This is the first post in a new category: Democratic Ideas. I’ll be posting more policy initiatives and policy speeches that I agree with as I find them. (I’ve personally always wanted to write a book titled “If I Ran Things” that would lay out a whole host of policies — but if other people are doing the hard work already, it’s a lot easier to just link to them.)

Grist has the transcript of a speech that Senator Barack Obama gave on true energy independence. Al Franken has been talking about this for a while, and it is something that is one of the planks of the Democratic platform.

Republican talking heads keep asking what Democrats stand for. What is the Democratic plan? Well, we have some tremendous ideas like energy independence, national healthcare, and ethics reform in Congress.

Now go read the transcript.