Your view of a perfect government?

I was thinking about what I would do to the country if I was somehow elected president, and wanted to see what you guys think as well. Here are some of the main things I would do, and feel free to post the things you would do as well as say what you think is wrong with my views and ask my opinion about an issue that I failed to address.

--Immediately end every war that we are currently engaged in, saving billions of dollars that could be spent on more important things.

--Legalize all drugs, and spend a tiny fraction of the money currently spent on law enforcement and court costs on unbiased and accurate educational programs that make people aware of exactly how dangerous each drug is. Let people make their own decisions, we don't need laws to tell us what is safe and what's not.

--Start a new, more accurate investigation of the 9/11 attacks that answers every single question.

--Bring as many jobs that have been exported to foreign countries in order to make more profits for the companies back to America in order to get the unemployed working.

--Another idea I've thought up to create jobs are government programs. For example, thousands of people could be hired to take part in the building of a fence at our border, which would help to reduce illegal immigration (although I've heard illegal immigration has flatlined because our country sucks that badly right now) while also reducing the unemployment level in this country, effectively killing two birds with one stone.

--Tax the rich, because although some see it as socialistic, communistic, or whatever, I believe it's unfair that somebody who can barely scrape by has to pay the same amount of taxes as somebody who has millions of dollars sitting in a bank that may remain there untouched for many years.

--Legalize same-sex marriage. If two people of the same sex want to get married, why should that be prohibited? Is there even a valid argument against it, or is it purely the religious "It's a sin!" standpoint that has people against it? Or is it the definition of the word marriage that people take too seriously? I think if two people want to get married, let them get married, no questions asked.

--Introduce a glasnost-esque policy in which many of the shadowy, top secret elements of our government that 99.99999999999% of people know nothing about yet many are suspicious of are explained, de-classified, and made informationally available to the people who are paying for them.

--Close the Guantanamo Bay prison and any other like it that may exist. This would bring back equality rather than saying these people deserve a fair trial, but these people don't and should be tortured without being proven guilty of anything.

--Examine anything that has been labeled unconstitutional, figure out exactly how it's unconstitutional, repeal it and find an alternative that abides by the constitution.

--Pursue clean energy. There are so many different ways that we could provide not only clean, but even free energy, and it's pathetic that we're reliant on expensive, non-renewable oil that we suck out of the ground when there are better alternatives. Why do we have to suck oil out of the ground when we have free energy raining down on us every single day? Solar panels need to be implemented in every possible way. Put on tops of peoples homes, cars, buildings, and so on.

Didn't Tesla develop a free-energy device that used electricity and actually worked? Why is that not being taken seriously?

A biodiesel fuel made from the hemp plant puts out 80% less CO2 than fossil fuels, is less toxic than salt, is as biodegradable as sugar, and is completely renewable. You can't grow oil in the earth, but you can grow a hemp crop in 90 days. Any combination of these clean energy alternatives should be used to power our homes, our automobiles, our machines, and so on.

--Institute some way of communicating with the citizens. I'm not talking about Twitter or any of that garbage, I mean something like a lottery that picks 30 names at random every month, and those people come to the White House and discuss their views of the state of the country, their views on issues, what they believe should be done, and so on.

--Leave abortions up to the mothers.

--Shift American society from a religion based society to a more logic and scientific based society. Somehow educate people better on evolution, physics, biology, basically teach them alot more about science so more people understand how the universe functions, how life began, and all of that stuff.

However this stems from my bias because I'm an atheist, but still it sickens me to see people saying evolution is a fairy tale and ignorant things like that when we live in a time where all of that information is available to people.

I think people spending more time learning about science rather than memorizing Bible verses would be much more beneficial.

That's all I got for now, but those are some of the things that I would like to see happen within our government.

While I see that you have good intentions... there are some very basic misconceptions and contradictions within your ideas.

I need to sleep so I'll prolly add more to this in a few hours.

I agree with most of what you posted, although not all. The thing is though, the president has a lot of power, but he cannot just change whatever he wants. That would be bad considering the majority of modern presidents did not have the best interests of the people in mind.

In my opinion what we need to implement to see vast change for the better in our country is as follows:

FOREIGN RELATIONS:

Cut all foreign aid by 80%.

End all wars, and bring home 80% of our troops, leaving a rotating batch of 20% of our armed forces stationed all around the globe.

TAXES:

Close tax loopholes for corporations. A system could be conceived that takes into account the profit margin of the corporation, and works based from that data.

I think taxes should be based on income, and not a flat rate.

POLITICAL:

Strict laws should be enacted that dictate how any candidate, presidential or congressional, receives campaign funding. A smart system could help cut down on politicians being purchased like an item.

I would like to see a Federal fund set up, which would be possible considering all the money saved from the cutbacks listed above, that allows the top 4 or so presidential candidates the same amount of television time and exposure to the population. That is the only fair way in my opinion. A candidate should not be denied a fair election because he/she could not get the exposure needed, despite the fact that he/she would be best for the job.

A very important change which I think should be implemented is as follows: There should be some type of accountability system for candidates on the campaign trail who make promises. They get elected because they tell the people what they want to hear, then completely disregard their values once in office. There should be some type of system to limit this, or stop it all-together.

I would like to see Congressional aides effectively done away with. They have way too much power, and much of the time they are the ones who tell the Congressman/woman what to believe or say. It is ridiculous really.

POLICY:

End the war on drugs. It has failed, and will continue to fail. The profit margin of the manufacturers/cartels etc are just too high to compete with. We keep throwing money at the problem and it has yet to help. Legalization and taxation should at least be given a shot, and if it fails, we could always start the "war" again.

I would like to see the population have more say in things like the Federal budget, although since we are a Republic, we would have to change our main form of government, which will not and should not happen.

We need to close our borders. It is as simple as that. More restrictions on anyone coming into this country.
If you are not a citizen, you should receive zero help from the government in my opinion.

There should be stricter Federal regulations to regulate commodities and everyday use items such as gasoline, etc... The price-gouging at the pumps has got to stop, and it is clear that the oil tycoons would still clear an unreasonable amount of profit even if they lowered prices tremendously. The price of oil does not reflect the price at the pump, and our government is effectively allowing these corporations to stick it to all of us. The economy is propped up by the lower and middle classes, not the wealthy.

I also urge for much stricter monetary policies. Ending the Fed is a possibility, but I am not sure that would be the right way to go at this point.

These are just a few of my ideas, and I have many, many more but for the sake of length I will refrain from writing any more. I am adamant about most of these ideas, and would defend them wholeheartedly, although there are 2 or 3 that I am still not 100% sure about yet.

A lot of great ideas there. Not sure about the big fence idea as there are also tunnels, boats, planes and many other ways get around for a determined mind. The bridge and road network sounds in pretty bad shape and is a great source of jobs to maintain it.

The main thing I would focus on is to get rid of congress and open up the representation to the people. People can give their votes to others or use it themselves. The full government budget books and legal stature is open for anyone to look through and vote on how much should be spent where or what laws should come and go. It would be a good idea to keep the executive as it can overcome the deadlock of lengthy public debates when time is critical, but they are still accountable.

The way laws are introduced is hopelessly flawed with an all or nothing approach to massive amounts of legislation with the individual laws not getting scrutinised and debated the way it needs to be for just and respected wisdom.

reply to post by JiggyPotamus

I agree with most of what you posted, although not all. The thing is though, the president has a lot of power, but he cannot just change whatever he wants. That would be bad considering the majority of modern presidents did not have the best interests of the people in mind.

Yeah I know that's why it's your view of a perfect government. If I could somehow become president and make the government perfect, so really dictator if we're getting technical. But you get the idea.

FOREIGN RELATIONS:

Cut all foreign aid by 80%.

End all wars, and bring home 80% of our troops, leaving a rotating batch of 20% of our armed forces stationed all around the globe.

I like it, but why leave the 20%? Why not go all the way?

TAXES:

Close tax loopholes for corporations. A system could be conceived that takes into account the profit margin of the corporation, and works based from that data.

I think taxes should be based on income, and not a flat rate.

I agree with both ideas.

POLITICAL:

Strict laws should be enacted that dictate how any candidate, presidential or congressional, receives campaign funding. A smart system could help cut down on politicians being purchased like an item.

Genius, we don't want talking, flesh covered corporations running for president.

I would like to see a Federal fund set up, which would be possible considering all the money saved from the cutbacks listed above, that allows the top 4 or so presidential candidates the same amount of television time and exposure to the population. That is the only fair way in my opinion. A candidate should not be denied a fair election because he/she could not get the exposure needed, despite the fact that he/she would be best for the job.

Good point, there should be a fair method of advertising the candidates rather than them using their own money. I like your idea of a federal fund paying equal amounts for equal TV time in which candidates can basically say "This is what I stand for", with no catchy songs like the Cain Train or garbage commercials like that

A very important change which I think should be implemented is as follows: There should be some type of accountability system for candidates on the campaign trail who make promises. They get elected because they tell the people what they want to hear, then completely disregard their values once in office. There should be some type of system to limit this, or stop it all-together.

YES! Obama is a textbook example of this, "The first thing I will do as president is get our troops home", like 18 months later, definitely not the first thing he did, he does the stark opposite and adds more troops in. Politicians need to be held accountable, this is a great idea.

POLICY:

End the war on drugs. It has failed, and will continue to fail. The profit margin of the manufacturers/cartels etc are just too high to compete with. We keep throwing money at the problem and it has yet to help. Legalization and taxation should at least be given a shot, and if it fails, we could always start the "war" again.

I agree completely, but I don't think the war should ever be started again. The two most dangerous drugs on the planet are legal and kill half a million people every year, while every illegal drug combined kills around 16,000 annually. Something is terribly wrong with our system, and I think every drug should be legalized because we don't need a law saying "this drug is bad", while we have other even more harmful drugs that are legal. It just doesn't make sense to me.

I would like to see the population have more say in things like the Federal budget, although since we are a Republic, we would have to change our main form of government, which will not and should not happen.

For real, and not just in the form of Twitter or stuff like that. Real face to face interaction with the president and politicians needs to be done IMO.

We need to close our borders. It is as simple as that. More restrictions on anyone coming into this country.
If you are not a citizen, you should receive zero help from the government in my opinion.

Agreed.

I also urge for much stricter monetary policies. Ending the Fed is a possibility, but I am not sure that would be the right way to go at this point.

Ah how could I forget to mention that, abolishing the federal reserve is another thing that my perfect government would have. What would replace it? I have no clue, but I don't like the idea of the federal reserve one bit and think that we could think of many other better alternatives.

reply to post by kwakakev

A lot of great ideas there. Not sure about the big fence idea as there are also tunnels, boats, planes and many other ways get around for a determined mind. The bridge and road network sounds in pretty bad shape and is a great source of jobs to maintain it.

Sure, people will always find ways to sneak across, but I think a fence will stop lots of people from coming over.

The main thing I would focus on is to get rid of congress and open up the representation to the people. People can give their votes to others or use it themselves. The full government budget books and legal stature is open for anyone to look through and vote on how much should be spent where or what laws should come and go. It would be a good idea to keep the executive as it can overcome the deadlock of lengthy public debates when time is critical, but they are still accountable.

I don't even like the idea of a representative democracy. I think it would be great if literally every citizen had the option to vote on something or if needed omit their vote either for a lack of understanding, an apathetic view, or some other reasons. But how we could get that to work on such a massive scale is beyond me.

The way laws are introduced is hopelessly flawed with an all or nothing approach to massive amounts of legislation with the individual laws not getting scrutinised and debated the way it needs to be for just and respected wisdom.

Yeah, the whole two party system of one side arguing one thing, and the other side arguing another side is really screwed up. We need to compromise on everything that people disagree on, only with a mutual agreement that satisfies both sides can we get the ball rolling IMO.

One other thing that I would like to get rid of are riders. It's messed up that people try to be all sneaky and slip things into big bills and hope that we won't notice.

reply to post by TupacShakur


Re: making canidates do what they said they would when they were campaigning...

Why don't we have them put it writing and have these promises as part of a contract with america to be signed when they are sworn in, that way they have to at least attempt to keep their word and if they don't they should have to face criminal charges and jailtime...

Make it illegal for them to buy votes with empty promises

Simply, The "'Best'" government would be one in which the governed took an active role,
the american republic is framed for such a government yet its populace has been in a coma and allowed itself to be weakened and damn near destroyed.

Without involvement we're nothing.