I think those are straight-forward, popular concepts that anyone that calls himself a Democrat should be able to get behind.  I think the proposals, though, need to be sold more on the basis of the values they represent than on the details (e.g., independent prosecutor = ACCOUNTABILITY), as values are what people take away from campaigns and help brand the party.

I's also echo your thought about a congressional reform package.  That will just help neutralize the issue and obscure it in a bunch of dull rigamarole that nobody understands or cares about at the end of the day.

Our line on the issue should be that "Crooks deserve to be prosecuted and sent to jail."  Why change the rules if the rulebreakers are unaccountable?  The issue, again, is accountability.

...election reform and transparency issues.  If the people are really concerned about reform in government (see no. 2), this should be a no-brainer.

This goes hand in with the "independent prosecutor/ethical investigation" issue.

Do you think your loyal opposition should make a pro-active statement that you are commited to protecting the asses of the current administration from prosecution by international courts?

I know it may seem counterintuitive.

But putting the issue on the table first, you'd be undercutting their faux paternalism.  The alternative is waiting for them to raise the issue as some desparate 11th hour mobilization whisper campaign saying ,"those librels 'll sell America out to the Kofi Annan., just like they did to Santa Claus" bulls##t.  

You'd be taking a sort of united front "America First" stand while simultaneously taking control of the domestic investigation.  

Not that you have to make this a big item on your agenda.  But get it out there defuse it and move on.  

Why not go all apple pie on them, and throw in a constitutional right to vote, too?  It would actually make it harder for Republicans to engage in certain types of voter suppression, so it's not just an empty, symbolic gesture.  

What Georgia is doing right now, for example, could be challenged as violating the federal right to vote, if such a right existed.

And how are they going to run against the right to vote???

p.s. Instead of "Basic health care for all Americans," make that "Medicare for All!"

Corruption & the Independent Prosecutor - I think you're very wrong on this one. I think you're forgetting how thoroughly the Republicans used the Independent Prosecutor law to dog Clinton and how both parties were happy to see that law lapse. I'd also point out that "corruption" is pretty much a non-starter in national elections. It's one thing if your congresscritter has been indicted but otherwise, people don't seem to care - as the Republicans learned in the 1990s. Voters assume that Congress is completely populated with crooks and they seem to be comfortable with that idea.

Frankly, voters also tend to associate the Democrats with shrill, over-the-top claims of corruption. After a while it becomes "the boy who cried wolf". Even if it turns out that Bush was eavesdropping on half of America I don't think Americans will treat it more seriously than they did Iran-Contra, and for the same reason: because by the time a real scandal had come along, they were already deaf from listening to people scream about all the other "scandals". Ditto with the Clinton impeachment. If the Republicans hadn't started their conspiracy mongering 7 years before, with Vince Foster, Ruby Ridge and every other militia recruiting issue they had, they might have actually gotten more Americans to care that Clinton was proven guilty of perjury.

Now, some people might point to Gingrich's efforts to tar the Democrats as corrupt in the early 90's as proof that this isn't true - but he didn't run just, or even mostly, on that issue - rather he had a complete program of promises that voters cared about. For example:

Health care reform - we have to do something, I agree - healthcare costs have been growing faster than inflation for as long as I've been alive - but what? It's easy to say we need national health care, but I was listening to NPR report yesterday that Canadians are breaking their laws against private health care in huge numbers - dozens of companies set up just to ferry them to US hospitals and back, private doctors flagrantly defying the law and adding full surgeries to their "cosmetic surgery" practices.

Why are they doing this? They interviewed a woman who waited 6 weeks to get her initial diagnosis of breast cancer, and was looking at an 18 week wait to begin her chemotherapy!

How do we create a universal healthcare system that doesn't have those kinds of problems? How will we pay for healthcare and find a real, solvent way to pay for Social Security? That's the question a Democratic platform has to answer - and soon, because the boomers will begin to retire during the next president's term.

I don't have a really good suggestion here - I'm leaning to a national health insurance rather than nationalized healthcare; but my fear is that more insurance will allow costs to rise even faster, the way college financial aid seems to drive up the cost of going to college.

Immigration Reform - you didn't mention this, but I would point out that if Democrats got behind a real guest-worker and immigration reform program, the Hispanic vote would shift back their way. They've already lost a big chunk of the black vote, but they don't want to admit it. (Did you notice that black republican has announced for governor of Pennsylvania? And if someone talks Colin Powell or Condi Rice into running for president...)

Minimum Wage - how much? $8/hour? $9/hour? Rather than a flat figure - I would suggest a law that forces the states to set minimums appropriate to their areas. Otherwise you risk driving up unemployment in already poor areas (like the rural South) while not raising the wage enough in urban areas.

Privacy or transparency?

Obviously both, but it would be a good way to the Dems to take on both questions at the same time. In other words: the government has no right to look in your bedroom, but you have the absolute right to look in their kitchen.

I think a cornerstone of investigations makes sense, between "Casino Jack", Duke Cunningham, Delay, Frist, the NSA scandal, CIA leak, Iraq...there are so many things that can be looked into by an ethics committee, its hard to make a complete list without forgetting something.  But i think that should be the fourth pillar of a platform most Americans can get behind.  Of course healthcare needs to be included, but good paying jobs for all, and education need to be addressed.  Minimum wage doesn't affect a good number of the voters, many people making 5.15 an hour are kids, many of whom are underage, don't care enough to go out and vote.  Education concerns all moms most, and there has been quite a bit of complaints against under funding of the No Child left Behind program (or at least locally, in Suffolk County NY).  The Republicans have handed 2006 to us on a platter.  Each thing the Republicans touch has been ruined: the Environment, Education, the Economy, Social Programs....most Americans think we're on the wrong track in poll after poll.  Democrats are always the party of reform.  If we put that forward in 2006 on any of these issues, highlight the fact that we're a community that needs to support one another, and I think we're picking up a lot of seats this year.

It's ignoring the elephants in the room, Iraq and the war on terror. With stories like  this , which show that 80% of marine casualties could have been prevented with proper body armor, it is sinful for the party not to take a stand. Why not introduce a series of policies that would help give the troops what they need and then have the iraq veteran congressional candidates promote them?  I know it's hard to get the caucus to agree on a position on iraq, but we can all stand behind something like this.

That's my proposed slogan for the Dems in 2006.

I hate to be a policy wonk, but the deficits that Bush has created will haunt us for years to come.  Surveys always show that the number one concern for people with children--a lot of registered voters--is the financial security of those children, both in the immediate future and beyond.

I think ignoring Bush's fiscal irresponsibility would squander the support of a lot of independent voters.  It must be addressed.  Tie it into the cronyism if you want, but it must be addressed.

Right to privacy?  Of course -- no one wants to be spied on.  Democrats will have to point out that the President is saying he can spy on ANYONE, not just "suspected terrorists."  Without a court order, it's the same thing.

Independent prosecutor?  Sounds good.  If crimes were committed, they should be prosecuted fully.

Medical care for all?  Republicans will paint this as big government socialism, if it's not done carefully.

A higher minimum wage?  This might gain votes, but it would be an economic mistake.  Artificially high minimum wages hurt the poorest and youngest workers, by keeping them unemployed and out of the work force forever.  Democrats traditionally back this, since unions don't want competition from lower paid workers.  All a higher minimum wage would accomplish is a faster transfer of jobs to India and Mexico.

Perhaps something akin to "Restoring Confidence in Government", perhaps this is the flip side of "Culture of Corruption". However, I think that a lot of people who vote and don't read political blogs want to have confidence in their government.  

The Bush voters I talk to are experencing buyers regret to different degrees. The election was won by having the voter feel safer and more confident in a Republican administration than a Democratic one.  They are expressing a lot of self-doubt now.  I think that this can be used as a positive theme to get Dems elected .

Culture of Corruption is good for 2005/2006 because some of the scandals are fresh, but the Dems have to stand for more than "against corruption," because most people think it's endemic to Washington and outsider Repubs can run on it too.
I think corruption has to be linked to incompetence.  The Bush admninistration and Congressional Repubs have been both.

They lied about the reasons for war, fought it with UNDEREQUIPPED troops, had no plan for securing peace and transition, have antagonized millions in the Middle East and elsewhere and created more terrorists.  Ignore this and the Dems are crazy.  We condemned Saddam (rightly) for warring against civilian populations but we won't address 30,000 Iraqi civilian deaths (at least) via invasion and bombing and an ongoing death toll?

The deficit is a huge issue.  Clinton administration reduced the deficit.  Bush (and Reagan, good to remember) exploded the deficit, mortgaging our children's future.  This is the culture of irresponsibility. Thomas Paine said let us fight now so that there will be peace in our children's time.  The Bush administration has given the rich tax breaks now so our children can pay, created a more dangerous world for our children to live in, underfunded their schools and supported theocrats who want to weaken their curricula, and has continued to despoil the natural world that is their inheritance.

National health insurance--of course.  Canada's system has problems.  No shit.  But ours is broken.  A better organized primary care/preventive care system is the key to a future rational health care system.

Fair trade, not free trade.  No tax breaks for corps. that export jobs en masse.  Use community colleges as job training/retraining centers.  Yes, minimum wages should be pegged tocost of living indexes by state.  

Republicans: a culture of corruption, cronyism, incompetence and irresponsibility.

Name change, please, from Thaddeus to Jim Hannon

...simple, yet effective platform that American can get behind...

Here are some thoughts I have on the agenda...

1. You have to have something about energy independence. With high gas prices and our foreign policy stuck in the mud due to oil, this is an absolute must and a winner.
   
2. Immigration is going to be a hot topic, no matter if we want to address it or not.
   
3. Like someone else said, Iraq and the war on terror is the elephant in the room here. How are we a real political party if we dont address the most salient issue facing our country right now?
   
4. I also agree with something another poster said about making the "culture of corruption" a two way street with good government. Contrast the GOP with our vision of government that will help rebuild New Orleans, reach out to all communities etc. etc.

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We should add energy independence to this list.  The elephant in the room is the major reasons we are in Iraq is oil.   Oil is also a major financing method for Islamic terrorist.  If we decrease our dependence on foreign oil, we make ourselves much less economically dependent on an unstable region of the world.  We also help decrease money for terrorist networks.  It's a win-win.

One of the best lines of the 2004 campaign was from Dick Gephardt - "If we can put a man on the moon in ten years we can make ourselves energy independent in 10 years."  In the wake of everything that has happened in the last year from Katrina to $2.50-$3/gallon oil prices, we should make this part of our platform.  It is a winner.

I like it.  We need to stick to the Keep It Simple Stupid Messages.  Instead of plaguing the airwaves with 50 different messages, just keep hitting 4 or 5 repeatedly.  I love the Health care and minimum wage issues.  Very nice.

I have to say, there are some good ideas floating around out there, but you see, theres a problem.  Actually, several problems amounting to a huge hole in the entire strategy democrats are devising for the upcoming elections.

1. believe it or not, calling republicans corrupt is not going to work.  its like that on both sides and only the naieve believe that its just the republicans.  democrats have to realize that they are better off not even messing with corruption.  it is a pandoras box that will end up showing that democrats are just as bad.  thats washington for you.  get over it.  and not all lobbyists are bad.    
   
2. you have a lot of good ideas, but when it comes to executing them, there is a collective scratching of the heads.  the democrats know exactly what they want, and thats a start, but untill there is some sort of plan for results, the ideas are all pointless.
   
3. unfortunately, most of your good ideas are  shared by the republicans.  Decreasing dependence on foreign oil, fixing immigration problems, lowering healthcare costs, etc.  thats not to say that republicans are progressing in all of these issues.  but believe it or not, even republican voters vote heavily with their pocketbooks.  Republicans have just as much interest in pleasing their constituents.
   
4. there are a few very bad ideas floating around in the democratic party.  now, the logical democrats have abandoned these modes of thinking.  the whole "no war for oil" campaign is utterly indefensible.  why are petroleum products so expensive here if were sneaking iraqi oil out the back door.  regardless of the bungled intelligence before the war, the american people like the idea of a free Iraq, but at the same time, they hate to see soldiers dying.  as we speak, im sure the end of struggle in iraq is on the horizon.  and raising minimum wage? thats a very bad idea.  as worried as we are about rising interest rates, raising minumum wage will only cause more inflation, thus more rate hikes.  not to mention the effects it would have on outsourcing and the hiring of illegal immigrants.  democrats have to seperate themselves from liberal activists if they ever wand a chance to pick up the votes of centrists.
   
5.  finally, throw away the race card.  its overblown, honestly.  Katrina actually killed as many if not more whites than  blacks, and affected wealthy as well as poor.  stop focusing on skin color and start focusing on really helping out poor african americans(and of course all the poor in general).  dont forget some of the good points seen in the bible. e.g. "Give a man a fish and he can eat for a day. Teach him to fish and he will never go hungry again."   stop trying to throw money at the problem.  
   

      so now I ask myself, as a republican, why am i actually giving the democrats advice.  its ok though.  i know none of you will listen to me.  all you will do is rip apart this post, and try to discredit me because im "getting in the way" of the democrats master plan