My proposed contest…
I propose a little friendly competition.
If you were President of the United States what are 5 items that you would fight for tooth and nail to either change or implement in this country?
The judge will of course be my ‘impartial’ wife and the winner gets a 5 paragraph write up in a post featured here on my blog and if you don’t already have a link on the right I will add you to it!
Contest will run from now 9/25 until 10/2.
Tell your friends! Tell everyone! Let’s really see what we would do with the country!
PS. Please provide me with a way to contact you! Put your name in the comment if you aren’t registered and then email me your email address so I can notify the winner!
PSS. This IS NOT a writing competition! This is just conceptual so don’t worry about punctuation and spelling! Just make sure its readable!
An interesting proposition Ben! Make sure you make this a sticky post so it stays on top during your contest.
I’ll kick things off on this contest and see where it gets us!
1) All troops safely removed from Iraq and brought home for a 6 month stand-down. The returning troops will take the place of the existing units in the US and that way we can send more troops to Afghanistan where we actually have a reason to be. Those troops would arrive in Afghanistan with this message “We are here to do a job. We will do it the American way. Once the Taliban is wiped out the county is yours to do with as you please.” Also release all prisoners from Guantanamo Bay with the understanding that if we catch them in hostile action against the United States of America or our immediate and closest allies we will terminate your existence on the face of the Earth.
2) $750 billion dollars to fix the economy. Want to fix the economy? Those businesses that screwed up and now want bailed out? Let ‘em fail. Put the money into new businesses and banks to replace them. We talk about increasing taxes? Well, how do you increase tax income without increasing the taxes? Easy. Kill two birds with one stone. Close the borders COMPLETELY. No new citizens. Except for those here illegally that now have 1 month to register with the federal government. Now they have to pay taxes like the rest of us. Let’s say at worst there are 20 million illegal immigrants in the US. They all make on average 20,000 dollars a year and lets say they pay 25% in taxes. That’s 5,000 times 20 million which comes out to be 100 billion dollars. Then include all the taxes that the people employee the illegal immigrants would pay and you have quite a steep figure. The illegal immigrants that would be made citizens have 2 years to pass an English and American History proficiency exam. If they don’t kick ‘em out. If they don’t register, kick ‘em out. After the one month open the borders and go back to the way it used to be and if you want in to the country you can get a 6 month visa. No renewals. By the end of the six months you either petition for citizenship or guess what, kick ‘em out.
3) Federal Regulation of school teachers to ensure our children are getting a good education. All schools will be mandated to teach the same subjects to all students. IF the teacher doesn’t make the grade, out they go. IF their students perform at the expected level and the teacher passes their own proficiency exam, they get a bonus. IF their students perform above expectations and the teacher passes their own proficiency exam, they get a bonus and a raise. IF a teacher fails a proficiency exam they are suspended and get one more try at the exam. Fail it twice and guess what, they’re no longer a teacher. Students perform below expected, but teacher passes exam, the teacher gets nothing but more assistance in the class room to help the students.
4) This a dog eat dog world, therefore NO more intervention in the market. If a company wants to pay a terminated CEO $22 million dollars in severance, so be it. But if that company is in trouble, well, screw ‘em. They ran their business poorly and don’t deserve help. NO MORE BAILOUTS. Improve the assistance for small companies to help them grow but if a company is going under, guess what gang, it is because of how they ran the business!
5) Abolish the Electoral College. In today’s day and age there is absolutely no reason for it. A candidate should NEVER lose the election if they WON the popular vote. It is that simple. Presidential elections are a popularity vote. You get the most you win, no ifs ands or buts about it. Representation for the people by the people. Not 538 people to represent the entire voting population of this country!
Enough. Could I keep going? Oh, yes!! Just ask my wife about my soapbox!
Let’s get some more entries in here!
1. Taxes: I’m tired of the misconception of taxation. What most do not realize is that there were no federal income taxes prior to WW1. And even then it was 1% if memory serves. This country should acquire as much money that is necessary to run itself, preserve the strength of our armed forces and not much else. Sorry to those who live on food stamps and unemployment, I hear McDonalds is hiring. (By the way, I say there should be no minimum wage also. Don’t like your job, get a new one.) This would allow the country to pay off its debts and lower taxes to all Americans. Taxes should either be a low flat rate (maybe 10% or less) or could also be on a national sales tax. Not sure I like either more but can see points to both. Which ever I can get congress to pass, its done. Also, companies are taxed by the amount they pay their employees. I will reduce taxes for companies within a particular industry that offer the highest wages to employees lower than manager level. Also, death tax and any other stupid tax is now gone.
2. Energy: We will not restrict private US companies from exploring energy by digging for oil or building nuclear power plants. Drilling for oil will be approved for private US companies only who abide by EPA regulations. We will offer cash rewards for inventions for cars that do not run off oil and that are viable options for future use. We will reduce taxes for these companies based upon their percentage of sales for these new vehicles until these vehicles have become the mainstream. We will not accept oil from Venezuela and once more than 50% of cars in America do not run on gas, we will not accept oil from Middle Eastern countries. Once we are at 75%, we will no longer import oil.. period. We will offer reduced taxes to any energy company that creates energy without burning coal, fossil fuels or waste….well all except those stupid windmills. From what I understand, wind energy isn’t a plausible alternative to today’s energy crisis as it doesn’t generate enough energy from the space it takes to be effective. Plus I am a little concerned that these windmills obtain energy by slowing down wind. On a small scale, I’m sure this is harmless, but slowing down wind across the entire United States, could have unknown effects on the environment. Also, I think I heard they have decimated migratory bird populations. PETA would have a field day if this ever came out of my presidency.
3. Economy: First of all, with lower taxes and energy independence, we will be much better off. But you still have a record number of people that just filed bankruptcy about 5 years ago and a record number of foreclosures right now. This means that there have been some pretty unethical businesses out there preying on the American people. These would be the mortgage and credit card industries. The mortgage industry is now dealing with mortgage origination fraud. Whereas these forms of fraud are various, anyone found guilty of this in my administration will incur stiff penalties and jail time. Also, the credit card industry was recently told they must receive a minimum of 4% of the balance on their credit cards as monthly payments from credit card holders. I do not believe this is enough. The credit card companies confuse the American people with fine print and raise their rates after certain periods of time making it nearly impossible to pay them off. My cabinet will investigate credit card companies for unethical business practices and will hold companies accountable that have wronged the people of this nation. Additionally, with the looming issue of AIG, FNMA and FMLCA, I would NOT simply reward these companies with more money. No longer will our government bail out and reward companies that are too enept or to run themselves. These businesses will fail, however, our country cannot take the impact and chaos of them simply filing bankruptcy. Instead, the companies will be liquidated and any sellable portions will be sold and the government will eat the loss. Once I have shrunk our government, we will be running at a profit anyway, and this will be no sweat. The front line workers will receive their paid retirement, and the executives will receive no severance. Their large multi-million dollar salaries will be there to cushion their fall.
4. Health Care: Ok, first of all, if a drug can only be obtained by a prescription, you are not allowed to advertise for it. Whereas I realize this will be perceived as restricting freedom, I feel that these drug companies are preying on Americans by making them feel that they need to take a pill for everything. I believe it is unethical to advertise these drugs and that their doctor is there to suggest prescriptions for real issues. Also, doctors will not be eligible to receive compensation from drug companies for prescribing one drug over another. Next, insurance companies pay hospital bills for insured patients based on standards. This means that all practitioners and hospitals will always receive the same amount as long as their bill meets or exceeds those insurance standards. This means they have effectively removed financial competition from the hospitals and the free market. The different hospitals and physicians have no reason to become more efficient and to charge less if they will always get the same amount of money. I propose that any company offering insurance (they will not be required to offer insurance) of any type will be forced to offer insurance for more than one company and will list the rates of both. This will force the insurance companies to be competitive and therefore lower prices. Also, the second alternative will be that they can have a health care spending account where there money is set aside by the company to be spent however they which. That means they can negotiate their own medical bills.
5. Boarder Security: Stop illegal immigration. Build a wall to the south and the north. Anyone who wants to be a United States citizen will have to learn English. Where as some would suggest this is wrong because it is not in the spirit of America, I say this is not true. As America has gotten larger, all immigrants were forced to learn English just to survive. Now, it is getting to the point that I need to learn Spanish to survive. I think that it is essential for all American citizens to learn English so they can survive and hopefully thrive in our country. Also, anyone who lives in this country has to pay taxes and for those that are not legal citizens, they will not be eligible for any federal assistance until they have learned English and become a citizen. All those who cannot comply, will be deported after a 1 year timeframe.
6. BS: I know we were only given 5, but a president is supposed to give 110% right? The media would be held accountable for erroneous statements or insinuations by the FCC. Don’t get me wrong, all media outlets have roundtables and discussions and everyone is free to watch any news station they want and listen to any opinion they want. My problem is that when a reporter cites an unnamed source. If the source is wrong, the source is never held accountable for the false information and the journalist isn’t held accountable because they cited a source. I feel that un-cited sources isn’t free speech, but a free ticket for anyone to slander. If slander or journalistic misconduct occurs while I am president due to an unnamed source, I will respond by requesting the name of the source. If that is not received, then the journalist will be held accountable for the statement due to unethical journalism. If they didn’t verify their source, then they should not have broadcasted the information. First offense will be a fine. Second will result in a fine to the journalist and the employing company. The third will result in jail. Opinions, as always, will always be legal.
Hey dude! I’m going to be on hurricane duty but I’m trying to talk my very opinionated husband into joining along. If you go to Dane’s woman’s blog and look at her friends he’s Mrwakeupcall.
By the way this is a fantastic idea you’ve had.
Raga ~ Stalker of the Darc Knyt
Being ex-Navy I can sympathize. I have 26 hurricanes under belt and can truly understand how much damage they can do! If you need anything please let me know!
OK, here goes. And by the way, I am so efficient that I only need four. I will, however, tack on a number five just so I can comply with the rules.
As your elected president, I will:
1) Abolish the federal reserve (and get us back on gold{and/or silver}-backed currency) The reason inflation is so high is that the federal reserve just keeps printing money whenever they want. We don’t need it. We don’t need bailouts. It is not the government’s job to fix problems we brought upon ourselves. If a business fails, it was wither poorly managed or a nonperforming business. Why keep that crap going?
2) Bring our boys home. From pretty much everywhere. This will save us money, help strengthen families (you know, having Mom or dad around…) It will secure our borders from threats and illegal aliens. We should never do the preemptive war thing.
3) Balance the budget. This means cutting a huge amount of federal programs. Many are useless and would better be handled by the individual states or the free market.
4) Restore civil liberties by repealing the patriot act, stopping illegal wiretapping, stopping search without warrants, ceasing to torture “enemy combatants” (POWs). Getting rid of the ridiculous “Free speech zones” idea (people should have their first amendment right everywhere they go). Protect the second amendment. You know, that sort of thing.
5) With the money I’ve saved cutting out useless programs and not operating a military empire around the world, I’ll just go ahead and abolish the income tax. (Happy birthday to you, taxpayers.)
Inasmuch as we’re all running for president, here, I’l just go ahead and start debating.
About schools – I believe that the current Federal regulation (No child left behind, etc) is one of the biggest causes of the deplorable state of the public school system. Teachers have to work for a test score, and not for individual students’ learning needs. As such, as president I will oppose further regulation in the school system.
P.S. If you’re interested in knowing why I believe this way, check out a book called “A Thomas Jefferson Education” from your local library.
These are all awesome. With all these great ideas, there’s almost nothing left for me to do except be appointed World Emperor and rule you all with an iron fist.
OBEY THE FIST.
1. After dissolving the Electoral College, a free pint of Ben & Jerry’s would be given as incentive to anyone who shows up at poles to vote, be it for sheriff or the highest call.
2. America would stay America, by all means necessary, relying less on imported goods to restore jobs and stop economic erosion; rescinding both Patriots Acts and giving back civil liberties; implementing true border control and preserving the Constitution, because really, no one wants to have to memorize new songs, especially in seven languages.
3. Since the 9/11 Commission Report is sparse and shady, a new, independent investigation for 9/11would be opened. ALL guilty parties, if still living, would be hung in the county square and first-time responders given due compensation and medical care.
4. Federal income tax would be exchanged for a low federal sales tax, with a higher percentage on luxury items, that way, working or not, poor or rich, legal or illegal, all those on American soil would contribute to the betterment of society in some way
5. People would be forced to study the deeper messages and satiric nuances in the music of Pink Floyd, so a societal awakening could occur. Then revolution can happen, soldiers can come home, education can return to being education rather than a dye casting system and the Orweillian dreams of the Elite, Big Pharma and oil mongers can be squashed forever by the raw determination of the human spirit.
Courtney,
Thanks for entering! I think you wrote this for my wife though! Being pregnant she is going to love point #1! Good luck to you in the judging!!
darcZombie