What would you do if you were god-emperor of the US

[MovingTarget]

End the war on drugs
Bring troops home from Europe, draw down in ME and SE Asia
Revoke personhood of corporations
Expand the Corps of Engineers to repair ageing infrastructure
Invest in regional rail
Institute congressional term limits
Institute a parallel public/private UHC system
Unban RichardE
Fully fund the space program(s)
Build more Nuclear/Solar/Wind generation plants
Reform copyright law to ensure fair use and remove unreasonable time limits for public domain transfer

-or-

Alternatively, instutute excellent retirement benefits for the 'god-emperor of the US', and appoint myself to an advisory post to my successor, with unrevokable tenure. Why keep all that responsibility when you can have all the benefits?

 

[NoStateofMind]

Eh, I do see necessary things that the government does that could not be funded entirely by goods taxes. Infrastructure is a prime example. We really do need cash for those things, and those things are not easily sacrificed. The reason you need to do it beyond just common use (charging for use of a freeway, for example) is that part of the government's job is to provide these same amenities equitably at times (like a little-used county road that needs paving and upkeep.)

Aren't things like this paid for by State taxes? If not, wouldn't that be a better way to reduce government intervention/spending and allow more power to the state?

Competing private insurers would take care of that. To stay in business you need to attract the most people, and you do that through lowered prices. I'd want to see it made mandatory because I think you have to recognize that practically we DO wind up supplying health care to the uninsured, at much higher prices. Enforcing mandatory health insurance reduces the burden on the government.

Sure this may be true and I accept that those who do not have health insurance will just end up costing the taxpayer in the end. This is what I would call a conundrum. Either we keep it as it is or we require insurance to be purchased, either way I think we get the short end of the stick. Those who have the money will get premium healthcare coverage and best treatment the rest will get 'generic insurance' that requires the citizen to jump through multiple hoops to get the care they need. Personally, this isn't my strong point of discussion and I'm not really sure of how to go about solving this riddle. Regardless I'm sure those in Washington know how to spend my money better than I do.

So you'll vote for me?

Maybe, as long as your real name doesn't start with 'Sarah' and end with 'Palin'. :laugh:

Naww you're too smart for that!

 

[AreaCode707]

Originally posted by: PC Surgeon

Eh, I do see necessary things that the government does that could not be funded entirely by goods taxes. Infrastructure is a prime example. We really do need cash for those things, and those things are not easily sacrificed. The reason you need to do it beyond just common use (charging for use of a freeway, for example) is that part of the government's job is to provide these same amenities equitably at times (like a little-used county road that needs paving and upkeep.)

Aren't things like this paid for by State taxes? If not, wouldn't that be a better way to reduce government intervention/spending and allow more power to the state?

True and agreed, although there is plenty of federal funding going into those same projects (and appropriately; the same small example I gave would apply equally to New York and Montana, for instance. One small state with lots of income, one big state with little income but lots of infrastructure needs. Plus I'm sure there are plenty of non-infrastructure examples out there that I'm not considering in this mini-discussion.

So you'll vote for me?

Maybe, as long as your real name doesn't start with 'Sarah' and end with 'Palin'. :laugh:

Naww you're too smart for that!

I promise not to name any of my (never-to-exist) children "Bristol".

 

[ericlp]

Lets see...

Free Healthcare for EVERYONE!
Free Satellite TV About 50 basic channels With every local channel from all areas IN HD!!! Remove all existing TV towers.
Free High Speed internet (put in a huge Fiber network hub in every major city) and wireless boradband for suburbs.
Free 2 Year college for anyone who wants it and can keep up a C+ average.

Start mothballing air craft carriers, half the navy, half the airforce, half the army. Pull everyone out of ME operations. Let the world start figure out how to defend for itself.
Stop the War on Drugs. Anyone currently in jail for any drug charge or anyone that has a drug record will be dropped and let free.
Start taxing religious institutions. No tax breaks for the church or anyone that goes. Want a tax break? Give money to a real charity that needs it.
Put condom machines back in every high school restroom for FREE of course.
Send out free condoms in the mail with leaflets that explains what STD's they prevent and a brief FAQ on how to use them.
Legalize drugs and prostitution ... Charge Tax on all of it...
Invest heavily for alternative energy mainly solar and R&D on the next new generation battery for electric cars and power storage for the grid.
Fix the Grid.
Bring back death penalty for all states (if one kills another) that person will die, no exceptions... No death row, they die in a weeks time. Wanna steal something? You'll be made an example of by cutting off a finger (yeah no more stealing candy bars)... Want to steal a car or break in a home? Jail sentence will be 10 years for doing that, and no just sitting in the jail, you'll be picking up trash for the rest of your life with RFID chips embedded in your skull to keep track of you while you pick up trash off the highways.
Make a prison a PRISON... No your not going to Disneyland and no YOU WILL NOT LIKE IT. Your going to HATE every second of it and your gonna work your ass off and when you get out, YOU will NEVER EVER want to return again. Pass that message on to anyone that might consider committing a crime.
No more sucking off of government resources. You want food stamps, grab a 55 gallon trash bag and fill it up with trash every day. You'd be required to WORK for your food stamps and section 8 housing. Only one KID for people that don't have jobs... The rest that are financially stable and can support more then 1 can have up to 4 MAX.


Change the LAWS for Congress and the House so that they are booted every 4 years and can only run once. Same goes for the supreme court justice. Cut the pay for all these assholes by 35%.

Let banks, business FAIL - NO BAIL OUT period if it doesn't work fuck em. If the banks tank let the government be the Bank and charge 0% interest... Let states get interest free loans for highway and bridge projects.

I'm sure I forgot a few things but... I'd need more time to write out the rest of it.

That's a good start tho, I think!

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

I'd start by slapping everyone who thinks they know the answers without knowing the issues.

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

Oh, and I'd slap people who call for "free" anything. There is no such thing.

 

[heyheybooboo]

Topic: What would you do if you were god-emperor of the US ?

One word: Roswell

The Truth is Out There.

 

[rudder]

hookers and blow now legal in all 50 states.

oh and i would make school systems teach a foreign language in elementary school.

 

[yllus]

I think a mandatory 10-year sunset clause on all laws would be one of the few things that I would push ahead without hesitation.

The tax code could use some trimming too. I know that the U.S. tax code is 70,000+ pages and the Canadian one is of a similar length. That's just nutty.

 

[TruePaige]

Originally posted by: Hayabusa Rider
Oh, and I'd slap people who call for "free" anything. There is no such thing.

Free Software?

 

[Carmen813]

I'd give myself a bailout.

I'd send the Navy SEALs after PC Surgeon. Not because I have anything against him, but because his was the first name I saw when that thought crossed my mind.

Oh yes, abortions for some, free miniature American flags for everyone!

I'd rename a carrier the USS SS and make the Captain say it three times fast....

I'd commandeer an F-22 and rename it Air Force One.

 

[JeffreyLebowski]

Originally posted by: AreaCode707

Originally posted by: Siddhartha
Pull out all military out of Asia, Europe, and the Middle East. Resize the military to what is necessary to protect the North American continent. Use the savings to pay down on the deficit, retrain redundant military staff, and increase education subsidies.

I have to agree, if done with structure. Yes, there would be some chaos but that's inevitable no matter when a withdrawal is done. I really wish I was god-emperor of the world though. The first thing I'd take on fixing is Rwanda.

So you'll pull out military forces around the world and structure it to protect the US mainland but send in troops to fix Rwanada???
Does not compute.

If I was God-Emperor of the United States, I would draft all able bodied men, put the women to work along with the crippled and not able bodied, to build weapons, and then conquer the world. That's what Emperors do. You have to grow your empire. I would allow my subjects to have guns as the earlier they learn to use them the better they will be in my armies.

I would then have 3 hot girl friends that would get changed out once they got to old or mouthy. No one would ever hear from them again as they would have heard "state secrets" at some point and would be a liability.

 

[racolvin]

I'd make it so that representatives we send to Washington are drafted by the constituents. Individuals don't decide they want to run for office, they get chosen by the local population. When they get chosen and sent to Washington their personal assets are placed in a trust and treated as collateral for the actions of the government. If the government loses money, then the personal assets of the representatives will be drawn down to pay for the loss. Makes for a heck of an incentive to balanced the damned budget and not go on frivolous spending sprees. The only exception to this rule would be in times of war/national emergency.

Term limits for the above idea of course. Any drafted representative would serve for 6 years and cannot serve consecutive terms. They also cannot be "drafted" more than twice in their lifetimes. The President would be chosen from the body of representatives ever 4 years by the representatives themselves, not in a general election. Needless to say the electoral college gets tossed out the window.

Age of consent, legal drinking age, voting age, etc, etc would be changed to a consistent 18 across all states. I'm not as picky about the age number, just want it to be consistent.

Separation of Church and State gets more strongly defined, applied to all levels of government, and strictly enforced. Religious groups, churches, and their employees/representatives (pastors, etc) are prohibited from engaging in political activities, endorsements, speeches, etc UNLESS they give up their tax-free status. Political activity is a pay-to-play game folks and its time you ante up or STFU.

Prostitution gets legalized, regulated, and taxed as a service industry in all 50 states. If a woman can legally give it away for free then she damned sure ought to be able to charge for it if she wants to.

The death penalty gets applied more swiftly. You get 3 trials and with the best 2 out of 3 verdicts determining your fate. The trials get carried out no later than 180 days after the end of the prior trial. If 2 of those 3 send you to the chair, then that sentence gets carried out in no more than 90 days. That gives a potential total of 1.75 years before you know whether you live or die and then its over with. That'll give criminals something to think about, since its also possible to be dead sooner

Shareholder votes in public companies are binding and not subject to board of director approval. If the majority of shareholders want to limit CEO or other C-level pay to 10x (or whatever) of the average salaried worker, then that's the way it should be, whether the board likes it or not. C-level pay contracts, bonuses, incentives, severance packages, etc are also voted on by shareholders.

We bring our military home, not just from the current wars but we also pull back from all the bases, etc UNLESS the host country wants to PAY for the privilege of having American soldiers and assets on their territory. No more free protection folks, you want our help then you cover the costs.

 

[ericlp]

Originally posted by: Hayabusa Rider
Oh, and I'd slap people who call for "free" anything. There is no such thing.

Ahhh, you must be enjoying your "FREE" bailouts!

 

[AreaCode707]

Originally posted by: JeffreyLebowski

Originally posted by: AreaCode707

Originally posted by: Siddhartha
Pull out all military out of Asia, Europe, and the Middle East. Resize the military to what is necessary to protect the North American continent. Use the savings to pay down on the deficit, retrain redundant military staff, and increase education subsidies.

I have to agree, if done with structure. Yes, there would be some chaos but that's inevitable no matter when a withdrawal is done. I really wish I was god-emperor of the world though. The first thing I'd take on fixing is Rwanda.

So you'll pull out military forces around the world and structure it to protect the US mainland but send in troops to fix Rwanada???
Does not compute.

I wasn't suggesting that the US do that, or that I would do that if I were in charge of the US. I changed the scenario; that's where I would start fixing stuff if I were god-emperor of the world.

 

[retrospooty]

Fire the current congress, and set up a system where their money, and the money of their families is closely monitored so that they are not allowed to take money or gifts from Lobbyists. If we take the means of corruption out, congress might actually act in the interest of the country rather than themselves.

 

[ayabe]

Hmm legalize pot.

Outlaw commercials for prescription meds.

Outlaw multiple passengers on sport bikes.

End farm subsidies.

End all foreign aid for buying weapons, sorry Israel!

Institute a two term limit in Congress, both houses.

That would be on the first day.