Every so often a political proposal comes along that makes me sit up and take notice, because not only is it a great idea but it's also one that is simple. In fact, this one is so simple it is pathetically easy to fully describe: anyone who works overtime at their job should get double-time pay, not just time-and-a-half. Or, in even fewer words: Double-time for overtime.

You'll note that no further explanation is necessary. Anyone who has ever earned a paycheck immediately understands it. Instead of mandating 150 percent of a worker's hourly rate (time-and-a-half) for overtime work, let's mandate 200 percent instead (double-time). That is an easy-to-understand concept, and it is a good idea. It is also one that would likely be wildly popular with a demographic group Democrats have struggled with: the working class.

Far too often, Democrats get excited over concepts that they think are going to be real winners for them, but then they dress these good ideas up in such fancy and impenetrable language that it winds up turning actual voters off (or, at the very least, makes them roll their eyes a bit). Case in point from this election cycle: "Abundance." The term rose to prominence as the title of a book by journalists Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson. Many in the political chattering class dutifully read the book. Most actual voters did not. The points the book makes are interesting ones, and the problem it identifies is real -- how everything just seems to take too long to implement these days. Joe Biden secured a whopping amount of money to build thousands of electric car chargers across America, but when he left office only a handful had actually been built. The Abundance answer is to get rid of a lot of red tape and bureaucracy and thus deliver on political promises faster.

That's all fine as a concept, but whenever a politician is being interviewed and the subject of "Abundance" comes up (whether from the politician or from the interviewer), the first thing that always happens is that a long explanation is required, because few people out in the real world have even heard of the "Abundance" movement.

The next buzzword that Democrats leapt upon in this election cycle was marginally better, but still lacked some simplicity and oomph. "Affordability" was going to get Democrats elected across the country. That might wind up being true, but why dress it up in such a fancy word? How about "everything costs too damn much," or maybe "the cost of living is sky-high"? How many people return from a trip to the grocery store or gas pump and say to their family: "The affordability problem sure is getting worse"? Democrats really need to learn how to talk like normal people again. "Affordability" is marginally better than "Abundance," in that it requires little if any long-winded explanation, but it's still a little too frou-frou for a memorable bumpersticker slogan.

"Double-time for overtime" is a lot better, you've got to admit. In fact, it's such a simple idea that Democrats would have to work hard at screwing it up with ten-dollar words (although the HuffPost today gave it a try -- starting off an article with: "House Democrats plan to introduce a bill this week that would double the premium employees receive for working overtime," which leaves you to wonder, "Premium? What the heck? What premium? What are they talking about?").

It would also be a good counter to the move the Republicans made in their last tax code rewrite, which gave overtime workers a tax break on their overtime pay. Campaigning on boosting overtime pay would be unbelievably easy to do: "I want to put more money in the pockets of the hardest-working men and women across America!" That's a great way to attract working-class voters, you've got to admit.

This week, a bill will be introduced in the House which will change the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 so that it mandates double-time pay (rather than time-and-a-half) for any hours worked over 40 per week. It is sponsored by Representative Greg Casar, who chairs the Congressional Progressive Caucus, and Representative Pramila Jayapal.

Normally, a very progressive bill like this wouldn't get very far in a Republican House. But there's an outside chance that this one could actually gain bipartisan support. Republicans are getting more and more worried about their chances of getting re-elected in November's midterms, and the economy (and inflation) are the biggest reasons why they are so worried. Donald Trump is personally responsible for gas prices going up by over a buck and a half per gallon, and those costs are rippling through the rest of the economy (which was already weak, due to Trump's love of tariffs) as prices on everything are rising as a result.

Republicans are terrified that they're going to get killed at the ballot box because of the affordability issue. So they might actually be interested in supporting a plan to make things better for working families. In fact, they may even try to co-opt the whole idea and claim it was theirs from the start (this would be most notable if Trump himself began pushing the idea, which is not a completely farfetched possibility).

Democrats should universally get behind this idea, before Republicans can steal it away. Any Democrat who doesn't support increasing overtime pay will be hard-pressed to explain why they are on the side of Big Business and not the working men and women of America. Over 13 million workers regularly work overtime, and this would be a big boost to their paychecks. Millions more occasionally put in a few overtime hours, and they'd be just as happy to see more money for their efforts.

That's a simple idea. People would see a benefit from it as soon as the law takes effect. They would have more money in their pockets. Their hard work would be rewarded. Politically-speaking, ideas don't get much better than that. And above all else, it is easy to understand. It requires no explanation at all, in fact. It even fits on a bumpersticker: "Double-Time For Overtime." Democrats everywhere should start repeating those simple words, as often as possible.

-- Chris Weigant

Follow Chris on Twitter: @ChrisWeigant