Restoring Honor: My List for Glenn Beck

This past weekend, Glenn Beck held a rally around the theme of "Restoring Honor." I've thought about that theme since, and come up with my own list of steps that should be taken in order to restore America's honor.

Make the jump to see my list, and add your own if they aren't there.

Steps to Restore America's Honor

1. Stop using torture and extraordinary rendition. Even though some of the most egregious practices have stopped, we still allow activities that the international community considers torture. We continue to block the release of torture photos. We continue to practice extraordinary rendition.

2. Prosecute those who have ordered torture in the past. No need for links here -- we all know the administration's position on most of the court cases and possible prosecutions. Until we face our past with open eyes, we cannot face our future with honest hearts.

3. End indefinite detention. One of the most serious breaches of our Bill of Rights during the Bush years, this practice continues. Even today, a court upheld the right of the government to keep persons detained without trial forever.

4. Take back Wall Street from the banksters. As noted in an excellent diary by gjohnsit, the recent "reform bill" only scratched the surface. Volcker rule? WHAT Volcker rule? Instead of being the church of capitalism, Wall Street has become the brothel of capitalism. The closing of the diary says it all: "(Wall Street) won't bounce back until Washington decides to chase the crooks, mobsters, and thieves from Wall Street. The government must save capitalism from itself."

5. Stop favoring the richest 2% at the expense of the other 98%. The fact that this is even being debated is amazing. We have robbed Social Security and the general tresury in order to give the richest among us even more money! Letting the Bush tax cuts expire for the top brackets is the first step on the road back to a middle class. And here's a kicker: the cost of keeping the tax cuts is equal to the cost of fully funding Social Security for the next 75 years.

6. Repeal Don't-Ask, Don't-Tell. Besides being one of the most ridiculous ("you can be gay and serve -- just don't tell anybody") policies ever implemented by a rational government, DADT is a slap in the face to the entire military, both gay and straight. Do we truly believe that gays are incapable of working and fighting alongside straights without molesting them? Do we truly believe that straights are so distracted by gays that they might forget how to do their job? Didn't we get over these questions like thirty years ago when we allowed women to serve alongside men? It's time to get rid of this irrelevant relic of a rule.

7. Invest In Life, Not Death. I try to be a realist about the world as it is, as well as an idealist about the world as it could be. So, I'm aware that we must have a military, and that it must be well-equipped and well-paid. But our current budget priorities are way out of line. When the United States spends more on military expenditures than the rest of the world combined, it is time to rethink our priorities. And don't just think it's because we're richer. When you take into account the amount of the Federal budget devoted to interest on past military spending, AND current defense budget, AND VA costs, and then you TAKE OUT the budget for Social Security (since it is not supposed to be part of the general fund), you wind up with a budget pie like this, with 54% of the Federal general fund going to military spending. We must begin using more of that money to invest in our citizens and not in out-of-control military contractors.

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I could go on, but these are the items that are top-of-mind for me when I think of Restoring Honor. If you have more, add them in the comments and I'll add the top ones.

And one more thing -- this is not a complaint-diary about the Obama administration. There are numerous actions by this administration that have already begun restoring the honor of our nation, in big and small ways. The list in this diary, though, could make a good 2011-2012 agenda for President Obama and Congress. I hope they adopt some or all of them as next on their lists.

(cross posted at Daily Kos)