(First) Prequel To The Platform

I've been trying for days to assemble my thoughts on the next manifesto (or "platform" if we're required to use a synonymous term that the heartland doesn't view as treasonous) for the Democratic party. I want to offer some kind of bullet-point presentation, but so far my ideas are either a bit too scattershot or theoretically complicated to be adumbrated into that format.

As an entry into doing so, let me endorse, unironically, Kevin Drum's semi-serious proposal for a Constitutional amendment against gerrymandering. Such an amendment would be good policy---gerrymandering is terrible for reasons too well known to enumerate---but it would also be a sound Constitutional principle. It is utterly consonant with the requirement of equal protection under law. The gerrymandering of districts is a furtive way of stripping huge numbers of citizens of the basic civil right to legislative representation. And furthermore, the Democrats, by (in this case) doing the right thing, risk nothing and stand to gain a great deal by taking an uncompromising position against a party that views gerrymandering as inseparable from, and more or less equivalent to its own outreach programs.

Secondly, I wish to semi-seriously endorse the notion floating around of a Constituional amendment against states either paying more in federal taxes than they receive in subsidies or vice versa. Of course I'll acknowledge that the right place for the implementation of such a policy is not the Constitution. But the issue itself is a very real and pertinent one, and is perhaps a means by which the Democrats can grab a foothold back into the electorate's assessment of credibility on tax issues specifically (as opposed to economic issues generally, where Democrats always poll well and to little avail).