US and Western Political Reform: What Do Democrats Stand For?- by Robert Reich

Thomas Jefferson: US Founding Father

Millions of Americans who are politically engaged for the first time in their lives are crying out for a bold alternative to bigoted and destructive policies.

But Democrats can’t just be anti-Trump or move to the middle.

To be successful Democrats must address the forces that created Trump: The toxic combination of widening inequality and racism.

The richest one percent now own more than the bottom 90 percent. Corporations and the rich are running our politics.

The resulting economic stresses have made many people vulnerable to Trump’s politics of hate and bigotry.

If Democrats stand for one thing, it must be overcoming this unprecedented economic imbalance and creating a multi-racial, multi-ethnic coalition of the bottom 90 percent, to take back our economy and politics.

This requires, at the least:

1. Public investments in world-class schools and infrastructure for all.
2. Free public universities and first-class technical training for all;
3. Single-payer Medicare-for-All;
4. Higher taxes on the wealthy to pay for this;
5. Using antitrust to break up powerful monopolies on Wall Street, Big Tech, Big Pharma, and Big Agriculture.
6. Getting big money out of our politics.

Together, these steps form an agenda to reclaim our economy and democracy for all. Will Democrats lead the way?

Note EU-Digest: it seems highly questionable and unlikely that Democrats (the so called left) will be able to peacefully lead the way towards change 

Bold moves are now required and it might be useful to take note of what US Founding Father Thomas Jefferson ( 04-13-1743 - 07-04-1826)  said back in  1807 to M. deStael : "When patience has begotten false estimates of its motives, when wrongs are pressed because it is believed they will be borne, resistance becomes morality."

 "As with the end of feudalism 500 years ago, capitalism’s replacement by postcapitalism will be accelerated by external shocks and shaped by the emergence of a new kind of human being. And it has started", says Paul Mason: Bitish writer and broadcaster on economics and social justice.

The time for change is now, not only in the US, but for the whole Western Society, and it will take blood sweat and tears.

 Read more: What Do Democrats Stand For?