear cut issue- 73 dem congressmen and 18 senators voted to

favor the interests of the rich and big corporations over those of ordinary Americans. If that's not a good test of whether somebody's worth voting for, I sure as hell dont know what is.

[bvar22]

9. Recommending and kicking.

This should be reposted in General Discussion: Politics.