If I ran the world….
I would back a limit on campaign donations across the board. I think it's healthier for us as a country if campaigns rely on a broad base of small contributions rather than politicians potentially being biased by large contributors of any flavor. That's not curtailing freedom of speech in any way. Individuals can speak their mind; they're just not as able to attempt to buy the minds of others with mountains of money spent on attack ads.
I say we should look at cutting and regulating military spending. They literally lost billions in Iraq- not just spent, flat out can't account for, and that's obscene. That needs to be cut waaaaay back and their procurement and accountability systems need to be replaced with something that works. We can best honor our troops by not sending them places we don’t need to be meddling in, and by responsibly giving them what they need to do their jobs, not by making rich fat men who will never go to war, or send their sons to war, even richer.
Oh and sexual orientation in the military? Why are we making our soldiers lie, and what does that have to do with their jobs? If we’re concerned about the sexuality of those who serve what we should really be focusing on is addressing and eliminating sexual harassment and assault, which btw is mostly heterosexual in nature. When someone serving their country is raped and it’s ignored, or they are even persecuted and further victimized while being forced to serve with their attacker it’s a stain on all those who serve, and all of us who they serve that it’s allowed to happen.
Cutting taxes for the rich doesn’t create job, it never has. Yes, they will continue shipping jobs to third world countries and shipping back shitty plastic merchandise to be sold at wal-mart so long as we allow it to happen. We need to make anyone doing business and selling goods in America to have a reason to keep the jobs here. They won't do it out of the goodness of their hearts because they'll regulate themselves, that's a delusion. If you levy the shit out of things that were produced in sweatshops overseas, subsidize and give tax breaks to companies who keep the jobs here, they will have a reason to. Letting the working class make a living wage will create more jobs because their money will go directly back into the economy for goods and services. More goods and services being purchased will drive the need for more and that's what produces jobs. We just have to make it more profitable for them to keep the job here, because corporations only care about profits and could give a rat’s ass about people. We need to support local businesses and help them produce jobs here. The flip side of this is that there may be less cheap crappy plastic and $2 t-shirts available as they'll hopefully be replaced by less crappy plastic and $5 shirts made by Americans. If we're too short sited to deal with this, we deserve to have all of our jobs outsourced.
Those industries that were bailed out with our money? Regulation and accountability! We absolutely get to know where our money goes, how much they’re making and get to have a say in how much they make in bonuses after tanking the economy. If you’re going to bitch about how those poor beleaguered banking execs were promised that money in contracts you also need to apply the same theory to teachers living just above poverty level (if not below it) who’s paper thin budgets you’re cutting and benefits and wages (both contractual) you’re suggesting they don’t deserve for teaching over filled classrooms of our next generation. Teachers deserve fair pay, decent health benefits, and our support as a nation who needs them to teach our children well.
Consenting adults of sound mind could legally “marry” each other, regardless of the configuration of their private bits. By “marry” I mean all of the legal and financial considerations that marriage comes with as a standard contract. The religious ceremonies often considered “marriage” as well would be completely un-regulated by the government as a logical division of church and state. No church would be made to sponsor or condone anyone’s marriage or allow their ceremonies to take place in their place of worship-unless they receive any government funds, in which case they would not be allowed to discriminate on any grounds. Yes this means that if churches anywhere do all of their own fund raising they would be allowed to decide who they would perform ceremonies for in their own building. That’s the other side of this coin. We separate the legal from the spiritual and address them separately, as church and state should be separated as our founding fathers intended. They didn’t just mean when you felt it was convenient, and no we weren’t founded as a “Christian country”, get over it. We were founded as a country where you have every right to practice whatever religion you choose, so does your neighbor, and no bitching that they don't follow the same one you do. That's kind of the point of freedom of religion.
I would like to institute policies that will reduce the number of abortions. I won’t do this by criminalizing sexuality or assuming women are stupid lazy sluts who shouldn’t be allowed to think for themselves. Instead I would fully support Planned Parenthood and other organizations that provide educational, medical and birth control services. It’s time to be realistic and realize that the human race is not going to stop having sex unless it’s viable to have a baby. It would be nice, but millennia (and more recently, Ms. Palin) have illustrated that is just not the case. We should encourage people to wait until they’re physically and emotionally ready, and encourage them to wait for a loving and committed relationship. However they should also be prepared and understand fully how their bodies work and all the potential outcomes of being sexually active including pregnancy and sxually transmitted diseases. Don’t do it until you’re married is clearly not sufficient education or prevention. Planned Parenthood would also be greatly encouraged to continue its roll providing health care to those who wouldn’t otherwise have access. I’m not talking about abortions here, I’m talking about exams, cancer screenings, etc. which would otherwise not be available for diagnostic and preventative treatment to those who desperately need it. The war on women needs to end.
To be brief, our president is in fact our legally elected president. You are certainly free to disagree with his policies, but claiming he’s not American, or whatever the delusional flavor of the week is just wack-a-doo. Enough said, get over it.