Kudos! This is an excellent plan Ben! After the first 11 pages we put down the book and ordered another for our county chairperson. I’m recommending it to everyone who wants a purpose …indeed a plan to unite us into reclaiming our future generations promise for a free land from sea to shining sea. Thank you Ben!
There is no doubt he would be the quintessential Plus One at a wedding in Norway. He would look past all of the United States dysfunction and enthusiastically dance with the estranged aunt who just got out of the behavioral health ward.
His rah-rah for the power of the people to rise up is infectious (on the right day.) Rah-rah plays a large role in educating and mobilizing American voters, it does, though it would seem the United States is not short on rah-rah, but it is short on common sense, modern procedural ops talent and pragmatism.
In the context of health, healthcare and public heath, Wikler has been trumpeting over the broadcast airwaves how “pesky little” Americans have accomplished so much in the lane of human rights and equality. As one example of a "victory," he explains how Americans “fought back” against the commercial health insurance investment bank lobby's “pre-existing conditions” Denial of Care Harm-for-Profit tool, and “won” by including it as a provision in the ACA.
However, despite all of the metaphorical pom-poms, all the industry did after that “victory” by the little people, was simply pivot to its arsenal of other Denial of Care tools to delay and deny care for other “reasons.” The commercial health insurance industry duped Americans yet again. Anything but a victory.
Might be worth noting, as well, that the ACA was a major win for commercial health insurance investment banks as Americans were forced by law to contract with private companies with very few choices for healthcare access in many regions. (Don’t worry, Obama was aware he had to make an incremental deal with insidious bad actors to hold the opposition in legislative checkmate for 16 years.)
This healthcare access policy “win” Wikler is pointing to as an inspiring democratic grass roots victory, is just another example of the very incrementalism that is fueling volcanic citizen fatigue and frustration directed at the Beltway Bandits and state lawmakers (and wonks.)
In this context, not only is “medically-necessary” not a medical term (it is a corporate medicine Denial of Care Harm-for-Profit glossary term) but that ACA “win” did nothing to expand access to everyone, it did nothing to provide comprehensive lifelong universal care, and it did nothing to guarantee healthcare as a human right without gaps, barriers or Denial of Care.
These incremental, temporary “wins” are like eating a donut: delicious in the moment, and energizing when that sugar hits the brain after the "win," but in time, there is no true nutritious value. There is no denying Americans love rah-rah, sprinkles and incrementalism. Problem is, the policy whiplash never ends. It has made us sick.
Wikler’s “unrig the system” angle also does not address the plague of greed and epidemic of structural violence that is enabled by select American members of all (sadly only two) political parties. Wikler points to the good people of Wisconsin as an organizing beacon in the Upper Midwest, but they, too, remain powerless when it comes to the consolidation of wealth by individuals working for corporate medicine. Wisconsin, in all its People Have the Power energy, is still tethered to commercial health insurance investment banks, private equity groups, corporate hospital chains and the Partnership of America’s Health Care Future.
Follow the money on your own to the traditional Wisconsin Democratic reps across municipal, state, regional and federal levels who have financial conflicts of interest with these corporate health systems operating in Wisconsin. (I have not included in this very abbreviated list all of the commercial health insurance investment banks that operate in Wisconsin. Someone has been welcoming them into the state for 40 years, right?)
• Advocate Aurora Health
• Froedtert ThedaCare Health
• Ascension Wisconsin
• Emplify Health
• Marshfield Clinic Health System:
• Aspirus Health
• SSM Health
• UW Health
• Mayo Clinic Health System
• Hospital Sisters Health System (HSHS)
• UnityPoint Health
Only financial transparency will change the game in the health, healthcare and public health lane and only Single Payer Universal Healthcare / National Improved Medicare for All (Senate Bill 1506 / House Resolution 3069) will truly serve the “little pesky” people.
If Americans cannot agree the need for lifelong health maintenance without gaps, barriers or Denial of Care is the foundational cornerstone of equity, economic dignity and equality...where do we go from there? What is "the plan?"
Wikler needs to sit down with a group of Norwegians at the corner table in the waning hours of the wedding reception over a bottle of Harahorn or cup of coffee and listen. What will they tell him? It doesn’t have to be this goddam hard.
Loved your interview with Jon Stewart, So so impressed with the Plan you have written to help the Democrats win. Jon asked you about whether there is also a policy plan that could be implemented once your Plan works and gets the Democrats in office. I have written one and hope you will share it. I’ve just posted a short executive summary of it on Substack at: ThePlanForDemocracy.substack.com
Here is part of it
THE PLAN FOR DEMOCRACY 2026-2029
A Focused, Forceful, Unified Call to Restore Democracy, Justice, and the American Future
America is at a breaking point — economically, socially, and morally. The pillars of this PLAN form the foundation for rebuilding a nation that works for everyone, not just the wealthy, the powerful, or the politically connected. These reforms are not optional. They are essential to restoring fairness, stability, and humanity.
The PLAN is a comprehensive blueprint to repair the political, economic, social, and moral damage inflicted on the United States in recent years. It is rooted in the founding ideals of the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights — and driven by the urgent need to reclaim our democracy, restore the rule of law, and rebuild a nation that works for everyone. It is not abstract. It is actionable. And it is necessary.
Across every sector — voting rights, the judiciary, wages, taxes, health care, consumer protection, education, housing, immigration, consumer protection, criminal justice, national security, and constitutional governance — the PLAN lays out clear, detailed reforms to reverse destructive policies, end authoritarian overreach, and rebuild a fair, prosperous, democratic and humane America.
Below is the unified summary of the PLAN’s core pillars.
I. RE-ESTABLISH VOTING RIGHTS AND FAIR ELECTIONS
The PLAN reclaims democracy by expanding voting access, eliminating barriers, reducing the influence of dark money, making Election Day a national holiday, abolishing the Electoral College, expanding representation, and requiring full transparency and fitness testing for presidential candidates. No one should lead the nation without proving they are honest, competent, healthy, and stable.
II. REFORM THE JUDICIARY
Public trust in the Supreme Court has collapsed. The PLAN expands the Court to 13 Justices, imposes term limits, enforces strict ethics rules, bans gifts and dark‑money influence, mandates recusal for conflicts, fixes the confirmation process, and creates an independent ethics panel. A corrupt or politically captured Court cannot uphold democracy.
III. PROTECT ENVIRONMENTAL/ NATURAL RESOURCES
The PLAN declares the Climate Crisis an existential emergency. It restores environmental agencies, transitions rapidly to clean energy, protects water and forests, prosecutes polluters, builds climate‑resilient infrastructure, bans non‑biodegradable plastics, and re‑engages global climate leadership. Act now or face irreversible planetary damage.
IV. STABILIZE & GROW THE ECONOMY
The PLAN reverses economic chaos by rebuilding the workforce, raising wages, restoring federal workers, funding revenue‑generating agencies, investing in infrastructure and clean energy, strengthening financial regulation, repairing global partnerships, and reversing harmful executive orders. This is a blueprint for stability, fairness, and long‑term prosperity.
V. BRIDGE THE INCOME INEQUALITY GAP
The PLAN confronts the widening chasm between the ultra‑wealthy and everyone else. It demands fair wages, shared corporate profits, worker dividend participation, and strict limits on runaway executive compensation. It proposes a wealth tax, stronger estate and gift taxes, expanded benefits, and a tax on automation to protect workers displaced by machines. The richest country in the world should not have tens of millions living in poverty — and this PLAN refuses to accept that status quo.
VI. REFLECT OUR VALUES IN THE TAX CODE
The PLAN rewrites the tax code to serve the people, not the wealthy. It restores IRS enforcement, closes loopholes, ends carried interest, reforms capital gains, eliminates abusive corporate tax avoidance, and expands credits for families, students, seniors, small businesses, farmers, and clean energy. It bans tax‑exempt political front groups masquerading as charities and ensures the wealthy finally pay their fair share. This is tax policy that funds the future — not billionaire yachts.
VII. EXPAND CONSUMER PROTECTION
The PLAN restores and expands the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, reinstates usury limits, protects consumers from data breaches, regulates predatory lenders, and ensures financial penalties fund enforcement and reduce the national debt. It expands CFPB authority to fight identity theft, mortgage fraud, and discriminatory lending. It demands accountability from banks, credit card companies, and financial institutions that have exploited the public for decades.
VIII. IMPLEMENT IMMIGRATION REFORM
The PLAN replaces cruelty, chaos, and lawlessness with humanity, order, and fairness. It ends mass deportations, restores due process, protects DREAMers, reinstates student visas, creates structured temporary‑worker programs, expands immigration courts, bans for‑profit immigrant prisons, and ensures humane housing, medical care, and legal representation. It prohibits masked paramilitary raids, unlawful detentions, and unconstitutional deportations — and reasserts that America must never resemble an authoritarian police state.
IX. PROTECT & EXPAND SOCIAL SECURITY
The PLAN secures Social Security for generations by removing the income cap, lowering contribution rates for 95% of workers, expanding benefits, protecting survivors and disabled Americans, and prohibiting raids on the trust fund. It modernizes investment rules, shields benefits from taxation for most retirees, and ensures Social Security remains the bedrock of American retirement — not a political bargaining chip.
X. IMPROVE HEALTH CARE
The PLAN declares health care a human right. It rebuilds public health infrastructure, restores NIH and CDC funding, expands reproductive health care, regulates insurance rates, caps hospital markups, cuts drug prices, expands Medicare to include dental, vision, and hearing, and invests in primary care. Ultimately, it establishes Medicare for All, ending the cruelty of a profit‑driven system that leaves millions uninsured, bankrupt, or untreated.
XI. MAKE EQUALITY FOR ALL A PRIORITY
The PLAN codifies marriage equality, bans discrimination based on gender identity or sexual orientation, protects DEIA programs, and demands ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment. It confronts economic inequality, environmental injustice, and political attacks on marginalized communities. Equality is not optional — it is foundational.
XII. PASS COMPRENSIVE GUN SAFETY REGULATIONS
The PLAN tackles America’s gun violence epidemic with sweeping reforms: universal licensing, mandatory training, secure storage laws, assault‑weapon bans, buyback programs, liability for negligent adults, bans on arsenals, elimination of manufacturer immunity, and restrictions on violent media. Enough is enough — children should not die because politicians fear the gun lobby.
XIII. PASS CRIMINAL JUSTICE REFORM
The PLAN demands passage of the George Floyd Policing Act, reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act, decriminalization of marijuana, expungement of unjust convictions, nationwide police de‑escalation training, mental‑health response teams, universal body cameras, a national misconduct database, abolition of the death penalty, and protection of peaceful protest. It restores civil rights enforcement and ends political violence, discriminatory policing, and authoritarian abuses.
XIV. ADDRESS HOMELESSNESS/ HOUSING
The PLAN launches a national housing initiative to convert abandoned buildings into permanent homes, build new communities, regulate rents and mortgages, cap insurance rates, enforce affordable‑housing requirements, and stop predatory corporate real‑estate practices. Housing is a human necessity — and the PLAN treats it as such.
XV. IMPROVE EDUCATION
The PLAN restores the Department of Education, rejects privatization and vouchers, expands early childhood education, funds school meals, caps class sizes, raises teacher salaries, forgives student loans, protects accurate history education, rejects book bans, supports LGBTQ students, and ensures safe, inclusive schools. Public education is the backbone of democracy — and must be strengthened, not sabotaged.
XVI. IMPLEMENT SENSIBLE SPACE POLICY
The PLAN shuts down the Space Force, reins in privatized space ventures, regulates satellite launches, protects national security from private control, halts unnecessary moon‑shot spending, and demands global treaties banning weapons in space. Space policy must serve science, safety, and humanity — not billionaire tourism or militarization.
XVII. HAVE SENSIBLE FOREIGN POLICY/NATIONAL DEFENSE POLICIES
The PLAN restores diplomacy, rebuilds alliances, ends reckless wars, supports Ukraine, reforms foreign aid, reengages with the UN and NATO, pursues global nuclear disarmament, will not supply military aid to countries that commit genocide or violate the Geneva conventions, restricts unilateral presidential treaty withdrawals, protects journalists, strengthens cybersecurity, and reasserts America’s role as a peaceful, principled global leader — not an unpredictable aggressor.
XVIII. LIMIT EXECUTIVE IMMUNITY & AUTHORITY & REAFFIRM CHECKS AND BALANCES
But the devil is in the details, please use the link below to see the full text.
@BenWikler I'm sharing this HERE as this is a KEY COMPONENT to a winning plan: ACCOUNTABILITY and we need people who live in the realities we're faced with today. We can NOT afford denialists nor enablers. That said, I listen to & have seen you appear on TTHP. Hartmann would love to see you as the next leader of the DNC. Do you actually have what WE THE PEOPLE NEED? Idk, you tell us!
No more lame excuses. Where are the ARREST WARRANTS for the thugs responsible for the fatal shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti? Who do WE pressure? Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty? MN AG Keith Ellison? Head of DNC Ken Martin (isn't HE from MN)?
We didn't even need this evidence the corrupt feds were holding & very likely tampered with. People all around the globe have seen the recorded MURDERS (aka Proud Boys/Confederacy Snuff Films).
Raise your hand if YOU feel SAFE with Ken Martin as DNC Leader. Would YOU, Ben Wikler, REALLY be any different? All I know is DEMS are spineless enablers, who prove to criminals & domestic terrorists every day they can do as they please without consequences.
There MUST be accountability for this. It's our ONLY hope & so far ONLY NYC has the brass to take the fascists on. God Bless True American Patriot Letitia James! Is this the ONLY AMERICAN with a backbone?
WHO do WE put the HEAT ON?
Biden would do NOTHING.
Harris would do NOTHING.
WE can't afford DO NOTHING Dems! I swear the biggest problems our side is denialism & spineless apathy.
There MUST be accountability somewhere. SOMEONE has to be the adult!
WHERE ARE THE ARREST WARRANTS? THE WORLD WITNESSED COLD BLOODED MURDER!
There is no doubt he would be the quintessential Plus One at a wedding in Norway. He would look past all of the United States dysfunction and enthusiastically dance with the estranged aunt who just got out of the behavioral health ward.
His rah-rah for the power of the people to rise up is infectious (on the right day.) Rah-rah plays a large role in educating and mobilizing American voters, it does, though it would seem the United States is not short on rah-rah, but it is short on common sense, modern procedural ops talent and pragmatism.
In the context of health, healthcare and public heath, Wikler has been trumpeting over the broadcast airwaves how “pesky little” Americans have accomplished so much in the lane of human rights and equality. As one example of a "victory," he explains how Americans “fought back” against the commercial health insurance investment bank lobby's “pre-existing conditions” Denial of Care Harm-for-Profit tool, and “won” by including it as a provision in the ACA. However, despite all of the metaphorical pom-poms, all the industry did after that “victory” by the little people, was simply pivot to its arsenal of other Denial of Care tools to delay and deny care for other “reasons.” The commercial health insurance industry duped Americans yet again. Anything but a victory.
Might be worth noting, as well, that the ACA was a major win for commercial health insurance investment banks as Americans were forced by law to contract with private companies with very few choices for healthcare access in many regions. (Don’t worry, Obama was aware he had to make an incremental deal with insidious bad actors to hold the opposition in legislative checkmate for 16 years.)
This healthcare access policy “win” Wikler is pointing to as an inspiring democratic grass roots victory, is just another example of the very incrementalism that is fueling volcanic citizen fatigue and frustration directed at the Beltway Bandits and state lawmakers (and wonks.)
In this context, not only is “medically-necessary” not a medical term (it is a corporate medicine Denial of Care Harm-for-Profit glossary term) but that ACA “win” did nothing to expand access to everyone, it did nothing to provide comprehensive lifelong universal care, and it did nothing to guarantee healthcare as a human right without gaps, barriers or Denial of Care.
These incremental, temporary “wins” are like eating a donut: delicious in the moment, and energizing when that sugar hits the brain after the "win," but in time, there is no true nutritious value. There is no denying Americans love rah-rah, sprinkles and incrementalism. Problem is, the policy whiplash never ends. It has made us sick.
Wikler’s “unrig the system” angle also does not address the plague of greed and epidemic of structural violence that is enabled by select American members of all (sadly only two) political parties. Wikler points to the good people of Wisconsin as an organizing beacon in the Upper Midwest, but they, too, remain powerless when it comes to the consolidation of wealth by individuals working for corporate medicine. Wisconsin, in all its People Have the Power energy, is still tethered to commercial health insurance investment banks, private equity groups, corporate hospital chains and the Partnership of America’s Health Care Future.
Follow the money on your own to the traditional Wisconsin Democratic reps across municipal, state, regional and federal levels who have financial conflicts of interest with these corporate health systems operating in Wisconsin. (I have not included in this very abbreviated list all of the commercial health insurance investment banks that operate in Wisconsin. Someone has been welcoming them into the state for 40 years, right?)
Advocate Aurora Health
Froedtert ThedaCare Health
Ascension Wisconsin
Emplify Health
Marshfield Clinic Health System:
Aspirus Health
SSM Health
UW Health
Mayo Clinic Health System
Hospital Sisters Health System (HSHS)
UnityPoint Health
Only financial transparency will change the game in the health, healthcare and public health lane and only Single Payer Universal Healthcare / National Improved Medicare for All (Senate Bill 1506 / House Resolution 3069) will truly serve the “little pesky” people.
If Americans cannot agree the need for lifelong health maintenance without gaps, barriers or Denial of Care is the foundational cornerstone of equity, economic dignity and equality...where do we go from there? What is "the plan?"
Wikler needs to sit down with a group of Norwegians at the corner table in the waning hours of the wedding reception over a bottle of Harahorn or cup of coffee and listen. What they tell him? It doesn’t have to be this goddam hard.
Find G.Elliott Morris interview with Ben. SOLUTIONS, PROVEN SOLUTIONS for America back.
Kudos! This is an excellent plan Ben! After the first 11 pages we put down the book and ordered another for our county chairperson. I’m recommending it to everyone who wants a purpose …indeed a plan to unite us into reclaiming our future generations promise for a free land from sea to shining sea. Thank you Ben!
Yo Ben,
You and Christopher Armitage should talk.
Appreciating the Ben Wikler rounds…luv it.
There is no doubt he would be the quintessential Plus One at a wedding in Norway. He would look past all of the United States dysfunction and enthusiastically dance with the estranged aunt who just got out of the behavioral health ward.
His rah-rah for the power of the people to rise up is infectious (on the right day.) Rah-rah plays a large role in educating and mobilizing American voters, it does, though it would seem the United States is not short on rah-rah, but it is short on common sense, modern procedural ops talent and pragmatism.
In the context of health, healthcare and public heath, Wikler has been trumpeting over the broadcast airwaves how “pesky little” Americans have accomplished so much in the lane of human rights and equality. As one example of a "victory," he explains how Americans “fought back” against the commercial health insurance investment bank lobby's “pre-existing conditions” Denial of Care Harm-for-Profit tool, and “won” by including it as a provision in the ACA.
However, despite all of the metaphorical pom-poms, all the industry did after that “victory” by the little people, was simply pivot to its arsenal of other Denial of Care tools to delay and deny care for other “reasons.” The commercial health insurance industry duped Americans yet again. Anything but a victory.
Might be worth noting, as well, that the ACA was a major win for commercial health insurance investment banks as Americans were forced by law to contract with private companies with very few choices for healthcare access in many regions. (Don’t worry, Obama was aware he had to make an incremental deal with insidious bad actors to hold the opposition in legislative checkmate for 16 years.)
This healthcare access policy “win” Wikler is pointing to as an inspiring democratic grass roots victory, is just another example of the very incrementalism that is fueling volcanic citizen fatigue and frustration directed at the Beltway Bandits and state lawmakers (and wonks.)
In this context, not only is “medically-necessary” not a medical term (it is a corporate medicine Denial of Care Harm-for-Profit glossary term) but that ACA “win” did nothing to expand access to everyone, it did nothing to provide comprehensive lifelong universal care, and it did nothing to guarantee healthcare as a human right without gaps, barriers or Denial of Care.
These incremental, temporary “wins” are like eating a donut: delicious in the moment, and energizing when that sugar hits the brain after the "win," but in time, there is no true nutritious value. There is no denying Americans love rah-rah, sprinkles and incrementalism. Problem is, the policy whiplash never ends. It has made us sick.
Wikler’s “unrig the system” angle also does not address the plague of greed and epidemic of structural violence that is enabled by select American members of all (sadly only two) political parties. Wikler points to the good people of Wisconsin as an organizing beacon in the Upper Midwest, but they, too, remain powerless when it comes to the consolidation of wealth by individuals working for corporate medicine. Wisconsin, in all its People Have the Power energy, is still tethered to commercial health insurance investment banks, private equity groups, corporate hospital chains and the Partnership of America’s Health Care Future.
Follow the money on your own to the traditional Wisconsin Democratic reps across municipal, state, regional and federal levels who have financial conflicts of interest with these corporate health systems operating in Wisconsin. (I have not included in this very abbreviated list all of the commercial health insurance investment banks that operate in Wisconsin. Someone has been welcoming them into the state for 40 years, right?)
• Advocate Aurora Health
• Froedtert ThedaCare Health
• Ascension Wisconsin
• Emplify Health
• Marshfield Clinic Health System:
• Aspirus Health
• SSM Health
• UW Health
• Mayo Clinic Health System
• Hospital Sisters Health System (HSHS)
• UnityPoint Health
Only financial transparency will change the game in the health, healthcare and public health lane and only Single Payer Universal Healthcare / National Improved Medicare for All (Senate Bill 1506 / House Resolution 3069) will truly serve the “little pesky” people.
If Americans cannot agree the need for lifelong health maintenance without gaps, barriers or Denial of Care is the foundational cornerstone of equity, economic dignity and equality...where do we go from there? What is "the plan?"
Wikler needs to sit down with a group of Norwegians at the corner table in the waning hours of the wedding reception over a bottle of Harahorn or cup of coffee and listen. What will they tell him? It doesn’t have to be this goddam hard.
Loved your interview with Jon Stewart, So so impressed with the Plan you have written to help the Democrats win. Jon asked you about whether there is also a policy plan that could be implemented once your Plan works and gets the Democrats in office. I have written one and hope you will share it. I’ve just posted a short executive summary of it on Substack at: ThePlanForDemocracy.substack.com
Here is part of it
THE PLAN FOR DEMOCRACY 2026-2029
A Focused, Forceful, Unified Call to Restore Democracy, Justice, and the American Future
America is at a breaking point — economically, socially, and morally. The pillars of this PLAN form the foundation for rebuilding a nation that works for everyone, not just the wealthy, the powerful, or the politically connected. These reforms are not optional. They are essential to restoring fairness, stability, and humanity.
The PLAN is a comprehensive blueprint to repair the political, economic, social, and moral damage inflicted on the United States in recent years. It is rooted in the founding ideals of the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights — and driven by the urgent need to reclaim our democracy, restore the rule of law, and rebuild a nation that works for everyone. It is not abstract. It is actionable. And it is necessary.
Across every sector — voting rights, the judiciary, wages, taxes, health care, consumer protection, education, housing, immigration, consumer protection, criminal justice, national security, and constitutional governance — the PLAN lays out clear, detailed reforms to reverse destructive policies, end authoritarian overreach, and rebuild a fair, prosperous, democratic and humane America.
Below is the unified summary of the PLAN’s core pillars.
I. RE-ESTABLISH VOTING RIGHTS AND FAIR ELECTIONS
The PLAN reclaims democracy by expanding voting access, eliminating barriers, reducing the influence of dark money, making Election Day a national holiday, abolishing the Electoral College, expanding representation, and requiring full transparency and fitness testing for presidential candidates. No one should lead the nation without proving they are honest, competent, healthy, and stable.
II. REFORM THE JUDICIARY
Public trust in the Supreme Court has collapsed. The PLAN expands the Court to 13 Justices, imposes term limits, enforces strict ethics rules, bans gifts and dark‑money influence, mandates recusal for conflicts, fixes the confirmation process, and creates an independent ethics panel. A corrupt or politically captured Court cannot uphold democracy.
III. PROTECT ENVIRONMENTAL/ NATURAL RESOURCES
The PLAN declares the Climate Crisis an existential emergency. It restores environmental agencies, transitions rapidly to clean energy, protects water and forests, prosecutes polluters, builds climate‑resilient infrastructure, bans non‑biodegradable plastics, and re‑engages global climate leadership. Act now or face irreversible planetary damage.
IV. STABILIZE & GROW THE ECONOMY
The PLAN reverses economic chaos by rebuilding the workforce, raising wages, restoring federal workers, funding revenue‑generating agencies, investing in infrastructure and clean energy, strengthening financial regulation, repairing global partnerships, and reversing harmful executive orders. This is a blueprint for stability, fairness, and long‑term prosperity.
V. BRIDGE THE INCOME INEQUALITY GAP
The PLAN confronts the widening chasm between the ultra‑wealthy and everyone else. It demands fair wages, shared corporate profits, worker dividend participation, and strict limits on runaway executive compensation. It proposes a wealth tax, stronger estate and gift taxes, expanded benefits, and a tax on automation to protect workers displaced by machines. The richest country in the world should not have tens of millions living in poverty — and this PLAN refuses to accept that status quo.
VI. REFLECT OUR VALUES IN THE TAX CODE
The PLAN rewrites the tax code to serve the people, not the wealthy. It restores IRS enforcement, closes loopholes, ends carried interest, reforms capital gains, eliminates abusive corporate tax avoidance, and expands credits for families, students, seniors, small businesses, farmers, and clean energy. It bans tax‑exempt political front groups masquerading as charities and ensures the wealthy finally pay their fair share. This is tax policy that funds the future — not billionaire yachts.
VII. EXPAND CONSUMER PROTECTION
The PLAN restores and expands the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, reinstates usury limits, protects consumers from data breaches, regulates predatory lenders, and ensures financial penalties fund enforcement and reduce the national debt. It expands CFPB authority to fight identity theft, mortgage fraud, and discriminatory lending. It demands accountability from banks, credit card companies, and financial institutions that have exploited the public for decades.
VIII. IMPLEMENT IMMIGRATION REFORM
The PLAN replaces cruelty, chaos, and lawlessness with humanity, order, and fairness. It ends mass deportations, restores due process, protects DREAMers, reinstates student visas, creates structured temporary‑worker programs, expands immigration courts, bans for‑profit immigrant prisons, and ensures humane housing, medical care, and legal representation. It prohibits masked paramilitary raids, unlawful detentions, and unconstitutional deportations — and reasserts that America must never resemble an authoritarian police state.
IX. PROTECT & EXPAND SOCIAL SECURITY
The PLAN secures Social Security for generations by removing the income cap, lowering contribution rates for 95% of workers, expanding benefits, protecting survivors and disabled Americans, and prohibiting raids on the trust fund. It modernizes investment rules, shields benefits from taxation for most retirees, and ensures Social Security remains the bedrock of American retirement — not a political bargaining chip.
X. IMPROVE HEALTH CARE
The PLAN declares health care a human right. It rebuilds public health infrastructure, restores NIH and CDC funding, expands reproductive health care, regulates insurance rates, caps hospital markups, cuts drug prices, expands Medicare to include dental, vision, and hearing, and invests in primary care. Ultimately, it establishes Medicare for All, ending the cruelty of a profit‑driven system that leaves millions uninsured, bankrupt, or untreated.
XI. MAKE EQUALITY FOR ALL A PRIORITY
The PLAN codifies marriage equality, bans discrimination based on gender identity or sexual orientation, protects DEIA programs, and demands ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment. It confronts economic inequality, environmental injustice, and political attacks on marginalized communities. Equality is not optional — it is foundational.
XII. PASS COMPRENSIVE GUN SAFETY REGULATIONS
The PLAN tackles America’s gun violence epidemic with sweeping reforms: universal licensing, mandatory training, secure storage laws, assault‑weapon bans, buyback programs, liability for negligent adults, bans on arsenals, elimination of manufacturer immunity, and restrictions on violent media. Enough is enough — children should not die because politicians fear the gun lobby.
XIII. PASS CRIMINAL JUSTICE REFORM
The PLAN demands passage of the George Floyd Policing Act, reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act, decriminalization of marijuana, expungement of unjust convictions, nationwide police de‑escalation training, mental‑health response teams, universal body cameras, a national misconduct database, abolition of the death penalty, and protection of peaceful protest. It restores civil rights enforcement and ends political violence, discriminatory policing, and authoritarian abuses.
XIV. ADDRESS HOMELESSNESS/ HOUSING
The PLAN launches a national housing initiative to convert abandoned buildings into permanent homes, build new communities, regulate rents and mortgages, cap insurance rates, enforce affordable‑housing requirements, and stop predatory corporate real‑estate practices. Housing is a human necessity — and the PLAN treats it as such.
XV. IMPROVE EDUCATION
The PLAN restores the Department of Education, rejects privatization and vouchers, expands early childhood education, funds school meals, caps class sizes, raises teacher salaries, forgives student loans, protects accurate history education, rejects book bans, supports LGBTQ students, and ensures safe, inclusive schools. Public education is the backbone of democracy — and must be strengthened, not sabotaged.
XVI. IMPLEMENT SENSIBLE SPACE POLICY
The PLAN shuts down the Space Force, reins in privatized space ventures, regulates satellite launches, protects national security from private control, halts unnecessary moon‑shot spending, and demands global treaties banning weapons in space. Space policy must serve science, safety, and humanity — not billionaire tourism or militarization.
XVII. HAVE SENSIBLE FOREIGN POLICY/NATIONAL DEFENSE POLICIES
The PLAN restores diplomacy, rebuilds alliances, ends reckless wars, supports Ukraine, reforms foreign aid, reengages with the UN and NATO, pursues global nuclear disarmament, will not supply military aid to countries that commit genocide or violate the Geneva conventions, restricts unilateral presidential treaty withdrawals, protects journalists, strengthens cybersecurity, and reasserts America’s role as a peaceful, principled global leader — not an unpredictable aggressor.
XVIII. LIMIT EXECUTIVE IMMUNITY & AUTHORITY & REAFFIRM CHECKS AND BALANCES
But the devil is in the details, please use the link below to see the full text.
https://www.ThePlanForDemocracy.org
or contact the author at:
mailto:Jeanne@thePlanForDemocracy.org
@BenWikler I'm sharing this HERE as this is a KEY COMPONENT to a winning plan: ACCOUNTABILITY and we need people who live in the realities we're faced with today. We can NOT afford denialists nor enablers. That said, I listen to & have seen you appear on TTHP. Hartmann would love to see you as the next leader of the DNC. Do you actually have what WE THE PEOPLE NEED? Idk, you tell us!
No more lame excuses. Where are the ARREST WARRANTS for the thugs responsible for the fatal shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti? Who do WE pressure? Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty? MN AG Keith Ellison? Head of DNC Ken Martin (isn't HE from MN)?
We didn't even need this evidence the corrupt feds were holding & very likely tampered with. People all around the globe have seen the recorded MURDERS (aka Proud Boys/Confederacy Snuff Films).
Raise your hand if YOU feel SAFE with Ken Martin as DNC Leader. Would YOU, Ben Wikler, REALLY be any different? All I know is DEMS are spineless enablers, who prove to criminals & domestic terrorists every day they can do as they please without consequences.
There MUST be accountability for this. It's our ONLY hope & so far ONLY NYC has the brass to take the fascists on. God Bless True American Patriot Letitia James! Is this the ONLY AMERICAN with a backbone?
WHO do WE put the HEAT ON?
Biden would do NOTHING.
Harris would do NOTHING.
WE can't afford DO NOTHING Dems! I swear the biggest problems our side is denialism & spineless apathy.
There MUST be accountability somewhere. SOMEONE has to be the adult!
WHERE ARE THE ARREST WARRANTS? THE WORLD WITNESSED COLD BLOODED MURDER!
https://apnews.com/article/immigration-enforcement-minnesota-alex-pretti-renee-good-21835226891f2a8d91710519b457031d
Sounds like a plan!
Appreciating the Ben Wikler rounds…luv it.
There is no doubt he would be the quintessential Plus One at a wedding in Norway. He would look past all of the United States dysfunction and enthusiastically dance with the estranged aunt who just got out of the behavioral health ward.
His rah-rah for the power of the people to rise up is infectious (on the right day.) Rah-rah plays a large role in educating and mobilizing American voters, it does, though it would seem the United States is not short on rah-rah, but it is short on common sense, modern procedural ops talent and pragmatism.
In the context of health, healthcare and public heath, Wikler has been trumpeting over the broadcast airwaves how “pesky little” Americans have accomplished so much in the lane of human rights and equality. As one example of a "victory," he explains how Americans “fought back” against the commercial health insurance investment bank lobby's “pre-existing conditions” Denial of Care Harm-for-Profit tool, and “won” by including it as a provision in the ACA. However, despite all of the metaphorical pom-poms, all the industry did after that “victory” by the little people, was simply pivot to its arsenal of other Denial of Care tools to delay and deny care for other “reasons.” The commercial health insurance industry duped Americans yet again. Anything but a victory.
Might be worth noting, as well, that the ACA was a major win for commercial health insurance investment banks as Americans were forced by law to contract with private companies with very few choices for healthcare access in many regions. (Don’t worry, Obama was aware he had to make an incremental deal with insidious bad actors to hold the opposition in legislative checkmate for 16 years.)
This healthcare access policy “win” Wikler is pointing to as an inspiring democratic grass roots victory, is just another example of the very incrementalism that is fueling volcanic citizen fatigue and frustration directed at the Beltway Bandits and state lawmakers (and wonks.)
In this context, not only is “medically-necessary” not a medical term (it is a corporate medicine Denial of Care Harm-for-Profit glossary term) but that ACA “win” did nothing to expand access to everyone, it did nothing to provide comprehensive lifelong universal care, and it did nothing to guarantee healthcare as a human right without gaps, barriers or Denial of Care.
These incremental, temporary “wins” are like eating a donut: delicious in the moment, and energizing when that sugar hits the brain after the "win," but in time, there is no true nutritious value. There is no denying Americans love rah-rah, sprinkles and incrementalism. Problem is, the policy whiplash never ends. It has made us sick.
Wikler’s “unrig the system” angle also does not address the plague of greed and epidemic of structural violence that is enabled by select American members of all (sadly only two) political parties. Wikler points to the good people of Wisconsin as an organizing beacon in the Upper Midwest, but they, too, remain powerless when it comes to the consolidation of wealth by individuals working for corporate medicine. Wisconsin, in all its People Have the Power energy, is still tethered to commercial health insurance investment banks, private equity groups, corporate hospital chains and the Partnership of America’s Health Care Future.
Follow the money on your own to the traditional Wisconsin Democratic reps across municipal, state, regional and federal levels who have financial conflicts of interest with these corporate health systems operating in Wisconsin. (I have not included in this very abbreviated list all of the commercial health insurance investment banks that operate in Wisconsin. Someone has been welcoming them into the state for 40 years, right?)
Advocate Aurora Health
Froedtert ThedaCare Health
Ascension Wisconsin
Emplify Health
Marshfield Clinic Health System:
Aspirus Health
SSM Health
UW Health
Mayo Clinic Health System
Hospital Sisters Health System (HSHS)
UnityPoint Health
Only financial transparency will change the game in the health, healthcare and public health lane and only Single Payer Universal Healthcare / National Improved Medicare for All (Senate Bill 1506 / House Resolution 3069) will truly serve the “little pesky” people.
If Americans cannot agree the need for lifelong health maintenance without gaps, barriers or Denial of Care is the foundational cornerstone of equity, economic dignity and equality...where do we go from there? What is "the plan?"
Wikler needs to sit down with a group of Norwegians at the corner table in the waning hours of the wedding reception over a bottle of Harahorn or cup of coffee and listen. What they tell him? It doesn’t have to be this goddam hard.
Hi! Great interview on the daily show! Hope to buy two copies of your book soon.