So, lately, the state of U.S. politics and foreign relations has really been scaring me, and disappointing me. It is starting to become clear to me just how lost we have become as a nation and a people. I'm afraid that we are reaching a point of no return, and nothing seems to be stopping this decline. I used to be a pretty solid Democrat, jumped sides for a time when Ron Paul was running, but came back to the side of the Democrats later in the election. What a let down they have become, and the Republicans don't offer much better; look how many big money candidates jumped on the bandwagon to become "Tea Partier's" when it looked like it would be to there benefit, not to mention how big business, i.e. Koch brothers, etc., starting shadow funding and pushing THEIR own agenda.What seemed to be a movement with some legitimacy quickly became another pawn of big business. That's the real reason I dislike/disliked them so much, because they had been "had", and couldn't see it. So with all this being said, I am re-registering, as an independent, and until I see a real candidate worth voting for, I will not be voting. The two party system is a joke. If I was given a magic wand, this is how I would change American politics.
1 term limit, for EVERY politician. No more career politicians.
Foreign relations: we protect our own interests, and we stop fighting wars for everyone else. No more "peace keeping". "nation building", "pre-emptive conflicts", none of it. We need to stop being the world's police force. We need to let countries fuck up, if that is what they are going to do. It's their countries, let them fix it. No more "Summits" pushing American style policies on those who don't want, don't need, or are not ready for them. If other countries like what they see here, then they can copy us, we shouldn't force others to do so. Stop giving money away in foreign aid. things like the recent Tsunami would, of course, be an exception, but, barring a disaster on a biblical scale, no more funneling money away from our populace. Sorry, but most people here are worried about their own households, not those half a world away.
War: we protect ourselves from attack, and fight only those who fight and attack us. Again, no more world policing.
Taxes: Federal taxes will fund the Dept. of Education, the FDA, Health care (but not in the way most people would expect),judiciary, and the military, with a small amount going to fund the administrative needs of the government. That's it. The future of this country is in education, it needs to be funded exponentially more than it is now. The FDA protects us from ourselves and predatory companies willing to push unsafe products on our populace, from unsafe canning processes to toxic medications, they still have, and will continue to have a purpose.The judiciary, to ensure that the constitution is upheld nation wide. The military, for protection of our borders and our sovereignty. everything else, the states can pick up the bill.Limiting what we pay for to the essentials is the only way to really reign in cost.and if you don't like how your state spends money, either work to change it, or move.
Health care: a small portion of every paycheck goes into a health care fund. Not medicare,medicaid, etc. Just one large fund that covers everyone from 1-100. The person receiving the funds must prove that they truly need it, and those receiving money from the fund must independently attempt to improve their health on their own, if they do not, they lose the funds. If you have COPD, and are poor and receiving federal aid for your health care, then you should have no money for cigarettes, right? Under the system, if you continue to smoke without attempting to quit, you lose assistance, so sorry Charley. The health care fund would pay for emergency medical care if there is no other option, but no more housing drug addicts in hospitals or nursing home dumping of patients.They clog our system and our resources.Unless your life is in danger, treat em, and street em.
Illegal immigration: speaking of clogged resources, federal money is not given to anyone that is not a citizen, period.The only exception to this would be education, the children of illegal immigrants didn't have a choice in what their parents chose to do. The borders will be protected by the military, not yahoo local militias and local law enforcement easily bought by drug dealers.Remember that protecting our sovereignty part? Can't do it with a porous border.
Finance and Wall Street: Government is full of people who know how to, uhm, govern (sort of), but that doesn't mean they know how to run a business or balance a check book. So let business do business. But with one caveat.Remember that whole funding the judiciary thing? If companies, like banks and insurance companies, are found to be defrauding their customers, their executives go to jail, for a LONG time. Stealing is stealing, and stealing on a grand scale deserves a grand sentence.Like a life sentence. This way, no one is telling Wall Street HOW to do business, but if you intentionally fuck up, then you are fucked. The Big Business types have this arrogance that they can get away with what ever they want, when they want, with no repercussions, stomp on anyone they want, take over entire territories of business, killing American entrepreneurship and small businesses. So government, take the reigns off of small business, an dput them on big business.
Education: Education, and educators, will receive A LOT more money, we don't produce anything in this country anymore, we don't produce leaders or innovators, we aren't creators and inventors, we can be and we should be. But you don't get Cadillac service on a Yugo budget.
Civil/Social liberties: It's kind of funny, the founders of this country wrote up a really cool, forward thinking, progressive piece of guidance called the constitution. It promised all Americans liberty and justice. It seperated church and state. It stated that all people(well, it said all men, but you get my drift), we're created equal. It my country, it is upheld. As long as your life doesn't hurt someone else's life, you should be able to do what you want. No "drug war", no ban on gay marriage, no "faith based" programs in public schools, none of the social shackles used by the social conservatives in this country to take away the pursuit of liberty and happiness from others.It's unfair, and unamerican.
So, that's about it, everything else would be handled by the states or private industry. Don't like it, oh well, this is MY idealized world. It takes good ideas from the left and the right, but it isn't either/or. Thanks, interested reader.
Oh yeah, at the moment, I see myself as a Libertarian Democrat, check the wiki link for what it is,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libertarian_Democrat
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/06/07/216688/-The-Libertarian-Dem
The links were taken from The Daily Kos and Wikipedia, and they are property of those respective websites.
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