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Like a good citizen, I attended my precinct caucus Tuesday night. There we selected delegates to the county assembly, which will put candidates on the county ballot and send delegates to other assemblies -- state representative and senator districts, congressional district, statewide, etc. -- which will also put candidates on the primary ballot.
Given that it's also possible to petition one's way onto the primary ballot, many candidates prefer that route. Also, a committed organization can often pack the caucuses and thereby gain control of the nomination process.
Thus some observers think that the caucus system is a relic whose days are numbered. I like the idea of gathering with neighbors every so often for the express purpose of talking politics, so I hope our caucuses can survive.
One exemplary feature of a Democratic caucus is that anyone can introduce a resolution. Alas, I had been occupied on other matters, too busy to think of resolutions. After some time for sober reflection, though, I offer these:
1) Tax Reform. All U.S. representatives and senators shall personally prepare every schedule of their own tax returns. Each year, a dozen names will be chosen at random, and at televised public sessions, the filers will answer questions from an IRS examiner.
The logic is simple. As long as you can hire accountants and attorneys to prepare the paperwork, why should you care about complexity of the tax code? But if each representative or senator must set aside several days for the ordeal, and then be prepared to explain each line in public, then simplification and reform will come naturally.
2) Environmental Protection. Any company wishing to open a mine, mill, quarry, refinery, smelter, etc., can establish it on any property it owns. However, the owners of the majority of the stock in this enterprise must reside within one mile of the facility.
Why should the public go to the trouble and expense of writing and enforcing regulations for air and water quality? If the private owners must live with the consequences of their actions, then they'll see to it that they and their families are not poisoned. With the proper inducement, private enterprise will do the job.
3) Health Care Reform. No senator or representative who
opposes government health plans
may participate in
one, and must instead make private arrangements for health
care with an insurer, HMO, prayer, etc.
I don't know about you, but I get irked when I hear some congressman, who gets an excellent health-care plan from the federal government, explain that the rest of us must be protected from the horrors of such coverage. If it's that bad for us, why isn't it bad for him, too?
4) Campaign Finance Reform. All senators and congressmen shall, at all public appearances, wear vests or jackets with embroidered logos of their campaign contributors -- like race-car drivers plastered with STP and Champion insignia, or athletes and coaches with their swooshes.
We cannot eliminate these contributions, but if candidates accept them, then they should be proud to display their true affiliations, and we'd know where they're really coming from.
This suggestion is not original; it comes from Curtis Imrie of Buena Vista, who announced his candidacy Tuesday night for the third-district congressional seat now held by Scott McInnis, whose crowded jacket would bear the caduceus of the American Medical Association, the crest of the Union Pacific, the arches of McDonald's and the eagle of Anheuser-Busch.
5) Minimum Wage and Affordable Housing. The minimum wage in each county will be set at 1/3 of the previous year's median house sale price.
If the median sale price is $300,000, then the minimum wage would be $50 an hour, about $100,000 a year -- enough to afford one of those $300,000 houses. This will reduce commuting and consequent strains on highways and law enforcement, while greatly improving family life -- in other words, lower taxes and more family values.
Lower taxes and family values are Republican catch-phrases, but good ideas are good ideas. If Democrats insist on borrowing Republican notions, why not these instead of corporate welfare, more cops and bigger prisons?
To borrow a phrase from Jim Hightower, a public nuisance and former commissioner of agriculture in Texas, why are we talking about a third party when we don't even have a second party?
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