*Address the massive inequality of wealth/income: if not remedied, this condition will destroy the American economy and way of life.
*Bring Corporate America and Wall Street under control: reverse Citizens United, stop the financial crimes and bring these entities under control.
*End the wars, reduce the Empire: war, the cancer, the systemic disease that is destroying the foundations of this nation. It will be almost impossible to achieve this objective but, if sanity, reason and logic are not used before too long to rid this country of its obsession with military power and wars, this country has no future, it will eventually self destruct.
And, yes, we need to keep bringing up these same issues over and over again, as tiresome as that might be, because they continue to be almost totally ignored by this dysfunctional government. We need to keep hammering until those who inhabit Washington start doing the jobs for which they are being paid.
In this just concluded election this president and the Democrats better understand that the American people didn't give them a mandate to govern as they wish. They were given one more chance to make things happen in this government with the understanding that the people will not tolerate four more years of gridlock and obstruction. They are fed up, angry and frustrated and they are going to watch very closely what Mr. Obama and his congressional colleagues do. So, the handwriting is on the wall as to what the Democratic Party must do -- and the key factor in making things happen will be to change the filibuster rules and mitigate the power of the GOP obstructionists.
One other very important issue; if this president offers up cuts to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid to the Republicans as a concession in order to get them to agree to increasing taxes on the richest Americans, as rumors continue to insist, then he will feel the wrath and the fury of the American people come down on him. If he dares to do that to the very people who saved him from the jaws of defeat in this election his presidency will become essentially irrelevant.
With the neutralization of the filibuster, this president, together with this Congress, will have the opportunity to address those issues and objectives listed above and get meaningful legislation enacted. This president needs to work with the Republicans in a mutual, cooperative effort to achieve positive results. However, if his fellow Democrats see him veering too much toward the center right, beginning to appease or cave in to Republicans, if he fails to provide the strong leadership that is required, then those same Democrats must join with the people of America to put immense, relentless pressure on him to force him to initiate the actions needed to bring about the "real change" that he keeps talking about; changes that America badly needs.
Michael Payne
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