Neo-Progressive

New progress for new century

About Us

 

                 Neo-progressive political philosophy was a result of my frustration with the choices American political system offered.  One either has to subscribe to Progressive or Conservative ideologies and both are mutually exclusive.  As a result, we are left with legislative system which, depending on the party in power, pushes one or the other ideology from the federal government with little say from the citizens or the states.  This effectively eliminates competition between ideas and isolates both from new ones.

                 Our homepage describe 7 principles of Neo-Progressive philosophy.  I will try to give more detailed explanation of these principles below.

1.              Empower State and Local governments by reducing the federal government’s footprint in the economic, social, and regulatory fields and transferring these responsibilities to the state and municipal governments.  Californians know better than New Yorkers what is best for California and vice versa.   San Diegans know what is needed in San Diego better than representatives from LA or Sacramento.  We hear over and over “all politics is local” but this cliché is not translated into reality.  In fact, all politics is national because the federal government commands a $4 trillion annual budget and has absolute control over our $14 trillion US economy.  Let’s make politics truly local and allow local and state governments to have the majority share of the regulation of economic activity?  With in states people will influence the legislative agenda through various forms of direct democracy such as referendum, recall, etc.

2.              Implementing a consumption and/or property tax instead of progressive income tax.  Today, we have progressive income and corporate tax system.  This allows both individuals and corporations to affect their tax liability through very complex and a highly confusing tax code.  This tax code has many loopholes, intended and unintended, which reduce the taxable income and postpone tax liabilities.  The brunt of progressive taxation affects the middle and upper middle class in terms of % of total income paid and worst of all in terms of disposable income which directly affects their economic activity.  If we replace the progressive income tax with a consumption tax or property ownership tax, we will be able to disperse the tax burden across all individuals and businesses.  By eliminating income tax, we will make our business more competitive and increase disposable income which will increase individual citizens economic activity.  Property taxes will reduce the value of the property which will translate in greater access to ownership.

3.              The labor movement must be made local rather than national.  Today, labor challenges facing workers in the South West of the United States are not the same as the ones facing workers in the North East or the Mid West.  National labor unions, designed to influence changes on the national level, do not provide adequate representation in confronting local challenges.   Labor union bureaucrats with carrier aspirations are much more interested in national politics because they see national organizations as keys to personal advancement.  Local workers are controlled through municipal and state infrastructure and other contracts which are often reserved for union workers.  This short term measure masks and postpones fundamental problems which the American workforce faces as a result of outsourcing both domestically and internationally.  On the other hand, these issues are successfully ignored by national labor unions who concentrate on the philosophy of international trade agreements and tariffs.

4.              Progress in Education.  Education is not a right!  That said, having an educated citizenry is first and foremost in the best interest of the state and the federal government.  We cannot be empowered citizens if we do not know how the political system works; if we don’t know what our rights are how can we defend them, or know their price?   We cannot compete on the global market if we don’t have an educated workforce, if we don’t promote innovation and entrepreneurship.  At the base of every one of these goals lies education.  It’s the most important investment the government, both state and federal, can make.  It has the best return on investment and, most of all, it reduces the dependence of individuals upon the government.  To ensure the best possible outcomes, we must create a sound foundation.  Such a foundation can only be created if empowering parents and students by giving them choices.  We must enable students to pursue higher education without any barriers based on family income, economic or ethnic background, or any other consideration.  We must make public education institutions truly free; free of tuition, free of politics, free of restriction other than academic achievement and ambition.  By giving choices to individuals we will eliminate barriers created by disproportional access to higher quality education which exists in suburban and urban communities.  Higher population concentration characteristic of urban communities will encourage entrepreneurship in terms of offering charter and private schools.

5.               A foreign policy of direct engagement.  We must reduce our participation in the UN and become more actively engaged in the regional multilateral organizations.  The UN has become a body which is infested with bureaucrats who build careers by accomplishing absolutely nothing but spending grant money provided by national governments.  The UN is impotent, slow, and out of touch.  There are great programs which are championed by UN affiliated organizations such as UNESCO and UNISEF, and we should work with them through the USAID and other American organizations, but this cooperation must be a partnership based on individual projects and programs and fund them accordingly.  This will eliminate the overhead of an oversized, largely unproductive bureaucratic machine and allow more funds to reach the intended targets.  Instead of the UN, our focus must be concentrated on regional multilateral organizations such as the APEC, NATO, OAS, OSCE, GCC, etc.  The UN limits the projection of the US influence and allows for nations with less political, economic, and military power to exercise the same influence as the US due to the one member one vote system and shared veto power with 4 other permanent Security Council members.  Through regional organizations the US will be able to not only increase direct contact with governments and the populous, but also establish good will through humanitarian contribution and facilitate improvement of our image around the world.  The regional multilateral organizations are focused on regional issues and involve only interested sides.

6.               Military engagement around the world.  The time of the US’s long-term or permanent military presence in foreign countries needs to come to an end.  Today, there are no major military powers in the world capable, in a short time, of deploying significant conventional military contingents around the world.  Even the US, the most advanced and mobile fighting force in the world, requires weeks and months to deploy overseas in significant numbers.  The global information network allows for a quick spread of information about the military buildups thus reducing the “surprise factor”.  The conventional battle field will be dominated by the US military technology and capability for the next 3 decades, thus reducing the probability of a major military conflict between the dominant military powers.  Regional hot spots or potential conflicts can be discouraged or controlled through a limited naval or areal presence.  In the regions where such presence is less effective, such as central Africa and Central Asia, conflicts should be influenced through diplomatic means rather than military engagement.  In extreme cases, where the presence of the US military personnel will become a significant boon to the US Foreign Policy goals, the Congress and the President can authorize it.  Instead, we must concentrate on increasing our Naval and Air resources by enabling them to have a greater capability in terms of global deployment.  At the same time, we must maintain technological and professional edge over competing powers.

7.               Immigration policy.  We are a country of immigrants.  It is one of the attributes that has made us great.  However, multiculturalism, as it is practiced today, hinders the progress the immigration by creating ethnic and linguistic barriers.  One of the fundamental principles of immigration policy must be linguistic and cultural integration.  Proficiency in English language must be a critical part of citizenship.  The waiting period from receiving the admittance to the US as a national till receiving the US Citizenship has to be spent learning English.  Failure to reach required level of proficiency will bar immigrants from receiving citizenship and will be restricted to permanent residency.  On the other hand, we must make path to residency and eventual citizenship easier for educated individuals or persons with unique qualifications needed for various industries.  A guest-worker program must be a key ingredient of the immigration policy.  The federal government, as part of the foreign policy responsibility, should create a system of employment eligibility verification such as working visa, or a national guest-worker identification card which will be linked to an individuals passport and be part of the national database.  This will allow business to check the legal employment status of an individual.  The businesses which are found to employee undocumented workers will be fined and in cases of repeat offences will be liquidate to cover the material damages caused to the state economy.