Things to do in 2023

For our politicians with a little encouragement

After all the packages are opened, the squeals of delight have stopped echoing and the overstuffed chairs and diners have stopped groaning, we sometimes remember that there’s a new year about to begin and we promised ourselves we’d make it a better one than the last. Some resolutions are serious, others, not so much, and some are actually achieved. One of the keys to fulfilling our resolutions is mutual support and even more so for those in the political world. While the 117th Congress, somewhat to their surprise and that of the press, got quite a bit done, there is still a lot to do and, to help them focus, I’m sending my Congressperson and Senators this list. I don’t doubt some of them will still find time to look at laptop porn and question the legitimacy of the system that elected them, but these are more important to me and might have more long-term value to the country.

1.    Establish legal residency for all DACA participants and similarly situated current residents who arrived before Dec. 1, 2021. As part of this program, require all employers of any size to participate in the e-Verify program and provide enhanced processing infrastructure (judges, shelter and hearing locations) for everyone requesting asylum.

2.    Stabilize the Social Security and Medicare Trust Funds by eliminating the income cap on OASDI tax and basing the income on Adjusted Gross Income while maintaining the current benefit structure. Provide for annual adjustment in the minimum age for full benefit retirement based on existing working age statistics and ensure that all disability applicants have a valid basis for their condition.

3.    Provide basic medical, dental, hearing and eye insurance coverage for all American citizens and legal residents and ensure the availability of qualified professional care. Enable anyone currently insured to continue their coverage as provided in the ACA and current Medicare plans during a transition to full medical care coverage through a single source. Consider establishing a mutual insurance fund where all policy holders are owners and share both profits and losses.

4.    Permanently reinstate the Child Tax Credit and begin the process of consolidating existing support programs under one agency and with one distribution process.

5.    Fund the IRS fully and mandate the audit of anyone reporting income over $1 million annually at least once every 4 years. Require that anyone found in violation be audited annually until their record is clear for 10 years and then every 4 years.

6.    Require all government agencies to specify a minimum 50% post-consumer recycled content in all metal, plastic, and paper items purchased with preference for higher recycled content.

7.    Require anyone taking water from public sources to restore it to the standards set by the local provider prior to discharging it into public sewer or supply systems. Require existing violators to comply with system requirements and mitigate existing damages before any business license is granted or renewed.

8.    Require all licensed businesses and anyone receiving federal funds to participate in recycling programs for all ferrous and non-ferrous metals, all plastic and all paper products.

9.    Require all producers of oil, gas and any other fossil energy products to eliminate any discharge of ‘green house gasses’ or other atmospheric pollutants and to mitigate any damage caused by such discharge as a condition of retaining any license required or receiving any government contracts.

10. Require all agricultural enterprises receiving government funds at any level to participate in sustainable, regenerative growing and production practices and to eliminate any discharge of fertilizer residue or any other effluent into public or private water systems.

11. Repeal all laws restricting the growth, possession, use or sale of cannabis in any form and expunge the records of anyone incarcerated under those laws. Disband the DEA, end the ‘War on Drugs’ and use the funds previously allocated to the DEA for treatment and support of anyone suffering from substance addiction and/or abuse.

12. Require that anyone purchasing firearms of any sort successfully attend a safety training program and be licensed to purchase ammunition for any weapons they own. Restrict the civilian market to magazines with a capacity of 15 rounds or fewer and ammunition that does not have armor piercing capability and is not designed to damage internal tissue. Remove all ammunition containing lead from the market and institute a buyback and destroy program for all existing stocks of such ammunition.