what would you change about america?

Post Reply New Topic

I think the changes I'd suggest would be dry and technical, so instead I'll go through the options in the poll, just for fun:

return to 70% tax rate for the 1%

Personally, I don't think it is right for a government to take more than half your earnings. I would like to see some bureaucratic change to close the "Buffett loophole", which I think is well-intentioned but an affront to most people's sense of justice.

mandate universal health/dental care

Yeeeeees... but that depends what you mean. Total coverage of all healthcare needs is unaffordable at this point in time. I would like to see everyone able to access *some* coverage, but "Medicare for All" is not a sensible idea - Medicare is a very generous system.

pay at the pump no-fault car insurance

I don't know exactly what this means.

direct democracy [no electoral college]

Abolishing the electoral college would be an improvement, but is still going to have the issue of Presidency being a fundamentally unrepresentative institution. I would abolish all presidencies and move to a Parliamentary system. Say hello to Prime Minister Pelosi...

mandate national renewable energy infrastructure

Well, yes, but again this is a question of definitions. I'd mandate that the US be carbon neutral by 2050. I do not know when a realistic date would be for decarbonisation of the power sector.

universal education to graduate level

No. Unaffordable, not a public good. Invest that money in primaries and early years.

abolish right to firearms
mandate firearms in every household

I think this should be a states' rights issue. In general I would like more power devolved from the federal government to the states and I think firearms regulation should be part of that. Forcing someone to own a gun is both a bad idea and imo a breach of their rights, but restricting gun ownership is something to be decided at the local level.

humane prison reform, eliminate death penalty

Yes. I'd go further, but not right away.

universal basic income!

Yes.
national tax on sugar in all its forms

I was sceptical but this actually seems to work. Sugar consumption has all sorts of negative externalities and I think it is right that people pay for it.

national sales tax/VAT to replace income tax, with refunds for <$100k income

No, this is a bad idea. It would undermine the tax base and discourage spending. Remove the exemption for "low" earners (someone earning $100k is not a low earner!) and it would be highly regressive.

single 6-yr terms for all federal elected offices

No, good to force politicians to be accountable at the ballot box.

bring our military home to stay!

No, the US military has often been involved in wars that were bad ideas, but it plays a vital peacekeeping role.

stiffen antitrust regs to eliminate "too big to fail" corporate entities

Not sure exactly what the full implications of this would be.

Aside from the poll options, I like Kraftie's suggestion of pay-as-you-earn tax (although important to remember that self-employed people, contractors, and so forth would still need to file returns - but they could be simplified). I also like Drake's suggestions of extra police training, and campaign finance limits.

at the very least, remove the threat of lifetime financial ruin/bankruptcy from the medical care equation here in amuuuurica. that is a nasty thing for a nation to do to its own citizens, placing such a threat over their heads if they are not financially talented. at present, the leading cause of bankruptcy here is ruinous medical costs. that has got to change.

Their fault.
Don't get sick.
Doesn't get much simpler than that.

I am so glad I live in Oz.

Are you a good witch, or a bad witch?

or witch hazel? i would change our tv broadcast system to one that is far more robust in reception, so that the promise of OTA TV is truly maintained.

Other.

Namely strengthen the Endangered Species Act, and force the huge polluting country to take climate change seriously and act on it.

i would reverse the GOP's unilateral obstruction of alternate energy research.

Influence China to act responsibly?
"In what universe."

Actually you know what I would REALLY like to do if it were up to me? Kick everyone out and give this land back to the indiginous people who were here FIRST!

if we had never left the mother country, i wonder who in the end would have taken over north america? i could picture a canada and mexico filling in the blanks and becoming different nations than what they are now.

Some people say the same here in Australia.
Somehow, I don't fancy their chances of that happening.

I think the last time I heard it it was from an "Extinction Rebellion" kid.
BTW, Whatever happened to those guys in Oz?
I don't hear about them any longer after there was talk about bringing in special laws against their disruptive tactics.

Surprisingly, the Minions Movie Came True; All 3 Movies and More; And
Yes, the Even Worse Cop Version of the Grinch Elected into Office by
85 Percent of the Local Evangelical Leaning Christians in my Locality
once with the Record of the Most So-Called Christian Churches in one Place Per Square Mile.

His Latest Antic For Christmas Cheer And Spirit is the Looming Reality His Administration brings
unto the Less Fortunate and Poor to take away their Means for Food; such a Grinch; Such a Bad-Cop Grinch
He is; but true still not a bad as the "Bad Cop Jesus" Who Wants to Fire Your Enemies to Eternal Fire of Damnation.

There is a common Thread Here; Can and Will 'You' 'See' it; or will 'they' continue to Ignore where 'they' continue to really
come from; It's not like this Archetype of a Demagogue Wasn't Forecast in the Poetry of 'their' 'Revelation'; Not any
Different Really than Nero and His 616/666 Code as Story Books In Myths of Archetypes continue to actually
become Humanly True; at best We Learn From Human Archetypes and the History of them both, myth and
reality; and no longer repeat the same mistakes; but this takes the original Greek Definition of
Apocalypse that actually means Lifting the Veils of Ignorance; and Ironically Not Destroying
The Frigging World over Story Book Ideology that continues to be at least partially
responsible for the other Version of a Zombie Apocalypse as Humans
continue to, in part, Justify their Domination of Eating the Face of God in what
i Love to Term Nature out of Balance in Consumerism gone Rogue; killing off 1 in 8
of All species of Plants and Animals in the coming Decades too; but what does one expect when
the Demagogue Archetype Presents the Poor and less Fortunate With Empty Plates for Christmas
Dinner; potentially for up to 700,000, So-called Valued Citizens of this Republic this Society that at best takes care
of those
less Fortunate
With Problems that
those of Feathered Nest
have no clue even exists.
Ignorance is the Most Dangerous Ideology of all;
that and the Modern Attention Span of Humans that
Science indicates is now the Average of Less than a Gold
Fish at Literally Less than 3 Seconds; Twitter Size Attention
Span we become what we consume;
When We Consume 'Home'
We Are Left
Homeless;
there
is no other place to go;
When We Don't Feed Each
other; all Hell Will Eventually Break Loose for Real Again.

no more catastrophic surprise medical bills.

Don’t immediately cut off benefits (food stamps, medicaid, etc.) when a person starts working. Perhaps keep a case open for 6 months. Some people don’t bother trying because they are worried it won’t work out and then will be stuck without food or insurance for a few weeks.

Of course, I’d like national healthcare overall.

I would have the government supply all drug addicts with an adequate supply of whatever drug they are addicted to, supervise their use of that drug, along with (obviously) the option to recover whenever they feel ready. All with full knowledge that some people will never successfully recover and are likely to continue to need to have the government feed their habits indefinitely.

Ironically, I think this approach would reduce the rate of addiction, if you accept the widely-held belief that people become addicted because "pushers" trick people into getting hooked. In this scenario, the economic motivation would no longer exist.

Please don't mention Fentanyl as a reason while my suggestion is evil. I don't think anyone is actually addicted to Fentanyl, it's a cheap substitute used to trick desperate people who think they're getting something else. And I also don't think crack is quite so bad as it was portrayed in the 80s. A lot of that was exaggeration for political gain. Supervised use of crack would probably be reasonably safe.

BTW I would actually rather have the individual states administer this drug program.

Ban all Unions, cut off Food Stamp Benefits, cut of Unemployment benefits, abolish minimum wage and lower Company tax rates. America only needs tax rates so it can pay for military, police and justice system. Some countries in the Middle East has tax rates as low as 5% and the people live great lives and low unemployment rates.