Contract For The American Dream, Phhhhhhfffffft!T

[ssneade]

(blows coffee through nose) what a joke......

here's all the left can come up with:.....


A Contract for the American Dream

By Van Jones, Rebuild the Dream

09 August 11



"I have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American Dream."
- Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., 1963 March on Washington


e, the American people, promise to defend and advance a simple ideal: liberty and justice ... for all. Americans who are willing to work hard and play by the rules should be able to find a decent job, get a good home in a strong community, retire with dignity and give their kids a better life. Every one of us - rich, poor or in-between, regardless of skin color or birthplace, no matter their sexual orientation or gender - has the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That is our covenant, our compact, our contract with one another. It is a promise we can fulfill - but only by working together.

Today, the American Dream is under threat. Our veterans are coming home to few jobs and little hope on the home front. Our young people are graduating off a cliff, burdened by heavy debt, into the worst job market in half a century. The big banks that American taxpayers bailed out won't cut homeowners a break. Our firefighters, nurses, cops and teachers - America's everyday heroes - are being thrown out onto the street. We believe:

AMERICA IS NOT BROKE. (Yes it is.) America is rich - still the wealthiest nation ever. But too many at the top are grabbing the gains. No person or corporation should be allowed to take from America while giving little or nothing back. The super-rich who got tax breaks and bailouts should now pay full taxes - and help create jobs here, not overseas. Those who do well in America should do well by America.

AMERICANS NEED JOBS, NOT CUTS.(government regulations are cutting jobs) Many of our best workers are sitting idle, while the work of rebuilding America goes undone. Together, we must rebuild our country, reinvest in our people and jump-start the industries of the future. Millions of jobless Americans would love the opportunity to become working, tax-paying members of their communities again. We have a jobs crisis, not a deficit crisis.

To produce this Contract for the American Dream, 131,203 Americans came together online and in their communities. We wrote and rated 25,904 ideas. Together, we identified the 10 most critical steps to get our economy back on track and restore the American Dream:

INVEST IN AMERICA'S INFRASTRUCTURE.(Creating union jobs) Rebuild our crumbling bridges, dams, levees, ports, water and sewer lines, railways, roads and public transit. We must invest in high-speed Internet and a modern, energy-saving electric grid. These investments will create good jobs and rebuild America. To help finance these projects, we need national and state infrastructure banks.

CREATE 21ST-CENTURY ENERGY JOBS. (Creating public sector union jobs) We should invest in American businesses that can power our country with innovative technologies like wind turbines, solar panels, geothermal systems, hybrid and electric cars, and next-generation batteries. And we should put Americans to work making our homes and buildings energy efficient. We can create good, green jobs in America, address the climate crisis, and build the clean energy economy.

INVEST IN PUBLIC EDUCATION.(For the advancement of teachers unions) We should provide universal access to early childhood education, make school funding equitable, invest in high-quality teachers, and build safe, well-equipped school buildings for our students. A high-quality education system, from universal preschool to vocational training and affordable higher education, is critical for our future and can create badly needed jobs now.

OFFER MEDICARE FOR ALL. (Government forced healthcare. Can you say death panels?) We should expand Medicare so it's available to all Americans, and reform it to provide even more cost-effective, quality care. The Affordable Care Act is a good start and we must implement it - but it's not enough. We can save trillions of dollars by joining every other industrialized country - paying much less for health care while getting the same or better results.

MAKE WORK PAY.(More union drivel) Americans have a right to fair minimum and living wages, to organize and collectively bargain, to enjoy equal opportunity and to earn equal pay for equal work. Corporate assaults on these rights bring down wages and benefits for all of us. They must be outlawed.

SECURE SOCIAL SECURITY. (Raise taxes)Keep Social Security sound, and strengthen the retirement, disability, and survivors' protections Americans earn through their hard work. Pay for it by removing the cap on the Social Security tax, so that upper-income people pay into Social Security on all they make, just like the rest of us.

RETURN TO FAIRER TAX RATES.(Make the evil rich pay their fair share) End, once and for all, the Bush-era tax giveaways for the rich, which the rest of us - or our kids - must pay eventually. Also, we must outlaw corporate tax havens and tax breaks for shipping jobs overseas. Lastly, with millionaires and billionaires taking a growing share of our country's wealth, we should add new tax brackets for those making more than $1 million each year.

END THE WARS AND INVEST AT HOME. (Ya, let the enemy strike here, instead of stamping out the threat at the source. excellent tactic) Our troops have done everything that's been asked of them, and it's time to bring them home to good jobs here. We're sending $3 billion each week overseas that we should be investing to rebuild America.

TAX WALL STREET SPECULATION. (Make the evil rich pay their fair share)A tiny fee of 1/20th of 1% on each Wall Street trade would raise tens of billions of dollars annually with little impact on actual investment. This would reduce speculation, "flash trading," and outrageous bankers' bonuses - and we'd have a lot more money to spend on Main Street job creation.

STRENGTHEN DEMOCRACY. (ya, mob rule beats the rule of law any day) We need clean, fair elections - where no one's right to vote can be taken away, and where money doesn't buy you your own member of Congress. We must ban anonymous political influence, slam shut the lobbyists' revolving door in D.C. and publicly finance elections. Immigrants who want to join in our democracy deserve a clear path to citizenship. We must stop giving corporations the rights of people when it comes to our elections. And we must ensure our judiciary's respect for the Constitution. Together, we will reclaim our democracy to get our country back on track.

does anybody besides me see the same old leftist, socialist talking points as usual here? can't these morons come up with anything new? and they wonder why they're hated so......

hopefully they'll round up everybody who signs this mumbo jumbo written upon tripe and declare them guilty of treason and promptly deport them. that'd give us a start on gettin' our nation back on track......

[knothead]

So I guess you're suggesting we just "stay the course"?
Seriously, how is that working out for us?

I heard a quote the other day that I really like. I can't remember who wrote it.
I think it applies here. Not only to the quoted essay, but to your response as well.

"Trust those who are seeking the truth. Doubt those who have found it".

[jrd22]

I have a problem with "A Contract for the American Dream" being written by a communist.

Van Jones, 'Green Jobs Czar', a self-described 'communist' arrested during Rodney King riots - National Conservative Politics | Examiner.com

[SloopJonB]

Originally Posted by ssneade

(blows coffee through nose) what a joke......

here's all the left can come up with:.....does anybody besides me see the same old leftist, socialist talking points as usual here? can't these morons come up with anything new? and they wonder why they're hated so......

hopefully they'll round up everybody who signs this mumbo jumbo written upon tripe and declare them guilty of treason and promptly deport them. that'd give us a start on gettin' our nation back on track......

Yeah, I guess going even farther to the right is the only solution to everything that ails you. Finding a balance is just leftist nonsense.

[landmineop]

"sooner or later, liberals run out of other peoples money"

[PBzeer]

I wonder SBJ if you're at all familiar with Mr Jones?

[ssneade]

Originally Posted by SloopJonB

Yeah, I guess going even farther to the right is the only solution to everything that ails you. Finding a balance is just leftist nonsense.

you think bigger government and more government spending is the answer? there is no compromise with the left. socialism has never worked and it won't work in this nation. you don't have to move farther to the right. government just needs to get out of the way and let the American entrepreneurial spirit do its magic. social programs only breed dependency. the war on poverty has succeeded only in creating a welfare state, bleeding the working class dry. soon you will only have rich and poor. just what a socialist system needs to take over. you can keep your big government, sloopy. we're gonna shrink this one even if we must resort to anarchy. (god forbid).....

[knothead]

Originally Posted by ssneade

you think bigger government and more government spending is the answer? there is no compromise with the left. socialism has never worked and it won't work in this nation. you don't have to move farther to the right. government just needs to get out of the way and let the American entrepreneurial spirit do its magic. social programs only breed dependency. the war on poverty has succeeded only in creating a welfare state, bleeding the working class dry. soon you will only have rich and poor. just what a socialist system needs to take over. you can keep your big government, sloopy. we're gonna shrink this one even if we must resort to anarchy. (god forbid).....

Ssneade, I agree wholeheartedly that it would be a good thing to shrink government. I also think that in some areas, regulations and government interference is detrimental.
I believe that a lot of mistakes have been made and a lot of bad policy enacted. But I also know, for a fact that there are a lot of business people who need to be regulated. It would be wonderful if we, the people would simply regulate them by ourselves by means of how we distribute our hard earned money. Unfortunately most of us are driven by the love of money as well and we are happy to support the lowest bidder if we can save a few bucks.
I've worked for companies that have knowingly polluted the environment. And I mean some nasty chemicals flowing right into a river that flows into San Francisco Bay. Just to save some money. I've worked for companies that don't think anything of encouraging their drivers to break the law by either speeding or by driving when they are out of hours.
There are a lot of instances where industry needs to be regulated. How about insurance companies for instance.

I believe that I would like to pay fewer and lower taxes too. and I'm sick of paying for things like war and the industries that support it and encourage it.
Defense is one thing, what we've been doing isn't defense anymore.
I would like to see military spending cut before Medicare.

I think that I can safely say, considering what I know about you from these forums, that you are the kind of person who would never let a loved one or a friend suffer if you could help them out. I like to think I am as well. But there are a lot of people out there that aren't like that. There are a lot of people out there who don't have anyone to take their part.
It would be great if the churches could keep up with all the need in the world. It would be greater if families did it. But the fact is they either can't or won't.
What do we do? Let people suffer? Let them die? Of course we don't. Maybe it's gone too far in the direction of entitlements, but we can't just eliminate them all overnight.
Surely you realize that.

I can't speak for Sloop, but what I get from him is pretty much what I'm trying to communicate.
Just some freaking balance. Just some common sense answers to difficult questions. We have to seek and be willing to accept some compromise in our positions. As difficult as it is for some.
It's sure as hell is not going to be easy, but it's going to be next to impossible if we as citizens can't get past the partisan hatred, name calling and bickering.
I know that people like Rags think that anybody that is as concerned for future generations as they are the current one is simply not rational. I just pray to God that he is in the minority. People like him believe that it's stupid to take steps to reduce pollution until and unless it is categorically proven to infringe on someone's rights. WTH? I'll tell you what. Trying to take a deep breath in some smog polluted city, I'm feeling like my rights are being infringed upon. Seeing a multitude of plastic water bottles choking a bayou or a pelican with a plastic grocery bag stuck in his throat is infringing on my rights.
Maybe I'm an extremest in one direction and maybe Rags is one in the other. Maybe our ideas should be considered, discussed and then maybe some middle ground should be found that gets us moving in the right direction.
But all the polarization is just going to serve to keep us mired in the morass we've created.
Not the one that the dems created or the republicans created or that the greenies created.
The one that we've all created.

[jrd22]

Knotty- I know you to be a good person, and I agree with a lot of your feelings but if you know what Van Jones is about you will recognize that this is not the direction we need to go. This is how we have ended up where we are.
No one (rational) is talking about eliminating all entitlements overnight, that would lead to revolution. But we have to recognize that we as a country simply can not afford to continue down the road we have been on for decades. We have unfunded entitlements that can't possibly be paid even if we taxed every penny of income of every person that made over a million a year. It just doesn't work. Government has grown too large and has been spending our money like there is no tomorrow for too long and it's time to pay the piper. We need to insist (thru elections) that our government starts making some very difficult decisions in order to gradually balance the budget. This is made infinitely more difficult because we are in the middle of a very deep recession with persistently high unemployment, particularly amongst minorities and younger workers. Any cuts to entitlements will be extremely painful, but especially to those who have been out of work or are just entering (or at least trying) the workforce.

Background of Van Jones:
Mr. Green-Jobs Boondoggle Rides Again - Michelle Malkin - National Review Online

[SloopJonB]

Originally Posted by PBzeer

I wonder SBJ if you're at all familiar with Mr Jones?

Nope and if he claims to be a commie (or comical, as my father and his friends called them way back) I don't want to be