No untried utopian schemes need to be invented to replace the current kleptocracy. Only a restoration of a system that has proven itself in the past: a regulated capitalism combined with a social democracy dedicated to the welfare of all citizens and founded on the consent of an informed public as manifested in honest, accurate and verifiable elections. And that latter condition presupposes the existence of a free, independent and diverse media, along with a public education system staffed with well-paid, competent and dedicated teachers.
In short, what is required is a return to the liberalism – "the New Deal," "The Fair Deal," "The New Frontier," "The Great Society" – that Ronald Reagan and the regressives have abolished in the past twenty-seven years. The programs and policies of Reagan's liberal predecessors were all imperfect, as are all human endeavors, but unlike the regressive politics of today, these earlier administrations had within themselves the means of adaptation, correction and improvement.
We the people know the way out of the political and economic morass in which we find ourselves. But if we are to escape, we must do so ourselves. We can expect no help from the corporate media or from the politicians of both political parties that have led us into the present crisis.
(Note: These ideas are presented and defended at greater length in "Remedial Economics for Regressives;" Chapter 9 of my book in progress, Conscience of a Progressive).
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