Observation:

According to US Government 2004 statistics, Medicare will go broke by the year 2019 and Social Security will be insolvent by 2042.  All of us recognize that there are limits to the amount of additional taxes that can be imposed upon the current work force.  More creative solutions must be found.

Proposition:

Unbundle the Public Schools.  Our public school systems and our homes should no longer be bundled together.  Untie the financing of public school systems from the taxation of real property.  Strengthen the public schools by allowing them to tap into statewide funding.  Provide teachers the opportunity to make more money based upon results.  Free each child to attend any public school she wants to attend, i.e., the school that is best suited to improve her chances for success.  End the current system that requires a child to attend the public school funded by the property taxes on her parent's home.

Perspective:

According to the web site: www.schoolmatters.com, the Mount Vernon, New York public school system (2004 figures) has 10,347 students and spends $13,287 per student.  Only 21% of the students in the eighth grade scored proficient or above in statewide testing of reading, although 47% of eighth graders were proficient statewide and 60% were proficient countywide.  The results for eighth grade math proficiency were similarly disappointing: 32% Mt. Vernon; 58% statewide and 70% countywide.

Similarly, the Yonkers, New York public school system (2004 figures) has 26,201 students and spends $15,148 per student.  Only 28% of the students in the eighth grade scored proficient or above in statewide testing of reading, although 47% of eighth graders were proficient statewide and 60% of eighth graders were proficient countywide.  The results for eighth grade math proficiency were equally grim: 39% Yonkers; 58% statewide and 70% countywide.

I can vaguely recall a time past when each home had one telephone service provider, one gas/electric service provider, one cable service provider and one public school provider.  We now have several choices for phone service, several choices for television service and several choices for gas and electric service.  But each family continues to be limited to only one public school district.  There is absolutely no justification for the current confinement.  It is an entirely artificial, and completely unnecessary, limit on our young talent.  It is a form of educational confinement.  It must end immediately.

Using the statistics above, our current system is failing 68% of Mount Vernon's students and 61% of Yonkers' students.  The way I see it, every day we are losing too many of our poor youth to the streets, to drugs and violence, and then to our overpopulated prisons.  And soon, we may start losing these same kids to jihad. 

There is no time to waste.  Let's have at it.

What kind of government was advocated by Jesus Nazarene?  Although radicalism abounds in the red letter text, nowhere is there a more profound statement regarding our earthly existence than the Parable of the Ten Talents in Matthew 25.  In this short passage the Nazarene does more than just explain to us how we are to live on this earth.  He goes much farther.  He also explains to us how we are to govern.  If we can implement his vision of government here in this country, the results will be phenomenal.  It should be our mission, starting today, to bring to life the Nazarene's vision for good government.

Review the story of the ten talents.  Two principles are clear.  First, there is no fairness in this life.  Some people are masters; some are servants.  Some people start with a large measure of gold, others start with much less.  That's just the way it is.  Second, you are only on this earth for a short time, and while you are here you must use all the "talent" at your disposal to the fullest extent.  Please note that Jesus does not just say you should apply your talents, but if you do not, all will be forgiven.  His imagery is very stark: God expects you to apply all your talents all the time or you will be thrown out into the darkness, where you will experience weeping and the gnashing of teeth.

If our duty to God is to live according to the precepts of the Ten Talents, then it is the primary duty of our government to facilitate our fulfillment of our duty to God.  In other words, our government should practice 'ten talents' governance: if any governmental program helps us apply all our talents all the time, that governmental program should continue.  If any governmental program evokes a different response in us, that governmental program (in its current form) is destructive to human beings and should be ended or altered immediately.

Let me give a simple example.  The government operates public colleges and universities.  If you take advantage of that governmental program, the more you apply your talents, the more you will succeed.  However, the federal government also operates the Social Security Disability program.  If you take advantage of that governmental program, you will do everything you can to be a miserable, personal failure: dysfunctional, infirm, incapacitated.  The bigger mess that you are, the more you will succeed in the program.  And in order to continue your eligibility in the program, you must continue your personal failures, and languish in them.  Under no circumstances should you apply yourself or make something of yourself; because if you succeed in personal improvement you will render yourself ineligible for the governmental program.

Of course, the second program above is fostering a populace that is infirm, incapacitated dependent and disabled.  The second program effectively discourages people from following the precepts Jesus articulated in the Parable of the Ten Talents.  Too many governmental programs existing today that seek to help people actually harm them.

A bold new proposal was suggested earlier this year that should be promoted by true followers of Jesus because it is consistent with his message.  In simple terms, that proposal calls for the complete elimination of the current welfare system and replacing it with a $10,000.00 annual federal grant for each and every American (of which $2,500.00 must be spent on health insurance).  This specific plan merits additional discussion and debate.  However, the general concept, of replacing the government's promotion of personal travesty and individual incapacitation with a government that promotes personal opportunity and provides financial empowerment, should be the cornerstone of any progressive political platform.

Either you believe in the red letter profundity of the Nazarene or you don't.  But you cannot embrace his ministry and at the same time advocate for the perpetuation of the current welfare state in America.  Because the welfare state requires people to conduct their lives in a manner that is diametrically opposed to the way the man himself taught people how to live.

As the centerpiece of our platform, let's call for a re-engineering of government to promote the 'ten talents' precepts.  And for progressive Christian proposal number one, lets transform the current "culture of dependency" welfare system into an "individual opportunity and financial empowerment" system.    Encourage people to live the way the Nazarene told them to live, rather than discourage them, as the present system does.  Give people at the very bottom rungs both the means and the encouragement to transform themselves for the better without losing their financial assistance, and they will.

We have no time to waste.  Let's have at it.

There is a large number of Americans who feel unrepresented by the leaders of America today. They are Democrats at heart, but hardly ever vote for a Democrat for federal office. They identify with the religious right in that they are spiritual, and traditional, but don't accept a rigid ideology incapable of self-examination. These people, myself among them, are curious to see if the newly forming religious left becomes a legitimate voice and a legitimate vehicle for change.

If Democrats ever want to return their former position as the dominant political party, they will need to advocate a bold platform for changing America.  They will need to embrace taking America in a very different direction in several key areas, among them: Healthcare; Public Education; Immigration; the Welfare System; Corporate Responsibility and God.

The Democrats will want to dismiss the suggested proposals, but should keep two things in mind:

First, the Democratic Party (and whatever is left of Ross Perot's party) has demonstrated itself incapable of leading this country in a bold new direction. That must be because the ruling members of the organization (i.e., big unions, big bureaucracies, big trial lawyers) all profit from the status quo. However, the status quo Democratic Party will never return as the dominant political party.  That is proven over and over again each November.  Eventually, the Democrats will have to get bold, or they will just wither and die as a national party.

Second, at first blush, the proposals may look and sound like they are coming from the Republicans, or from the religious right, and for that reason Democrats will want to reject them outright. But therein lies the beauty. The proposals may look right-wing, but in fact they are decidedly left wing because they are broad minded, progressive, and directly empower the least fortunate among us. To embrace some, but not all, of the ideas of the other side, and make them your own, is the key to any successful social endeavor. For example, FDR historians brag about his ability to "co-op" the other side; Clinton fans have invented their own word for the same political art form: "triangulation." Or, to give you an example from religious history, rather than starting from scratch, didn't Christianity borrow heavily from Jewish theology. And didn't Christianity "co-op" festivals celebrating Mithra and Ishtar and make them their own Christmas and Easter?

The Democratic Party cannot just be "against" everything that the other side is "for". And Democrats cannot continue to offer the tired old solutions from the past century.  (For example, throwing more money at a problem doesn't always fix it. If it did, the NY Yankees would never lose a World Series). Even if the solutions applied during the past century were successful, they are tired and ineffective going forward.

Democrats must have their own bold vision and it must involve change.  Let's have at it.