If I Was President...

I have grown frustrated with both presidential candidates. In an effort to please voters, they promise to implement programs and policies that require more funds while simultaneously promising to lower taxes. How does that work? And they act as if government is the solution to every problem within our nation. Healthcare is too expensive so the government should foot the bill? Despite the 10.3 trillion dollar deficit? Does that seem counterproductive to anyone else? And that's just one example of many.

So it got me thinking... What would I do if I was in charge? What would I do if I was president (and had clones of me taking up all the seats in congress and the supreme court)?

1. Proportional income tax and no other federal taxes. Simple and fair. Everyone pays the same determined percentage of their income. The argument against a flat rate tax is that the poorer pay a higher percentage of their income in consumption taxes. So do away with consumption taxes and raise the income tax. Fewer loopholes for corruption and dishonest tricks. The rich pay more because they have more assets for the government to protect. Citizens are not penalized for being successful (especially when they reach that $250,000 mark).

2. Fill Wyoming with windmills and solar panels. We ought to make the entire state (except for Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons) into one big, environmentally friendly powerplant and wire it to the rest of the nation to supplement energy needs and cut down on the use of fossil fuels. What else is that ugly state good for?

3. Use a donation based fund for welfare instead of taxes. Those unable to take care of themselves and their families would be more grateful and feel less entitled to the aid they received if they knew it was given freely. And more successful citizens would be less resentful toward the beneficiaries of welfare if they were able to give their hard-earned wages away freely instead of having them taken away.

4. Use welfare funds to pay for food, clothing, and shelter. I believe that as human beings it is our duty to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and provide shelter for the homeless. It is NOT our duty to provide cable TV, beer, cigarettes, rims, and other luxuries on which a welfare check is often spent. Under my plan, people wouldn't have to qualify for welfare. They would simply go live in the shelter, eat the cheap (but healthy) food, and wear the second-hand clothing.

5. Divert funds from obscure government programs to education and research. There are too many government programs that benefit only a small minority. Have you seen the infomercial with the guy in the dollar suit running around talking about how to get money out of the government? The solution, once again, is to simplify. Let's scrap any program that only benefits a small minority. Instead, use that money to fund research. For example, the price of medication is so high because drug companies have to put so much into developing a drug that when they finally develop one that can be marketed they have to charge outrageous prices in order to turn a profit. If the government were to do the research, the drug companies would simply manufacture the drug instead of owning the patent. Drugs would be cheaper and healthcare costs would go down for everyone. Government employees would be doing research instead of acting as beaurocrats. With all of the assistance programs the government has to pay for medications (medicare, medicaid, etc), they might as well be developing the drugs on their own. That's just one example.

6. Build interstate high-speed trains. Let's stop using federal funds to maintain roads. Instead, we'll connect major cities with a bullet-train transit system. We'll build two routes--one for passengers and one for commercial transportation. It would decrease the demand for fossil fuels, decrease the number of deaths on highways, decrease the number of used cars in junkyards, and decrease the amount of time and money spent getting from Pocatello, Idaho to Marshall, Missouri. States and communities could then decide whether to build their own railroad systems or keep maintaining old-fashioned asphalt.

7. Build the fence already. I don't see a need for taking a punitive approach to illegal immigration. I do, however, see a need to maintain the sovereignty of our nation and the rule of law. There is a need to control our borders and place limits on the number of immigrants. And so there must be a law. And what good is a law if it is not enforced? So build the fence already! With barbed wire, a moat, mean dogs, and lookouts armed with tasers!

8. Require health insurance companies to offer a standard package. The problem with health insurance is that you never know what you're going to get. The basic, standard package would provide coverage for things like emergency surgeries, diabetes medication, and preventive care. This would not eliminate competition between companies who would have a great deal of freedom in offering different prices, packages, and upgrades.

9. Stop associating with corrupt regimes and keep our noses out of other nations' business. The United States has taken advantage of shady relationships in the middle-East. Now we're paying the price. And there's no winning when it comes to foreign policy. If we don't intervene, the international community accuses us of not caring about humanity. If we do intervene they call us imperialists and accuse us of trying to play "the world's police." "Why can't you cooperate with the U.N.?" they wonder. Has the U.N. ever accomplished anything? Well, I think it's time to say, "Have it your way," and let the rest of the world struggle. If the U.N. wants to go in to Darfur or something, we'll send our share of troops, but no more than the next country. And if they pussy foot around like they always do and start getting our boys killed, then we're out of there.

10. I have more ideas, but only four or five people will read this and I've spent enough time on it already.