You're in Charge

[blas87]

You shouldn't be entitled to free insurance just because you had a baby. There's plenty of people who can't get insurance because their job doesn't offer it, or it's at an outrageous rate.

I realize a lot of guys are worthless sperm donors, at best. But I also realize there are guys who don't get a penny for their cause, and have to work and earn their own insurance coverage, and if they dare get a new girlfriend or not give every penny to Mama, they're taken to court and stripped of every penny they earn because she needs it for her nails and hair....oops, I mean, baby. And if they do anything else to piss of Mama, they get even less time to see their kid. So they get to live off Ramen and never see their kid. That lovely threat "You'll never see your kid again if I ever see with you with that skank again!" or "If I ever hear of you going to the bar again you'll never see your kid again!"

I'd love to see the greater majority of the single young moms around where I live actually get a job and their own insurance and leave their ex boyfriend alone to do as he pleases, as long as he pays whatever support is agreed upon in court and doesn't get in any trouble with the law.

And the court systems just bleed out of their hearts for these awful young women who have all the power in the world stemming from their vagina.

[AdminAssistant]

Health Care - Universal. Free to those in need, cheap to everyone else. Birth control is free, as are all sterilization procedures. Costs for adoption are dramatically reduced, hopefully lessening the need for endless IVF/fertilization treatments.

Child labor regulations are also applied to 'unscripted' television shows, which should wipe out all of TLC's programming.

Public transport in major cities is made cheaper and more efficient. A better, faster nationwide train system is instituted. However, people can still drive their cars.

Public education is no longer funded by property taxes. Every child, rich or poor, urban or rural, has the same access to good education. Schools are asked to budget resources carefully, to prioritize needs over wants.

Higher education: Scholarships prioritized for those who excel at academics - based entirely on GPA, ACT/SAT score, and rank in class. Other qualifiers (race, gender, number of social clubs) are irrelevant. Second tier of scholarships are for those who are in financial need. Pell Grants are available for both undergraduate and graduate students. Athletes can only receive an athletic scholarship if they promise to graduate from the university in four years. If they leave to go pro, they have to re-pay every dime of assistance they received. Boosters go away. The conference system goes away. The NCAA sets up a new division/region bracket system, with schools ranked by size. This makes me a bad feminist, but Title IX goes away. A school shouldn't be forced to prop up a volleyball team that no one wants and no one watches.

Graduate teaching assistants are paid living wages and are given more solo teaching opportunities. Time-to-graduation rates are dramatically reduced by cutting the number of required classes. Every department has similar and equitable processes. (Example: You can't require a thesis for a Master's in one department, but allow an exam in a different department.) Every university refocuses the mission on teaching, not research.

More later...

[Hyena Dandy]

I have to ask why we're all so concerned about term limits?

I don't have a problem with not having term limits. If someone is really the best person for the job, then I want to keep sending them back.

[mooncat]

I'd have mandatory hard time for people who harm animals. That means dog fighting, cock fighting (I don't wanna hear about it being "cultural"; so was slavery, once upon a time), and people who beat, starve or otherwise hurt an animal. No parole.

Taxes would be based on ability to pay. Off-shore tax shelters would not be allowed. If you're making millions, it won't do you any harm to pay more (taxes were actually higher under Reagan than they are now, BTW).

Age of adulthood would be 23 or 24. Because studies show that the brain is not biologically mature until around 21-22, so add a couple years for good measure.

Govn't aid programs would be based on NET pay, not gross. Because it makes no sense to tell someone they don't qualify based on gross pay, when the money they get to spend is actually less than they make.

Every country that we give aid to would have to dramatically increase women's & children's rights or they get cut off completely. No exceptions.

[Greenday]

In no particular order:

Decriminalize weed and some other non-hard drugs like shrooms. Lighter penalties for being caught selling or using hard drugs.
Mandatory sex-ed in middle schools. Must include information on condoms, different birth controls, STD's, what sex actually is, etc.
School reform - Get rid of tenure. The whole idea of giving people super special protection from getting fired after just three whole years of doing your job correctly is absurd. Get rid of NCLB. Stop pouring more money into schools that consistently doing God awful each year, put them on probation, and give them a couple years to get their shit together. If they can't, then it's clear the administration level of the school can't do their jobs properly and will be removed from their posts. Figure out a way to make college cheaper for state schools.
Abolish the death penalty.
No insane amounts of red tape for taking down a terrorist in another country just because he's a US citizen.
Make English the official language of the US. It's not Mexico, it's not France, it's not Germany.
Legalize gay marriage.
Keep abortions legal. Choice is left up to the woman. Legal through the end of the fifth month for any reason, legal after that for medical emergencies. No required therapy session. No scare tactics to keep women from actually doing it. No other tactics to force women to wait to get it done until it's too late to have one.
Drinking age to 18. Extremely tough penalties for those selling to minors and mandatory jail time for drunk drivers of all ages (Start with a few weekends in jail for first DUI.).
National ID cards. If you aren't in your home state, passports and that national ID cards will be the ONLY acceptable form of ID for proof of age (For cigs/weed/alcohol). No more being able to get a fake ID from a far away state in order to go drink underage at the bar.
Begin collecting DNA samples from all babies born. Mandatory DNA samples from all criminals who spend time in jail.
Legalize prostitution.
Legalize fireworks in 50 states. Don't punish everyone because some dumbasses manage to blow off fingers/hands. It's called Darwinism.
Get rid of the sex offender registry publishing all their info for the public to use to harass these people until they die. There is no reason to continue punishing people when they get out of jail. Speaking of sex offenders, there needs to be amendments made to the rules on statutory rape. A 18 year old guy having sex with his 16 year old girlfriend, who consented, is not rape and there is no reason to treat that the same as a 40 year old guy having sex with a 12 year old who "consented".

[jackfaire]

Tax deduction for not having children. The more children you have the less of that tax deduction you get.

Reward people for being responsible in deciding to be parents or not.

[Boozy]

People who spit out babies with no thought generally don't pay taxes, and if they do, they don't give much thought to that either.

[Greenday]

Though that does remind me: End all tax deductions for children and being married.

[bara]

Women or men living solely off of welfare are not permitted to have more children while they draw assistance.(Not unemployment or disability.. straight welfare) If they continue to have children they get sterilized since its cheaper for everyone else.

[Dreamstalker]

It won't earn me any brownie points with the more liberal types, but I would NOT allow free state subsidized healthcare to women just because they got knocked up and have a baby.

I tend to agree...I might go farther and say no state-subsidized anything unless they can prove a genuine need (I've seen my fair share of WIC/welfare abusers around here).

There's something really wrong when hardworking people like my mom and myself have to fight tooth and nail for even shitty health insurance (yes, I'm on the subsidized insurance yet I play within the rules) yet the teen moms in the ghetto get everything they want and more just because they had a kid.

[Rageaholic]

One more thing, ambulance rides are covered by the universial health care. The fact that you even have to pay for them is goddamn ridiculous.

[HYHYBT]

On the expanded public transit ideas... please add in that the busses, trains, whatever run frequently enough to be relied upon even at times when a particular run won't be profitable. If people cannot depend on being able to get home, they're more likely to take the car in the first place.

[Bloodsoul]

One more thing, ambulance rides are covered by the universial health care. The fact that you even have to pay for them is goddamn ridiculous.

This. Had I known it was going to cost me as much as I did I would've walked to the hospital. The money I spent on the ambulance could've been better spent on renewing my car insurance and paying off other medical bills I've accrued.

[Bardmaiden]

Universial health care including dentists and opticians
Nationalised Railways, buses, gas, electric and water, these should be run as not for profit companys as they should be servicing people not the shareholders. This will mean the bills and travel are the cheapest they can be.
All welfare will be overhauled and made so that it is fairer, with checks and balances to find the cheats. This would be done with a consult of those on the front line as they see the worst and the best of the system currently in place.
Disablity will take into account mental illness better. In the uk the form for disablity currently focuses on the other side of disablity.

[Andara Bledin]

Nationalised Railways, buses, gas, electric and water, these should be run as not for profit companys as they should be servicing people not the shareholders. This will mean the bills and travel are the cheapest they can be.

I was just thinking this the other day.

^-.-^