First of two articles.
To the Editor:
Re “8 Big Ideas for the Next Congress” (Opinion, Nov. 8):
The “big ideas” are spot on, but they need two important additions.
First, the Democratic Party must work to restore professionalism and integrity in the Departments of Defense and Justice, including the F.B.I. The core missions of both departments have been significantly damaged by highly unqualified leaders and highly partisan political intervention.
Second, a core domestic priority must be to increase hope and opportunity for young adults. This could be promoted by investments in meaningful job training programs at our community colleges, along with actions to address affordability, such as increases in the child tax credit, restoration of enhanced subsidies for Obamacare, increased support for Head Start and pre-K programs and the creation of new subsidies to assist first-time home buyers.
Failure to provide support for young adults will result in these important voters losing hope and again abandoning the Democratic Party out of frustration and disillusionment.
John Mathewson
Portland, Ore.
To the Editor:
The writers of “8 Big Ideas for the Next Congress” neglected to include the single greatest creator of inequality in the United States, the one government program that drains resources from the poor while showering them on the rich. It’s the biggest government subsidy in the United States, and its recipients need it the least. I’m writing, of course, about the federal tax code. Democrats must address this inequality.
Republicans have long pitched an idea of welfare that denigrates minorities and the poor, painting them as shiftless, lazy grifters who would rather collect a government check and use drugs than work. To the informed, however, this fantasy collapses under the weight of an even more enraging truth: Our government provides billions in subsidies to the richest of the rich.
As Democrats assume control of Congress, it’s imperative that they think strategically, and think big. Given that the president will remain in the White House, and that he’s spoiling for a fight, there will be limitations on the truly transformative power of the new Congress. Democrats must begin a delicate, informed and clear conversation with our people that restores virtue to the notion of civic investment and turns away from the free-lunch mentality of tax relief for the rich.
Finn Kavanagh
Tampa, Fla.
To the Editor:
Here are three more ideas for Democrats:
First, raise the federal minimum wage to two-thirds of the national median wage by 2030, to about $20 per hour, and set it to increase with that benchmark. Raising a floor stuck at $7.25 since 2009 — now at its lowest real value in 77 years — addresses affordability by boosting incomes. It would increase pay for about a quarter of the work force by matching the approach used in other high-income countries, without major adverse effects on employment or inflation.
Second, pass labor law reform that levels the playing field for workers seeking to organize and bargain collectively with their employers. Today, 43 percent of nonunion U.S. workers — 56 million people — would join a union if they could, and unions boost wages and benefits. But employers spend roughly $1.7 billion each year on anti-union consultants and law firms, while reform proposals to better protect workers’ rights and streamline paths to union organizing and collective bargaining have languished since at least the mid-1970s.
Third, re-establish the nonpartisan Office of Technology Assessment — to provide a fact-based foundation for improving U.S. industrial, trade and technology policies. A revitalized O.T.A. would help policymakers thoughtfully address artificial intelligence and other technology-related issues.
Charles J. Whalen
Mendon, N.Y.
The writer is the author of “Fighting for the American Dream.”
To the Editor:
Add a ninth initiative to your list: Counter climate change and support biodiversity. To do this, the United States must get back to limiting fossil fuel emissions both here and abroad. That means reducing, not expanding, air travel, space exploration and nonessential, high-polluting enterprises such as cruise lines. It means protecting critical habitats. And while we’re at it, how about restoring federal support for alternative energy sources like wind and solar?
The world will be watching, so the United States should act as an international role model once again.
Peggy J. Printz
Seattle
To the Editor:
Among the ideas put forward by the writers in your Opinion article, only one — regarding ending the Iran war — addresses foreign policy concerns. What about President Trump’s costly and self-defeating tariff impositions? Is that not a way of achieving lower prices, as one writer urges?
Moreover, the American people have concerns beyond their own economic plight and rampant corruption, both of which have undeniably worsened under President Trump. The American people are concerned by the Trump administration’s betrayal of allies like Canada and its abandoning of Ukraine in its struggle to stand against Russian aggression.
Democrats, working with moderate Republicans, must address all aspects of President Trump’s failures to include urgent concerns in the foreign policy realm.
Edmund McWilliams
White Oaks, N.M.
The writer is a retired senior U.S. Foreign Service officer.
To the Editor:
I offer a ninth idea to address the fact that the United States’ international reputation and prestige are in tatters: End the insanity of the Cuban blockade. This one step would let other countries know that we have finally put the Cold War behind us and are ready to move forward to face the problems of the 21st century.
We can no longer leave our foreign policy toward Cuba (and all of Latin America, for that matter) to a group of hard-core ideologues who dream of marching back into Cuba to reclaim the land and position in society that their families lost in the revolution there more than 65 years ago.
Ending the embargo would cost us nothing; we would save the cost of enforcing it. Congressional Republicans (except, perhaps, those in Florida) could be persuaded to support ending the embargo as it provides nothing of value to their districts or states, and lifting it may open opportunities for the export of goods and services if normal trade resumes.
Tom Murray
San Francisco
To the Editor:
While I appreciate the eight “big ideas” discussed by these experts, they left out a vital course of action. Unless Congress acts, Social Security will continue on a path to deplete its reserves in roughly six years. All that is necessary to avoid this unconscionable outcome is to do what the founders of Social Security saw as a step too far at the time: Make all income subject to federal payroll tax (FICA) at the same rate.
The idea that at some fixed amount, which has changed as the years have passed, there should be a limit beyond which the tax is not collected is clearly a policy of taxing lower-income earners at a higher rate than higher-income earners. Collect FICA tax in a fair way, which will also help solve the bigger problem of economic inequality.
Ginger Lennon
Princeton, N.J.
To the Editor:
Please add another idea for the next Congress: a constitutional amendment to remove the pardoning power from the president of the United States. It has clearly been abused in ways that were not originally intended.
The country is fed up with corruption. Democrats will control Congress. A majority of governors will be Democratic. Congress should seize the moment of the country’s revulsion on this matter.
Joseph Sopiak
New York
We will publish another sampling of readers’ ideas for the next Congress later.
