The following are conceptual elements being submitted to the 2008 Democratic Platform through Barack Obama's "Listening to America" web utility, and to the 2008 Republican Platform via the RNC's Online Platform input system. Neither party has a monopoly on new ideas; in fact, recently, at the party level, they both seem almost completely devoid of them. Let us hope that Senators Obama and McCain, as both somewhat 'unconventional' candidates, can change that, in the final analysis.
While it is unlikely for the following to work its way through the various levels of active screening (or lack thereof) in either party to actually reach any of the policy wonks or K-Street hacks who will handcraft the two platforms, the formulation is a useful exercise nontheless.
This is not intended to be a comprehensive prescription to cure the nations ills, merely some supplemental thinking to address some of the most compelling priorities that are recognized across the political spectrum. (more...)