Lot of Polls, No Platform
Let’s build the platform for the Democratic Party.
“I believe that you go right for the jugular." said Michael Fox.
07/21/2025, 10:09 am - DAPHNE, AL, USA
For years, pundits have quibbled over poll numbers—but polls don’t win elections; ideas do. We currently lack a platform voters can rally around. Not one discernible, progressive, visionary platform or plank exists from Democrats. That absence should unsettle us. It enraptures me. Plagued with OCD, I am not quitting or quieting my quest. (Sometimes I feel sorry for my readers, but my mission has grave importance.)
While billionaires again plunder the U.S. Treasury, I see needs we must address now. Poverty, healthcare, childcare, etc. Billionaires must pay for all of it. That is their fair share for the wealth we gave them, and that they hoard because of greed. DO NOT FEAR THEIR 759 VOTES!
There are 759 billionaires in the United States, Their combined wealth is estimated to be $4.48 trillion. America gave that wealth to them. They owe us a fair share.
My prior Substack deep-dives—like I Will Call the DNC Today, Brainstorm: The 2028 Party Platform, Forging Fate, Where Ya Going, Dems?, and A Just Movement—all argue the same theme: passion without policies is wasted energy. (Links below.)
Polls are not voters. Polls don’t carry elections and are too often wrong. Often, pundits can think of nothing else to talk about, and they go on and on. Useless, I say! (And that is why I cancelled my subscription to Simon Rosenberg.) Throw me something, Mister!
Platforms often include different positions on specific issues, known as "planks". Our party's platform is a set of principles and goals that outlines our stance on the various planks, which distinguish basic policies and strategies. Planks help our voters understand the party's ideology, plank by plank, and specifically what we aim to achieve when elected. Since we have no agreed planks, of what use is a poll? A pole to hang one’s hat on would be much more efficacious.
🔑 A Platform isn’t a Poll Number
Polling that reads “Ahead of B by 4 points” matters little WHEN there is no compelling reason to vote, i.e., you are sans platform. You have witnessed Apathy as a killer. Programs—policies that voters care about—put meat into those poll numbers and kill Apathy. GET MY DRIFT?
We need a thrilling platform that will:
Enflame the base,
Draw new voters,
Ignite debates, and
Anchor Democrats in what they stand for—not who they’re against.
What Should Our Platform Say?
Here are 10 vivid planks that deserve ballot-stage attention:
Universal Healthcare + Drug Coverage
• 90 % of Democrats now expect the government to ensure health coverage .
• 72 % support a fully government-run system (e.g., “Medicare for All”) .Overturn Citizens United
• 83 % of Democrats oppose it; majorities across party lines favor limits .
• Super PACs and dark-money structures are draining democracy. Time for the wealthy to buck up fairly.**Living Wage + Poverty Supplement**
• Poll after poll shows voters want a living wage tied to inflation and a government supplement. Economic voting research shows pocketbook issues are dominant.Free or Affordable College
• Student debt is now a national crisis—basic economics say if we let students learn without burden, we grow prosperity.Federal Childcare to Age 6
• A key infrastructure gap. Working parents—mostly women—need reliable public childcare support. What an economic boost!Equitable Tax Code
• Restore top rates to 1970s levels if not Eisenhower’s 1950’s 90%:. Close corporate loopholes; ensure fairness.Medical Debt Recovery
• Use executive power to cap medical debt interest rates, ban surprise billing, eliminate wage garnishment. Or just cancel all medical debt.Support Rural Hospitals
• 172 rural hospitals have closed since 2010—medical deserts are real. Finance those hospitals. For God’s sake, you built roads and bridges out there in rural America.Support Rural Schools
• Teachers leave; broadband is missing; yet half the nation lives in rural middle-America. This is not equitable: this is the haves and have nots.K–12 School Lunch Guarantee
• Free, nutritious meals for all kids boost attendance, performance, equity—and cost less than snacks. Stop Stigma.
Why These Matter—and Why Voters Will Care
It matters that you “Throw me something, Mister!”.
Healthcare Now: Not abstract. People skip treatments. One Gallup poll showed 40 % delayed care last year due to cost. That’s not just ideological—it’s worry that keeps people up at night. This is not equitable: this is the haves and have nots.
Kill Citizens United: Voters feel powerless watching billionaires drown out their voice. 80 % across parties say enough is enough .
Living Wage + Childcare: Critical for working families, especially in rural and suburban areas. This is not equitable: this is the haves and have nots.
Education + Debt Relief: Young voters are already mobilized around these issues.
Rural Support: Help shows we care about all Americans—not just urban centers.
Child healthcare, school lunches K-12, and daytime childcare along with universal healthcare are needed and will grow our economies through a steady supply of healthy workers.
Framing for Maximum Thrill
Each platform plank needs emotional lift:
“Medicare for All — Because Nobody Should Go Broke Seeing a Doctor.”
“Break the Billionaire Bribe Machine—Democracy for the People.”
“Living Wage + Poverty Shield—A Hand Up, Not a Handout.”
We need crisp, voter-tested messaging like this or better: sound bites that fill your heart with joy!
Call to Action
I’m angry. You’re angry. But instead of rage, let’s build something. We don’t want generic optimism and motherhood. Saving Democracy is motherhood. We want good plans. We want good policies. We want good planks.
➡️ I propose a digital campaign around my 10 planks. Replace my planks with consensus planks. I offer mine simply to get us started! Graphics like those from my earlier posts illustrate them. Let’s publish, canvass, petition, hold town halls, and demand: Where is the Democratic platform? What are our consensus planks?
Outlaw poverty! We put the homeless there through neglect and inattention. A blind eye fills me with guilt. We can lift up instead of beat down.
Why Now?
Right now, pundits debate swing voters in a vacuum. Without ideas underpinning planks, voters see no reason to participate. It’s Apathy disguised as centrist caution. We must disrupt that narrative before 2026 and 2028. How?
Summary: What You Can Do
Read the 10 policy planks as pillars above.
Share this article far and wide.
Host local discussions—ask candidates to respond and nail down platform consensus planks.
Push your local party to draft and adopt a real, exciting platform with well articulated planks.
Because when we say, “We stand for this,: plank 1, plank 2, etc., voters listen—and show up.
Supporting Links & Citations
🏥 Healthcare & Universal Coverage
Kaiser Family Foundation – Healthcare policy and 2024 election context
Gallup – Americans who believe health coverage is government’s responsibility
Pew Research – Growing support for single-payer government healthcare
The Guardian – Tim Walz’s universal healthcare push (policy example)
Common Dreams – Case for government-run healthcare
Vox – Medicaid cuts and universal access issues
💰 Campaign Finance Reform & Citizens United
Free Speech For People – Public opposition to Citizens United ruling
Public Integrity – How Citizens United might be overturned
Campaign Legal Center – The continuing impact of Citizens United
Demos – Top five reasons to overturn Citizens United
FEC – Supreme Court case archive: Citizens United v. FEC
📝 HotButtons Substack Articles (Background & Graphics)
I Will Call the DNC Today
https://hotbuttons.substack.com/p/i-will-call-the-dnc-today
Brainstorm: The 2028 Party Platform
https://hotbuttons.substack.com/p/brainstorm-the-2028-party-platform
Forging Fate
https://hotbuttons.substack.com/p/forging-fate
Where Ya Going, Dems?
https://hotbuttons.substack.com/p/where-ya-going-dems
A Just Movement
https://hotbuttons.substack.com/p/a-just-movement
I struggle with links as my phone is my writing platform. Links will work if pasted into your browser, if they don’t work in Substack
With passion, purpose, and a program, we can convert dismay into fight. Let’s build the platform America needs—and deserves.
And at protests, yell like hell, as Jackson Brown sang, til you go down. Yes, take to the streets.
I’m grateful to everyone who sponsors me, and the main thing I want to add: Thank you for finding my voice. You have given that a place and a meaning. Please become a paid subscriber if you can. Thank you for reading and for sharing.
You have your finger on it Carl. Hit the high points and drive them home! The selfish rich and their Republican servants, including the Supreme Court try to make us feel guilty for wanting affordable or universal health care as though it's a luxury (like owning a yacht). We need to push the realization that a healthy society is a growing and prosperous society. Of course I'm sure that's the idea with the opposition, keep society sick so that they're easier to control. In California we used to have free or really cheap Community Colleges and it was a boon to young people who needed skills to get a good job or a great first step to students wanting a 4 year degree (it was a cheap way to get in a lot of required classes). When my dad was a young man he went to a high school that had lessons a few days a week then they worked and were trained as apprentices the other days (he worked at a newspaper). Women have been held down long enough but childcare benefits the whole family (there are single fathers out there too). I was lucky where I worked had a preschool so my son was taken care of while I was at work (even with my night hours) and he was close by. You could really do a lot with this kind of platform. This is not way-out liberal thinking. This is good for America and the middle class thinking. We've been brainwashed by the wealthy for too long, that our needs are undeserving. Well, were not undeserving! And the rich got rich on the backs of the middle class. Don't forget the saving of Social Security.
Ok. I’ll go first: For starters, Constitutional reforms aimed at undoing Presidential immunity, severely limiting the pardon authority of the President, establishing publicly funded elections, provide enforceable ethical standards for all judges and elimination of lifetime tenure
Basically, I’m saying that Trump, the extreme right and their collaborators in Russia have long studied and exploited the fault lines in America society and it constitution. If we get chance, we must fix the flaws they have exposed and exploited.