Contract with Blue America

The Democrats have this new-fangled thing called a "Contract with America." How fresh! No one has ever thought of that before.
Amidst accusations that Democrats have no alternatives to Republican ideas and philosophies, they have come up with this nifty Nine Point Plan indicating their new and improved platform.
Hat tip to JustOneMinute.

Here is part of the opening statement:

“Across the country, people are worried about things that matter to their families – the health of their loved ones, their child’s performance in schools, and those sky high gas prices,” said Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid. “But what is the number one priority for Senate Republicans? Doing away with the last check on one-party rule in Washington to allow President Bush, Senator Frist and Tom Delay to stack the courts with radical judges. If Republicans proceed to pull the trigger on the nuclear option, Democrats will respond by employing existing Senate rules to push forward our agenda for America.”

OK, actually I'm more worried about terrorism and national security, and as it happens, democracy promotion world-wide. But you go on thinking what you want about what my worries are. Really, much of that stuff I would rather be handled by other entities, like states or private concerns, than the federal government.
Oh.... My.... I'm not even going anywhere with that paranoid, freak out statement about Republican's drive for "one-party rule."
And what the heck does Reid mean by that last sentence? "..will respond by employing existing Senate rules to push forward our agenda..." What rules would you use that you already haven't to push your agenda? You mean you haven't been doing that already? How useful of a senator are you if you have an agenda that you aren't pursuing already? Reid: "If the Republicans try to end our shameless stalling of judicial appointments, then we might actually do our JOBS!"

Anyway, here are the nine points. You can get them from either link above, but I have comments to make:

1. Women’s Health Care. “The Prevention First Act of 2005” will reduce the number of unintended pregnancies and abortions by increasing funding for family planning and ending health insurance discrimination against women.

OK, sort of with you so far. But what does the federal government have to do with this? I would work on convincing insurance companies to offer more family planning stuff. Insurance companies should understand that they should fully cover office visits and health maintenance stuff, as it is cheaper than paying for the hospital visit once you are really sick.
As giving birth costs a whole lot, I would think that planning devices (read: contraception) should be a no brainer. Some insurance companies might not want to do this for various reasons (morals, religious values) and it will do the government no good to try and restrict the right of people to not offer that kind of coverage.
I don't even know what Reid means by "insurance Discrimination against women." But then, I'm not a woman.

2. Veterans’ Benefits. “The Retired Pay Restoration Act of 2005” will assist disabled veterans who, under current law, must choose to either receive their retirement pay or disability compensation.

I didn't know they couldn't have both. I'm not really sure I disagree with this, but I don't know anything about it.

3. Fiscal Responsibility. Democrats will move to restore fiscal discipline to government spending and extend the pay-as-you-go requirement.

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha.
(Breath)
hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha.
Whatever. I agree that the Republicans, now in power, have been pretty crappy about fiscal responsibility, while crying about it back in the 80s and early 90s. But the Dems are going to be no better, and even some of the other things in these points of theirs are going to cost the taxpayers extra piles of cashola. Right now these are just words, and really funny ones at that.

4. Relief at the Pump. Democrats plan to halt the diversion of oil from the markets to the strategic petroleum reserve. By releasing oil from the reserve through a swap program, the plan will bring down prices at the pump.

As the JustOneMinute guy points out, Democrats are the party of Conservation and Higher gas prices. Just accept it. This reeks of a party just saying something because they know people want to hear it.
It's also pretty short sighted to start draining the SPR just to bring down gas prices, as Bush has pointed out he won't do. Draining the reserve won't be the golden answer to all our gas problems either. There are other answers to this, to which the Democrats offer no real alternatives for.

5. Education. Democrats have a bill that will: strengthen head start and child care programs, improve elementary and secondary education, provide a roadmap for first generation and low-income college students, provide college tuition relief for students and their families, address the need for math, science and special education teachers, and make college affordable for all students .

Here's one of those issues that is going to cost more, and thereby nullifies point number 3. Basically this is the Democrat's version of No Child Left Behind, right? So where was this as an alternative when Bush unveiled his grand education vision?
We'll leave this for later whether their bill is worth anything more than the paper it's printed on. It might have some good ideas in it. But for now lets say that I am cynical that the federal government can do anything for education that doesn't cost way too much and offer way too little. For this reason I'm still a little cynical that NCLB is really all that beneficial, considering all the money the feds are currently shovelling into that program.

6. Jobs. Democrats will work in support of legislation that guarantees overtime pay for workers and sets a fair minimum wage.

Oh, man, here it comes. I new what number 8 was before I even got there.
Isn't overtime pay guaranteed for hourly workers now? If you aren't an hourly worker, i.e. you are on salary, typically that means that you have to work more hours sometimes, and you can take off early when you need to on others. If you have a job where the boss makes you work over tons, but doesn't let you go when you want to, or need to (and you aren't abusing the system) then find another job. Really.
I'm also against the minimum wage for various reasons. I realize that you want to set it at something so undereducated people don't get totally screwed, but my question is what's a "fair" wage? What minimum is fair? When I hear liberals say "fair minimum wage" that means they want to raise it again. Global minimums are actually not fair, because if you are using cost of living in cities, then the rate is too high for rural areas, and vice versa. Different cities have different needs too.
Minimum wages are a starting point, also. No one expects that you'll be able to completely support yourself and a family indefinitely earning that much, but if you aren't looking to improve yourself and continue to look for promotion or higher paying jobs, then you are earning the wage you are making.
I could rant all day.

7. Energy Markets. Democrats work to prevent Enron-style market manipulation of electricity.

Could you do more than make market manipulation illegal? Cause it is, you know. And Enron executives are going to jail. So what more are you going to do?
JustOneMinute's comments sections has a good statement on this, to the effect that the Government of California itself must take blame for manipulating markets, and Enron might not have been able to hide behind the auditors for as long as they did had that not happened. And if the state is able to manipulate markets, why should we trust the federal government?

8. Corporate Taxation. Democrats make sure companies pay their fair share of taxes to the U.S. government instead of keeping profits overseas.

You see, I was wondering if there would be any "out-sourcing" paranoia in this little list. Logic: companies keep their profits overseas because they are afraid of being over taxed. So you are going to try to tax them more, why?
Keeping profits overseas isn't good for the company's bottom line as far as profit for the stock holders. What it's good for is having a little extra money for improvements and reinvestment in the factories at those locations. They are improving the productivity and offering more jobs for people in those locations, not generating more bonuses for the CEO.
Want more money in the federal coffers? Spend less.

9. Standing with our troops. Democrats believe that putting America’s security first means standing up for our troops and their families.

How cute and fuzzy. Like we're not doing this now. Really I don't want to criticize a statement like this, as I agree. We should be standing up for our troops and their families. But a statement like that, coupled with "putting America's security first" sounds like they want to talk like they are tough on national security. But there's no ideas here, just a statement of intent. I won't be holding my breath waiting for anything concrete and inventive.