Here's mine:
1. Focus economic message on the working/middle class. Frame the working/middle class as the backbone of America. Working hard is a defining quality of being an American. Working people deserve to be honored and treated fairly for their hard work. That means supporting the social safety net so people can eventually retire with economic security, higher minimum wage, workplace protections, the right to unionize, and coming up with policies that decrease healthcare, housing, and education costs. The Republicans purport to stand for the working class but consistently screw them over when given power. Why is it that small towns all over red state America are dying, despite Republicans being in control of those towns for decades and decades?
2. Don't demonize the rich, but emphasize that it doesn't make sense to put ourselves in increasingly dangerous debt to give them tax breaks when they are already doing better than ever before in American history. Most people don't hate rich people and are turned off by class warfare messaging. This needs to be addressed as a pragmatic point. The rich do not need any special help in today's world. We need to bring the budget into greater balance, and we can't do that without raising taxes on the wealthy.
3. Reform the cost of education. Target this at young people. The cost of college is ridiculous. Colleges need to be held accountable when they graduate students who can't find jobs to pay off their debt. This is putting young people far behind their parents in terms of buying houses and starting families, and it hurts the economy.
4. Return to sanity. No more unhinged social media rants. No more incessant partisan trolling. Focus on actually making people's lives better and working together. Trump/MAGA have made American political discourse far nastier than it needs to be or than it was previously. We cannot allow that to become the new normal.
5. Appointments based on merit / end corruption. Emphasize that cabinet offices will be staffed by the most qualified individuals. Frame the Trump administration as the most corrupt and incompetent in American history. He promised to drain the swamp but instead has packed the government with cronies, donors, and extremists.
6. Racial togetherness message. America is a diverse country and we need to come together. The constitution demands that people be judged based on their merit, not their race. Promise not to support policies that divide people based on race. Emphasize that when we adopt education and economic policies that support low- and middle-income families, that will benefit people of color without excluding anyone who is similarly situated.
7. Immigration. We need to enforce our immigration laws, but prioritize the deportation of criminals, treat all immigrants with basic dignity, and follow legal requirements and processes. Promise to keep Trump policies that have been effective while eradicating those that are unconstitutional, inhumane, or impractical. Support pathway to citizenship for immigrants who have been here decades.
8. Reform SCOTUS appointments. Promise that any SCOTUS nominees will come from a list proposed by a bipartisan or nonpartisan commission. Develop other ideas that don't involve packing the court. We cannot allow any more ideologues on the high court.
9. Campaign finance reform. Emphasize the risk of certain bad actors using their extreme wealth to influence politics. Even MAGA hate Musk. We need to do everything in our power to reform campaign finance, even if that means amending the constitution. SCOTUS reforms will also help.
10. Tariffs. We will negotiate better trade deals with other countries, but the current negotiation style is too erratic and is damaging businesses and hurting consumers. And we should not be alienating our closest allies and trade partners like the current administration is doing.
11. Israel/Palestine. Israel was the victim of a horrific terrorist attack and we will do everything we can to stop terrorism and antisemitism at home and abroad. That said, Israel has gone far beyond any reasonable response to that attack, and we cannot ignore our own role in facilitating those abuses through our funding of that state. Neither of the past two administrations have applied sufficient pressure to coerce Israel to end hostilities, avoid civilian deaths, and begin the rebuilding process.
12. Biden. Acknowledge that the Biden administration made mistakes on inflation, immigration, and lack of transparency regarding his health. Promise not to repeat those mistakes.
en.wikipedia.org
