1. It’s Friday, August 4, 2017.

2. It’s Barack Obama’s 56th birthday. Has any President been as missed six months out of office as this guy?

3. My former CNNMoney colleague Paul La Monica – one of business journalism’s most accomplished tweeters – always offers this thought the day before the monthly jobs report: We all should be rooting for good numbers, no matter what our political persuasion. 

Paul’s absolutely right. All Americans should want their countrymen and women employed – if that’s what they want. Rooting against the employment figures is like rooting against our military – pretty damn close to treasonous.

So despite the fact that I loathe Trump, and realize that he’ll take credit, I’m very pleased with today’s July labor report. A gain of 209,000 jobs, which is not just a plus but a solid one. And a decline in the unemployment rate to 4.3% from 4.4% in June.

4. Two sectors of the economy stick out in this report.

One is that people must be eating out a lot.

Employment in food service and what the Bureau of Labor Statistics calls “drinking places” – question: Does Jamba Juice count? – rose by a solid 53,000 jobs. In the past year, the industry has added 313,000 jobs.

That’s a curious thing. Are you eating out more? Are you hanging out at bars more?

Everywhere I look, I see restaurants, diners and the like closing. Now this might just be a local phenomenon – for a Burger King closing in New City, New York, a Sonic might be going up in the Washington area.

But people tend to eat out more when they’re feeling prosperous. So that’s a good sign for the economy – although I know some grumpy types that see a boon in this as a sign that a fall is coming. Let’s hope not – at least not any time soon.

The second sector that stands out is health care. An additional 39,000 jobs were added in this industry last month, bringing the one-year total to 327,000.

This seems a sign that whatever we’re doing in health care right now is pretty good for the economy. More people are using health care services, which means more people are working in health care services.

5. So why the hell would anyone want to mess with that?

A drastic change in health care – let’s say, repealing Obamacare – would tamper with what’s become a growing part of the economy.

Not only has Obamacare helped make America healthier, it has helped make America more prosperous – completely contrary to the screaming that the far right did when the law was enacted in 2009.

It must drive Republicans crazy that this law worked. And it just proves that Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski and John McCain were looking out for the best interests of the party as well as the country when they voted against the so-called skinny repeal measure last week.

6. Which brings us back to Barack Obama.

I’ll bet Trumpsters believe Obama is jealous of today’s numbers. Since Trump took office, slightly more than 1 million jobs have been created.

Obama ain’t jealous. Obama is a big reason those numbers are so good. Jobs have grown for 82 months in a row, a streak that began after the Obama stimulus helped right the economy following the financial crisis.

If anything, today’s jobs number is Obama’s birthday present. It’s gorgeous. And we should all celebrate.

Happy birthday, Mr. President.

1. It’s Thursday, August 3, 2017.

2. It’s the 13th anniversary of the reopening of the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty. It had been closed since the Sept. 11, 2001 attack that destroyed the World Trade Center.

For nearly three years, people seeking inspiration from the statue had to be content with the Emma Lazarus poem inscribed on its side.

Hundreds of people speak the words on Liberty Island every day. They’re part of the power that a visit to the statue – and to the nearby Ellis Island immigration center – engender.

Of course, there are people like Stephen Miller, who are probably more concerned about whether they serve chicken nuggets at the snack bar, and why you have to pay money to take a boat to the island.

4. There are people who will tell you that those of us on the coasts – I’m including my friends in California, Oregon and Washington – really don’t understand the impact immigration has on the American economy.

The real impact is on the heartland, these people will say, where immigrants – many of them here illegally – are taking jobs from American citizens.

This canard has been bouncing around for decades – it’s imagined by narrow-minded people and reinforced by opportunistic (read: Republican) office seekers and their tame media (read: Fox News).

So that’s why you can get crap such as that proposed yesterday by Trump and two other bags of pus who hold seats in the U.S. Senate – Cotton of Arkansas and Perdue of Georgia.

Let’s put it all in perspective.

Immigration is how I’m here. It’s how my wife is here. Because of that, it’s why my kids are here.

There aren’t a whole lot of people I know or I’ve worked with who aren’t here because of immigrants, most of whom couldn’t speak the language when they got off the boat, the truck or the plane. Most of them had no jobs waiting for them, no understanding of what skill sets would be needed in this land.

There are issues with immigration. No one disagrees that it’s better done legally. Those who come in without proper documentation can – in some instances – be used as a bludgeon on the wages of people already here, which is one of the things that sparks the anti-immigrant sentiment.

But to curtail immigration with a so-called “merit-based” system is preposterous. It’s shameful. It’s cowardice.

And it betrays the spirit that brought people here. People who built and defended this country. Who died in World War II and Vietnam and Iraq and on that awful September day in 2001 that closed the Statue of Liberty pedestal for nearly three years.

Give me your tired, your poor. Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.

Every American worth a damn knows these words, and knows how they symbolize the greatness of the United States.

Obviously, Trump and every senator or representative who supports this garbage proposal doesn’t fall into the worth a damn category.

And if you live in Iowa or Kentucky or Georgia – or even in New York or Los Angeles – and support this: To hell with you, too.

5. Congratulations to Norman Lear, age 95, who will be among this year’s recipients of the Kennedy Center’s annual honors for achievement in the arts.

It’s well deserved. Lear contributed greatly to American culture with his pioneering sitcoms that looked at social issues: “All in the Family,” “Maude,” “The Jeffersons” and more. He’s also devoted his life to advancing free speech in America.

That doesn’t change my thought that maybe Lear didn’t succeed in changing America as he wished to do. That bigotry prevailed in spite of his incredible efforts against it.

What I also imagine, from what I know about the man, is that he would welcome the discussion and the chance to either agree or vigorously disagree.

I also cheer the fact that he’s probably going to skip the traditional White House reception for the honorees, who also include LL Cool J, Gloria Estefan, Lionel Richie and dancer Carmen de Lavallade.

“I can’t see myself visiting a White House, what (Trump) called a dump, that dumps on the National Endowment for the Arts,” Lear was quoted as saying by The Washington Post.

Proving he ain’t no meathead.

1. It’s Wednesday, August 2, 2017.

2. It’s the 74th anniversary of the sinking of the U.S. Motor Torpedo Boat PT-109 in the Solomon Islands.

The boat was rammed by a Japanese destroyer, instantly killing two of the 13 crew members.

The commander was Lt. John F. Kennedy, who led the remainder of his crew to safety on a deserted island. Eventually, with the help of Australians and Solomon Islanders, Kennedy and the survivors were rescued.

It was a story that we heard a lot about in the days when Kennedy was President. There are some who claim it was gussied up a little to help the aspiring politician.

And, of course, how can it compare courage-wise to his 10th successor avoiding sexually transmitted diseases in New York’s Studio 54 era?

3. Ara Parseghian, who died this morning at age 94, achieved his greatest success as a football coach at Notre Dame, winning the 1973 national championship.

But, of course, we Northwesterners mourn him as one of the school’s greatest coaches, compiling a winning record (!!!) and even a No. 1 ranking at one point in 1962.

4. It’s hard to believe the stock market has done as well as it has since Trump’s election nearly nine months ago.

Conventional wisdom says the instability in what has been the world’s most powerful nation should be a detriment to investment, not a boon. With this administration, who knows what the hell is going to happen?

And yet, this morning, the Dow Jones industrial average reached the 22,000 mark for the first time.

As the Times’ Landon Thomas Jr. helpfully points out, two things are fueling the surge.

One is the idea that Trump is going to cut taxes.

Cutting taxes seems like an absurd idea at a time when the stock market’s booming. Corporate profits are strong, so a tax cut for business just seems like pure greed.

But that’s what these investors seem to be cheering.

The other spark is a weak dollar. That makes investing in the U.S. more attractive overseas, since other nations’ currencies can buy more than they did before.

As is always a case with a long boom, some question whether it can ever end. What’s to stop markets from going up ad infinitum?

Something.

And the Trump administration is going to provide it.

A trade war with China? A war war with North Korea or Iran? Pissing off the Europeans enough that they ignore this country and look for development elsewhere? Turning back to oil and coal instead of developing alternatives that have been sparking growth even before this year?

Anyone who holds investments – especially those of us with the title “retired” – cheers higher markets. But when they go down, it hurts. Big time.

It’ll happen – the question is when.

1. It’s Tuesday, August 1, 2017.

It’s the 10th anniversary of the collapse of the I-35W Mississippi River Bridge in Minneapolis. The 8-lane span just fell into the river during the evening rush hour, killing 13 people and injuring 145 others.

The collapse was supposed to be a wake-up call that the nation’s infrastructure – not just the roads, but utilities and public transit – are crumbling.

The Obama administration recognized this to some extent, focusing its 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act on billions of dollars in infrastructure spending. The measure was passed with absolutely no Republican support in the House and only three Republicans in the Senate – and one of the three switched parties afterward.

2. When Trump was elected, he talked about infrastructure spending as a priority.

Democrats, reviled by the thought this guy would be in the White House, still swallowed hard and said, hey, that’s something we can get behind.

That’s pretty much the last we’ve heard of that.

Republicans, non-believers in the idea of government, think infrastructure spending is a way for government to become more entrenched. It’s government providing jobs to people, and that’s a horrible thought – only companies should do it, and only when they deem fit. So they don’t like it.

3. I think there’s one other reason Republicans don’t go along with infrastructure spending.

While roads are being fixed or built, commuters suffer inconvenience.

For the past four years, commuters from where I live in Rockland County, New York, have dealt with the mess created as the state builds two bridges across the Hudson. They’ll replace the Tappan Zee Bridge, which was built on the cheap in the 1950s and has barely made it to August 2017.

The Tappan Zee looks and feels as if it’s headed into the Hudson anytime you drive on it. The rattling and shaking when you’re sitting bumper-to-bumper on it leads to thoughts of maybe we should update the wills.

The years of construction have been a pain. Constantly changing highway patterns. Construction crews slowly making their way across the old span. One day last year, a crane collapse closed the TZ all day – miraculously, no one was injured.

Anger is the Republican Party’s best friend.

When something like a extra-long commute makes people angry, Republicans are there to tap into the animus: Why is the government making us suffer like this? Because it can. Because that’s what government does.

But later this month, the first of the new bridges – named for the late Gov. Mario Cuomo – will open. Within two years, both new bridges will be in operation, the rickety Tappan Zee will be demolished or almost so.

4. And commuting should be safer, if not easier.

That’s an important thing. Even if an era when more people are working from home, there are reasons to travel. Besides work, there are family obligations and adventures to be had from crossing a river.

Infrastructure spending is rarely as glamorous as the new bridges will be. It means painting over rust and repaving roads. It means replacing pipes and wires that aren’t supposed to be in plain view. It means figuring out how to prevent electrical grids from collapsing the way they did one August afternoon in 2003, knocking out power to so much of the Northeast.

It is something best done by a government.

If Trump really wants to be a president, instead of trying to gut health care and giving tax breaks to people making tons of money, he should concentrate on infrastructure. On creating jobs building and fixing stuff. On fostering innovation in transportation – please don’t get me started on that again.

That’s what tax money is supposed to do. It’s a sacrifice we all make to benefit all of us.

It’s what we need to do to make sure that people just trying to get home after a day’s work or visiting their grandparents actually get there.

1. It’s Monday, July 31, 2017. Seven months down, five to go.

2. It’s the 52nd birthday of J.K. Rowling, who gave the same birthday to her most famous creation.

Heart is what makes the Harry Potter books stand out from anything else written in this genre. Rowling put humanity on extrahuman activity, and made her characters – even the evil ones – special people.

It’s why these books have so much power – my grown kids still talk lovingly about reading them. And while the movies are really good in their own right, there is nothing quite as moving as reading the words on a page. Rowling poured her heart into her writing, and it’s there for anyone to share.

3. I have to thank my wife for introducing me to the work of Sam Shepard.

Not the acting part – I saw “The Right Stuff” on my own and thought his Chuck Yeager was an iconic film character.

But his plays. The first one we saw was “Fool for Love,” more than 30 years ago. Most recently, we saw the amazing New Group production of “Buried Child” starring two of Shepard’s longtime collaborators, Ed Harris and Amy Madigan.

The plays were complicated, intense looks at American life. They weren’t about the joys of suburbia but rather the struggles of people scraping by or troubled by sins of the past.

One thing a Sam Shepard play guaranteed: Your mind was going to turn for hours, both during and after.

The ability to do that is a great legacy to leave.

4. In the last hour or so, the reports that Anthony Scaramucci is out as White House Communications Director flashed across Twitter with a joy that seems both perverse and yet irresistible. 

Here’s a thought: Scaramucci is real Trump. What you saw in this 11-day supernova flashing across the Washington sky is what’s really sitting at the desk in the Oval Office.

What you’re going to see for a little while – how little is anyone’s guess – is how Trump can act like how he and his handlers imagine a president acts. John Kelly will try to organize the West Wing in military fashion, and he might have some initial success.

But that Twitter app is too much a lure for Trump. Something will happen. It might get us past his upcoming vacation in New Jersey.

After Labor Day, all bets are off.

5. Now that Joe Arpaio, the former sheriff of Maricopa County, Arizona, has been found guilty of contempt of court, I wonder if law enforcement will heed the words of Trump and not go easy on criminals.

Arpaio is famous for flouting federal judges’ orders to stop his roundups of immigrants. He also was among the more prominent birthers, insisting that President Obama’s birth certificate in forgery.

I don’t care that he’s 85 years old. I’d love to see the odious Arpaio behind bars. Perhaps in a pink jumpsuit.

It’s Friday, July 28, 2017.

As Google helpfully reminds us, it’s the centennial of the Silent Parade. It was a protest on New York’s Fifth Avenue by as many as 10,000 African-Americans against lynchings and other violence directed toward them.

It was one of the first civil rights protests in American history. While the events that triggered should give us no pride, the fact that such a peaceful protest can lead to change should.

Just wanted to throw down some quick thoughts about last night’s barely failed Senate vote to strip health care from millions of Americans.

The three Republicans who voted against this deserve a lot of credit. Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski stood firm for weeks against both what was being done and how it was being done.

And John McCain came around at some point – maybe he couldn’t brook the idea that he was handing a victory to someone who has consistently insulted him.

I support Obamacare, so I’m happy. But I have to think that last night’s vote is a victory for what McCain keeps calling “regular order” – the idea that someone puts legislation on paper or into a file, it goes through hearings and debate, and then people vote.

That doesn’t seem so complicated. It seems like the outline for the “Schoolhouse Rock” song “I’m Just a Bill.”

But Trump and McConnell – and don’t leave McConnell out of any rant you might have about this process, because history’s condemnation of this autocrat should be severe – tried to circumvent the process to get their way.

Had they succeeded, they would have passed a measure that affected a huge swatch of this country, without the country understanding what the hell they were doing.

One other thought about the Republican senators. They’re probably being vilified on Fox News, Breitbart and other cesspools of right-wing media.

But last night, they might saved the Republican Party.

The fury that would have been directed at the GOP on all levels had this measure passed would have been Category 5. Democrats would have been even more riled up that they already are, and by the time the 2018 midterms came around, people would have seen that they bought the Brooklyn Bridge with these people.

Yes, that fury will still be there. Trump and his merry band of sycophants and offspring will ensure that. But that fury got diffused just enough last night.

Until the next obscenity from these people. It’s coming.

And then this: As Yogi said, “It’s not over ’til it’s over.”

In the case of Obamacare, it’s never over. Defending this law might be what we do for the rest of our lives.

But given how effective this law at helping people living healthy, or even just plain living, lives, the battle is worth it.

Congratulations to those who held this off. And keep fighting.

1. It’s Thursday, July 27, 2017.

2. It’s Norman Lear’s 95th birthday.

He is best known for his run of socially conscious sitcoms in the 1970s, foremost of which is “All in the Family.”

In other words, Norman Lear gave us Archie Bunker – who was a Trumpista before anyone knew who Trump was.

3. This generation of TV watchers would laugh at the thought that “All in the Family” was controversial in 1971.

Its focal point character was a loading dock foreman whose prejudices – against anyone who wasn’t white, male, straight and his brand of Protestantism – leaked from every sentence he spoke. He said things that Ozzie Nelson or Ward Cleaver wouldn’t have dared say in their 30 minutes on your TV set.

So CBS required a disclaimer before the first few episodes. “The program you are about to see is All in the Family. It seeks to throw a humorous spotlight on our frailties, prejudices, and concerns. By making them a source of laughter we hope to show, in a mature fashion, just how absurd they are.” (Got the text from Emily Nussbaum’s 2014 New Yorker piece on the show.)

Can you imagine that running before “South Park”? “Veep”? Even, 20 years ago, “Seinfeld”?

And yet, Archie Bunker remains the shorthand for a certain type of bigot. A narrow-minded fool who wants the world the way he imagined it was before African-Americans – he sure as hell didn’t call them that – and Latinos and women and others began their effort to share in the American dream.

It all crystalized in the song he and his wife, Edith, sang to start the show. References to Glenn Miller and La Salle automobiles. And likes such as today’s title, reflecting a society in which everyone thought gender was really clear cut.

The idea behind “All in the Family” was that by laughing at prejudices, they would break down and be seen as the foolishness they are. Every week, Archie’s comments would get him in trouble with somebody, and yet he didn’t seem to come around.

4. And therein lies the problem with “All in the Family.”

Lear’s intents were fantastic and they were certainly worth a try. The first couple of seasons were genuinely funny and the characters resonated with the American public.

“All in the Family” was consistently the top-rated show in the country and eventually anchored CBS’ classic Saturday night comedy block that also included “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” and “The Bob Newhart Show.”

But people liked Archie. And they weren’t supposed to. Lear himself wanted people to dislike Archie the way Britons disliked the main character in the show on which “All in the Family” was based, “’Til Death Do Us Part.”

Archie became a hero – or maybe an antihero, a word that came in vogue about that time, describing a character you’re not supposed to like but do. People loved to mimic his gruff tone, his sniping at his liberal son-in-law, his malaprops.

And therefore, not only did the show not breakdown the prejudices it sought to vanquish, it might have reinforced them.

A generation of Americans not as familiar with “All in the Family” as it is with “The Simpsons” and “Friends” would still recognize the character of Archie Bunker.

It’s the type of person you would have expected to see Tuesday night at the Trump rally in Youngstown.

Someone who thinks the nation at some mythical previous point. Someone who believes the solution to the nation’s problems is not to pander to nonwhite people seeking their peace of mind in 21st century America, That government is always the problem and never a solution – government is just inherently inept, except when it comes to bombing people in some distant country.

Archie Bunker’s prejudices didn’t go away. If they had, Trump would just be a failed real estate dealer who would have settled for running his daddy’s apartment houses in Queens.

And while Archie’s foibles might have been laughable in 1971, what we see in 2017 is in no way funny. It is a tragedy. It is a disgrace. It is an embarrassment.

That all seems underlined today. The day after Trump woke up and decided thousands of transgender troops weren’t good enough for the U.S. military, despite showing their willingness to die for this country. Another day in which the health care on which Americans depend hangs by a partisan thread in the U.S. Senate. Another day in which you don’t know if a tweet will trigger a nuclear war with North Korea.

Norman Lear isn’t the reason Trump is where he is. His contributions to television and to advancing free speech in this country should be remembered as he celebrates this milestone birthday. Lear sure tried hard to make sure Trumpism never happened.

Unfortunately, like the rest of us watching this debacle unfold, he failed.

UPDATE: 9:10 P.M. ET

I received a comment about this post on my Facebook page. It took me to task for my comments about Norman Lear. I decided, instead of annoying people in my Facebook feed with a  long-winded answer, I’d annoy people on the blog itself.

Here it is:

Thank you for reading the piece and the comment.

I don’t believe I blamed Norman Lear for American prejudice. There’s no question his intent with “All in the Family” was noble.

It’s just that, as with so many other things in life, we can’t know if there are unintended consequences. In the case of Archie Bunker, his being viewed as lovably incorrigible might not have helped get the result that Mr. Lear sought.

Remember, that Archie wasn’t viewed with contempt; he was beloved. Because of that, when he was diminutive of African-Americans, Jews, women, Hispanics, gay people, Asians and others, they were laugh lines and not the cause for offense that they should have been.

And because of that, it might have given license to people who were similarly inclined to utter the same insulting terms, but then laughing it off as a joke. I’ve seen it happen. If Archie can say that and get a laugh, the argument goes, I can, too.

Back in 1972, the production company marketed paraphernalia promoting Archie Bunker for President; I actually got the mug as a gift. But 44 years later, we elected someone who sounded worse than Archie Bunker as President of the United States – the guy even came from Queens.

So I’m wondering whether the lesson “All in the Family” was supposed to teach America was the one the nation absorbed. Although, frankly, after Nov. 8, 2016, I’m also wondering who won the Civil War and the Cold War.

As for your comment about whether I’ve done anything to remedy prejudice in the United States, I also refer to the post. It’s obviously not just Norman Lear’s failure – the failure belongs to all of us, because we clearly haven’t brought society to a point that people are judged solely by the quality of their work and character.

This doesn’t just apply to race. It applies to gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, hometown, religion and anything else you can name.

I do know this. Everyone I’m close to or consider a friend does her or his part to make our society more fair. I’m proud of that, and I sincerely hope that despite the current climate, that doesn’t change.

In fact, I hope we’ll redouble our efforts. I know I’ll do that this fall when I teach my writing class to, if the past is any guide, as diverse a group of students as one can imagine.

So if “All in the Family” had a positive impact, maybe it’s as a reminder that the battle against bigotry is long and hard. It’s also one worth waging – and even when we fail, we have the nobility of knowing we’ve tried and we’re starting over.

1. It’s Monday, July 24, 2017.

2. It’s the 214th birthday of Adolphe Adam, the French composer who wrote “O Holy Night” – although he obviously called it something French, “Cantique de Noël.”

Adam gets this mention because it’s unlikely he’ll come up around the time of the year when you actually hear “O Holy Night.”

3. It’s the 34th anniversary of Kansas City Royals’ third baseman George Brett hitting a ball into the right field seats of Yankee Stadium.

Normally, that’s a home run.

But not immediately on July 24, 1983.

Yankees’ manager Billy Martin complained to the umpire that Brett had too much pine tar on his bat. The umpire agreed and called Brett out, unleashing one of the great angry videos of the 20th century.

Eventually, Major League Baseball sided with Brett and gave him his 2-run homer, which put the Royals ahead by a run. The two teams played the final inning in New York a few weeks later – I went to that – and the Yankees lost.

4. Of course, there are far more important things going on this week than the anniversary of a home run and the birthday of a Christmas carol writer.

The biggest is that the Republican Party is this close to throwing the nation’s health care system into chaos.

How much chaos isn’t clear. Every time the Republican Senate is faced with a vote on a health care measure, it approaches it by not telling anybody what it’s going to do until the very last minute.

The last we heard, the Senate was going to consider a measure that would repeal the Affordable Care Act and not have it go into effect for two years. The Republicans believe they will get the panicky Democrats to negotiate a plan, preserving the tax cuts for the wealthy that seem to be the main reason to end Obamacare.

Every time you hear somebody say how unpopular the Republicans’ idea is, you need to check that thought with this one: They don’t care.

Here’s their bet: If they get this done, they have 15-1/2 months until the 2018 midterm election to make people forget it.

And they’re betting they can do that, with some razzle dazzle that includes more sops to their base and a smear campaign against prominent Democrats.

I’m calling this now: There will be at least one hearing on Capitol Hill in 2018 about Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama or both – about some fabricated “scandal.” Hell, if they’re not feeling creative, the Republicans can put everyone through the Benghazi wringer one more time.

Therefore, with so much at stake this week, here are some things I’d like to see happen before the next weekend comes around.

DEFEAT THE REPUBLICAN HEALTH CARE DEBACLE

I’m not optimistic. I believe the Republicans are so craven for power and placating their wealthy patrons that they’ll find a way to get this thing passed and trumpet it as some sort of freedom for America.

That’s crap, of course. Putting the health care of the people of this country in a prolonged state of uncertainty is guaranteed to scare the hell out of the elderly, the sick, the disabled and anyone else in need of a doctor’s care.

You’re going to get two years of that. And if you think the people who had seven years to come up with something supposedly better than Obamacare will conjure a solution by 2019, you’re as much of a fool as the Republicans think you are.

But the Republicans control Congress and the White House. So the only hope right now is to try to beat this back.

If you live in a state with a Republican senator, it is essential that you reach out and tell him or her this whole thing sucks. Jam their phone lines, clog their e-mail boxes, walk into their office. And tell them to vote “no” or go to hell.

Maybe we’ll get lucky. I would be thrilled to be proven wrong.

THE DEMOCRATS FINALLY REALIZE THEY’RE THE PATRIOTS

I like the idea that the party plans to unify behind some core economic principles.

They’ll probably get some flack from the hard-headed on the left and GOP-wannabes in right-center.

But coming up with an agenda is one way to say we have an idea about what we want to do. And it has to do with how we can best serve the people of this country.

I especially like the idea of focusing on prescription drug prices and reforming corporate mergers. Those are two of the greatest causes of anxiety in this country.

I would add something about doubling down on financial reform. Gutting it seems to be Trump’s agenda. But everyone is frustrated with the state of banking – the Wells Fargo debacle comes quickly to mind – and this is a society that seems more enamored with people who know how to make a dubious deal than people who provide health care, teach or protect their fellow citizens.

And let’s start thinking about a single-payer health care system.

ACT LIKE HILLARY WON

There are some who say Hillary Clinton should bow out of public life. That she’s suffered enough, and that she’s too polarizing a figure to be of much use.

She should go off to become president of some university, and become an elder stateswoman who occasionally plugs a bipartisan cause.

Baloney.

I think she should double down. She should start stumping to promote the new Democratic party agenda.

She should start by foreswearing any future political ambition. She should say that the Democratic Party should find some new blood, that the next presidential candidate should reflect the dynamic of a changing America. That would reduce the number of questions about her motives.

It might be a little tough to do, considering that 2,864,974 more people voted for her than voted for Trump.

But the issues were always her bread and butter. And if she appears to be doing this for the benefit of the country, she will be effective.

She shouldn’t stop saying or believing that she was given a raw deal. Putin was so afraid of her that he got into bed with Trump, knowing how badly that’s turned out for others.

And yet, Clinton could be an effective saleswoman for ideas ranging from income inequality, job security, financial reform, infrastructure, and the issues she’s been associated with her whole life: women’s rights and child welfare.

I don’t want Hillary Clinton on the sidelines or in the shadows. I voted for her. I supported her in the primaries.

As hard as it might be for her, she should take on the challenge.

She should dare Trump – after what the moron tweeted this morning – and his Fox News sycophants to find something she did that’s prosecutable.

She has stood up to hearing scrutiny, FBI investigations and political debates. Her finances are public record.

Call Trump a coward and keep doing it. She has the track record for courage. He doesn’t.

Yes, as Chuck Schumer hinted yesterday, Hillary Clinton could have run a better campaign.

That shouldn’t be seen as a diss. It should be a challenge.

Go ahead, Hillary, rise to it.

1. It’s Tuesday, July 18, 2017.

2. It’s the 154th anniversary of the Second Battle of Fort Wagner. That’s the Civil War battle in which the 54th Massachusetts Infantry, the first all African-American regiment in the Union Army, led the ill-fated charge.

It’s depicted in the film “Glory,” an excellent example of how a good movie can change the way history is viewed. Before it, few people knew the regiment’s story. Now, lots of people do – although they probably believe the people involved looked like Denzel Washington and Matthew Broderick.

3. I wouldn’t put it past Mitch McConnell to get a straight repeal of the Affordable Care Act passed in the Senate. He’s just spiteful enough – after the collapse of his party’s version for a replacement – to do it.

But if that happens, it would be political suicide for the Republicans.

Not only would they not have come up with something better, they will have taken away the things that people really love about Obamacare – essential health provisions, no pre-existing conditions and insuring kids until they’re 26.

Oh, and premiums would spike.

That is a formula for a health care disaster. I can’t believe even Trump and McConnell are stupid enough to let that happen.

But who knows?

4. If the straight repeal fails, the last thing Democrats should do is a victory lap. In fact, now it’s time to go to work.

It’s in the interest of the party and the nation that there be some sort of push to improve Obamacare. To work out some of the bugs and to push expanded coverage so that even fewer people are insured.

Many people believe the solution is a single-payer option.

I am 20 months and 15 days away from the single-payer option. Mine will be called Medicare.

What some, led by Bernie Sanders, want is the idea of Medicare for all. You’ve been paying for it most of your life – see your pay stub for those Medicare deductions. At age 65, you collect on it.

The advantage is obvious. This is no longer something I have to think about. It’s something my wife no longer has to think about, since we get our health insurance through her job.

If the nation extended Medicare to everyone, the way to pay for it seems to be through higher taxes. But the efficiencies of scale created would end up making health care cost less overall.

That sounds easy. It’s not.

In one of the Democratic debates, I think it was in late 2015, I heard Sanders make the point that while people would pay more in taxes, they’d pay less overall.

If he had been the nominee, the first half of that would have been the Republican soundbite. No one would have ever heard the second half.

There are, in fact, people would rather pay more for health care overall than pay less for it if it includes higher taxes. The instilled antipathy toward the idea that government should do anything – even though Social Security and Medicare are revered by their recipients – would make single payer a tough slog.

So the challenge for those who support the idea is to figure out a way to get it in the least objectionable way. It needs to find the path that incurs the least resistance from insurers and one that, in all likelihood, doesn’t raise taxes.

I’m not smart enough to figure that out. I’m hoping there’s someone who is.

It’s still not a bad idea for Democrats to float the idea that they are open to improving the health care system. The Republicans have taken a hit – they had seven years to come up with something better than Obamacare and they failed. Miserably.

Now, Democrats have to show they’re serious about addressing the biggest problem most households face. They did a good job – a better one than even they were willing to take credit for – in Obamacare.

They have to keep going. It’s time to see if single-payer is the home run that many Democrats believe it is. Thinking about it seriously is a noble purpose.

1. It’s Monday, July 17, 2017.

2. It’s the 115th anniversary of air conditioning.

Willis Carrier was looking to keep paper and ink functioning in a hot Brooklyn printing facility. Presto! His ideas led to conditioning people to not living without them.

3. My friends and former colleagues, Katie Benner of The New York Times and Laurie Segall of CNN, have focused recently on sexual harassment in technology.

In separate stories, both talked to women with horrific tales of abuse. Women seeking the funding to get their ideas off the ground – in the same way that men with ideas do – but facing a gantlet of groping, exposure, innuendo and come-ons that men don’t.

I’m pleased to see that this reporting by Ms. Benner and Ms. Segall is leading to a widespread discussion of the problem.

Like them, I don’t think any of us can be totally satisfied until there’s no impediment to the ideas of women – both in technology and other fields of endeavor – that improve the quality and length of all lives.

I’m proud to have worked with both of these women, and I know they’ll keep working on real, important journalism.

4. As an aside, one of the projects I’m looking to get off the ground is a website dedicated to the work of people I’ve worked with.

I’ve been very fortunate to hang close to people whose talent and diligence are second to none. Starting from my days at Northwestern in the mid-1970s and running through my years at CNNMoney, it is the blessing of my life to have hung out with people I believe are superstars.

Some are not even working in journalism – their talents extend to art and entertainment.

I hope to work all this out by later this year. I’ll do anything I can to showcase these folks, because I believe in the quality of the work they do.

5. I love the work done by the folks at fivethirtyeight.com, but something I saw on the site last week depressed me politically.

Their political team began looking at the race for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination. And while they said he wasn’t the favorite at this point, they believed that Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont was the front-runner for the nod.

First, the difference.

Unlike four years ago, when Hillary Clinton stood alone in the party, the Democrats don’t have a strong single candidate right now.

If it’s anyone, it’s Sanders, who finished second to Clinton and came a lot closer to thwarting her than any reasonable expert expected.

Because of that, Sanders is the best-known of those in the party who aren’t named Clinton, Or, for that matter, Obama – while he can’t run, she can.

So, if you’re a Democrat, and you’re focused on either how awful Trump is – or, better, fighting this idiotic effort to erase Obamacare – the 2020 election isn’t on your radar yet. And if it is, the first name that comes to mind is Sanders.

But here’s second, in my mind: The problem.

6. On Election Day 2020, Sanders will be 79.

If the Democrats are going to win the 2020 election, they need someone who is unscarred by the political wars of the past decade.

Someone to excite younger voters and bring a fresh perspective to the party. Someone who actually has more invested in the future than the past.

That’s not a near octogenarian. Nor is it Joe Biden, who’ll be nearly 78 on Nov. 3, 2020. Or Elizabeth Warren, who’ll be 71. Or Hillary Clinton, who’ll be 73.

He’s in no way my first choice. But I honest-to-God would prefer a Mark Zuckerberg, 36 in 2020, who would at least have a decent understanding of the modern world that he’s played a part in creating.

What I would most prefer is someone with an understanding of the issues confronting this country. Security. Economic uncertainty. The environment. Infrastructure. A changing demographic. A connected world that isn’t going away despite the efforts of Trump and his sycophants.

There are Democrats who fit this bill. Senators like Kamala Harris of California, Chris Murphy of Connecticut, Cory Booker of New Jersey, Sherrod Brown of Ohio, Tammy Duckworth of Illinois and Kirsten Gillibrand of New York. Governors like John Hickenlooper of Colorado and Jay Inslee of Washington. Mayor Mitch Landrieu of New Orleans.

It would really help the Democratic Party if those folks are the ones who emerge as party spokespeople in next 18 months. They can start to energize the party and establish its positions to take into the congressional and presidential campaigns.

The bonus would be making the party more than just an anti-Trump sounding board. As I said a gazillion times during the 2016 campaign, people vote for something as opposed to against something.

Hillary Clinton tried too hard to make the campaign about fighting Trump – she should have spent more time telling people in places like Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania what the party was going to do to make their lives better.

That’s what I want from the Democrats.

Bernie Sanders is a good guy, and he did a lot to get the party thinking about ways to reach the American people. If we ever enact a single-payer healthcare system, he’ll have been the guiding force.

But it’s time for new blood. It’s the best way to win going forward, and has the added bonus of throwing Trump off his game.

In 1902, there must have been tried-and-true ways to print in hot weather. Willis Carrier came up with air conditioning.

That’s how the Democrats should be thinking.