What Americans Really Want: 10 Policies We Can All Agree On

By Sarah van Gelder, YES! Magazine. Posted December 13, 2008.

President-elect Barack Obama faces huge challenges when he takes office. But he's got one asset that is rarely mentioned. Large majorities of Americans agree on some of the most important issues of the day, from health care to foreign policy. These "Ten Policies for a Better America" shows an agenda a majority supports -- whether we vote red, blue, or some other political color.

ECONOMY

• Repair and rebuild neglected bridges, railroads, schools, and other infrastructure, designing for climate change & a post-petroleum world.
• Extend unemployment insurance benefits.
• Provide tax relief to middle- and low-income families, and reinstate fair taxes on high-wealth individuals and corporate profits.
• Adopt the Employee Free Choice Act to increase opportunities to unionize.

67% Favor public works projects to create jobs.

55% Favor expanding unemployment benefits.

73% Say corporations don’t pay a fair share of taxes.

76% Support tax cuts for lower- and middle-income people.

71% Say unions help their members; 53% say unions help the economy in general.

[Sources]

FAMILIES

• Make the minimum wage a “living wage” adequate to keep working families out of poverty.
• Provide everyone vacation and family leave.
• Provide gay and lesbian couples with the legal protections afforded to straight couples.
• Make bankruptcy and foreclosure laws protect families first, not predatory lenders.

80% Support increasing the federal minimum wage.

59% Favor guaranteeing two weeks or more of paid vacation.

75% Want to limit rate increases on adjustable-rate mortgages.

64% Are not confident that life for our children’s generation will be better than it has been for us.

65% Believe same-sex couples should be allowed to marry or form civil unions.

[Sources]

CONSTITUTION

• Fully restore habeas corpus for all people in U.S. custody.
• Protect our right to privacy and freedom from warrantless search and seizure.
• Keep the internet free of corporate and government censorship and obstruction. Protect “net neutrality.”
• Restore the balance of power between the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of government.

70% Support restoring habeas corpus rights for detainees at Guantanamo.

See more stories tagged with: immigration, energy, economy, obama, health care, climate, jobs

Sarah van Gelder wrote this article as part of Purple America, the Fall 2008 issue of YES! Magazine. Research by Noah Grant. Sarah is executive editor and Noah is editorial assistant at YES! Magazine.

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