What my Presidential candidate needs to look like

I have said that the focus should be on the platform to be got behind and not the name of the candidate So, what would be my platform for a Democratic or frankly any other party candidate . I am not wedded to a party name per se. I think there should be two driving goals 1. Rebuilding the middle class 2. Protecting the weak in a compassionate and practical way My definition of the middle class is anyone essentially working from paycheck to paycheck and attempting to plan for children’s education , health care and retirement . I think this is the right way to describe the target demographic because it covers a lot of people who on the face of it might consider themselves to be different from each other . The size of the paycheck is not really the key differentiator for me up to quite a high level . I have not defined the top point, but it must revolve around having not to worry about middle and long-term planning because one’s pay is so high. My definition therefore extends from the very poor on minimum wage to a decent level of successful professional and blue-collar working people . The mantra is – if you are ruled by the alarm clock and your paycheck then you are middle class . My definition of weak is anyone who has a genuine difficulty in coping with the essentials of living . I don’t care whether the disability is mental or physical , chronic and permanent or temporary ill luck . To a great extent, I don’t even care if there is some contributory negligence or dumb decisions that have played into the current weakness that a person is experiencing . We all make mistakes and have bad luck. Compassionate to me is threading the line that I have talked about elsewhere as the historic debate about the deserving and undeserving poor . It comes from a hard-headed belief that all systems can be gamed and there will be gamers . On the other hand, it is based on a belief that most people want to stand on their own feet and work to solve their own problems but that they sometimes need help . I want the rules and administration of compassion to err on the side of risking being ripped off a little rather than being cruel . I realize that it is not an easy line to draw and there is a need to nerdy thoughts to work it out . For me compassion also means recognizing that there are people who simply cannot cope, and they need to be protected by the rest of us because that is just the right thing to do If those are my driving thoughts . Here are my top 5 topics that I will be looking for a candidate to be tackling . I don’t think that they are in order, but I do think that there is probably a maximum of 5 ideas that I can hold in my head at once . I also think that it is good intellectual discipline to keep the number low . If you have something that you think should be in the top 5 then you should also be prepared to drop something from the 5 1. The influence of money in American politics needs to be curtailed . There are probably several items in this category but the repeal of citizens united is a good place to start. Taxing the rich is probably a topic within this idea as maybe gerrymandering . 2. Affordable Health Care for all is a must for me . I want its provision to be separated from employment which I see as one of the biggest drawbacks of the US system. The ideas need to be practical seeing the difficulties that socialized medicine has in real countries but also recognizing that we can do it if we set our mind to it . Slogans are not good enough . I have my views on what the solution should look like, but I would back anyone else’s practical solution 3. A minimum wage that allows someone who works a tough week to live above the poverty line and maybe a line above that . I don’t know what that number is but the math to calculate it is easy . I would probably also throw my hand in here to legislation that forced corporations to raise wages if they are also raising the return of capital to investors . I have ideas on how to do this too 4. A sane and practical approach to social security that recognizes the fundamental ugly math of defined benefit pension plans as well as showing compassion to the elderly 5. An investment program in education from Pre-K to Post Grade 12 such that a decent good education is available to all in a way that is affordable to all middle-class individuals You will notice that my list has few “fix the world “ items such as climate and environment . It is not that I don’t care are them but I have come to believe that so many ordinary people are living lives of quiet desperation about making ends meet at the end of the month that it is not reasonable for them to be thinking about the end of the world too .