Campaign strategy

As the warmups for the 2028 presidential election get underway the democrats have plans to exploit the anti-Trump energy simmering throughout the party. The policies of the base can be played down by playing up the Trump strategy. This is necessary because many of these policies are unpopular. According to many writers they will concentrate on Trump until after the election when they will be free to come out with their plans. They will rejoin the Paris Accords promoting wind and solar to replace fossil fuels. They will stop deportations and resume an open border policy. They will cancel all tariffs and allow other countries to resume the unfair tariffs of the past. They will resume sending money to Europe to help Ukraine. They will allow the Abraham Accords to languish into the ash heap of history. They will push wind and solar and ignore nuclear power. They will cut back on support for fossil fuels and pass legislation to make fracking more expensive. They will back off the push to bring manufacturing jobs back home. Their primary economic plan will be to tax the rich and use the money for more public assistance programs like universal health and childcare. On the cultural side they will promote men in women’s sports, including locker rooms. They will promote gender surgery on minors and special rights for gays. The writers are basing their idea by following the recent campaign strategies of the recently elected governors of Virginia and New Jersey.

Compassion

The basic platform for the democratic party is based on the old anti colonialism concept of the oppressors over the oppressed. This is founded on the idea that different groups are treated differently. White oppresses dark skins, men oppress women, straights oppress gays, rich oppress the poor, management oppresses labor, Christians oppress non-Christians, thin people oppress fat people, and majorities oppress minorities. Liberals are people who want to protect the powerless from the powerful. It is what Jesus preached and is the moral thing to do. Success is achieved when equal results are the norm. They often view law officers as oppressors and concentrate on justice for the accused. Their basic economic plan is the redistribution of wealth and income and the goal is equity, equal results. This conflicts, in many cases, with the basic concept of free market capitalism but seems to fit nicely with socialism. Keeping people in groups, identity politics, is a way to separate the oppressor from the oppressed. Compassion and the golden rule are the motivating factors.

Israeli wars

Israel became a state in 1948 and immediately five Arab nations, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria declare war on Israel. The war ended in less than a year with Israel winning and expanding their borders. Next came 1956 when Egypt seized control of the Suez Canal and Israel went to war and in a few months took over the Sinai Peninsula and the Gaza Strip but were forced by the US to give back the areas. The next war came in 1967 and lasted six days and Israel captured the Sinai Peninsula, the Gaza strip, West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights. This was followed up with the 1973 attack by Egypt and Syria, the 1982 Lebanon War, the 2006 Lebanon War and various other conflicts up to 2023. Through all of these years Israel was regularly hit with rockets, provided by Iran, by way of Syria, Lebanon, Gaza and Yemen with the constant cry of death to Israel. Then in Oct 2023 Hamas soldiers invaded Israel, killed 1,200 and took 250 prisoners. Israel negotiated 21 days to get a prisoner release to no avail and then sent in the army. This resulted in the deaths of 75,000, mostly civilian, because Hamas mingled the troops among the people. This strategy allowed Hamas to show pictures of the innocent people who were killed and allowed them to win the public relations war. The end result was that the Israelis were convicted in the poll of public opinion of genocide.

Iran history

It was in November 1979, one year before the 1980 elections, when Iran took over the US embassy and held 52 Americans hostage for 444 days. The inflation rate was 15%, the unemployment rate 7.5% and the prime interest rate was 11%. A 30-year mortgage was 13% so the housing market was at a standstill. The price of oil tripled and gas prices doubled but the US stayed out of war because of the fear of harming the hostages. The US used economic sanctions against Iran and the day President Reagan was sworn into office Iran released the hostages. They did this to affect the outcome of a American election. Over the years since then, Iran has killed Americans a number times. Beirut Bombings in 1983, the Khobar Towers in 1996, the Iraq War 2003 and Proxy Attacks in 2023. Each time the US complained to the United Nations and issued sanctions. The threat of Iran getting a nuclear bomb held the world at bay for 40 plus years, until 2025 when the US with the help of Israel decided to take military action against Iran but many in America wanted to stay with diplomacy. Looking back with the benefit of hindsight, many feel that the take over of the embassy should have resulted in the US declaring war on Iran but it was always easier to push any military action down the road. After 9-11 polls showed the American people wanted to take military action against Afghanistan and the same was true after Pearle Harbor. Apparently, the US is only ready to retaliate when directly attacked.

Fear

Fear is a great motivator and those who lived through the Cold War can vouch for that. For 40 years the threat of mutually assured destruction (MAD) had people building bomb shelters, kept students hiding under their desk and cause countries to spend trillions on defense. Adding to this was the fear of a nuclear accident that caused the world to turn against nuclear power. Groups like Green Peace literally ended the ear of nuclear power only to find out that today it is coming back. Next came the existential threat of climate change which forced governments to move away from fossil fuels and toward renewables. Then came lesser groups like Occupy Wall Street and Black Lives Matter (BLM). In the case of BLM, Geroge Floyd was killed by police and this led to riots. He was a man with severe health problems and a long criminal career but was not given his day in court. The result was five months of riots in 2,000 cities in the US and around the world, $2 billion in property damage, 14,000 arrest and 25 deaths. In the end some police departments changed their procedures and cut their budgets while some of the leaders of BLM absconded with funds meant to improve the situation. Changes and reactions based on emotions, like fear, often get side tracked by misinformation and lies. Objectivity gets thrown out the window as news people capitalize on issues to gain viewers. Today some fear that a king will replace our democracy and others fear that socialism will replace capitalism. In a few years these fears will be gone and replaced with new ones.

Capital gains rates

The capital gains tax was started by congress in 1921 and can be eliminated by congress. It was started when the max income tax rate was 73% and was designed to encourage investment by setting the capital gain rate at 12%. Eliminating the federal capital gains tax entirely requires an act of Congress. To fully abolish the tax, both chambers of the U.S. Congress would need to pass legislation, which the President would then have to sign into law. This would require replacing the Internal Revenue Code regarding capital assets. Polls show that 70% favor taxing long term capital gains as ordinary income and this would essentially remove the capital gains tax. Congress only needs to act.

Tax law changes

The long-term capital gains tax rate is 20% max and only requires the owner to hold the asset for one year before selling. For rich people this is one half the 40% federal income tax rate. For this reason, the rich limit their sales of appreciated assets until they die and then there is no tax. These are called unrealized gains and some suggest the law be changed so that the tax must be paid even if the asset is not sold. This would mean they could no longer escape the capital gains tax by holding the asset until they die. This would go a long way toward lowering the wealth gap. This would not be easy. To tax unrealized capital gains, Congress would need to pass new legislation drastically altering the tax code and likely amend the Constitution or win a favorable Supreme Court ruling. Currently, the U.S. taxes capital gains only when an asset is sold or traded