Dear Commons Community,

Last night was the first of what will be many presidential debates.  I could not bear to watch the various Republican hopefuls blah over what we need to do to move our country forward.   They mostly criticized President Obama without offering solutions.  Unfortunately as I drifted and considered what the Democrats are doing or not doing, I grew concerned.  While I have a lot of confidence in President Obama, I am not hearing anything that will move us out of our economic doldrums.  This morning, David Brooks, provided a good analysis of how I (and I presume many others) feel about the upcoming election.  He proposed that we need a new approach, a new party (not the Tea party) with the following invigoration program.

“The reinvigoration package would have four baskets. There would be an entitlement reform package designed to redistribute money from health care and the elderly toward innovation and the young. Unless we get health care inflation under control by replacing the perverse fee-for-service incentive structure, there will be no money for anything else.

There would be a targeted working-class basket: early childhood education, technical education, community colleges, an infrastructure bank, asset distribution to help people start businesses, a new wave industrial policy if need be — anything that might give the working class a leg up.

There would be a political corruption basket. The Tea Parties are right about the unholy alliance between business and government that is polluting the country. It’s time to drain the swamp by simplifying the tax code and streamlining the regulations businesses use to squash their smaller competitors.

There would also be a pro-business basket: lower corporate rates, a sane visa policy for skilled immigrants, a sane patent and permitting system, more money for research.”

Brooks concluded that he will cover the upcoming presidential election under protest.

Tony