Issue Position: Real Deal

Issue Position

During the Great Depression, the New Deal -- consisting largely of watered-down demands of the Socialist Party of America -- made life once again bearable for Americans and fought back against the tides of depression. In 2012, the Stewart Alexander / Alex Mendoza campaign presents The Real Deal: what the New Deal should have consisted of 80 years ago. While forces from both the Republican and Democratic parties are trying to strip away the minimal safety net provided by the New Deal, the Socialist Party is pushing to expand this safety net at a time we need it most.

The plan consists of:

* Nationalizing the banks, financial, and insurance companies and placing them within a framework which allows them to be controlled democratically by the US citizenry. These industries have had booming profits by virtue of nothing more than having great capital, much to the detriment of the average American. Collectively, we have the capital to take care of ourselves in this industry.

* Offering to extend this framework to other North American countries in order to unite working people across borders to work together freely and democratically.

* $100 billion invested in the development, manufacture, and sale of electric vehicles and another $500 billion invested in mass transit systems across the nation. Unlike investments made by the Democratic and Republican parties, this will not be money handed out to corporations through corporate welfare, but rather a direct enterprise by the United States government run democratically by the people.

* A quick institution of a Single Payer system for health care followed up by initiatives to create a fully nationalized health care system as enjoyed and cherished by other industrialized nations the world over. Contrary to right wing banter, the vast majority of both citizens and health care workers, including doctors, much prefer their nationalized system to a private system. It also provides much cheaper and effective, high quality heath care by removing the profit motive from the system.

* Free and quality education from cradle to doctoral degree for all US residents. Through such education, the nation can thrive economically and be well equipped to navigate through the political landscape to make informed choices. With the extension of democracy into the economic sector being proposed by the campaign, such high quality education will become a necessity.

* An indefinite extension of unemployment benefits. If there are workers unemployed and actively seeking work without success, it is the fault of the economic system, not the workers.

* Public work relief programs, reminiscent of the Civilian Conservation Corps to put our nation back to work through direct action, working for the good of the community.

* Begin nationalizing our economic sector to ensure full employment in productive areas and ensuring workers receive the full fruits of their labor.

* A drastic 50% cut in our armed forces over a two year period, freeing our economic resources to work towards productive purposes. According to the last data available from the CIA, pre-September 11, we spent more on our military than the next 36 countries combined.

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