Turn it around? Here's my top 10 and not necessarily in the proper order.
Thanks for the reply. I have to be honest, I didn't think you would reply. Ok, so here are my responses in red below.
1) Drug testing for all that receive public funding
I am ok with this...but what about alcohol and cigarettes?
What about getting to the root cause of drug and alcohol use. We need to answer some questions. What percentage of people who receive public assistance also use drugs (is this even a real problem). How many use drugs because they are trying to cover up the pain of not being a productive member of society? How many are just freeloaders cheating the US tax payer so they and sit around and get stoned? I don't know the answers any more than you do...but we need to find out before we can figure out a way to solve the problem (if there actually is a problem).
Assuming this is a big problem: what do we do about it? Cut them off and assume they will get off drugs, get a job and become a productive member of society? Maybe that is what would happen..but what if we find out that they don't have the skills to get a job because our education system has failed them. What if there simply aren't any jobs because huge multinational corporations, who only care about making money, have given all the jobs to Chinese workers who they can legally pay slave wages? Then what do we do? What do the newly cut-off people do? If they can't support themselves do we wait until the get caught stealing and put them in jail so they are an even bigger burden on society?
2) Make everyone that's in this county become a citizen or get out! The tax base would rise substantially.
Yes!!! I totally agree. We need immigration reform! President Obama wants exactly what you and I want. Those who have made American their homes and are productive members of society should be allowed to work towards a path to citizenship. Those who are a drain on society should be kicked out. Also, those who cannot speak English well should be kicked out, especially if they have been here a long time. Those who have not been here a long time should be kicked... unless they have strong family ties here already.
Do you know that more people have been deported under President Obama than under President Bush?
3) Term limits for congress. Too many career politicians with baggage and needless spending.
Yes!! and we need to take the money out of politics. There are a lot of good people in this country who would make great politicians...but they don't have ties to big money.
I met a guy a few weeks ago who told me about how Brazil handles elections. Politicians are only allowed to campaign for 2 weeks, cannot use outside money, and are given free air time to make their case. The amount of time and money our politicians spend is sickening. They are bought and paid for by big money leaving the average American to fend for themselves. The ultra wealthy are able to stack the deck in their favor and our corrupt politicians help them do it. Americans are not getting lazier, they are being crushed by a lack of opportunity and a system that has a monopoly on jobs and wages.
4) Have trial lawyers be punished for filing frivolous lawsuits by suspending them from practicing. Also, if they lose a case they would have to pay all of the court costs.
I sort of agree with this. That lady who spilled her coffee and then sue McDonald's because she claimed it was too hot...comes to mind. This seems frivolous and has been joked about, yet she won the case. The problem here is, who is going to decide what frivolous is?
I think a better way to handle this problem is to set up arbitration panels (similar to small claims but more streamlined). People who have a certain level of education could serve a few hours every month to hear cases. Ten people plus the full time arbitration judge would hear the cases. No lawyers would be permitted. Each side would have 10 minutes to make their case and provide evidence. If they do not agree with the arbitration ruling they could file a suit....but the judge would have the ability to preview the case and force acceptance of the arbitration ruling. I agree with you, we need to unclog our legal system and take the profit motive away from lawyers, yet, people have the right to sue when they feel they have been wrongly harmed in some way.
5) Public hangings or use of the guillotine for execution
I love it!!!! We do have to be really careful with this. Far too often, people who have spent decades in prison get released because DNA evidence is able to prove their innocence or a witness is proven to have lied. If, however, there is no doubt a person murdered someone, they should be marched out of the courthouse and strung up...period. It is ridiculous to waste tax payer money keeping these people fed and healthy for year after year while their lawyers play games with our twisted legal system.
6) Find someone in government that will put the good of their nation ahead of their party's platform. Without cooperation and crossing the aisle, this country is doomed. This president has made it a point to leave no alternative to draw lines in the sand instead of finding common ground.
If we took money out of politics, politicians would not need to join one of the parties in order to serve in government. The two party system would then collapse and there would no longer be an isle to cross. Also, politicians who lie to Americans to harm their opponent should be tried for treason and publicly executed.
7) The president should find the 20 most qualified people in the country regardless of party affiliation and have them figure out the health care issue. They would be sequestered away until they find a solution. Once they find it, he should sign it and send to the congress for unanimous approval and enacted as law.
I believe the affordable health care act addresses many of the problems with health care. One of the problems is, we have too many people who can't afford health care and when they get sick they go to the emergency room where hospitals are forced to care for them. Eventually, the tax payer and people who have insurance pay for them. By making health insurance mandatory, this problem is helped greatly. While it is true that people who can't afford insurance will be given assistance, the costs will be lower because they will be able to get proper care which will reduce their overall health care costs because they won't have to wait until they are really sick to get care (costing much more than if they got treatment early on). Also, since young healthy people often forgo insurance because they either think they won't need it or they just can't afford it, the insurance companies end up with older and sicker customers which forces them to spread higher risk over fewer clients....forcing the cost of insurance up dramatically. With everyone insured, the cost per person will come down.
Another issue I learned about from a class on Heath Psychology is the cost of treating chronic illnesses such as diabetes, high blood pressure, stroke, cardiovascular disease, and obesity. It is estimated that 76% of all health care costs go to treat these and a few other "chronic" diseases. These illnesses can be prevented almost 100% of the time by eating a healthy diet and regular exercise. As an athlete, I'm sure you know first hand how important a healthy diet and exercise are. I will also guarantee you that just cigarettes, alcohol, and obesity cost society more than all the illegal drug use combined. So what do we do with people who refuse to take care of themselves? As a society, we want them to be cared for but we don' t want to pay for it. Do we let them die? I'm ok with that....but then we have idiots like Sarah Palin yelling about death panels and out the other side of her stupid mouth she says don't tell people how to eat. We just can't have it both ways.
My dad and mother in law are both good examples of this huge problem. They both ate a poor diet all their lives and laughed at people who ate right. They both have said many times, "I'll eat what I want while I'm alive" or "I don't want to live forever. A few years ago my dad had a heart attack and had to have triple bypass surgery. Luckily he is doing well and will live a long time now that he has decided that eating right and hitting the gym is important. My mother in law is not so lucky, she has been in and out of the hospital many many times the past few years. She can't walk on her own anymore, has to have dialysis three time a week, has severe diabetes, poor eyesight, and has almost died several times. Her life is a living hell and she has dragged her family down with her.
Back to my original point. My dad and mother in law, both on medicare have cost the system a fortune and it could have all been prevented it they took some responsibility for them selves. There are many people like this....so what do we do about them? They are the biggest reason for the rising costs of health care. What compounds this reality is the fact that we have so many old people relative to the number of working age people. "Less people paying in and more people taking out".
8) Find Mike Terrell, Theresa the slut, Harley Terrell, Pedro the donkey and anyone else associated with this mess and have them stoned. I've got a good arm!
Yes!! Just say the word and I'll be there. I only want two promises from you. 1) I get to swing the bat. 2) None of them walk away.
9) Legalize pot and tax the shit out of it. Buy Doritos stock.
I have always been in favor of legalizing all drugs even though I have never used any drugs, not even pot or alcohol. Making drugs illegal has not helped, it only creates criminals that are now clogging our jails and costing tax payers a fortune. Drugs could be taxed and controlled, the money could be used to educate people against the use of drugs as well as treatment of people who want to quit. Imagine all the money that would stay in our country and out of the hands of drug cartels. I would be ok with making any drug use illegal for anyone taking any public assistance.
10) Raise the pay and benefits of our veterans, policemen and firefighters and cut the pay and benefits of every politician.
We need to take care of our veterans, but I am against the government manipulating the marked....even for pay to firefighters and police; I don't even like minimum wage laws. All we need is for the government to stop selling out to the highest bidder and everything will begin to work again.
