Maybe The Democrats Should Do An End Run

 I recently saw AOC deliver the keynote address of the AOC and Bernie show.

It was good; it was a stemwinder; she obviously has a future in politics beyond the House.

But other than "get mad; act up; don't put up with this shit" there wasn't much tangible content there.

And when the masses leave the sun-drenched venues of brief Brigadoon-like manifestations of firebrand speeches from AOC and Bernie, and return to their dismal homes, jobs and families, past their MAGA lawn signs and expended 223 cartridges, scattered hither and yon, they turn on Fox and get back in the traces.

I think, without any research or evidence, that a meaningful tweak to the AOC/Bernie Format might deliver electoral success.

It needs an acronym; it needs a portable delivery medium; it needs - not many -  huge and rememberable calls to action.

Here's a snappy acronym.

V
M
R

Identify a Villain.

Explain their Malfeasance.

Demand Restitution.

For example, Big Oil looks to be a prime candidate.

From The Guardian: "The oil and gas industry has delivered $2.8bn (£2.3bn) a day in pure profit for the last 50 years, a new analysis has revealed."

I had a sense that that is a number so big that it might test my ability to comprehend it.

But I tried.

To comprehend it.

Here's what my calculator came up with.

I think that that is 51 trillion one hundred billion dollars.

Not a trivial sum.

Remember: that is profit, not revenue.

That got me to wondering what the US government has spent on average each year over the last fifty.

That turns out to be about 2.1 trillion dollars a year.

Toted up over fifty years, that's 105 trillion dollars.

We can't afford a first world health care safety net; we can't afford universal childcare; we can't afford free post-secondary education; we can't afford universal long term health care.

So we are told.

But we have one industry that is less than ten percent of our economy (it's 7.6%) generating profits amounting to about half of the US annual budget.

So, does Big Oil pay any taxes on all that money?

Some oil companies publicly state they pay around 35% in taxes, but financial analyses show their actual payments are far lower.

A recent report found that not a single major oil company paid the full 21% corporate tax rate.

Some companies, like Hess Corporation and Marathon Oil, paid $0 in federal income taxes despite making billions in profits.

Others, like APA Corporation and EQT Corporation, paid less than 1% in federal taxes.

So, let's get crackin'; let's call for action. 

Let's tax them at 35%.

And let's get, for all of us:

• Universal Health Care
• Free College
• Free High Quality Child Care
• Free Long Term Health Care

A good start: the rest is to be determined.

Here is the portable message delivery device that we hand out at all the spellbinding and stem-winding rallies that AOC, Bernie, and all other aspirers to leadership can muster over the next 42 months:

That's the message; that's the speech; it can be repeated incessantly by all of us - it's easy to remember; it's easy to want to do; it's the right thing to do - and it's a portal to a way out of our current grim plight into a decent future.

Finally.

And if this seems stupid, and if it seems extreme, always remember and never forget, this is politics, not economics; and it's one letter less than MAGA, so it's easier to remember.