Quote Originally Posted by Don Corleone
Out of a 26 line post replying to the idea that the Democrats don't have a message other than "Bush sucks", Red Harvest has chosen to spend 23 bashing Bush and the Republicans. In the other 3 lines, he alludes to a 'plan' to balance the budget, enhance Social Security and Medicare, yet offers not one detail. I have a plan to make $10million US a year by the time I'm 40. Just don't ask me for any details.

This, in a nutshell, is what is wrong with the Democratic party. They hate the opposition more than they like their own ideas.
What a misrepresentation, only a portion of that was directed at his failed policies. It's not "hatred" of the opposition. It is hatred of bad ideas and particularly ones that have failed. Plans have been offered from the Democrats, selective hearing is an issue... Does it do any good to put anything forward when nobody is listening. No.

I'm an independent by the way. I've never been that happy with what has been offered by either side. The best initiatives I've seen were: 1. Balancing the budget. 2. Doing something about healthcare cost and coverage. Clinton succeeded on #1, and got the healthcare industry concerned enough about #2 that it was in check for a few years. My suggestion is to go back to those two things first. Fix what Dubya broke. The problem is, Dubya used the irresponsible "free candy" approach of tax breaks to get elected.

If you want to continue with "my plan": 1. Balance the budget by reversing much of Dubya's tax cut. 2. Provide universal coverage or true availability, burden shared by all. 3. Greatly simplify medical/insurance rules to a nationwide system--cut out much of the overhead now built into the system. 4. I believe priming the pump in key sectors with incentives for future markets is the way to actually jump start the economy and keep our competitive technology edge 5. I believe in dismantling/restricting monopolies/barriers that inhibit overall growth (Microsoft and some of the extensions on pharmaceutical patents.). 6. Reform the governance of the U.S. financial markets--so that I can get a decent return on my investments. 7. Reform the way earnings are reported to provide a true picture of financial health, and reform how boards and execs report to shareholders--execs seem to be carrying away the lions share of my investment profits. 8. Stiffer penalties, easier prosecution (lower the burden of proof for the obvious gross misconduct), and tigher regulation to reduce fleecing of companies by execs. 9. A real energy policy, with investment for the future. 10. Revise tax code slightly to adjust interest taxes by subtracting out inflation for a "net" income--other measures to encourage saving, discourage over leveraged borrowing. 11. Take the draconian aspects out of DMCA--they are a drag on competitiveness. 12. Make medical pricing fair--no more billing based on who your insurer is. The current range of that is several hundred percent.

As I said, its not gonna matter until there is someone charismatic to present other plans, and have an audience to present it to.