No candidate is addressing my Big 3.

[techs]

Well, the major parties (and most of the minor ones) have managed to put my 3 big issues on the back burner this year.
1) Unfair trade with China harming American workers.
2) Unitary Presidency that has changed the fundamental democracy we live in.
3) Money influence on candidates and laws.

Notice how we don't hear about these three things much?

Do you have a big 3 not being addressed?

 

[HombrePequeno]

1) Balance the budget (addressed by democrats but their fix isn't what I'd want)
2) Fixing SS through partial privatization (nope b/c it'd be political suicide)
3) Withdrawing from Iraq (yep)

 

[Farang]

No..

1) Affirmative action (hoped I get more support at least from Republicans on ending this one)
2) Ending the drug war (get tough! is the usual stance by the majors)
3) Embargo with Cuba (not too important in the grand scheme but I like Cuban cigars and it makes no sense why I can't have one)

edit: and for me these issues are so obvious that being on the wrong side of them shows a candidate is pandering and refusing to use their own rational judgment.

 

[BeauJangles]

Gerrymandering is the biggest issue that we face as a nation today. No politician wants to change it.

 

[heyheybooboo]

Originally posted by: HombrePequeno
1) Balance the budget (addressed by democrats but their fix isn't what I'd want)
2) Fixing SS through partial privatization (nope b/c it'd be political suicide)
3) Withdrawing from Iraq (yep)

The problem is not in directly ""fixing"" SS. The problem is in paying back the $3 trillion or so that has been ""borrowed"" from the trust fund

 

[Nitemare]

1) Big government spending
2) Tax reform
3) Invading France

 

[nageov3t]

hm. I don't really have a Big 3, but I guess my biggest three would be...

1) gays in the military (pro)
2) against an immediate troop withdraw in Iraq
3) pro-middle class economic concerns

I think most of the top democratic candidates hit those issues, at which point it becomes who do I think has the best personality/character to sit behind the chair, who can get the most accomplished, and who's the most electable.

 

[HombrePequeno]

Originally posted by: heyheybooboo

Originally posted by: HombrePequeno
1) Balance the budget (addressed by democrats but their fix isn't what I'd want)
2) Fixing SS through partial privatization (nope b/c it'd be political suicide)
3) Withdrawing from Iraq (yep)

The problem is not in directly ""fixing"" SS. The problem is in paying back the $3 trillion or so that has been ""borrowed"" from the trust fund

Even then there is still a shortfall before I retire. So yes, it will need fixing barring a large increase in our population growth.

 

[Wreckem]

1. Fixing Medicare/SS
2. Fixing Medicare/SS
3. Fixing Medicare/SS

There isnt a single more important issue than fixing Medicare's and Social Security's fiscal problems.

Fixing the problem, and implementing modest tax increases and spending cuts now will prevent massive tax hikes in the future.

The problem is, the Public Policy experts all agree on this, but all the Political Experts think its political suicide messing with either. Better get prepared for massive tax hikes over the next 20-30 years.

 

[Wreckem]

Originally posted by: HombrePequeno

Originally posted by: heyheybooboo

Originally posted by: HombrePequeno
1) Balance the budget (addressed by democrats but their fix isn't what I'd want)
2) Fixing SS through partial privatization (nope b/c it'd be political suicide)
3) Withdrawing from Iraq (yep)

The problem is not in directly ""fixing"" SS. The problem is in paying back the $3 trillion or so that has been ""borrowed"" from the trust fund

Even with then there is still a shortfall before I retire. So yes, it will need fixing barring a large increase in our population growth.

The problem extends beyond that. Even after paying back the trust fund theres still a over $2trillion shortfall.

Social Securities shortfall is chump change compared to the liabilities Medicare faces.

 

[IamDavid]

1) Immigration - Don't really care which side it falls on. Just go with one and do it. Let them in or keep um out.
2) Unfair trade - We're destroying our children's future.
3) Fix the entire election process. - Make it a capital crime to screw with an election. Seriously, no crime should be greater than screwing with our democratic process.

these are my big three not being addressed. My main issue, Iraq, has been glossed over time an time again. McCain is the only one on both sides with any true input. The others just say what they think we want to hear. Kinda sucks he's the only one.

 

[heyheybooboo]

Originally posted by: HombrePequeno

Originally posted by: heyheybooboo

Originally posted by: HombrePequeno
1) Balance the budget (addressed by democrats but their fix isn't what I'd want)
2) Fixing SS through partial privatization (nope b/c it'd be political suicide)
3) Withdrawing from Iraq (yep)

The problem is not in directly ""fixing"" SS. The problem is in paying back the $3 trillion or so that has been ""borrowed"" from the trust fund

Even with then there is still a shortfall before I retire. So yes, it will need fixing barring a large increase in our population growth.

Steadily increasing the retirement age for maximum benefits to 70yrs (and subsequently indexing it based upon life expectancy) and raising the cap (it's somewhere around 80% 'historically' of where it needs to be) and indexing it to inflation would significantly close the projected shortfall.

Originally posted by: Wreckem

The problem extends beyond that. Even after paying back the trust fund theres still a over $2trillion shortfall.

Social Securities shortfall is chump change compared to the liabilities Medicare faces.

Double yup on that. It's also more of an immediate problem. Medicare Advantage needs to be dropped - and the Prescription Drug Big Pharma Give-A-Way needs to be completely rewritten (Interestingly enough the SCHIP Bill that Bush keeps vetoing does both of these).

And Medicare premiums are also way out of wack.

"Dick Cheney said he felt terrible about shooting a 78-year-old man, but on the bright side, it did give him a great idea about how to fix Social Security." --Bill Maher

 

[HombrePequeno]

Originally posted by: Wreckem

Originally posted by: HombrePequeno

Originally posted by: heyheybooboo

Originally posted by: HombrePequeno
1) Balance the budget (addressed by democrats but their fix isn't what I'd want)
2) Fixing SS through partial privatization (nope b/c it'd be political suicide)
3) Withdrawing from Iraq (yep)

The problem is not in directly ""fixing"" SS. The problem is in paying back the $3 trillion or so that has been ""borrowed"" from the trust fund

Even with then there is still a shortfall before I retire. So yes, it will need fixing barring a large increase in our population growth.

The problem extends beyond that. Even after paying back the trust fund theres still a over $2trillion shortfall.

Social Securities shortfall is chump change compared to the liabilities Medicare faces.

Yeah, I was going to include that but I figured I'd focus on the one that is more fixable. But yes, that is definitely a huge concern that no one is addressing.

 

[Noobtastic]

Why is everyone still dwelling on the Iraq situation? No president is going to be able to persuade Congress to begin a withdrawal of troops. Hell, we're building a 1.6 billion dollar US embassy. You think that's gonna be torn down come 2009?

The US isn't going anywhere, at least not for the next decade. If you're voting for your candidate based on their position on Iraq, you're delusional.

 

[Wreckem]

Originally posted by: heyheybooboo

Originally posted by: HombrePequeno

Originally posted by: heyheybooboo

Originally posted by: HombrePequeno
1) Balance the budget (addressed by democrats but their fix isn't what I'd want)
2) Fixing SS through partial privatization (nope b/c it'd be political suicide)
3) Withdrawing from Iraq (yep)

The problem is not in directly ""fixing"" SS. The problem is in paying back the $3 trillion or so that has been ""borrowed"" from the trust fund

Even with then there is still a shortfall before I retire. So yes, it will need fixing barring a large increase in our population growth.

Steadily increasing the retirement age for maximum benefits to 70yrs (and subsequently indexing it based upon life expectancy) and raising the cap (it's somewhere around 80% 'historically' of where it needs to be) and indexing it to inflation would significantly close the projected shortfall.

Originally posted by: Wreckem

The problem extends beyond that. Even after paying back the trust fund theres still a over $2trillion shortfall.

Social Securities shortfall is chump change compared to the liabilities Medicare faces.

Double yup on that. It's also more of an immediate problem. Medicare Advantage needs to be dropped - and the Prescription Drug Big Pharma Give-A-Way needs to be completely rewritten (Interestingly enough the SCHIP Bill that Bush keeps vetoing does both of these).

And Medicare premiums are also way out of wack.

"Dick Cheney said he felt terrible about shooting a 78-year-old man, but on the bright side, it did give him a great idea about how to fix Social Security." --Bill Maher

Theres a far more bigger problem than what you are refering to. Medicare faces $50trillion in unfunded liabilites.

Doing away with the $90k cap on income that is taxable for FICA would nearly do away with the SS shortfall. Raising the retirement age to 70 would take care of the rest.

Indexing it to inflation is never going to happen because Seniors are the largest voting bloc.

 

[Wreckem]

Originally posted by: Noobtastic
Why is everyone still dwelling on the Iraq situation? No president is going to be able to persuade Congress to begin a withdrawal of troops. Hell, we're building a 1.6 billion dollar US embassy. You think that's gonna be torn down come 2009?

The US isn't going anywhere, at least not for the next decade. If you're voting for your candidate based on their position on Iraq, you're delusional.

Uh, what part of Commander in Chief do you not understand?

The President has authority to pull troops out. Thats the one thing that Ron Pauls says he'd do, he could actually do.

 

[KarmaPolice]

My Big Three.

1. Not BSing...or in other words, telling things how it is, not speaking in political talk all the time, actually answering questions, and not switching their position to pander to a certain group of people. (This goes to Ron Paul and Kucinich...with Edwards and McCain being the big ones that are closer than the rest)
2. Getting our spending under control. Ron Paul on that one.
3. In general...fixing our goverment system to a more honest system where large sums of money, and motives that do not belong to the general populous are not listened to as much. Ron Paul, Kucinich

 

[Rainsford]

I suspect most candidates fail to address the "big 3" issues for most people. But then again, why would they? The issues people place as their highest priority issues tend to be complicated and often require a lot of thought and hard work to deal with in an intelligent way. This requires firm commitment from politicians and if they fail to do anything, people will be all over them when election time rolls around again.

A far better (political) approach is to play off of whatever wedge issue the politician in question can dream up. I doubt most people would place wedge issues on top of their "issues list", but it's easy enough to get people riled up about them given the correct sequence of button pushes. Why even bother dealing with real issues when it's easier to convince voters that you're on their side with issues that don't really matter and don't draw a lot of attention when nothing is done? After all, once you (the politician) stop providing the button pushes, people tend to forget about the wedge issues...so it's easy enough to avoid having to do anything in the long run. Simply promise that you'll "do something", then stop talking about the issue once you've been elected. Since voters didn't really care in the first place, they're not likely to call you on it

 

[MadRat]

My big 3...

1. Kicking out Illegal Immigrants
2. Ending the War on Terror - declare victory and take it underground
3. Eroding the rights of doctors and insurance companies to invest in and/or own pharmaceutical industries

 

[Noobtastic]

Originally posted by: Wreckem

Originally posted by: Noobtastic
Why is everyone still dwelling on the Iraq situation? No president is going to be able to persuade Congress to begin a withdrawal of troops. Hell, we're building a 1.6 billion dollar US embassy. You think that's gonna be torn down come 2009?

The US isn't going anywhere, at least not for the next decade. If you're voting for your candidate based on their position on Iraq, you're delusional.

Uh, what part of Commander in Chief do you not understand?

The President has authority to pull troops out. Thats the one thing that Ron Pauls says he'd do, he could actually do.

Not without Congress brainiac. No President is going to begin a total withdrawal of troops, especially now that we are so invested. It would take almost 5 years to gather all monies and resources left in Iraq, and then another 5 to completely demobilize.

The PUBLIC does not appreciate the complex structure of war. This isn't Stratego.

 

[RightIsWrong]

My choices:

1. Campaign contributions - EVERYONE should have the opportunity to run for office....not just the millionaires or those that have promised to sell their soul to CorpAmer to get campaign donations/BRIBES

2. Iraq - Get an international presence there and give 50% input to said presence leadership or get the hell out. We cannot do it ourselves and look like shit every day we stay there trying to do it alone as occupiers/invaders.

3. Keep the nation as it was intended.....SECULAR!!!

 

[randym431]

This post is why we ALL should vote for Hillary.
True, it probably doesnt matter who gets in, at the end of the day.
But... electing Hillary would pass a HUGE milestone in opening up the mens only president club. Sure, many would have to suffer thru 4 or 8 years of Hillary, but just imagine
the women that could actually run in the future and WIN.

So, dont elect Hillary for Hillary. Elect Hillary in order to open a whole new day for
electing presidents. And after Hillary? Maybe someone like Obama or Bill Richardson. Hold your nose and vote Hillary, and move this country on to a new day!!!

 

[Comanche]

1. Balance the budget
2. get rid of TSA
3. control the borders

And for further consideration
4. Create a separate account for Social Secuity

 

[palehorse]

1. Alternative fuels and laws making their future use mandatory!!!!

2. Immigration - LOCKING DOWN OUR BORDERS, deporting known illegals, and making legal immigration a more efficient process for everyone.

3. Pursuing AQ wherever they are, regardless of borders and other ridiculous barriers.

4. SS and Medicare reform

5. Term limits for Congress and the elimination of earmarks (pork) of every type!

oh, wait.. you said three... My problem is that NONE of the candidates are addressing any of these issues sufficiently, or to my liking... DOH! :|

 

[Nemesis 1]

Well I agree a women should get the Job someday

Originally posted by: randym431
This post is why we ALL should vote for Hillary.
True, it probably doesnt matter who gets in, at the end of the day.
But... electing Hillary would pass a HUGE milestone in opening up the mens only president club. Sure, many would have to suffer thru 4 or 8 years of Hillary, but just imagine
the women that could actually run in the future and WIN.

So, dont elect Hillary for Hillary. Elect Hillary in order to open a whole new day for
electing presidents. And after Hillary? Maybe someone like Obama or Bill Richardson. Hold your nose and vote Hillary, and move this country on to a new day!!!

Well I agree a women should get the Job someday but not clintons. Than we have the Murder /suicde with that ugly Clinton land deal . Must evidence points to murder since the evidence was also missing from the victoms home. Than there is this! Enron anybody.

Whats wrong with a blackman befor a woman. You do understand what the blackman has done for this country . Might be a good time to try them out . Can't do any worse than Bushes. When you have a Bird in the bush its easy to spot it. But more than 1 bush its a lot harder to spot the bird.
Hay for fun guys How many presidents have we had that end in ON . Its uncanny. Than next question . Do these ON have anything in common . Its an interesting question . The ans. is more revealing. Don't be afraid to count dead american bodies.