Van Jones: Now Let’s Rescue America: Nine Key Steps | The Huffington Post

TIME TO SHATTER THE OLD CONSENSUS & BUILD A NEW ONE

As we move forward, let us not be afraid to teach America a new song. This is the rarest of circumstances: a genuine teaching moment. Let us take full advantage of it.

The desire to pull something good out of this disaster is neither cynical nor opportunistic. National crises almost always unleash energy for change - in one direction or another. The GOP used our last national disaster – 9-11 – to torpedo the country’s finances, curtail our freedoms and soak Iraq in blood.

By seizing the moment, we can do something positive. We can shatter the present consensus that says “cut social spending to pay for a massive warfare state.” We can re-balance federal spending priorities away from the Pentagon - and toward first-responders, infrastructure and communities. Let nothing stop us from doing this.

Particularly vulnerable now is the right-wing’s strategy to "starve the beast." Republicans have been planning to choke off from tax revenues, so they can forcibly shrink all non-military parts of the government.

That’s what the GOP "tax cut" mantra is really about: leaving the government too broke to pay for social uplift programs. That’s the reason Bush turned the Clinton-era surplus into this mind-boggling deficit. In the end, the rich get the biggest tax breaks. And working people lose essential support and services - like functioning schools, hospitals, roads, bridges, dams ... and levees.

As far as I am concerned, "starve the beast" should drown in New Orleans. The Katrina aftermath shows that we need a functioning government, after all. It proves that over-funding the military and cutting services actually makes us LESS safe, not more safe.

And the aftermath demonstrates that issues of racism, poverty, climate destabilization, petro-chemical poisons and the vulnerabilities of an oil-based economy are not just petty obsessions of the politically-correct crowd. They are life-and-death issues for real people.

FILL THE LEADERSHIP VACUUM: NINE KEY STEPS

In other words: we were right, all along. And Team Bush was wrong, all along. We should make that point, again and again. As we propose our own ideas.

Ordinary Americans were stunned by a huge leadership gap and credibility gap in the Bush White House. By stepping forward immediately, we can fill that gap ourselves.

The following nine steps are critical.

1. Let’s tell America that we want to fully fund FEMA – by rolling back the Bush tax cuts to at least Clinton-era levels. The rich must help secure the country against the next disaster. Reckless revenue cuts that leave us vulnerable must be repealed.

2. Let’s declare that the Katrina’s flood-waters washed the GOP’s proposal to repeal the "estate tax" off the table. There will be no tax breaks for the mega-rich while the nation is recovering from this historic blow - and preparing itself for the next one. Any revenue cuts would both impair the rebuilding effort and risk lives down the road. Let’s declare the repeal of the so-called "death tax" to be: D.O.A. (Dead On Arrival).

3. Let’s publicly demand that George W. Bush either apologize to the people of the Gulf Coast for failing them, or else resign. It is time stop fearing Bush Almighty, assuming that he and Karl Rove can keep trashing the country and never pay a price. The man just impaled himself on his own arrogance and contempt for life. Even conservative reporters were outraged by his team’s indifference and dishonesty. Under Bush, America abandoned our poor, sick and disabled in a crisis - and the whole world saw it on live TV. True patriots were appalled. And his smirking and shirking just aren’t cute anymore. A call for his impeachment would draw some right-wing support.

4. Let us resolve not to lose a single moment – pacing back and forth, wringing our hands and trying not to appear too "partisan" or "blaming." Of course, the Republicans are going to howl that we are "finger-pointing" or "exploiting the tragedy." What else can they say for themselves at this point? That Bush did a good job? Let them call us names. And let us stay focused on ensuring that the thousands who perished did not die in vain.

5. Let’s insist that New Orleans be rebuilt – under the direction of those who have lived there for generations, not at the behest of big developers or carpet-bagging profiteers like Halliburton. To that end, let’s passionately support grassroots organizations in the region like the Community Labor Union, Mississippi Workers Center, Southern Empowerment Project and Project South. And let’s help any evacuees who relocate to our areas get politically organized, so they can stay involved in the process.

6. Let’s help rebuild the Gulf Coast on a visionary, environmentally sustainable basis. (On the worldchanging.com site, Alan AtKisson makes a beautiful, well-reasoned and comprehensive case for rebuilding New Orleans as a model "green city.") All of our environmental sustainability, environmental justice and eco-business networks can unite to make this happen.

7. Let’s launch a national network of individuals to help secure from all levels of government properly funded reconstruction and evacuee support. (We are gathering signatures for such an effort at ellabakercenter.org.) Let’s push our city councils to pass "Sister City" ordinances in solidarity with New Orleans and other hurricane-ravaged towns. Evacuee support should be a yearly budget item in every major city (through the entire decade of rebuilding, if need be). Every mayor needs to appoint a paid ombudsman to support local evacuees and to coordinate information flow with Louisiana and Mississippi officials.

8. Let’s call for National Guard troops to be returned from Iraq, especially those from Louisiana and Mississippi. The Katrina aftermath shows how much we need our disaster relief forces to be back here, in the United States. Let’s tie, with a thousand strings, progressives working in the recovery effort to the anti-war movement. (The United for Peace & Justice statement, “The Gulf Wars” makes a convincing case for common ground. You can find it at unitedforpeace.org.)

9. And let us wage our own war ... against forgetting. We must not let the media or the Right "orchestrate amnesia" by pushing this tragedy to the back pages. We deserve levels of ongoing media attention that match and exceed 9-11. Every writer, film-maker and artist must share this shameful story: a storm came, and this nation left its poor, Black and disabled people behind to die. We must sear that fact into the memory of this nation. This catastrophe - and its lessons - must become part of the national legend. Only then, can we be assured that the mindset that permitted it will never again lead this country.

Taking these steps - and dozens more like them - are the best ways for us to honor the dead. Through bold action, we just may find the gift in this hideous, grievous wound.

We could not save those who died needlessly on Mississippi rooftops and in Louisiana attics. But we still have time to rescue America.

And as our voice of conscience grows louder, let us expand our hearts even more. In the days to come, let us say about this kind of injustice: "Not in my country. Not in this world. And never again."

In the name and the memory of all those souls taken from us, let us begin.