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Elizabeth Warren Offers Eleven Easy Principles for Progressives

I may agree with 52% of the Libertarian platform, but I'm in 99.5% agreement with Senator Elizabeth Warren's progressive principles, which she offered Friday, July 18, at Netroots Nation in Detroit. Let's do some line by line!

1. "We believe that Wall Street needs stronger rules and tougher enforcement, and we're willing to fight for it."

  • Crash your truck into city hall, and you will spend time in jail. Get a bunch of greedy MBAs together and crash the global economy, and you don't even get a ticket. Yup, I'm with you, Senator Warren.

2. "We believe in science, and that means that we have a responsibility to protect this Earth."

  • Prayer didn't decrease acid rain, and Jesus won't get us to Mars or Alpha Centauri.

3. "We believe that the Internet shouldn't be rigged to benefit big corporations, and that means real net neutrality."

  • Internet is like water now: information and equal access for all.

4. "We believe that no one should work full-time and still live in poverty, and that means raising the minimum wage."

5. "We believe that fast-food workers deserve a livable wage, and that means that when they take to the picket line, we are proud to fight alongside them."

  • I'll take a half-point off for singling out fast-food workers; every worker deserves a livable wage. That said, food service folks, I'm with you, right beside Senator Warren.

6. "We believe that students are entitled to get an education without being crushed by debt."

  • The less debt students are saddled with when they start working, the more money they can pour into (a) immediate economic activity and (b) long-term savings, both of which improve our national budget situation.

7. "We believe that after a lifetime of work, people are entitled to retire with dignity, and that means protecting Social Security, Medicare, and pensions."

  • Work should be a vocation, an activity in which we take pride. But in a wealthy society, even the luckiest workers who love their jobs should have the liberty to say, "I've done enough" and rest.

8. "We believe—I can't believe I have to say this in 2014—we believe in equal pay for equal work."

  • Again, every worker has dignity. Pay must respect that dignity. To say one worker has less dignity than another is immoral.

9. "We believe that equal means equal, and that's true in marriage, it's true in the workplace, it's true in all of America."

10. "We believe that immigration has made this country strong and vibrant, and that means reform."

  • If the Iroquois had rounded up the Cherokee, Lakota, and others and built better walls, we wouldn't be here.

11. "And we believe that corporations are not people, that women have a right to their bodies. We will overturn Hobby Lobby and we will fight for it. We will fight for it!"

  • How can we treat Hobby Lobby like a person while treating women like breeding stock?

Yup, looks like I'm a 99.5% Warren Democrat. Rick, you are too, right? Corinna? Susan? Come on, what Democrat wouldn't be? What worker, mother, son, or American wouldn't be?

20 Comments

  1. Deb Geelsdottir 2014.07.21

    Yes!
    Yes!
    Yes!

    Senator Warren is my hero!

  2. SDBlue 2014.07.22

    I wish I could have been a fly on the wall the night she won her Senate seat. After Republicans blocked her appointment to the Obama Administration, I imagine that victory was especially sweet. She makes me proud to be a progressive and, more importantly, she gives me hope.

  3. advocate 2014.07.22

    I would have liked to see a stronger stance against NSA surveillance and the aggressive technosecurity policies Obama has presided over. I don't think any upstanding liberal would have forgiven President George W. Bush for enacting the same policies. We're already effectively fighting cyber wars on all fronts - government, business, etc. Combined with the Snowden information, this should be a major policy discussion.

  4. TGA 2014.07.22

    Obama blocked Warren's appointment to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Current chair Cordray is OK, and, since beginning 3 years ago, CFPB's done some work as far as getting big banks out of funding payday loan storefronts, but I can't help but wonder what CFPB would be doing today w/ Warren as chair.

    Warren's a great Senator, charismatic, fighter, relates well to the population, but we needed her more at CFPB. She scared the hell out of Wall Street.

  5. Tim 2014.07.22

    TGA, she still scares the hell out of Wall Street, I wish she would run but I don't think she will. I'll vote for HRC because she is better than any other options that will come up in 16 at this point, but I would much rather be casting a vote for Senator Warren

  6. TGA 2014.07.22

    Wall Street lovers Geithner and Rahm both hated Warren and both were in Obama's ear telling him she wouldn't get past confirmation hearings.

    Obama could have have circumvented confirmation hearings - and made a recess appointment for Warren - which is exactly what he did for Cordray, and with no oversight changes to CFPB the GOP wanted.

  7. mike from iowa 2014.07.22

    Back in May of 2011, Senate Republicans blocked adjournment over Memorial Day weekend in order to prevent President Obama from making any recess appointments. One of the appointments that Obama was not able to make was that of Elizabeth Warren to head up the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. 44 Republican senators sent a letter to Obama vowing to block any nominee to the CFPB, “We write to express our concerns about the lack of accountability in the structure of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). As present

  8. Douglas Wiken 2014.07.22

    Republican retrogrades are indefensible.

    The irony of Warren beating their candidate after they shut her out of the Consumer position is real karma. The obstructionists got bit by their answered prayers.

  9. mike from iowa 2014.07.22

    Doug W-have you seen the new DC circuit court of appeals decision on Obamacare?

  10. TGA 2014.07.22

    I keep saying "chair" when I mean "director".

    Mike: I read your link, and, again, your cut and paste; read my second paragraph at 11:26.

    Tim: Warren for Mistress of the Universe, after some foreign policy education/experience.

  11. Deb Geelsdottir 2014.07.22

    "Warren for Mistress of the Universe, after some foreign policy education/experience."

    I totally and completely agree!

  12. bearcreekbat 2014.07.22

    mike, I saw it. There is a split among the DC Circuit and the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals. If the DC ruling is affirmed by the Supreme Court our SD Republicans just added another screwing to South Dakotans who signed up for insurance under the ACA.

    As I understand the ruling, the DC Court agreed with the Republican plaintiffs that under the ACA the federal government can only provide insurance subsidies to folks signing up under state exchanges. Thus, the DC Court ruled that people who had to use the federal exchange because the Republicans in their state refused to create a state exchange, cannot receive the federal ACA subsidies intended to lower their insurance cost. The DC Court interpreted an ACA provision in a manner that tied the tax refund or credit to only the state exchanges, but not the federal exchange. Anti-ACA Republicans jumped on this language and sued to prevent federal officials from granting the credit if the consumer used a federal exchange.

    Since Gov DD & the SD Republicans refused to set up a SD state exchange this would mean South Dakotans who were forced by the Governor's decision to use the federal exchange must pay full price without subsidy, provided the anti-ACA Republicans can avoid having this ruling reversed by the higher courts. Thanks a bunch governor!

  13. Steve Sibson 2014.07.23

    "It should be true for all South Dakotans."

    Including pedophiles and polygamists Cory?

  14. Steve Sibson 2014.07.23

    "Obama could have have circumvented confirmation hearings - and made a recess appointment for Warren - which is exactly what he did for Cordray, and with no oversight changes to CFPB the GOP wanted."

    More grounds for impeachment.

  15. larry kurtz 2014.07.23

    Joe Biden as President: and earth haters like Sibby think Obama is a socialist.

  16. Craig 2014.07.23

    Whatever you do... don't feed the troll.

  17. mike from iowa 2014.07.23

    BCB-at least the insurance brokers and their shareholders should rake in even more of the wealth. Isn't that basically what life is all about?

  18. mike from iowa 2014.07.23

    TGA-I don't get it. Obama was blocked from making the recess appointment for Warren. She resigned her position and won a a senate seat instead. Obama didn't block her appointment. Wingnuts did.

Comments are closed.