Principles for a Majority Agenda

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Our country is at a crossroads, facing both great danger and great opportunity. The crisis in which we all find ourselves is a convergence of three major elements: 1) an economic crisis that also extends to health care, education and housing; 2) a unique and catastrophic threat posed by climate change and 3) a complex crisis around issues of war, global security and control over natural resources.

The crisis we face cannot be addressed piecemeal because no single component defines the crisis by itself. A comprehensive strategy is needed.

Measures of public sentiment indicate that most Americans agree about policies that would effectively address the present dangers and promote the welfare of all of us.

Endorse the Principles for a Majority Agenda here

The following principles have the support of a majority of Americans:

Invest Our Public Resources in Our Economic Security and General Well-Being

The solution to our economic crisis is to invest in the lives of our people: Focus on maintaining and expanding decent jobs; Support local business; Protect the rights of working people; Provide access to a home for all of us; and expand quality public health insurance to cover all of us and bring down costs

Stop Global Warming by Building a Green Economy

The solution to our energy crisis is to rapidly cut harmful emissions and build a green economy with millions of new green jobs. Rapidly expand renewable energy sources and create a new energy, transportation and urban infrastructure. These initiatives speak to the needs of all working people, especially in poor urban and rural communities, and can redress inequities of race and gender. The focus of our economy should be on employment, fairness and quality of life.

Implement a Foreign Policy that Makes All of Us Safe rather than Plunging Us into Disastrous Wars

Iraq and Afghanistan have shown that massive military spending and wars are not the answer to our security problems. They have tremendous human costs, create new grievances and instability around the world, and generate unsustainable budget deficits at home. Building cooperative relationships with other countries, based on sustainable development and common security interest will more effectively promote global security.

These three components of the majority agenda are fundamentally interconnected. The public, non-profit and private sectors must massively invest in green jobs and infrastructure if we are to survive. Therefore, economic security and the building of a green economy are linked.

Likewise, building a green economy frees up billions now spent specifically on military strategy to control oil supplies in other countries – the very energy sources that have caused the climate catastrophe we face. These huge savings in unnecessary military spending can then be diverted to promote the health, education and economic well-being of our people.

Pulling us back from the brink of ecological and economic disaster also requires international cooperation and ending the havoc that NAFTA and other policies of corporate globalization are inflicting on the living standards of working people, women and people of color at home and abroad. Replacing the economic disruption caused by these policies with strategies that promote sustainable development and employment will go far in undermining the appeal of extremist ideologies, thereby enhancing our security.

By coming to grips with the complex crises we face, this “majority agenda” builds on our shared humanity and shared values, undermines racial and gender oppressions that weaken our society, and leads us out of our current emergency into a secure future that is filled with promise for our country and our planet.