If I were to run in the Republican Primaries for President, these items would be on my platform

By Kevin Stoda

If I were to run as GOP “progressive” alternative for president, I would start with taking items that are already necessary and popular for most Americans, and I would be busily pushing things like the transformation of our economy into something more sustainable.

For Midwesterners, I would copy Eisenhower whose 1950s platforms espoused in domestic affairs . . . a policy of “modern Republicanism” that occupied a middle ground between liberal Democrats and the conservative wing of

the Republican Party. Eisenhower continued New Deal programs, expanded Social Security, and prioritized a balanced budget over tax cuts. [1} We would return to the progressive tax policies that made America better going into the 1960s than we are in many ways now–financially and committed to change/reform.

On the other hand, we would turn from the militarization of the USA economy of the last 85 years. Eisenhower only saw the perils of this path in his Final Address as President in 1961–that is too late. We need to turn to forward thinking and stop putting off the big infrastructure and social spending needed now through finding the money elsewhere.

Instead of the New Deal being my starting point, I would propose to implement major infrastructure projects and investments in communities through working with states and federal agencies along with local community activists and leaders. The GOP needs a green new deal infrastructure plan that empowers all American communities.

Unlike Ike, Nixon, Reagan, Bush, W. Bush and Trump, I would circle up the DOD and its stakeholders and see what they all could kitty up to rebuild American infrastructure for the 21st century and beyond. We know that a commitment to reduce overall military and national security spending will get us further in terms of getting a greener economy off the ground will make the country more secure. (This contrasts with the bully-our-neighbor-approach of the Trump presidency.) The DOD has recognized the dangers of its own environmental footprint and will need more direction in helping improve the environment and society.

I would be an environmentalist candidate and stand on the shoulders of Theodore Roosevelt and Richard Nixon in this sphere but push harder than Barack Obama and other recent presidents to oversee that (1) climate change is taken seriously in terms of agency oversights and public spending are concerned, (2) our land is protected for our progeny, & (3) our greener economy is constructed.

NOTES

[1] However, I would reduce overall commitment to fiddling with other country’s domestic policies and social development that has been the mainstay of presidencies since Truman and Eisenhower. This Turning-Back-The-Clock practice makes more enemies and refugees than friends. This makes the world unstable.

In Summary, this good-neighbor policy world wide will give us more peace and security, i.e. reducing enemies in the region and around the world. National security monies can be better used to develop better infrastructure, to make friends, and rebuild America.