With the right wing on the march in Washington, common sense is taking a beating. The result is one defensive fight after another: Stop the dismantling of Social Security; stop the packing of the courts with reactionary ideologues; stop deep cuts in health care and education; stop the draining of resources in tax cuts for the wealthy and subsidies for the oil companies.

Too often, we lose sight of what might be -- of a positive agenda for change that needs to be pursued.

The defensive battles are vital -- and citizen mobilization clearly makes a difference. The Republican Congress has been pushing the corporate lobbies' agenda: Help credit card companies collect against families in distress (so-called bankruptcy reform); protect big companies from citizen suits for negligence (so-called tort reform); lavish subsidies on oil companies already making record billions in profits from high gas prices. All these went through without much citizen protest.

But when President Bush pushed his privatization plan for Social Security, people mobilized. Legislators learned in town meetings that the more people heard about the plan, the less they liked it. And that has stopped privatization in its tracks and protected Social Security.

But negative organizing is not enough. We must organize a movement that pushes not just to block the horrors, but to make America better. That agenda would include:

1. Set a date to bring the soldiers back from Iraq.

The Iraqis must begin to control their own destiny. Whether you think the war was a good thing or a bad thing, clearly it is not worth the cost in U.S. lives (more than 1,600 so far) and resources ($300 billion and counting). Iraqis must settle their own civil strife. We are literally destroying America's military by stranding our troops in a bloody occupation that has no end. We are providing al-Qaida with a recruiting bonanza; even U.S. recruiters find it harder and harder to meet their own quotas of new recruits.

2. Spread democracy in the United States first.

The Bush administration trumpets the spread of democracy abroad, but ignores a system in dire need of renovation at home. We should pass a constitutional amendment guaranteeing the right to vote to all Americans. Require national standards on voting machines -- with a paper record -- and on their distribution. Pass same-day, on-site voter registration. Make Election Day a national holiday, so workers can get off work and cast their ballots. Adopt instant-runoff voting to invite more participation and candidates, and encourage the development of a richer democracy. Move to reduce the effect of big money on elections. After the scandals, frauds and abuses of the 2000 and 2004 presidential races, it is simply insulting that Bush has impeded reform.

3. Renew the Voting Rights Act.

The Voting Rights Act -- the act that provided African Americans with the right to vote throughout the states that discriminated against them -- is up for renewal in 2006. Citizens must mobilize now to ensure that the act gets renewed. It provides the basis for policing states that still use various maneuvers to make it more difficult for African Americans and minorities to vote.

4. Raise the minimum wage and empower workers to organize a union by signing up, free of employer intimidation.

Profits are up, productivity is way up, but workers aren't benefitting. Wages aren't keeping up, health care and pensions are getting cut back. Good jobs are going abroad. We must make certain that the blessings of prosperity are fairly shared. Raise the minimum wage to the level it used to be 25 years ago, which would enable a full-time worker to support a family above the poverty line. Pass card-check legislation that lets workers organize -- so that companies like Wal-Mart can't simply trample labor laws to make their way.

This list can go on -- make health care affordable, invest in schools, provide every child with a healthy start. We're spending so much time fighting off bad things that it is easy to lose track of common-sense reforms and investments that are vital to our country. We need a citizens' movement that will rally Americans not simply to oppose the reaction, but to propose vital action. It is time to keep hope alive once more.