If you were suddenly put in charge of your country....

I would abolish sales tax on all groceries including diapers and formula,
I would follow the lead of canada, france, england and others and form a national healthcare system to serve the needs of all our people. I would make animal cruelty a felony offense and make sure sexual predators never saw the light of day.
Rather than spend billions a month of war and hatred I would increase funding for education and teacher pay.

I would strongly suggest through various incentives that all new homes built should be equipped with rooftop solar panels as well as power storage devices to offset some of the long term energy use of each household. as well as tax incentives for installation of said panels or the conversion of useful land to windfields.


There is plenty of work to be done so I would provide strong economic incentives for companies to move their factories and businesses back on domestic soil and heavy heavy taxations on those who choose not to.

Subsidies for local and regional family farms and small sustainable industries and agriculture, more incentives for new energy sources and conversions.

1. Abolish the IRS and implement some kind of fair tax system.
2. Abolish the federal reserve
3. Give the power of government back to the people
4. Implement the largest mass scale renewable energy plan we could afford
5. All cars must be electric by 2020
6. Bring all the troops home and only deploy if threatened
7. Give teachers raises + bonuses based on certain criteria
8. Give incentives to develop other space programs other than NASA
9. Continue to make sure out military is the most powerful in the world to avoid any kind of invasion
10. Get off foreign oil…drill, drill, drill….while we are building our renewable energy infrastructure
11. Educate our children about money from kindergarten to college. Investing, saving, spending, etc,

This would be my first day in office…

reply to post by Fathom


YES!!! And please help me to find a cool ICON !!!!

reply to post by Fathom


YES!!! And please help me to find a cool ICON !!!!

I'm really liking a lot of the responses I'm gettting here. Great stuff. Kinda makes me wish we could all get our own island and set up our own rules. I think we'd do at least as good as most of our countries thatcurrently run things.

Keep it coming. I'm really liking this thread, so far.

I forgot, my first order of business would be to abolish yugi-o pokemon and that stupid Chowder cartoon show I have to sit through every afternoon. WTF happened to shows like sesame street and pinwheel and fraggle rock!!!!!

Ketchup or jelly would under no circumstances be considered a fruit or a vegetable in school or institutional meals, this would be a constitutional ammendment if need be.

I would make volunteer service of some sort mandatory for high school graduation, We did 100 hours total (20 hrs a year) for a non profit or charity of our choice and it was a very good thing.

and those people who pay to go to a ranch and shoot some exotic wild animal through a fence should be put through a fence and shot.

12. Make every home in America self sustaining and free from the power grid by 2050
13. Simplify the legal system so that everyone that ever graduated from high school could understand it
14. If you own a company that manufactures overseas, you are not aloud any tax breaks, but double taxed (Hey I’m running the show here…right)
15. Eliminate the welfare state
16. Tax the heck out of Tobacco and alcohol…actually, I would ban tobacco completely. There is no good use for it.
17. Demand disclosure about UFO’s if there is any

This would be my second day in office…

If was in charge of my country of England I WOULD LET THE PEOPLE TAKE CHARGE.

Let them vote on:

1) EU Referendum;

2) Iraq war;

3) A bill of rights on the American Constitution model (but without the gun ownership);

4) Review CCTV and other surveillance methods;

5) Order an investigation of the MET Police for institutionalised racism;

6) Make politicians accountable for their expense accounts;

7) Only have a PM elected by the people NOT a political party;

8) Introduce a windfull tax on energy companies and give the money back to community projects;

9) Ensure essential services are properly funded and employees are looked after with secure wages / pensions;

10) Have a Euro so we can compare prices with neighbours and trade with them without paying banks commission to change currency;

11) Make a genuine comitment to the environment and wildlife. Most importantly plant native trees and restore our hedgrows;

12) Stop GM crops and promote organic farming;

13) Scrap prescription charges and make dental surgery free;

14) Stand up to the American political / military / industrial complex and support human rights - i.e stop a "special relationship" with people who conduct torture and detention without trial;

15) Scrap inheritance tax;

16) Investigate BAE involvement with present government over corruption with the Saudis in weapons trade agreements;

17) Review energy generation policies and the use of energy;

18) Insist that America signs to a newstyle Kyoto agreement and put them under a trade embargo if they don't fall in line.

19) Reward law abiding citizens with tax breaks and punish (and I really mean PUNISH) criminals with an independent Court System with ELECTED Judges.

20) Introduce a Freedom of Information Act.



[edit on 14-9-2008 by Circle]

[edit on 14-9-2008 by Circle]

[edit on 14-9-2008 by Circle]

18. Eliminate all corporate lobbying
19. Require the media to give equal coverage to ALL political parties that are running for office
20. Immediate reprimand and firing of any police officer that abuses their power
21. Eliminate all foreign aid
22. Hire a team of the top business people, investors, and entrepreneurs to figure out how we can turn America around
23. Create a plan to pay off the national debt and become a debt free nation, then a nation of surplus.
24. Stop policing the world
25. Get rid of unnecessary bureaucracies and overspending, and start running the government like a business…see idea #22

This would be my third day in office…

If only common sense change was this easy.

If I were thrust in charge.

I would first, restore the constitution.

2. Put the money back in the hands of the people and eliminate interest on non-commercial business or enterprise. Break up corporations and bring back mom and pop.

3. Read the files about the projects that don't exist, determine what can be and how to disclose it.

4. Fulfill Tesla's dreams, cutting the dependency for oil to near nil and eliminate the need for nuclear and other esoteric weapons.

5. Re-develop the agricultural facilities to reduce foreign dependency.

6. Reduce any patent or copyrights term to the life of it's creator and a better system of awarding such.

7. Eliminate the "class" structure of "modern" science and medicine. Introduce what was learned in #3.

8. Eliminate bans on drugs, guns, alcohol and gambling.

9. Make unjustifiable murder, rape, child molestation, and heinous crimes national offenses punished by death by public hanging once convicted by a jury of his peers.

10. Take along vacation on the far side of the moon.

Does anyone know if the presidential candidates even have this many ideas to fix this country?

I. Eradicate all unnecessary spending in all branches of government and reallocate to where it serves the people most.

II. Disclose the truth about the media monopoly on live television and dismantle it. Allowing government owned channels with real journalists providing unbiased truth for inspection by the masses.

III. Legalize and tax marijuana for persons over 21 years of age. I would also use the majority of the tax to rebuild the infrastructure of the country and towards meal and shelter programs for the homeless. Don't worry Im a social-capitalist

IV. Dismantle the current education system and design a new one with professionals. The behavior training will end, and financial education will be mandatory. Going to work and being a good higher paid slave will not be the only option given.

V. I would develop an agency to assess nonviolent prisoners incarcerated for minor drug offenses and be released and any and all fines dropped in return for community service.

VI. Pardon Leonard Peltier

VII. Focus on true education for the public and uniting people while at the same time stressing individuality.

VIII. Change the system for voting to make it more like American Idol, where every vote is counted by everyone, regardless of status. I don't care if you are homeless, you have a #ing say in what goes on.

IX. REHABILITATION...a focus on rehabilitation of violent people and psycho/sociopathic individuals

X. Hiring the top professionals rather than buddies and old chums to do their job, which is to serve the diverse people of this country.

XI. Uncovering and eliminating corruption in all levels of government.



yeah I know this is all just wishful thinking

If i was in charge of my country , i simply would let the people decide what would be best for them , alot of referenduns.
If that did not worked , and people just didnt give a crap , portugal would be a military machine ,we would get our colonies back , and explore them , any country that would dare to confront or control us would be obliterated.
Just kidding with the last part.

reply to post by Static Sky


Thank you for giving me the chance to get on my soap box.

It's interesting to see how much agreement there is on what needs to be done to improve things.

It'll be interesting, too, in a couple of years to look back on this thread and see if any of these 'reforms' have actually been implemented.

Does anyone else think we'll be in for a long wait?

I've thought of one more thing I'd like to see happen: All donations to political parties should be given anonymously. There could be an independent body with independent auditors for the donations to be sent to. That body would be responsible for allocating them to the correct parties.

That might stop the 'cash for peerages' scandal and other unmerited favours rich people garner from politicians.

[edit on 14-9-2008 by berenike]

reply to post by berenike


Thank you for taking the time, berenike. It's bee my pleasure. The responses are terrific and it's very interesting to see what people would do with thier countries. I'm thrilled with how this thread is going, so thank you all very much for that. Peace.

What I would do if I was in charge of the UK

1) Bring back every troop around the world and defend (not attack)

2) Bolster the Navy, the Navy does a great job in this country I would like them to have more power and do more of the same work. Protecting the land, stopping illegal immigration and rescuing anyone in trouble at sea.

3) Reduce Petrol Tax by atleast half and use are own oil from the North Sea. Also I would save a % of the profit made from our oil and save it for worse times (like Norway has done).

4) Benifits, I would change the way people get them at the moment it's a joke. Anyone can get incapacity benifit these days, there needs to be a complete and utter overhawl. People who have been on benifits for over 3 months and can work should have them reduced each week that they fail to find work.

5) Nationalise Energy, Energy bills are spiralling out of control in this country and need to be dealt with. Any profit made from Energy should be put in place for wind farms and other renewable energy schemes. Ideally it would be best to get 100% of our energy from renewable sources as this would plumet energy prices.

6) Democracy, its not really a democracy in this country we have 3 choices (well 2) of the 3 big party's. I would limit the maximum funding each party can recieve and give more chance and exposure for other partys. Every party no matter the size should have a the same exposure as everyone else. I would like to show on the BBC a conferance/debate between each party and candidates ever now and then where everyone gets fair viewing time. Also I would like to have a system like in the U.S where we get to choose a leader for each party but in a more fair enviroment.

7) Legalise & Control Drugs, Prostition much like the system in Holland at the moment.

8) Get rid of University fees, grr I hate you Labour!

9) Let kids leave school at 15, being academic isn't for anyone but give them opportunitys to train if they choose to.

10) Try and reduce house prices, its just crazy at the moment trying to buy a house for the first time.

UK....and it's only a start.


1. Pull out of Iraq/Afghanistan.

2. Have Mugabe killed.... and take control of the country until a new leader is appointed. (If we are there for more than, say 10 months...we accept we cannot help and pull out.)

3. No more immigration INTO the country.

4. Deport ALL illegal immigrants immediately and any criminal not born in England.

5. Let Scotland, Wales and N. Ireland vote on whether they want to stay in the UK.

6. Pull out of Europe and anything affiliated with it. E.G NATO.

7. Stop doing everything America asks us to.

7. Death Penalty...Including non murder cases. E.G. Paedophiles...

8. Change the age of consent...or something similar. If a 16 yr old and a 15 yr old are together, the 16 yr old is a paedophile currently...

9. Manual labour for all criminals.

10. Sort out taxes.

11. More wind farms...if for nothing other than cheap electricity.

12. Work on making the pound stronger again.

Like I said, just a start.

England is in a sorry state thanks to our politicians of at least the last four decades. So I would dump the EU, arrest and try for treason all those who betrayed us into it.
So,
1, Leave EU,
2, Scrap all rediculous EU legislation.
3, Immediate ban on immigration,
4, Referendum on all serious issues.
5, Deport all illegal immigrants, including the 12,000 foreign criminals in our jails.
6, Phase out income tax, starting at the low income end.
7, Ban all imports of goods which do not meet our own requirements.
8, Remove all discriminatory employment rulings against white English People.
9, Bring home our troops.
10, Start defending our borders.

Well that would be day one.
Regards,
Horsegiver.

I wish there was a computer game that would mimic the effects of leading a country in a specific way. Civilization is one game, but its not really complex enough in terms of showing the effects on the population. Sim City... same thing there.

It would be fun to play around with different ways of ruling and seeing the effects. It would open up our eyes quite a lot and make us respect other peoples opinions more.

My country would be a socialist country where there would be a good minimum standard for everybody which would lead to low crime rates and a overall decent society for all. Pretty much like Sweden actually.


[edit on 14-9-2008 by Copernicus]

End the war in Iraq NOW.

Sign and adhere to the Kyoto Pact

Take GOOD CARE of our veterans There is no reason why our veterans should wait for weeks and months to receive the medical care they need. It is disgraceful that we would ask our brave men and women of the U.S. armed forces to fight our country's battles and then leave them to pretty much fend for themselves when it comes to receiving adequate health care.

Start putting our money towards making like better for our people here at home vs putting 51% of our money in military spending. We need to keep our noses out of other country's businesses and start taking care of our own dirty laundry at home.

Socialized medicine for everyone.

A fair and straight taxing system no loop holes no twisty turny "outs". This would mean that the rich would pay their fair share of taxes.

A complete restructuring and regulation of the banking industry (The few elite rich)who currently are shafting the average American People.

Uniforms for all school children (like in Japan) ALL SCHOOL KIDS K-12. Cut clothing costs and all the nonsense.

A revamping of our educational system insuring that all kids get a equally good education not just the ones who live in the "rich areas"

$10.00 per gallon of gas tax. The tax money would be put towards public transporation.

A revitalization of public transportation to mirror Tokyo Japans.

24 / 7 Good cheap available daycare for all children to include a hot nuritious breakfast, lunch dinner and snack - with the workers in addition to being screened also being paid well, making childcare a "desirable" occupation.

Cheap available birthcontrol for all women including the availability of abortions by a physician up to the third month of pregnacy

Any American Company going abroad and taking American jobs away from American soil is automatically taxed very heavily (and I mean heavily)

The housing industry regulated. A house currently that cost $75,000 to build (materials) is being sold for 300,000 that's a mark up of more then 3xs the actual cost of the house making owning a home out of the reach of most Americans.

You can only live in one house at a time, if you own more then one house I would tax "extra" houses heavily and put the money from those taxes towards housing for the disabled and elderly

A restructuring of wages. People who do the real work, who are essential to our survival make a liveable wage. Useless people (CEO's, actors, actresses, fashion designers, Movie Industry, etc) make less then they currently make they are not worth the millions (or more) a year we are allowing them to be paid. Paying someone to "act" in a movie is ludicrous.

Discount on food and housing for all elderly people on fixed incomes.

Separation maintained of church and state. When you have a "religious state" you end up with countries like the middle east, where some individuals have no liberty or freedom. Church and state do not belong sharing the same bed, ever.

There is enough for everyone, but people do not want to realize how much the elite class and our politicians are taking advantage of the average American.

Laws, I would abolish the death penalty. A set amount of prison time for certain crimes with no change. ie: Some people commit a bank robbery, ususally you go to jail for 30 years, except if you have a "good lawyer". No, you do this you go to jail for XX number of years period. No if ands or buts no 2 years for you and 30 years for him, a straight amount of time for each crime not to be "adjusted".

If you commit murder, no chance of parole, none. While prisions would be clean, warm and liveable, the prisoners would have to work eight hours per day and the money would go towards their upkeep.


Figures below for Tokyo's Transit System from this site: forum.skyscraperpage.com...

Tokyo's public transit system would win hands down, as it blows most other systems out of the water... The rail network is so dense it's almost a joke.

Greater Tokyo Railway Map (from www.mukiryoku.com...)

Some stats to give you an idea (taken from Wikipedia):

Average daily ridership of Greater Tokyo rail operators:
East Japan Railway Company ("JR East"): 14,526,027
Tokyo Metro: 5,760,000
Tokyo Kyuko Electric Railway: 2,730,000
Tobu Railway: 2,730,000
Toei Subway: 2,086,083
Odakyu Electric Railway: 1,850,000
Seibu Railway: 1,660,000
Keio Electric Railway: 1,660,000
Keihin Electric Express Railway: 1,170,000
Keisei Electric Railway: 680,000
Sagami Railway: 620,000
Total: 36,823,673
*This includes transfers, so the actual number of people who use trains every day is more like 20 million
*When statistics are cited about "metro" or "subway" ridership in Tokyo, they almost always only talk about 2 and 5 combined, which are what most people would call "subways," but there's a more extensive amount of overhead/aboveground services such as the JR East lines which for some reason are never considered

No. of lines: 121 (102 serving Tokyo Prefecture)

Daily passengers at Greater Tokyo stations:
Shinjuku Station 3.52 million
Ikebukuro Station 2.64 million
Shibuya Station 2.18 million
Yokohama Station 2.09 million
Tokyo Station 1.08 million
Shinagawa Station 0.89 million
Takadanobaba Station 0.86 million
Shimbashi Station 0.82 million

Some other reasons Tokyo (and Japan) is light-years ahead:

*"Cattle cars" (roku-tobira-sha) with six doors on each side, operating as standee only, with seats folded up and locked during the rush hour; outside of commute periods, the train operator can automatically unlock the seats and passengers can sit
*Women-only cars: introduced as a means of combatting perverts who take advantage of crowded trains
*Use of melodies to help passengers identify which station they're at, to signal doors closing, etc.
*The famous white-gloved pushers and operators and the characteristic voice they all use
*Advertising: car interiors are plastered with ads
*Diversity of services (local, limited, commuter express, express, etc.) is mind-boggling
*Extensive regional and national connections... You can get anywhere in the country on rail fast and efficiently with the Shinkansen
*Integrated ticketing operations among operators using Suica / PASMO smart cards

There is enough for everyone to live comfortable, some just want to be greedy.