Personally I would:
-Get rid of Wellfare
-Put heavier limits on unemployment
-Make forced labor an option to pay off debts
-I would bring all of our troops home and set them on our boarders and not let anyone in (except if it was for business or you were importing stuff), then give everyone that didn't have a visa and a good history in the United States and in their preveous country 30 days to either get out or take a immigration test that was in English and if they failed I'd throw them out or if they got a C or D I'd make them go to school. If you were not gone by those days then the troops (which I would set on a patrol of the country after those 30 days), would find you and you'd be jailed, fined, then sent back to your respected country or a country of your choosing.
-Taxes would be made equal no matter how much you make or didn't make
-Doctors, firemen, policemen, etc. would be paid more
Thats my main agenda, I would change some other things but they are insignificant compared to those. Ok well post your views and what you would do.
Free trade is nessicary for a good economy; so are migrant workers, much as you may hate them.
An official language would be a better standard, and work better.
Now imagine you have no idea what people do in order to make money. Now design a tax system around it. Veil of ignorance.
quote:
And I was all like 'Oh yeah?' and Tareshinal was all like:
What would you do if you were dictator of the United States?
Hold elections, and do it FAST.
"Don't want to sound like a fanboy, but I am with you. I'll buy it for sure, it's just a matter of for how long I will be playing it..."
- Silvast, Battle.net forums
Declare dictatorship over.
Reinstitute Democracy.
Welfare is a fucking cruch to 99% of those of use it.
quote:
Elvish Crack Pipering:
Welfare is a fucking cruch to 99% of those of use it.
It's a broken system that doesn't benefit anyone. Oh, sure, people on welfare might go on living, but they have no reason to get OFF welfare so they generally don't. It's also real helpful for drug dealers and pimps who can be making six figures in undeclared income and still collect a welfare check.
It's a broken, self-perpetuating and detrimental system and should be abolished completely. In it's place, lower the minimum wage to 2 or 3 dollars an hour. That way companies will be able to afford hiring the homeless for undesirable jobs. Also, invest in adult education centers and college grants for the homeless. As a kicker, have a caveat that if a homeless person who is in school and maintains a certain grade average and is in a below-$5/hr job, the government will provide them an extra $3 an hour, tax free, for every hour worked at their job.
Death of Rats fucked around with this message on 04-27-2004 at 02:26 AM.
quote:
Death of Rats had this to say about Jimmy Carter:
I would also implement a national heath care coverage, and make a new branch of goverment, that would make various things, like clothes and stuff like that, that woudl be entirely 100% U.S. made.
[/list]
I smell a communist!
quote:
The logic train ran off the tracks when Zair said:
I smell a communist!
It wouldn't made a large buisness, just a little something for the goverment to bring on the side.
quote:
Mod impressed everyone with:
I'd sell it to France, just for the comedy factor.
Cool. One rebellion for Independence later, we've got our freedom back and a new foothold overseas entited "Freedom Land."
quote:
Over the mountain, in between the ups and downs, I ran into Death of Rats who doth quote:
It wouldn't made a large buisness, just a little something for the goverment to bring on the side.
I think he was referring more to your seizing of all property an national healthcare plan, both of which are straight out of Karl Marx's mouth.
Ban the use of hair coloring agents. death pentatly if convicted of that offense.
Girls would be girls again or else
men would be men again or else.
those who coulnt make up thier mind if thye were a man or a woman would be deported to france.
cars would be well built and safe.
comerical vehicles would use LP for a fuel source.
the UN would find a new home.
would enact the Somthor Doctrine, If you get held hostage we dont ransom you, if you die along with the terrorists/hostage takers when we come for you so sorry. any terrorist act against a US citizen will result in simular acts against the nation of the terrorists orgin.
pass a law forbiding importation of goods that are already produced in the US of simular quality and price
DMZ zone accross the mexican boarder and Canada. First time you illegaly enter the us we send you home the second time we brand you with a big IA on your forhead the third time we send you to france.
every person on welfare will be found some task to do in order to recive benifits. wither its picking up trash alongside a road or stuffing envelopes. No more free ride. Persons who are found physicaly unable to work or mentaly unable will be given therapy and rehab til they can, if they cant they will be sent to France.
Defacing public property will be punishable by Caining
Education will be made a top priority people who show aptitiude will be given free advanced education those who dont will be given vocationaly training suitable to their abilitys of their choice. those who refuse to learn will be sent to france.
Katrinity will be the state religion
smokeing in public will be forbidon. a $1.00 per butt deposit will be required for all smokable items.
resonable recycling will be mandatory.
an effort to establish a moon base and space station will be made.
all us territories would be given the option of becoming states or be forever cut off from the nations assistance.
Canada will be invited to become part of the us.
sigpic courtesy of This Guy, original modified by me
quote:
Ja'Deth Issar Ka'bael had this to say about Matthew Broderick:
dang Somthor you drunk? You sound more crackpot than usual.
you have to be insane to be a dictator. its part of the job requirments. Id be a lousy dictator probalby get assainated fairly quickly and replaced with a more able and ruthless person like oh lerts say Parcelan
quote:
Maradon! had this to say about John Romero:
It's a broken system that doesn't benefit anyone. Oh, sure, people on welfare might go on living, but they have no reason to get OFF welfare so they generally don't. It's also real helpful for drug dealers and pimps who can be making six figures in undeclared income and still collect a welfare check.It's a broken, self-perpetuating and detrimental system and should be abolished completely. In it's place, lower the minimum wage to 2 or 3 dollars an hour. That way companies will be able to afford hiring the homeless for undesirable jobs. Also, invest in adult education centers and college grants for the homeless. As a kicker, have a caveat that if a homeless person who is in school and maintains a certain grade average and is in a below-$5/hr job, the government will provide them an extra $3 an hour, tax free, for every hour worked at their job.
Thanks, I appreciate that, really. 
Obviously this is a situation you have not had to deal with, and are commenting on something you have no experience with.
That has got to be the single most retarded thing I've heard you say. Although I agree the system is broken, getting rid of it would cause more harm than good, and your proposed changes make even less sense.
For one, even getting ON welfare if you are a white, four person family, is hard. The minimal help you get is just that, minimal, and not ALL situations are uniform. Sometimes circumstances dictate your ability to function. Not only that, but those same circumstances that dictate the need for wellfare, you propose to make even worse by lowering the Minimum Wage. Yes, lets lower minimum wage to 2 or 3 dollars, so companies can hire people to work for less. Why would they pay more? Some people have to work those minimum wage jobs in order to survive right now, and if you lower it to 2 or 3 dollars, you wont make jobs for the homeless. You will make more homeless. Because then minimum wage will not be able to make the cost of living, and well, you abolished wellfare so they aren't getting any aide for thier living expenses or even food. Not to mention a loss of health care for young children, since you know, for $2 or $3 an hour they sure as hell aren't going to be able to afford any corporate health care plans, and you abolished welfare so no Medicade.
On top of that you are proposing to cost the governemnt even more by investing in adult education, scholarships, grants, and performance aided living.
Yes the system is abused, yes the system is racial biased, yes it could use a little work, but some of us are actually in need of that help. Some people have a legitimate case in order to deal with it, and some of us have suffered due to situations out of our control. So, before you spout off, and generalize everyone into being a lazy good for nothing sucking the system dry, you think about it. And the you think real hard about the stupidity of lowering minimum wage lower than it is, bundled WITH the cost to living after losing welfare.
We don't like being on it, we desperately want a way to get off of it, we went from making over $80,000 a year to less than $12,000 in just a matter of 6 months due to situations out of our control, we live in a shithole, and we do what we can to make money. We fight just to keep a vechile running so the income we DO have remains, we fight to find a way to make a living and feed a family of 4 (Including too small children) on a monthly income $850 with a total Foodstamp Allowance of $80 a month (Do the math). On top of that we have two small children who could not recieve aide or benefits any other way. We can't even GET Medicade for Cyn because she is six and they concider us as having too much income to warrant qualifying her for Medicade. Right now she needs some dentistry and vision care, including glasses.
I could say more, but for some reason this post just pissed me off a LOT more than I expected. And I appreciate the sentiment of "Loser" being labeled here, as if we didn't have any other labels to deal with. Faelynn LeAndris fucked around with this message on 04-27-2004 at 09:27 AM.
sounds like you are bitter because you had the rug pulled out from under you. I have noticed you are sensitive to this topic and things related to proper care of children. So I am curious to know excaly what prevents you from achiving success.
quote:
Somthor had this to say about Knight Rider:
so when you gonna get back to making that 80k a year? is there somtheng that totaly prevents you from earning that? half of that? is it a matter of location? Have you looked into Vocational Rehabilitation if its a medical problem?sounds like you are bitter because you had the rug pulled out from under you. I have noticed you are sensitive to this topic and things related to proper care of children. So I am curious to know excaly what prevents you from achiving success.
Location, Lack of Functional Vehicles, Cost of Daycare (Even WITH assisted Daycare) lack of a job market worth any sizeable amount of income near my area that would require LESS than 1 1/2 - 2 hours driving time both ways. Many other reasons. Not to mention my field of expertise is now outdated knowledge, so much so that I have to ask others for basic help on things that I one time I was at the top of my game on.
Having the "Rug pulled out from under you" as you put it, in some situations, is hard to recover from. For the record on how we GOT to this point, Monica worked for a CPA (And had for 4 years) and was highly qualified, and I was an IT Tech. We lost both of our cars within a week of each other, the axle broke on one, and the engine litterally blew up on the other. Monica was able to ride share with a co-worker, I was not, I ended up losing my job after not being able to get to work for 2 weeks, since it was a Contracted job. Also since it was a contracted job I did not qualify for Unemployment. I had to spend the next three months searching for a job, ironically at the time the market fell out from underneath the IT Market, and was unable to find one. We were LIVING the lifestyle of a middleincome family, and of course after three months of no secondary income and job searching, I had to make a choice. Either I asked for help, or my children went hungry. I opted to ask for help and took my family to stay with my mother.
While staying with her, Monica was in a car accident, and a drunk driver totalled our recently fixed, and at the time, ONLY functional car. On top of that my step-father aquired massive debts, and sent my mother into Bankrupcy, causing her to lose the house we were all staying in, and we were put out on the street. We had to come up with start up money (Luckliy from her accident, which is not something to really be happy about) and got a new used car, and deposit/first months rent on a place to stay. During this time, Monica was fired from HER job because after the car accident we had no vehicle and she couldn't get to work. She eventually got a new job after we got the new car, as did I. We were doing OKAY for a bit, and catching up. Until Monica was fired due to downsizing from her new job, and was only making very little on Unemployment at that stage, and because of location and lacking a second vehicle, she was unable to get a job for a year. After that year, I was fired due to the fact my company (A Games and Billiard Table Store, small town buisness) could no longer afford to pay me, and Monica got another job. Where she now works, at Michaels, for barely over minimum wage. Again we have only one functional car, Monica's schedule is sporadic in the fact she does not have set hours, and we have two small kids.
My touchyness on the state of children and how they are cared for today has nothing to do with our current living situation. I have always been, and will remain defensive of the welfare of children. I am also not bitter exactly, because of my life. Shit happens, and I accept it. Yes, I am embarrassed sometimes when people want to visit, like Matt and Tim were gonna try and come up again, because of how shitty my lifestyle is, and I wish it were better. However, I only look towards bettering my situation, and having it downplayed, riddiculed, or being labeled as a "Less Than" person because of my situation serves only to incite me, and piss me off. Because the majority of people who spout these opinions, have no clue about the type of life you are forced to live, or the conditions one may be forced into.
im sure you ahve condisered moving to a better job market?
are you aware of Vocational Rehbilitation services? its a program funded by your tax dollars (part of fica i belive) and simply put it help people who have lost their jobs through downsizeing or medical problems regain the skill needed to get a decent job matched by your aptitude.
they will depending on your particular merits send you to college for retraining. provide medical and finacial assistence. books and courses and even job placement.
I was able to get a 2 year scholorship from them for my own Needs. I know of a veteran who maanged to get them to help with his commercial pilots licence.
its not welfare its somthing you paid for while you were working and a genarly unknown and under used resource.
the concept is to get you back on your feet working and off public assistance.
quote:
Somthor had this to say about pies:
first man im sorry about your luck you really got a lousy hand of cards there.im sure you ahve condisered moving to a better job market?
are you aware of Vocational Rehbilitation services? its a program funded by your tax dollars (part of fica i belive) and simply put it help people who have lost their jobs through downsizeing or medical problems regain the skill needed to get a decent job matched by your aptitude.
they will depending on your particular merits send you to college for retraining. provide medical and finacial assistence. books and courses and even job placement.
I was able to get a 2 year scholorship from them for my own Needs. I know of a veteran who maanged to get them to help with his commercial pilots licence.
its not welfare its somthing you paid for while you were working and a genarly unknown and under used resource.
the concept is to get you back on your feet working and off public assistance.
All been done. Moving to a different location is obviously not an option due to circumstances, since we can barely live as is, and they wont help you with that beyond Section 8 which we don't qualify for, we have tried.
I have already gone through Texas Workforce Vocational Training, which is how I got my last job in the first place, and to this day I remain on call for job placement. However they also have me listed as having a lack of transportation, the one barely working vehicle thing, and have yet to find anything. This is of course including the looking for work on my own. I've even wanted to get a job at the school so I COULD work around my daughters school schedule, but thier positions were gone almost as soon as they were posted, and the ones I applied for were filled pretty soon after.
Currently we do not qualify for Daycare aide, Medicade for Cyn, or assisted living. So we do what we can, and live how we can, and I watch my niece for extra cash.
Circumstances dictate our lifestyle, and all we do is fight to change the circumstances. So yes, this subject is a quick and easy way to get a rise out of me. Because I am not going to let someone put me down just because they don't undestand my situation, or feel somehow superior to me. Faelynn LeAndris fucked around with this message on 04-27-2004 at 10:06 AM.
tell you what I got a little thing im doing that might turn out to make me a decent proffit if it works out as I hope I'll find a bike on ebay in your area and pay up to 500.00 on it for you.
interested?
But there is far more abuse of the system than there is good uses of it anymore.
quote:
Azizza thought about the meaning of life:
But there is far more abuse of the system than there is good uses of it anymore.
Prove it.
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Zaza obviously shouldn't have said:
Prove it.
simple walk into the welfare office of your choice and ask the workers. oh and check the parking lot on the way out and see what some of the clients drive
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Somthor thought this was the Ricky Martin Fan Club Forum and wrote:
simple walk into the welfare office of your choice and ask the workers. oh and check the parking lot on the way out and see what some of the clients drive
Oh, I'll admit that the system is most likely broken to some extent. But to which extent isn't possible to tell simply by viewing the negative side.
I think the system needs a rework, but scrapping it is a completely idiotic idea.
quote:
Zaza wrote this stupid crap:
Oh, I'll admit that the system is most likely broken to some extent. But to which extent isn't possible to tell simply by viewing the negative side.I think the system needs a rework, but scrapping it is a completely idiotic idea.
I agree.
quote:Good call.
Tareshinal really knows where their towel is...
I made this a flame thread, just in case.
If I was dictator of the USA? I'd like to say I'd retire, but I probably wouldn't. Odds are I'd feel obligated to fix things first. So I'd fix whatever loophole made me dictator. Then I'd pick the people with more money than they can possibly spend, and make them spend the difference to pay off the national debt. Then I'd reinstate the electoral system, and promptly be assassinated.
quote:
Death of Rats's fortune cookie read:
- Would make it that if you were were convicted of rape, You had to pay a monthly sum, like alimony (sp?) and if the woman was pregnent and decided to have the baby, and not an abortion, you would also have to poay child support but you would not be allowed to see the child or woman unless they wished it.
I would so vote for something like this. 
There's not a lot that I would change. I like the idea of Congress and the House of Representatives. I understand the wisdom of a Judicial Branch. I'd just remove the checks and balances system.
Personal freedoms would remain high. Freedom of speech, of the press, of religion. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. The only freedom that I would change (and thus instigate the wrath of Artt, Azizza, and Callalron, sorry guys) is the standards for owning firearms. Namely, I'd add some more limiting elements. More hoops to jump through in order to own ridiculous weapons. I would NOT, however, remove the right to bear arms.
Police would be paid better, get better benefits, and I'd want a hell of a lot more of them. Law Enforcement in general would be better reinforced, with better equipment, better gear, and better support. Major forensics units everywhere. I want there to be CSI-level handling of all evidence. That's the contract: They get reinforced, but they do the job right. Crimes would be handled on a sliding scale, with more power in the judges' hands to deal with things with a margin of common sense. The death penalty would make a return to all states in the union; it costs money to clothe, feed, and "rehabilitate" people who serve multiple life sentences and will never taste free air again in their lives. Far as I'm concerned, that's counterproductive. They get their appeals handled at express speeds. Hoping that some new technology that may or may not exist 40 years down the line will either prove your innocence or reinforce your guilty plea is foolish. Do it right the first time. There's too much congestion in the legal system right now. Cops will be regularly and routinely investigated by Internal Affairs. Corrupt cops WILL go to jail, if not worse (you'll go to jail just for being corrupt; how much worse it gets depends on what you did wrong).
There is a certain degree of crime that exists, and it will not be accepted. In the same sense, if you're a gang member, you move up a grade (up to and including the death penalty). If you're a gang member packing a weapon, you're moved up two grades on the penalty slide rule. Drugs are another grade, two if you're dealing.
Science and Education would be reinforced. Teachers will be paid better (on a scale directly linked to their degree or degrees of education), but again there will be requirements. Sports are given altogether too much attention in this country; Schools will still have sport programs, but their value will be downplayed. You will have grades (in a REAL CURRICULUM, no majoring in Phys Ed) to a higher standard than required now. Too many kids in middle and high school have overinflated ideas of their "game" and think they'll get to coast through life based on it, because it's easier than doing work. Wrong Way Around.
Science will, hopefully, be bolstered and reinforced by the higher standard of education, but scientific research will be further encouraged to push back the barriers of human knowledge. Safety will be paramount (but not crippling; want to grow genetically-engineered proteins in plants? Fine, grow them in massive greenhouses rather than open fields, at least until you conduct human testing to find out how bad it can be if they cross-pollinate). Immediately useful sciences will receive more funding, but more esoteric sciences will still be supported (IE let's look at a moon base for potential industrialization purposes, not just because it appeals to sci fi geeks). Likewise, Space isn't the only direction. I want a better understanding of the world here. We've got oceans full of shit we've never seen. Let's go.
Job security? Let me tell you about some of the federal plans. Federal money goes to put sand down on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. They're overstated sand bars that rich people build $500,000 summer homes on and then cry like stuck pigs when a hurricane comes through, floods the Outer Banks, and destroys their homes. This happens almost every year. No more. A lot of the country uses maps of flood plains and high risk areas that are a century or more old. Let's revamp them. No more federally-funded workers rebuilding the sand bars of NC. Let's get you doing something interesting. Undersea research bases or something constructive. Moving sand from the mainland to a sandbar that nature has routinely sunk and raised over the millennia is dumb. You're going to work for a living doing something useful for people other than $500,000 a year summer home crybabies. Learn something, make yourself more useful to everyone. Move on, or join a Federally funded corps of engineers.
No more outsourcing tech support to India. Repatriate that shit. I'm all for the free market system, but there has to be a conscience to it. Too many people in the United States who already speak English can read a tech support script off a computer to have it sent to the far side of the world. No. Jobs here first.
Our national language is ENGLISH. Learn it, love it. I'm all for knowing foreign languages, but they are FOREIGN and there's enough people in the States who can't speak English even marginally well for it to be more of a priority than requiring people to know Sanskrit or whatever to have a data entry job. If you cannot speak passable English, you cannot have a work visa. I understand that migrant workers help the country keep rolling, but I also know that migrant workers are a problem in the States now because with their quasi-legal status they don't have to abide by the rules of true citizens, while having nearly all the benefits. No more Mexican ghettos. You want to work in this country, here's the rules. You need to report in regularly with someone so that people can keep track of you. Failure to do so puts you on the deportation list. If you come back before the time limit on your return is up, you'll be considered a lawbreaking illegal and get shot. Harsh? Oh yeah. Necessary? Yup. I don't mind being a member of a country that helps the world's poor, but help with the book keeping is NOT too much to ask.
Military will be kept strong. I like the idea of a high tech military. I like the idea of a military machine that can deploy anywhere in the world in 36 hours or less. I pray I never have to use that power, but I do see the utmost necessity in it existing. We WILL NOT, however, put ourselves in a position to be bossed around by others. If the UN needs us, then it ASKS for our aid, tells us what they would like us to get done, and we will decide whether we want to or not. The UN is altogether too fond of saying we're all in this together and then the USA ends up either being used as fodder or we get jerked around. You're asking for aid organized by the UN, not under the UN's command. The UN is not a political or military body. It's an organizational forum. And one that increasingly has an inflated opinion of itself while at the same time is becoming more and more assinine in some of it's choices.
No more nation-building for a while. I know why we whacked the Taliban and Saddam. I understand the necessity, and I understand the necessity to clean up when we're done. I also understand that there is a limit to the ability of the country to reach out and build satellite allies on the far side of the planet. We're the United States, not the USSR with it's puppet satellites all over. Israel's going to have to make some very difficult decisions. So are all the little commonwealths and quasi-states like Puerto Rico and the like.
That's all I can think of off the top of my head, except for the following point:
Ja'Deth Issar Ka'bael fucked around with this message on 04-27-2004 at 11:58 AM.
I'll plan for my own downfall, and the reinstatement of Democracy. I don't want to rule the world. But if I'm empowered by some bizarre act to be the absolute power, to fix things as I see fit, I will do it. And then I'll back off. Baddabing, Baddaboom.
sigpic courtesy of This Guy, original modified by me
quote:
Maradon! had this to say about the Spice Girls:
I think he was referring more to your seizing of all property an national healthcare plan, both of which are straight out of Karl Marx's mouth.
The siezing of property just for the person leading a country so he won't have personal interestes. He/She would only gain if the country overall did well. and for the nantional heathcare plan, doesn't every other first world country besides the U.S. have it? I know Canada does. Is Canada comunist!? In mother Canada, winter melts spring!
quote:
Alek Saege had this to say about Captain Planet:
I would so vote for something like this.
yes it would mean the wealthy could rape and impregnate as many women as they could afford
quote:
Somthor had this to say about Punky Brewster:
yes it would mean the wealthy could rape and impregnate as many women as they could afford
..... You obivoulsly didn't see when I also said jail time for rape, though I did forgot to mention that the Jail time would be quite lengthy.
quote:
And I was all like 'Oh yeah?' and Death of Rats was all like:
..... You obivoulsly didn't see when I also said jail time for rape, though I did forgot to mention that the Jail time would be quite lengthy.
quote:
Would make it that if you were were convicted of rape, You had to pay a monthly sum, like alimony (sp?) and if the woman was pregnent and decided to have the baby, and not an abortion, you would also have to poay child support but you would not be allowed to see the child or woman unless they wished it.
im sorry where was it?
quote:
Somthor said this about your mom:
im sorry where was it?
Its understood that when you commit a crime such as sexual assault, you are promptly sent to federal "pound you in the ass" prison.
quote:
Alek Saege painfully thought these words up:
Its understood that when you commit a crime such as sexual assault, you are promptly sent to federal "pound you in the ass" prison.
no not always there are things like probation and counseling treatment for aggresive behavior etc etc. with a good lawyer you could get convicted and still not do time.
also not all criminals go to a federal prision you have your trial in a federal court, often they let the state handle it or even the county/city all depends
