Andrew Golis

.. introduce a “New Social Contract” If you think about it, the attack on Social Security is actually a tremendous opportunity. In a time when most people are cynical about government’s ability to do good things for its citizens, here we have the Republican’s trying to end the most effective and well-loved government program of all time. If that’s not an opportunity to remind people how government is good and go on the offensive, I don’t know what is. So here’s what we do:

1. get together all the big names together: Clintons, Gore, Kerry, Edwards, Dean, Reid, Pelosi, all the folks who are gonna run for President next year, and anyone else who is willing.

2. with all of them there, announce a “New Social Contract.” (yes, VERY Newt Gingrich). The New Social Contract will consist of:

– American Health: a solvent social security, health-care for everyone under the age of 25 (use a broad description of a model similar to Kerry and Dean’s), a true and effective Patient’s Bill of Rights.

– American Work: raise the minimum wage, institute broad education reforms for retraining etc., remove tax incentives for moving jobs overseas.

– American Freedom: a roll back of the worst parts of the Patriot Act, a new argument for freedom from poverty and oppression.

3. Send each of them out to pitch the damn thing for a few weeks, traveling all over the country.

Sure, maybe it’ll have to be broader than this stuff (as well as more creative), but you understand the strategy, right? We have to use Social Security as an opportunity to remind people what government can, and SHOULD, do for its people.

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