Thankfully, there’s more to the United States than Florida.
Equality means that we are not a two-class society with the “haves” against the “have nots.” This MAGA concept has to stop once and for all.
The Democrats won big in the mid-term elections. They had a chance to “plan ahea…d.” We haven’t seen it, but there must be a game plan just like any coach has in football. If not, we’re glad to supply twenty goals.
The average working person is entitled to aspire to “the American Dream.” This means that the basics of food, clothing, shelter and medical care are there for you if you work. There should be the promise of a future with advancement, education for your children, home ownership and retirement, with each generation doing better than the earlier one. Then there are the community needs of clean air, clean energy, pure water, and parks and forests.
The Trump people believe in grabbing as much as they can for themselves and sharing nothing. They don’t care about you. Mr. Trump says that he’s interested in working with the Democrats, but then appoints Stephen Miller, that hater, as his White House Chief of Staff. Miller tell his ICE team to do anything they want because they are immune from prosecution.
The House of Representatives controls the purse strings, and the Democrats control the House. They may be able to accomplish some of these goals on their own. Here are the twenty goals to make our country more “affordable” and to stamp out corruption plus some ideas for long-term political reform.
The immediate need is to lessen economic strain. This involves either lowering prices or increasing income. It’s easier to increase income than to create an abundance by increasing production. (Goal #1)- Produce more. We produced more chicken eggs after the pandemic and brought the prices down. If we produce more cattle, subsidize the price of fertilizer and provide inexpensive fuel for farm equipment plus some farmer tax benefits, it probably would result in more food at lower prices. It’s worth a try.
What about getting more money into the pockets of all Americans? (Goal #2)- Lower the tax rates on the average person. (Goal #3)- Increase the minimum wage. (Goal #4)- Rescind the Trump tariffs. That will reduce the price the consumer has been paying. And don’t forget (Goal #5) – Share that tariff money. The White House has been doling it out to big political crony corporations, not to the average person. Mr. Trump might go along with this.
We should make home ownership available to the average family. (Goal #6) – What about a program like the G.I. bill to provide first time homeowners with low downpayments, government insured thirty-year mortgages, low home insurance and a double credit on real estate taxes?
Reduce the price of gasoline and diesel. (Goal #7) – Tax the oil companies on the excess profits they are making by exporting American oil to over one hundred other countries at the high international prices when this oil comes from American oil wells and does not travel through the Strait of Hormuz. An export tax should do the trick. In 2025 Exxon paid its stockholders dividends of over 17.2 BILLION dollars with that inflated priced oil money and paid its CEO over 33 million dollars as just his salary. Use this export tax to reduce the cost of diesel fuel as well as the price of gas at the pump. Mr. Trump is in bed with the oil companies and would probably veto that idea.
(Goal #8)- What about ending the war that WE started in Iran and opening the Strait of Hormuz. Bingo! No more gas shortage.
The rich are getting richer at the expense of a dwindling middle class. (Goal #9)- Increase taxes on personal incomes of over one million dollars to a minimum of forty percent and after the next million, go upward to fifty percent. Plug up all the loopholes. Let IRS loose to enforce the law. Elon won’t like that. This is Trump’s crowd.
(Goal #10) – Upon death, tax estates worth over ten million dollars at a rate of at least twenty five percent. The first ten-million-dollar exemption should help farm families keep the business in the family when they die. After that we should limit the concentration of wealth. The rich will scream that they have already paid taxes on this money. These new estate taxes might be used to enable “Medicare for all.”
(Goal #11) -Lower military spending. Restrain the industrial-military complex that Dwight Eisenhower warned us all about. Cut plans for another aircraft carrier. That would save about fifteen BILLION dollars which could be used for childcare, food subsidies and school lunches. Congress supposedly controls this funding.
(Goal #12)- Charge a minimum tax of one or two percent on the gross proceeds of all corporate income earned in the United State or from American patents or copyrights. This can be collected monthly. They will hardly notice it, but it will be the end of the “free ride” that the international corporations have wangled.
The rich will argue that they are entitled to their lifestyle of yachts, limos, private jets, multiple homes and personal servants. They have to learn not to be greedy and to share.
What about ICE? (Goal # 13) -No more masked, armed, murderous, uncaring invasions of our communities. Congress should defund them so that they just have enough funds to pursue illegal aliens who are real criminals, not the working people who pay their taxes and are often married to American citizens. After five years of good behavior and paying taxes, illegals should be able to become permanent residents. That includes the dreamers. Defund ICE by seventy five percent and it will still be able to accomplish this mission. No more large detention centers which are more like punitive prisons! This should increase the ranks of agricultural workers and lower the cost of food. The money saved by defunding ICE is enormous. And could be used to balance the budget and reduce the national debt which would lower the amount of interest we pay on it and make more money available for these programs. Believe it or not, ICE is receiving eleven billion dollars a year plus thirty-eight billion dollars under the Secure America program, plus another seventy-five billion dollars to be used through 2029 for a total of SEVENTY-FIVE BILLION dollars each year. Mr. Trump regards ICE as his own private army and Mr. Miller is a fanatic. Attention Mr. Jeffries- This should be a priority task for the new Congress.
What about corruption? We need immediate Congressional investigations. (Goal # 14) -First, there are the Epstein files. Mr. Trump and his attorney Todd Blanche are not going to give up these files without a great battle. But they probably are damning for Mr. Trump.
(Goal #15) – There are all those Trump family cybercurrency deals which sound very, very corrupt.
(Goal #16)- Then there’s the pardon racket. Particularly of interest should be the pardon of Juan Hernandez, the former president of Honduras who was convicted of bringing over four hundred tons of cocaine into the United States and was about to serve a forty-five-year jail sentence when, at the urging of Matt Gaetz, a disreputable former Florida congressman, and Roger Stone a convicted felon, Mr. Trump, without any real reason, pardoned him. Why?
The Trump family and friends were representing our government while at the same time negotiating with these same foreigners for personal business deals. (Goal # 17)-Investigate that mining deal in Kazakhstan which, after the Trump interests were included, was to be granted a loan, rushed through, from the United States government.
(Goal #18)-What about investigating the deals with oligarchs in Russia while the Trump relatives were acting as America’s diplomatic representatives and the payment of three-hundred-thousand-dollars for the wedding of Mr. Trump’s son, -funds from a Putin buddy?
(Goal # 19)- Find out why Trump, on behalf of America, continues to support a communist dictator who invaded Ukraine without any justifiable reason, kidnapped thousands of their children, bombs civilian targets, and why Mr. Trump is waiving the sanctions and restrictions on Russia? What does Putin have on him?
(Goal # 20) Investigate why Mr. Trump is keeping the government from regulating the AI corporations and not limiting and regulating the creation of data centers.
(Bonus political goal) – It would take thirteen Republican senators who have had enough, to join with the Democrats to convict the impeached President and then the Vice President. That would leave Hakeem Jeffries, the probable new Speaker of the House, as president. Give those senators Democratic political election endorsements. Let them run “unopposed.” Promote them to cabinet posts, judgeships on the Supreme Court, a court which could then be cleaned up for its unethical behavior, which would create plenty of vacancies. “Do what needs doing to get the job done.”
(Bonus social goal) – And you, our typical American family, would benefit by cleaning up your act. No more gambling. No recreational drugs. Cut down alcohol consumption. Give more time to the community. No more crazy-high-priced entertainment tickets. Drive a more practical car. Follow a healthier diet. Stop eating junk food.
Time for tea- Bye!