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Its that time again! I post a thread like this every 6 or 7 months, it is interesting to see how people change their responses.
The powers that be in your country, along with the support of your people elect you to be the all powerful ruler of your country for 4 years.
Stipulations:
1. You want to IMPROVE your country, no serious graft folks, your aim is to make your country, better, not better your own lot, though you can make sweeping changes which will effect "your class" of people, i.e. if your rich, changes which improve the lot for the rich, etc etc.
2. You can not do anything which will extend your own time in office, you can't appoint your best friend to be supreme ruler for life after you, etc.
Besides that, you can do, anything you want to, as long as long as you think you can do it without the populace rising up in revolt to kill you.
Well, what would you do?
My list.
1 Immediately disband the department of homeland security. Try to find patriotic and COMPETANT individuals who have fled the department of justice, the CIA and the FBI and reinstate them. Instruct them to prosecute Blackwater, Haliburton and other contractors from the war, if they think there is enough evidence to do so.
2 Form an organization whose only duty is to investigate government officials for corruption. Forming and operating such an organization poses serious problems. We will call this agency “The department of homeland security”.
3 Use said agency and run a thorough investigation on the legislature.
4. Campaign finance reform. Publicly fund elections.
5. Disband the electoral college. Presidential elections will now be based on a flat vote of the entire citizenry.
6. Build a large(large) wall with Mexico. Patrol the borders thoroughly.
7. New policy on hiring of illegal aliens. No more hiding in plain sight. Businesses of less then 20 employees get a “freeer”(not free) pass, however they have to pay their workers minimum wage. If they do this and they are caught, the owner is giving a severe but not crippling fine, they are not subject to criminal prosecution for the first offense. The illegal alien and his family(if illegal) is repatriated as humanely as possible. They will be allowed to contact the consulate(diplomatic embassy) of their home nation before being deported.
If the small business owner does not pay his illegal alien employee minimum wage, they face jail time, a minimum of a year, no commuting of the sentence for any circumstance.
Businesses with more then 20 employees. Any business with more then 20 employees found to have hired an illegal alien, the individual who made the hiring decision will be fined and face jail time, a minimum of five years, no commuting of sentences. If a large business is found to have numerous repeat offenses, it’s executives will be prosecuted for allowing it to happen, or continue. Severe fine and 10 years in prison, no commuting of sentence.
Phase this system in gradually over 2 years, the first 2 years will have no jail time, only fines.
8. Ban the death penalty.
9 Hold new elections for half the legislature, 9 months later, the other half. Any civil servants found to be corrupt will be barred from running for their own seats.
10 Put Bush on trial and a long list of his lackeys. Bar Hillary Clinton from ever holding public office… as well as a long list of other “big names”-the list is too long to bother posting. Demagogues and such, from both sides of the isle.
11 Apologize to the Iraqi people for what happened. Find some solution which involves most of our troops leaving rapidly. This may be dividing the country, giving Kurdish Iraq to Turkey, Suuni Iraq to Iran and keeping the shia minority, as Iraq. Divide the oil revenues of the former state between the 3, based regions, based on populace. Keep an American military presence in “Iraq”(shia-land) to defend it’s borders. If fighting breaks out, blow the aggressor away. If it continues, leave and let them slaughter each other. Not happy we made the problem but if we can’t solve it, we can’t.
12 Sit down with Achmenajad(sp) for real diplomatic talks. Promise him the U.S. is not going to invade or try to off him and try to negotiate for Iran to stop developing nuclear power. If it can’t be worked out, decide what to do next, after.
13 Work for the nonproliferation of nuclear weapons. I am unsure how to best go around this.
13 Place a large sin tax on Wal-Mart. Why? Because I hate Wal-Mart for a long list of reasons. Set the tax in such a way to force it to set it’s own prices comparable to other large retailers.
14 Assassinate Kim Jung Il in secret. Decide what to do next North Korea afterwards, it is a problem to solve.
15 Thoroughly investigate the details of the illegal spying of American citizens which has gone on for the last several years. Prosecute some of the individuals involved.
16 Fire the head of the EPA. Find one of his competent underlings who cares more about science then politics to replace him. Actually on second though, give the job to Al Gore, if he’ll take it. He’ll sit in on cabinet meetings and actually be listened to. The head of NASA is a boot licking toad, replace him. Replace a number of the heads of other major government agencies, if they are boot licking politiking toads.
17 Quadruple the budget of the CDC(center for diseases control). Replace it’s leader, another boot licking toad.
18 Raise standards in the American school system, no more reducing the difficulty to the lowest common denominator. Those who fail, will be left back. Ask people smarter then I and with experience with education how to do this effectively.
19 Fund an “Apollo program” for environmentalism. Spend large sums of government money to try to find an affordable source of reusable energy and solve other environmental problems, like global warming, whether it is manmade or not.
20 Ask smart people with expertise how to do many of the things on this list.
21 Expand my cabinet to include wealthy, private individuals(see 22)
22 I will borrow a page from a genius general in ancient Sparta who had a VERY clever idea on how to get the elite to fund public works and other functions of government in the city of Syracuse.
Require all wealthy individuals(wealth over some magic number) to report on their total wealth, in detail. This means all their property, all their spending, including and especially what they have given to charity. This information will be a matter of public record. Those who donate the most, show the greatest spirit of corporate responsibility and comic to philanthropic works will get a seat at my cabinet if they want it. Those who are the most philanthropic and patriotic will be honored weekly in a meeting with me and a public meeting after where the press will be invited. Their buisness interests will get my personal endorsment if they act responsibly.
23 Ban affirmative action and quota systems in higher education. Those who want to help the unfortunate, will help the unfortunate based on their economic background, not race.
24 Reform the IRS and the tax system. Ask smart people with experience and integrity, how to do this.
25 Keep the supreme court during my reign and inform them they are to rule on my decisions if they are unconstitutional, though they may well be ignored.
26 Hire a group of smart people with expertise to write a book on the constitution which can be understood by the masses and somehow… and I cannot imagine how, a book which is entertaining. Mail a copy of this book to every American. Mail a fake-parchment of the constitution and a frame to every American household. IRS forms for the next 4 years will come with a modest multiple choice test on the U.S. constitution. The list of potential questions will be very, very, very, very, very, very long, each American will get random questions. If you pass, you get $300 off your federal taxes(sliding down, based on score).
27 Require elected public officials, or non elected officials over a certain threshold of power to report to their constituents, weekly. Every week, public official will take questions from their constituents. Here is how it will work. Where voting Americans live is already recorded, you have to live somewhere to vote. Every voter can go to a website and submit up to 4 questions to any individual they are a constituent of, or appointed individuals over a certain threshold of power. These public officials will then get the questions, randomly, via the power of random number generators at a central location overseen by the supreme court.
They will have 2 hours to respond to as many questions as they are able to, spending no more then 20 minutes on any question. A panel of 10 citizens will be picked at random ala jury duty to decide if questions asked on any given week are repeats of another question that same week. I.E. “What are you going to do about Bob shooting Jody?” and “How do you feel about Bob shooting Jody” are the same question and will be skipped.
Videos of the responses will be available via in the internet. Libraries will also keep written transcripts and have at least one computer dedicated to playing videos of this system.
The system is open to abuse in a number of clever ways, if it is abused, the system will be revised, as needed.
We can expect local media outlets to publish especially scandalous responses. We can expect national media to respond to bigger scandals from federal officials.
28 Re-examine all legislation passed in the last 8 years, repeal a great deal of it.
29 I would disband the democratic and republican party, or ban political parties alltogether, but I think it may cause more harm then good. I would assemble a panel of smart peopel with experience, to see what can be done about the enormous problems of the "two party systsem".
The powers that be in your country, along with the support of your people elect you to be the all powerful ruler of your country for 4 years.
Stipulations:
1. You want to IMPROVE your country, no serious graft folks, your aim is to make your country, better, not better your own lot, though you can make sweeping changes which will effect "your class" of people, i.e. if your rich, changes which improve the lot for the rich, etc etc.
2. You can not do anything which will extend your own time in office, you can't appoint your best friend to be supreme ruler for life after you, etc.
Besides that, you can do, anything you want to, as long as long as you think you can do it without the populace rising up in revolt to kill you.
Well, what would you do?
My list.
1 Immediately disband the department of homeland security. Try to find patriotic and COMPETANT individuals who have fled the department of justice, the CIA and the FBI and reinstate them. Instruct them to prosecute Blackwater, Haliburton and other contractors from the war, if they think there is enough evidence to do so.
2 Form an organization whose only duty is to investigate government officials for corruption. Forming and operating such an organization poses serious problems. We will call this agency “The department of homeland security”.
3 Use said agency and run a thorough investigation on the legislature.
4. Campaign finance reform. Publicly fund elections.
5. Disband the electoral college. Presidential elections will now be based on a flat vote of the entire citizenry.
6. Build a large(large) wall with Mexico. Patrol the borders thoroughly.
7. New policy on hiring of illegal aliens. No more hiding in plain sight. Businesses of less then 20 employees get a “freeer”(not free) pass, however they have to pay their workers minimum wage. If they do this and they are caught, the owner is giving a severe but not crippling fine, they are not subject to criminal prosecution for the first offense. The illegal alien and his family(if illegal) is repatriated as humanely as possible. They will be allowed to contact the consulate(diplomatic embassy) of their home nation before being deported.
If the small business owner does not pay his illegal alien employee minimum wage, they face jail time, a minimum of a year, no commuting of the sentence for any circumstance.
Businesses with more then 20 employees. Any business with more then 20 employees found to have hired an illegal alien, the individual who made the hiring decision will be fined and face jail time, a minimum of five years, no commuting of sentences. If a large business is found to have numerous repeat offenses, it’s executives will be prosecuted for allowing it to happen, or continue. Severe fine and 10 years in prison, no commuting of sentence.
Phase this system in gradually over 2 years, the first 2 years will have no jail time, only fines.
8. Ban the death penalty.
9 Hold new elections for half the legislature, 9 months later, the other half. Any civil servants found to be corrupt will be barred from running for their own seats.
10 Put Bush on trial and a long list of his lackeys. Bar Hillary Clinton from ever holding public office… as well as a long list of other “big names”-the list is too long to bother posting. Demagogues and such, from both sides of the isle.
11 Apologize to the Iraqi people for what happened. Find some solution which involves most of our troops leaving rapidly. This may be dividing the country, giving Kurdish Iraq to Turkey, Suuni Iraq to Iran and keeping the shia minority, as Iraq. Divide the oil revenues of the former state between the 3, based regions, based on populace. Keep an American military presence in “Iraq”(shia-land) to defend it’s borders. If fighting breaks out, blow the aggressor away. If it continues, leave and let them slaughter each other. Not happy we made the problem but if we can’t solve it, we can’t.
12 Sit down with Achmenajad(sp) for real diplomatic talks. Promise him the U.S. is not going to invade or try to off him and try to negotiate for Iran to stop developing nuclear power. If it can’t be worked out, decide what to do next, after.
13 Work for the nonproliferation of nuclear weapons. I am unsure how to best go around this.
13 Place a large sin tax on Wal-Mart. Why? Because I hate Wal-Mart for a long list of reasons. Set the tax in such a way to force it to set it’s own prices comparable to other large retailers.
14 Assassinate Kim Jung Il in secret. Decide what to do next North Korea afterwards, it is a problem to solve.
15 Thoroughly investigate the details of the illegal spying of American citizens which has gone on for the last several years. Prosecute some of the individuals involved.
16 Fire the head of the EPA. Find one of his competent underlings who cares more about science then politics to replace him. Actually on second though, give the job to Al Gore, if he’ll take it. He’ll sit in on cabinet meetings and actually be listened to. The head of NASA is a boot licking toad, replace him. Replace a number of the heads of other major government agencies, if they are boot licking politiking toads.
17 Quadruple the budget of the CDC(center for diseases control). Replace it’s leader, another boot licking toad.
18 Raise standards in the American school system, no more reducing the difficulty to the lowest common denominator. Those who fail, will be left back. Ask people smarter then I and with experience with education how to do this effectively.
19 Fund an “Apollo program” for environmentalism. Spend large sums of government money to try to find an affordable source of reusable energy and solve other environmental problems, like global warming, whether it is manmade or not.
20 Ask smart people with expertise how to do many of the things on this list.
21 Expand my cabinet to include wealthy, private individuals(see 22)
22 I will borrow a page from a genius general in ancient Sparta who had a VERY clever idea on how to get the elite to fund public works and other functions of government in the city of Syracuse.
Require all wealthy individuals(wealth over some magic number) to report on their total wealth, in detail. This means all their property, all their spending, including and especially what they have given to charity. This information will be a matter of public record. Those who donate the most, show the greatest spirit of corporate responsibility and comic to philanthropic works will get a seat at my cabinet if they want it. Those who are the most philanthropic and patriotic will be honored weekly in a meeting with me and a public meeting after where the press will be invited. Their buisness interests will get my personal endorsment if they act responsibly.
23 Ban affirmative action and quota systems in higher education. Those who want to help the unfortunate, will help the unfortunate based on their economic background, not race.
24 Reform the IRS and the tax system. Ask smart people with experience and integrity, how to do this.
25 Keep the supreme court during my reign and inform them they are to rule on my decisions if they are unconstitutional, though they may well be ignored.
26 Hire a group of smart people with expertise to write a book on the constitution which can be understood by the masses and somehow… and I cannot imagine how, a book which is entertaining. Mail a copy of this book to every American. Mail a fake-parchment of the constitution and a frame to every American household. IRS forms for the next 4 years will come with a modest multiple choice test on the U.S. constitution. The list of potential questions will be very, very, very, very, very, very long, each American will get random questions. If you pass, you get $300 off your federal taxes(sliding down, based on score).
27 Require elected public officials, or non elected officials over a certain threshold of power to report to their constituents, weekly. Every week, public official will take questions from their constituents. Here is how it will work. Where voting Americans live is already recorded, you have to live somewhere to vote. Every voter can go to a website and submit up to 4 questions to any individual they are a constituent of, or appointed individuals over a certain threshold of power. These public officials will then get the questions, randomly, via the power of random number generators at a central location overseen by the supreme court.
They will have 2 hours to respond to as many questions as they are able to, spending no more then 20 minutes on any question. A panel of 10 citizens will be picked at random ala jury duty to decide if questions asked on any given week are repeats of another question that same week. I.E. “What are you going to do about Bob shooting Jody?” and “How do you feel about Bob shooting Jody” are the same question and will be skipped.
Videos of the responses will be available via in the internet. Libraries will also keep written transcripts and have at least one computer dedicated to playing videos of this system.
The system is open to abuse in a number of clever ways, if it is abused, the system will be revised, as needed.
We can expect local media outlets to publish especially scandalous responses. We can expect national media to respond to bigger scandals from federal officials.
28 Re-examine all legislation passed in the last 8 years, repeal a great deal of it.
29 I would disband the democratic and republican party, or ban political parties alltogether, but I think it may cause more harm then good. I would assemble a panel of smart peopel with experience, to see what can be done about the enormous problems of the "two party systsem".
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