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Fiscal Cliff Proposals May Massively Increase Homelessness  11/26/2012 
Douglas Rice: Article  Read this policy analysis from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities to see how hundreds of thousands of the working poor, seniors, and disabled people may go homeless to deal with the deficit.

Blue States Pay Taxes, Red States Receive Benefits  2/29/2012 
Sara Robinson: Article  Here is a delightful piece of truth which Ayn Rand conservatives (and religious right leaders) will hate to read. Red States are welfare states!!!

War and Debt  8/3/2011 
Michael Hudson: Article  The debt ceiling was intended to keep government from engaging in foolish wars. Now it is being used to force government not to protect its citizens,

Obama to Cut Social Security and Annihilate His Own Party  12/16/2010 
Robert Kuttner: Article  If Obama does damage to Social Security he will hurt the people who voted for him, and, worse, kill the progressive movement he championed.

The American Revolution was about Much More than Taxes and Tea Parties  9/22/2010 
David A. Hollinger: Review  Revolutionaries: A New History of the Invention of America by Jack Rakove, (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt; 487 pages; $30)

Greece: Predatory Finance Rules Over Labor, Industry, and Now Even Government  5/11/2010 
Michael Hudson: Article  Power is shifting from democratic governance to rule by wealth. People with money, the investor class, banks and Wall Street, refuse to pay taxes and force workers to pay for the misdeeds of finance.

Freedom, Equality, the Common Good: The Progressive Intellectual Tradition  4/15/2010 
John Halpin: Article  Here is a helpful brief description of what the terms 'liberal' and 'progressive' mean in terms of the history of politics in the U.S.

The City Belongs to All of Us  4/10/2010 
Phillip Cryan: Article  New organizing on economic issues is fueled by the idea of an urban commons. Ideas from Boston, Oakland, Portland and the Twin Cities.

Dubai: Built by Slaves, a Medieval Dictatorship, Ecological Disaster  4/16/2009 
Johann Hari: Article  Dubai was meant to be a Middle-Eastern Shangri-La, a glittering monument to Arab enterprise and western capitalism. But as hard times arrive in the city state an uglier story is emerging.

Future Fairness: The Debate over Social Security  2/25/2005 
Article  Privitization of social security is a priority for George W. Bush. We will track the debate here including thoughts of: Paul Krugman, Gene Sperling, Norma Cohen, Hubert G. Locke

Bulldozing for Wal-Mart  1/27/2005 
WebLink  Supreme Court case will decide whether local governments can bulldoze homes for big-box stores.

Countdown to Global Catastrophe  1/25/2005 
Article  Climate change: report warns point of no return may be reached in 10 years, leading to droughts, agricultural failure and water shortages.

How the Democratic and Republican Parties Are Bankrupting Our Future   9/14/2004 
Article  Pete Peterson says we are 'running on empty' due to economic theologies from both parties. He says Social Security benefits must be cut.

An End to Corporate Welfare as We Know It   7/31/2004 
Article  John Kerry's policy proposal to end corporate welfare addresses the issue of responsibility so popular with commentators on the right.

Urban Suffering Grew under Reagan   6/11/2004 
Article  Peter Dreier of Occidental College writes about Reagan's role in urban development.

Religion and Social Welfare Policy   1/8/2004 
Article  Here is the best source of information about the faith-based initiative in providing social services.

The Woods as Commons   9/11/2003 
Article  Peter Linebaugh writes about the secret history of the Magna Carta.

Socioeconomic Democracy Book Available   6/16/2003 
Comment  Book describes a theoretical socioeconomic system with a guaranteed personal income and maximum wealth limit.

Sociologist Could Teach Economists a Trick   3/27/2003 
Article  The world would be a better place if politicians, civil servants and others concerned with public policy listened more to sociologists and less to economists.

Manuel Castells and Network Society   3/26/2003 
Note  Materials For An Exploratory Theory of the Network Society

The Democratic City of the Future   3/17/2003 
Article  A new Democratic majority is emerging uniting city and suburb against still Republican rural areas according to authors John B. Judis and Ruy Teixeira.

Stafford Beer Dies   11/15/2002 
Note  Master of cybernetics dies in Toronto at the age of 75.

Build Rails Not Bombs   11/15/2002 
Comment  New Urbanism website suggests $200 billion for metro transportation.

Poverty Increases in 2001   10/2/2002 
Comment  Census Bureau reports increase in poverty and income inequality.

Welfare Farmers Keep the Poor from Feeding Themselves   7/11/2002 
Article  Janet Kauffman tells it like it is on the farm these days.

Why Planning and Policy are So Important!   6/4/2002 
Article  Three reasons for why the work of public planning professionals is important for all of us.

Globalization and the War on Terror   6/4/2002 
Comment  The IMF has been captured by ideological conservatives says Joseph Stiglitz.

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Governance Section

Bill Ritter soon after winning the 2006 election for governor in Colorado told a reporter: “It’s about running a smart government, not a big government.” The whole idea of being "smart" seems to have emerged in the west, associated with "smart business" willing to work with "smart government." So we have adopted the term "smart government" to refer to the kind of governance we hope for the United States of America.

Exactly what it means needs to be discussed in many different ways. It means that governments at all levels need to engage in wise planning. We need to consider economic and industrial policies which promote a free society. It means to encourage the use of reason in public affairs, rather than appeal to hostile and angry outrage at big government. Government performs many important functions in the life of the community.

Accomplishments of the Progressive Era in American Politics:
  • The eight-hour workday and 40-hour workweek
  • Worker's compensation for on-the-job accidents
  • Unemployment insurance
  • Prohibitions against child labor and workplace exploitations
  • The legal right of people to organize within labor unions and engage in collective bargaining for fair wages and benefits
  • The constitutional right to vote, full legal equality, and the elimination of formal discrimination for women and minorities
  • The graduated income and inheritance tax
  • Protections against contaminated food and medicines
  • Hundreds of millions of acres of protected wilderness areas, waterways, and national parks
  • Antimonopoly and anticompetitive regulations of corporations
  • Direct elections of U.S. senators, direct primary elections of political candidates, and the initiative and referendum process in the states
  • Civil service tests to replace political patronage
  • National supervision of banks and the creation of a flexible national currency
  • Regulation of the securities industry
  • Federal insurance of bank deposits
  • Bans on speculative banking practices
  • Refinancing and foreclosure protections for home and farm owners
  • National infrastructure including electrification, railways, airports, bridges and roads, and the Internet
  • Social Security and Medicare to aid the elderly and Medicaid and CHIP to help low-income families and children
  • Minimum wage laws and income support for the working poor
  • Public education, college loans and grants for students, and the GI Bill
The association with the term "smart business" is intentional here too. It is way past time to end the ideological war between business and government. Smart business is willing to work with government, understands the need for cooperation and regulation for the good of all, supports educational and social programs within the community. Often it is the new information technology firms that seek to see themselves as smart, as positive partners in the development of quality of life for all in society. That sort of attitude we believe is appropriate in what we call here "well-managed capitalism." Huge problems for the nation, for society, and for business itself result from poorly managed capitalism.

The Democratic Party in the last decades has been on the defensive against resurgent social and religious conservativism and has not been focused on positive concepts for government. It has tried to maintain liberal orientations on social issues but given in to business conservatives on economic issues (such as in the Democratic Leadership Council). This has allowed a poorly managed capitalism to vastly increase inequalities in society to such a degree that the economy itself has become very unstable.

No other advanced nation on earth allows large business institutions to dominate society like in the United States, to dominate local communities, to manipulate the mental consciousness of its citizens, to force people into destructive personal life syles, to dominate and control politics. A government that serves the interests of large business without concern for the health and welfare of all its citizens and the environment needed for life is not smart government.

Smart government manages the economy in such a way that is good for society as well as business. There are actually-existing social democracies from which to learn in constructing a concept of smart government. At this website we will be seeking to benefit from the experience of those democracies to create well-managed capitalism here in the United States.

Part of what smart government means is good planning, city planning, policy planning, including what is called these days Smart Growth, which promotes "anti-sprawl development that is environmentally, fiscally, and economically smart and includes land-use planning, mixed use development." With the reality of oil depletion and energy costs there is a need for whole new patterns of urban settlement and development. The future of the city must be planned in such a way that everyone benefits from these changes which means that real people need to be involved in making the decisions about these matters. Such issues are crucial for the project of social democracy.

We invite you to let us know your own ideas for smart governance.

Some policy and planning websites:



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