Part V. The Only Way the Democrats Can Decisively Defeat Trump and MAGA

Part V: Solutions for Childcare, Affordable Housing,

Homelessness, Welfare, and Other Considerations

First, the solution for the childcare crisis is having top quality childcare provided by all public schools. Since childcare is in the national interest, the federal government should subsidize it.

Second, the solution for affordable housing is creating high speed rail lines from highly populated areas to less populated areas where land costs are much lower, making commuting times reasonable even at distances of 100 miles, with the added benefit of reducing congestion and overcrowding in currently densely populated centers.

Third, while homelessness and welfare are the consequence of the totally inadequate education provided by all too many of our public schools, and that the sustainable solution is making sure that all our public schools are truly exceptional, run as the best private schools, in the meantime we should create attractive, dignified welfare campuses outside cities, entirely financed by the federal government, complete with housing, public schools, sports fields, and medical clinics. This allows indigent families to have stability, convenient excellent all-day schools for their children with high expectations that all will go to college, and convenient primary medical care, while freeing the adults to work. For those who cannot find jobs in the private sector, a variety of productive jobs will be provided onsite. Separate housing for families, for childless couples, for singles, and for those needing intensive supervision.

Fourth, Harris Walz, and Biden should also explain to the voters that inflation was unusually low from 2010 to 2020 because of the lingering effects of the deep 2008–2009 financial crisis and the recession it caused, reducing consumer incomes, thereby forcing producers and retailers to refrain from raising prices for years even while their costs increased. Beyond the Covid supply-chain disruptions and the higher energy and food prices caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, much of the recent increase in prices is due to a delayed profit “catch up”, to offset the forced restraint between 2010 and 2020. That is why even if annual inflation declines to 2%, most consumer prices will not be cut, since companies want to return to normal profitability levels as well as making up for years of diminished profitability. Harris must explain that Biden was not responsible for this absolutely normal free market, free enterprise development, and that Democrats should stop mistakenly accusing corporate “greed” and “price gouging” for causing inflation. The recent and current cycle of sharp consumer price increases is probably over now, due to free market competition. (Another factor in the recent rise in prices has been a slowdown of cheap Chinese imports, which has a positive effect on domestic producers and employment.) Many mainstream Republicans will applaud this Democratic change of mind away from leftist anti-business toward understanding how a free market economy works.

Fifth, in order to win over many independents and mainstream Republicans, even some MAGA Republicans, Harris and Walz should show they are open-minded, not superficial thinkers, by questioning the validity of the mainstream explanation of global warming, that it is caused by the burning of fossil fuels, relying on statistics of recent decades while ignoring the statistics of millennia. That is not a solid scientific attitude. That populist, mainstream theory is flatly contradicted by the fact that before humans existed there were five ice ages lasting millions of years, each one followed by a major global warming, all due to natural planetary forces. That reality suggests we are in the middle of the latest major global warming cycle which we are powerless to stop, much less reverse. The logical attitude is to focus on adapting to higher temperatures, not to make futile investments to stop global warming. The foolish corollary of the fossil fuel theory is that humans can avoid the next ice age by burning fossil fuels! So, while Harris and Walz agree that fossil fuels cause pollution, they must suggest we consider the real possibility that fossil fuels do not cause climate change. Therefore, it would be logical not to oppose increases in oil and natural gas production so long as pollution is minimized, while promoting solar, wind, and other green energy. This change in position by Harris and Walz would not only be correct, it would help the Democrats decisively defeat Trump.

It should be clear that the only logical strategy is for humans to plan on how to best adapt to a continuation of rising temperatures, of rising ocean levels and devastating storms. Harris and Walz should inform voters that Greenland was once truly verdant, with tropical plants and many species of mammals, as geologists have recently found (reported in The New York Times last year). Even Antarctica was once green. We may well be headed in that direction again! Conversely, half of Europe was covered by ice as was half of North America during the last ice age. How did the Grand Canyon come about? Due to the great melting of vast ice sheets during a major global warming following an ice age!

Sixth, of crucial importance, Harris and Walz should insist that the constitutional requirement of separation of church and state must be fully observed by our public schools. There can be no religious indoctrination or proselytizing, only the teaching of a well-designed unbiased course on comparative religion. Especially when holier-then-thou religious politicians (such as former attorney general Bill Barr whose speech at Notre Dame during the Trump administration advocated for the United States becoming a Christian republic, contrary to our Constitution!) are no more moral (often less!) than non-religious politicians. And when the three monotheistic religions have been responsible for outrageous crimes and human rights violations throughout history. Through their holy books, the monotheistic religions validated and institutionalized slavery, religious discrimination and hatred, as well as gender and sexuality discrimination. There would have been no slavery in the United States had Moses and Jesus not validated slavery in The Old Testament and the New Testament. As for American Christians asserting white supremacy, are they morally superior? The KKK membership was Christian; Hitler and the Nazis were Christians; the Holocaust was perpetrated by Christians; the Spanish Inquisition was led by Christians; sexual child abuse has been carried out by countless Christian priests and tolerated, even covered up, by Christian authorities; and Russia’s cruel, illegal and highly immoral invasion of Ukraine has been led by a recently turned Christian, Putin.

Seventh, Harris and Walz should also criticize our nation’s utter failure to turn all prisons into strict boarding schools with the priority being not just psychological rehabilitation, but giving all the inmates an excellent education so that when they are released they can quickly become productive citizens, thereby eliminating recidivism which is unconscionably high, costing society heavily. The core curriculum should be the same as the one suggested for our public high schools, with vocational training added.

Eighth, the administrative reform regarding asylum applications should be accompanied by a major Peace Corps effort for the developing nations of Latin America, focusing on public education and infrastructure projects, in order to hasten their economic and social development. That would greatly benefit our own economy by having economically developed neighbors. And it would offer many desirable careers to qualified Americans, as well as dramatically increase good will towards the United States in Latin America. Just as it behooves property owners to invest in infrastructure to defend their property against floods and wild fires, it behooves a nation to invest in helping neighboring countries become economically and socially prosperous. Having poor and politically unstable neighbors is to be avoided. What have we done over the past 50 years to improve the conditions of our needy neighbors? Practically nothing, yet we complain of negative consequences.

Ninth, Harris and Walz should propose eliminating the double-taxation of dividends, which has the effect of increasing corporate debt, apart from being unfair. Either companies can deduct paid dividends, or, better, investors are not taxed on the dividends they receive. All this makes economic sense. It also makes political sense by eliminating class warfare measures.

Tenth, to decisively defeat Trump and MAGA also requires the Democrats to no longer be the party of petty envy, the party of class warfare, criticizing successful businesses and the wealthy. Democrats must stop insisting that workers and unions built America, to the exclusion of businesses and entrepreneurs. That is not the truth. That is a politically and socially divisive falsehood. Democrats must stop their ideological criticism of corporations and the wealthy when the profits they make are the result of honest business practices, even when their effective income tax rates are low due to legitimate depreciation and interest deductions. (However, they are correct to say tax shelters should be eliminated, not just for being unfair, but also for being economically counterproductive by causing the misallocation of investment capital). And they must publicly acknowledge that a healthy growing economy needs many successful businesses, entrepreneurs, and venture capitalists. What would our nation be without them? It would be a third-world country.

Eleventh, of crucial importance to defeat Trump and MAGA, the Democrats must understand and publicly make clear that the contributions to the economy by profitable companies and wealthy individuals go far beyond the income taxes they pay. They must understand that criticism of the wealthy for “not paying their fair share” is misleading, ignoring the effects of legitimate depreciation and ant interest deductions, and misrepresenting total economic reality. In fact, Democrats must start publicly acknowledging that companies account for a major share of investment and jobs, generating sales taxes in addition to the income and sales taxes of their own employees. As for wealthy individuals, what do they do with their money after paying their income taxes? They either consume, which generates sales taxes while creating jobs and generating employee income and sales taxes; or they invest, which also creates jobs and generates employee income and sales taxes. Without many profitable companies and wealthy individuals, our nation would simply be poor, suffering from high unemployment and very little investment for economic growth and technological advances! Democrats must admit they haven’t understood “trickle down”, which actually becomes a flood when combined with a logical monetary policy, i.e., not a restrictive one causing slow growth, or needless and totally avoidable recessions and high unemployment. They must acknowledge that communism did not work anywhere, everyone was poor, and that our capitalist free market/free enterprise economy is much more dynamic and innovative than socialist economies.

Twelfth, also of crucial importance for winning decisively in November, given that the Republicans blame Biden for the inflation of the past few years, the Democrats must explain to voters the difference between inflation (which is now back down) and price levels (which have not come down), and why Biden was not responsible for the inflation following Covid supply-chain disruptions and the Russian invasion of Ukraine which drove up grain and energy prices. Also, Harris and Walz must explain why Biden’s much maligned big Covid stimulus was absolutely necessary to prevent a deep recession and skyrocketing unemployment, even if it inevitably would result in higher inflation by maintaining consumer income levels while production fell due to business shutdowns. The trade off was either an economic depression or higher inflation. Harris must explain why Biden’s decision was entirely logical, and remind voters that at times you have to choose from unavoidable trade offs. Many complain about higher prices, but would they prefer to have low prices while unemployment surges as the nation plunges into a deep recession? Harris and Biden must educate the voters and rebut invalid Republican criticisms.

Thirteenth, Harris and Walz would gain widespread admiration at home and worldwide if they explained why Russia has been such a problematic nation for over a century, and why it must not be allowed to defeat Ukraine which it has illegally invaded, inflicting wholesale destruction. Russia is responsible for imposing dictatorial, human rights violating communism not only on its own people, but also on many other countries. It is responsible for the fascism which rose to counter communism, and for Hitler’s rise, therefore also for World War II and the Cold War. And now Russia, without any apology, has ditched dictatorial communism in favor of dictatorial fascism, and keeps on with its imperialist dictatorial ambitions, disrespecting other peoples and nations. Both as a communist state and as a fascist state, Russia dishonestly violates solemn agreements it signs, such as the United Nations’ Charter which prohibits invading other nations, and its Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Russia has also treacherously violated the Budapest Memorandum of 1992, whereby in exchange for Russian guarantees of respecting its sovereignty, Ukraine handed over to Russia all its nuclear weapons! Biden and Harris must emphasize and make clear to every American that allowing Russia to win is the equivalent of letting Hitler win. Also, that Americans who oppose aid to Ukraine in its defense against Russia are immoral, insult to all the American soldiers who fought Hitler in World War II, and betray our fundamental principles, in short they are un-American.

As for Putin’s unconscionable nuclear blackmail, his threats of first use of nuclear weapons if he can’t defeat Ukraine with conventional weapons (how can anyone respect and admire him?), Harris and Walz should understand and explain to voters that if Putin is not bluffing, then direct U.S. war with Russia is inevitable, unless we want to give in and become his slaves and the slaves of his American puppets. Delaying Ukraine’s victory is not a solution. Just like delaying victory over Hitler was not a solution. Have we not learned that lesson? (Had Putin benefited from a four-year high school course in psychology accompanied by group therapy and good parenting workshop, he would not have become the monster that he has grown into. He would have overcome not being adequately loved by his parents. Due to bad parenting and not understanding that is the cause of his emotional troubles, Putin has become so mentally disturbed that he has a severe inferiority complex, as all dictators and aspiring dictators have, and feels that he is only capable of being feared, not capable of being loved. Just like Hitler. That drives his compulsion for absolute power over people and for great wealth. It should be clear to everyone how important a four-year high school psychology course is for all humanity.)

Fourteenth, Given that Biden is by far the most qualified American on foreign policy, Kamala Harris should promise to appoint Biden as the Secretary of State and as a top advisor on all matters. Biden might well find this an optimal outcome, both for himself and the party, enhancing its chances of victory in the presidential election while reducing his workload, and guaranteeing that his long experience will be supporting the new administration.

Fifteenth, Harris and Walz must also understand and explain to voters why our federal budget deficits are very manageable, thanks to properly calibrated Federal Reserve QE financing of federal debt, which properly calibrated maximizes economic growth and reduces budget deficits through lower interest rates without generating excess aggregate demand, thereby containing inflation under normal circumstances (i.e., in the absence of Covid supply-chain disruptions and Russian invasions causing energy and food prices to soar).

Additionally, Harris and Walz must understand and then explain to voters that budget deficits are not inflationary per se (as the absence of statistical correlation over the ten year period between 2009 and 2020 unambiguously proves), so long as there is some unused productive capacity and a degree of unemployment so that excess aggregate demand does not develop.

Of great importance, Harris and Walz must also explain to Democrat and Republican voters, that much of our federal debt, i.e., all Treasury bonds held by the Federal Reserve, practically half of all federal debt outstanding, is actually “virtual”, which the Fed can cancel at will, with no negative consequences since cancellation does not increase the money supply. The upshot: Thanks to QE, we do not have a large federal debt overhang necessarily being passed on to future generations, since the Fed can cancel or roll over much of it at maturity. And we do not have to raise taxes. The budget debt obsession is a bogeyman born of misunderstanding economics by many finance/economic professionals and academic economists, even those with Nobel Prizes. That explains why their forecasting records are generally so mediocre.

Sixteenth, Harris and Walz should explain why neither the Republicans nor the Democrats remain in control of Congress and the White House for long periods. It’s because of serious flaws in their respective policies leading to failure, all due to ignorance and incompetence of both Congress and our presidents. That’s a major reason why the nation never solves its most important problems. The fact is, all too many of our politicians are poorly or narrowly educated and not really qualified. (Just being a lawyer does not mean a political candidate is very knowledgeable on economic, social, and foreign policy as all politicians should be!) Harris and Walz should propose a new approach. Most importantly, require all political candidates, before being allowed to run for office, to have already obtained a highly advanced and prestigious PhD degree specially devised for political candidates, ensuring that they become very well-educated in economic, social, and foreign policy, with strong capabilities in logic and critical thinking, with the ability to spot the many fallacies in mainstream thinking. Such truly well-educated conservative and liberal politicians would then engage in rational, intelligent, well-informed discussions and end up agreeing on effective policies acceptable to both parties.

Seventeenth, of course, Harris and Walz must continue to explain why Trump is an existential threat to our democracy and democracy around the world. They must continuously point out that Trumps’ favorite foreign leaders are dictators and violators of human rights, which is unconscionable and an insult to our history and values, and that no self-respecting American would vote for him, not even if he reduces their taxes. Harris and Walz must also make very clear to all Americans why ensuring that Ukraine wins its defense against the Russian invasion, liberating all its territory from illegal Russian occupation, is absolutely essential for our democracy and the world’s democracies. And make clear that Trump’s refusal to criticize Russia’s invasion and to help Ukraine win its war of liberation is a veritable disgrace, a violation of our principles, and suggests he might well be a de facto Russian agent. Harris and Walz must expose Trump’s claim that he would end the Ukraine-Russia war overnight as being ridiculous and immoral, as it would consist of ceding to Russia the Ukrainian territories it has illegally invaded. They should publicly demand that Trump explain how he would end the war overnight, why he admires Putin and dictators in general, and why Putin’s illegal and immoral invasion should be rewarded with Ukrainian territory. They should publicly challenge Trump to demonstrate that he knows the content of theBudapest Memorandum and of the United Nations Charter.

Eighteenth, on Israel’s wholesale destruction of Gaza, a tragic imitation of Putin’s egregiously immoral devastation of Mariupol in Ukraine, Harris and Walz should assert their severe disapproval, going so far as to state that while they are for Israel’s right to exist in peace, they are against the Netanyahu government and its horrific invasion of Gaza. The invasion has reduced Israel’s moral standing in the world, as it clearly could have reacted to the Hamas October 2023 massacre with a series of surgical military operations instead of carpet bombing. That would have been the moral approach, even if more time consuming and more expensive for Israel in terms of its soldiers’ lives. Harris and Walz should explain the concept of noblesse oblige, which Israel has disgracefully disregarded, while being by far the stronger country militarily, economically, and educationally.

Harris and Walz should explain to all Americans that the decades long Israeli-Palestinian conflict is due to conflicting absolutist religions which both violate human rights, and that true, lasting peace will only be achieved when both sides repudiate their religious discrimination and hatred, embracing the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which all United Nations members have undersigned and promised to uphold. They should also explain why the 1948 United Nations Partition Plan, whereby one third of British Mandate Palestine is for a sovereign Israeli state, and two thirds for a sovereign Palestinian state, is a fair and logical one, that both sides should implement and respect, while formally disavowing religious discrimination and hatred. Harris and Biden should express their conviction that the Israelis and Palestinians would enjoy tremendous prosperity together, and even friendship, if they abandoned their religious discriminations and hatred dating from antiquity, commanded by their holy books, the Old Testament and the Koran.

Nineteenth, the case can be made that Trump himself was in great need of a well-designed psychology course in high school, as he is clearly mentally disturbed. So are citizens who are abusive, violent, unethical, unempathetic, and dishonest; who are criminals, habitual cheaters, habitual liars, admirers of dictators, and inciters of violence; who are affected by an acute inferiority complex. The cause? Bad parenting. Along with a society which does nothing to compensate for bad parenting.

Twentieth, what can one say of a nation that continually self-congratulates itself out loud as being the greatest nation on Earth, even while having widespread poverty, violence of all sorts (including world-leading mass shootings), crime, addiction (dishonestly or delusionally blaming fentanyl addiction on China, as though it is force-feeding Americans who do not want it!), and rampant dishonesty? Of a nation having many citizens and politicians who admire dictators, aspiring dictators, and criminal insurrectionists? One can rationally say that such nation has a severe inferiority complex, that it has many mentally disturbed, poorly educated citizens, and that it has lost its way socially and politically. Due to what? Due to all too many mediocre public schools with severely deficient curriculums, leaving their students misinformed, undereducated, ignorant of world history (including the rise of Hitler and other murderous dictators), with little or no culture, confused, insecure, with little or no understanding of themselves or others, living in wastelands.

If we end up with a fascist dictatorship, it will be because of our disgraceful, imbecilic collective fault for not making all our public schools truly excellent with enlightened curriculums, an imperative investment with enormous social, political, and economic benefits. (No need to raise taxes when you have Fed QE financing!)

Twenty-first, we must finally realize that most of our political, economic, and social divisions are due to a deep education gap, and we must correct this very problematic and sad situation. In fact, one half of our nation is fairly well-educated, the other half is poorly educated due to very inadequate public schools with deficient curriculums. We absolutely need to eliminate the education gap while greatly raising the average level of education nationwide, through making every single public school run as the best private schools: I’ll repeat, with strict class discipline, lots of homework and study hall, school uniforms, and, of critical importance, with an enlightened curriculum which includes a four-year psychology course accompanied by group therapy and good parenting workshops, along with individual attention for students with academic or psychological difficulties. That is by far the best investment we can make: it would lead to a highly ethical, empathetic, serene, joyous and very prosperous nation (with much lower taxes!), while eliminating the dangerous political divide we have been suffering over the past decade.

© Edward Sonnino 2024

August 17, 2024