Construction Time Again

No, this is not another post about Depeche Mode, but the title seems appropriate:

From Bob Geiger, a list of the first 10 Democratic priorities:

1. Ethics reform, to clean up Congress so the government can get back to serving the American people.

2. Raising the minimum wage, to give millions of American families an opportunity to achieve the American Dream.

3. Medicare Prescription Drug program reform, to save seniors, the disabled, and American taxpayers money.

4. Acting on the 9/11 Commission Recommendations, to fully secure our ports and borders and ensure that our first responders have the resources they need to keep America safe.

5. Funding stem cell research, to open the promise of life-saving cures and treatments.

6. Energy reform, to address global warming and put America on a path to energy independence.

7. Easing the financial burden of college tuition, to increase accessibility for hardworking students and their families.

8. Strengthening and rebuilding America's military, to ensure the American people get the real security they deserve.

9. Comprehensive immigration reform, to fix America's broken immigration system.

10. Pay-as-you-go legislation, so that Congress has to cover its costs just like American families do.

I don't think anyone will argue that these aren't important. I think they're important. Lots of people think they're important. But one thing I don't think anyone has actually said, even though it's in the subtext: They're all things that haven't been done in six years. They could have been done. They're not new things. But they weren't.

What has been done? We took a pass on Darfur, we created a civil war in Iraq, a failed state in Afghanistan, we lost a major American city, we've allowed the abrogation of the Bill of Rights, the erosion of Americans' earning power . . . well. The list doesn't get better.

Maybe now it will.

Update:

Speaking of things that haven't been done:




It's time. It's past time.