The Independent View: The Big Ideas Project

The Big Ideas Project is sponsored by the Progressive Change Institute.

The Progressive Change Campaign Committee (PCCC) is a national grassroots organization with a mission of building progressive power. With nearly one million members, they help progressive candidates get elected and work with them to govern progressively. They focus on economic populism and democracy issues, including expanding Social Security benefits, Wall Street reform and accountability, and campaign finance reform.

The Progressive Change Institute conducted a national poll on the top Big Ideas. Here are the top 20 ideas:

1. Now is the time to expand Social Security — not cut it. Social Security benefits simply haven't kept up with the rising costs that seniors face—for medicine, food, and housing. We're facing a retirement crisis where seniors can't rely on pensions and other parts of the social contract. We need to increase benefits to make sure they reflect the true costs seniors face. Expanding Social Security is the best way to ensure all Americans have the economic security they need to retire with dignity. 16,301 votes.

2. Corporations are paper, not people. People before profit. Enact laws which reverse Citizens United, McCutcheon, and Buckley v. Valeo. Without a fair field in which everyday people are heard and treated equally, when, as we're now seeing, corporations and money carry more weight than the voices of our citizens, our entire system of government falls into plutocracy and oligarchy. 15,382 votes.

3. Tax equality. This means that 100% of everyone's income is taxed for Social Security, not just middle class people. It means that no matter the source of your income, it is all treated the same for tax purposes (no more calling a salary "carried interest" to change the tax rate on it, no more taxing dividends and capital gains at a different rate). 12,639 votes.

4. DECENTRALIZE the funding of political campaigns, through matching funds or democracy vouchers to every voter, so that Congress is dependent on ALL of us, and not just the tiny fraction of the 1% that now effectively funds their campaigns. No real change will happen till this change does. 10,198 votes.

5. End the Oil Depletion Allowance (ODA), and any other oil industry tax benefits, and redirect the increased revenue to subsidize alternative energy (solar, wind, wave, etc.) The ODA made sense a century ago when it was a fledgling industry, but now the most profitable companies on earth are the major oil conglomerates. Direct our subsidy to the job creating industries of the future. 9,279 votes.

6. Restore the protections of the Glass-Steagall Act. The decision by Congress and the President to repeal the Glass-Steagall law in 1999 paved the way for the “too big to fail, one-stop financial supermarkets” that played a major role in the near economic collapse of 2008. For a decade, we saw the financial industry assume unbelievable risks knowing that they were able to gamble with the taxpayers money. The American people paid a heavy price for it! 8,058 votes.

7. Single Payer Health Care. 7,895 votes.

8. Break up Citigroup. We face a danger to our democracy from the power of our largest banks—particularly Citigroup. Their control over the executive branch is unprecedented. Their donations buy votes every day in Congress. Their money supports think tanks that produce endless smokescreens to make sure no one notices what is really going on. It’s time to fix the imperfections in Dodd-Frank, just as Elizabeth Warren says: “Let’s pass something—anything—that would help break up these giant banks.” 7,854 votes.

9. Do not allow corporations to shelter from tax profits through foreign subsidiaries. Make all their profits subject to tax when earned, do not allow them to avoid tax by holding these profits offshore. 7,725 votes.

10. Expand the Post Office. Stop using US Postal Service revenues (all non-taxpayer) to reduce the deficit, and eliminate the $5.5 billion annual fee to pre-fund retiree health benefits. Lifting this onerous requirement would make it unnecessary to close mail processing centers, and revenues could be used for reforms and expanded services instead -- starting with a postal banking system offering savings accounts, check cashing, small loans and other basic financial services. 7,609 votes.

11. We need to rebuild our decaying infrastructure (water pipes, sewers, bridges, roads) and promote and use green/sustainable technology to ensure water and energy production. 7,070 votes.

12. "We are demanding an emergency program to provide employment for everyone in need of a job, or if a work program is impractical, a guaranteed annual income at levels that sustain life in decent circumstances. It is now incontestable that the wealth and resources of the United States make the elimination of poverty absolutely practical." - Martin Luther King Jr. 6,722 votes.

13. Make gerrymandering of districts illegal. The only criteria that voting districts should be based upon is geographical location. Current redistricting policies only serve to disenfranchise voters of both parties, decrease the effectiveness of our democratic process, and encourage partisan divisions. 6,375 votes.

14. Just like during the Depression reinvent the WPA in order to build roads and bridges. We could create jobs and have a steady stream of bodies available to build these projects. So many qualified workers from companies who bailed overseas or out completely are available and we should use their abilities to the fullest. 6,116 votes.

15. Dismantle the for-profit prison industry. Prisoners of the state should be kept by the state, not by profit-driven concerns with a vested interest in keeping their facilities full and profitable. 5,926 votes.

16. Reinstate the sections of the Voting Rights Act, nullified by the Supreme Court, by removing the qualification that those sections applied only to districts which had a historical record of segregation, prior to 1967. Instead, anyone with a grievance on being denied to vote should be granted standing to file a class action suit on behalf of their community; all district voting procedures and district maps should be subject to strict court scrutiny. 5,703 votes. View my prior post on how I would fix this problem.

17. Comprehensive election reforms. A law forbidding corporations from funding elections in any form and a limit on individual spending. National day off for all citizens to vote. National standards for voter eligibility, with specific prohibitions against restrictions designed to suppress specific types of voters. 5,630 votes.

18. Allow all Americans to enroll in Medicare. Because the insurance premiums people pay would be equal to the cost, the program would pay for itself. In many states, a few private insurance companies control the market, restricting consumer choice and driving up the cost of care. The people deserve a public option. Opening up the Medicare system increases competition and provides more options to consumers. 5,466 votes.

19. Protect our water supplies and aquifers by banning fracking. One single Frack uses up between 500,000 and 4 MILLION Gallons of water. A small family barely uses that much water in a lifetime, and these companies use that much water with a single Frack. Then they pump poisonous chemicals into the ground that no one even knows what they contain, leaving communities riddled with illness, cancer, and poisoned wells. 5,451 votes.

20. Allow Medicare to negotiate drug pricing. 5,233 votes.

CLICK HERE for more information about the Progressive Change Institute and the complete list of ideas.