Criminal Justice Reform:

This was the issue she introduced on her very first speech in this campaign over a year ago, so I’ll give it the top spot here as well. From her website:

Although the United States has less than 5 percent of the world’s population, we have almost 25 percent of the total prison population. A significant percentage of the more than 2 million Americans incarcerated today are nonviolent offenders. African American men are far more likely to be stopped and searched by police, charged with crimes, and sentenced to longer prison terms than white men found guilty of the same offenses. “Black lives matter. Everyone in this country should stand firmly behind that. ... Since this campaign started, I've been talking about the work we must do to address the systemic inequities that persist in education, in economic opportunity, in our justice system. But we have to do more than talk—we have to take action.” Hillary, JULY 20, 2015

The details of her proposals are dizzying but she lists as her 3 major goals:

Hillary will: End the era of mass incarceration, reform mandatory minimum sentences, and end private prisons.

Encourage the use of smart strategies—like police body cameras—and end racial profiling to rebuild trust between law enforcement and communities.

Help formerly incarcerated individuals successfully re-enter society.

Her specific proposals include (but are by no means limited to):

Reduce mandatory minimums for nonviolent drug offenses by half

Retroactively apply Fair Sentencing Act of 2010 to allow non-violent inmates to seek fairer sentences

Eliminate sentence disparities for crack and powder cocaine

Apply the “strike” system to only violent crimes

Giving judges additional discretion for sentencing

Re-scheduling marijuana from I to II

Federal investments in police training to specifically address implicit bias, use of force, de-escalation, community policing, alternatives to incarceration, etc.

Strengthen DOJ’s Civil Rights unit

Legislation to end racial profiling

Body cameras

Collecting and reporting national data on policing

National use of force guidelines

Ban private prisons

Re-entry programs and Federal support

Her entire agenda, if enacted, would not only address many of the problems we face today but would trigger a complete change in the philosophy of law enforcement: integrating the function of policing into the life of a community, rather than approaching it as a war against a community. We may disagree on many of the details but I think that’s a vision many of us find attractive.

Immigration Reform:

In a Nevada town hall, Hillary said that immigration reform needed to be one of the first things her Presidency would tackle because it would have a ripple effect on so many of the other challenges facing the next President. So I’ll jump to that one next.

From her website:

Since the founding of this nation, generations of immigrants have contributed to the strength of America. Immigrants have spurred economic growth, fueled innovation, defended us abroad and added to the unique character of our nation. Despite the steady growth of America’s immigrant population, immigrants continue to earn less, lag on educational attainment rates, and face discrimination. And, while millions of undocumented immigrants have become an integral part of America’s social fabric, many live in fear that deportation will tear their families apart. Hillary is fighting for an America where every family feels like they belong here. Instead of breaking up hardworking, law-abiding immigrant families who have enriched America for years, she will work to keep families together and ensure a more humane immigration enforcement system.

Specifically, she promises to:

End the 3 and 10 year bars

End family detention and close private detention centers

Expand access to health care to all families

Make the naturalization process more accessible/easier/affordable

Defend DACA and DAPA executive actions

Comprehensive immigration reform legislation with a path to full and equal citizenship

It’s difficult to overstate the impact on our culture and economy that these reforms would have. To be honest, I cannot imagine a single area of our country’s major domestic agenda that this won’t effect: jobs, economy, politics, social security, education, cultural achievements, etc. Who knows? Our immigrant culture is vibrant and filled with talented, hard-working people. The sky is the limit for all of us once the barriers that hold them back are broken.

Wall Street and Corporate America:

Bernie Sanders’ legacy will include putting this issue among the very top issues on the agenda. Of that, there can be no question. So what does Hillary plan to do about it?

From her website:

“Our banking system is still too complex and too risky … While institutions have paid large fines and in some cases admitted guilt, too often it has seemed that the human beings responsible get off with limited consequences – or none at all, even when they’ve already pocketed the gains. This is wrong, and on my watch, it will change.” Hillary Clinton, JULY 13, 2015 The financial crisis showed how irresponsible behavior in the financial sector can devastate the lives of everyday Americans—costing 9 million workers their jobs, driving 5 million families out of their homes, and wiping out more than $13 trillion in household wealth. Hillary has a plan to reduce the risk of future crises and make our financial system fairer and more accountable.

So Hillary certainly proves she can talk the talk. But how does she plan to walk the walk? Can we really trust her to address a system that’s — to hear her critics describe it — benefited her personally so much? What, in the end, does she really have to add to this discussion of Wall Street oversight and reform? Well, a lot, actually.

Here’s some of what she proposes:

Impose risk fees on the largest financial institutions

Close the Volcker Rule hedge fund loophole

Specifically target senior bankers and other individuals when banks and financial institutions take excessive risks

Give more authority to regulators to reorganize, downsize, or break up firms

Extend oversight into shadow banking system

Tax high-frequency trading

Veto Republican efforts to repeal or weaken Dodd-Frank

In short, Hillary envisions a much more creative and aggressive regulatory regime, one that judges an institution by the risks they pose (not by what they call themselves: “banks”, “investment firms”, etc.), demanding more oversight and accountability the larger/riskier they get. By putting individuals personally subject to scrutiny/liability, alongside their institutions, that will have a profound impact on behaviors at both the individual and institutional level. People will no longer be able to hide behind the logos on their letterheads. I hope we can all see that this is well within the progressive sphere of thinking about regulating Wall Street.

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I think I’ll stop Part One here and invite comments. The truth is Hillary’s agenda is much too large for a single blog post. To me, these were the big three — certainly in the Democratic Primary. But they aren’t the only important issues at stake. I’ll try to have more this weekend.

So what are your thoughts? Whether or not they go as far as you’d like, can we at least agree that these would all be improvements over the status quo?