The Baron

The Presidential election seems to be underway for both parties. And I don’t like anybody…

So it got me to thinking of what my platform would be if I were running for President. So if I were running for President I would:

• Eliminate the income tax. Everybody pays 10%.
• Eliminate most social programs. If you were dumb enough to put yourself in a position where you cannot support yourself that is not my fault and I don’t want to support you or your family.
• Eliminate all taxpayer funding to the NEA and the ACLU.
• Secure the stupid border and deport all illegals.
• Change immigration law to allow only the “best and brightest”.
• Eliminate all of the taxes and regulations that make doing business overseas or in Mexico more attractive than doing business here.
• In fact, I would do everything I could to make the USA the place were every business in the world want to come and do business.
• Unions would be illegal. They’ve had their place but that’s over.
• Eliminate the minimum wage.
• Ted Kennedy, John Kerry, Hillary Clinton, John Murtha and Howard Dean would all be illegal.
• Eliminate the Department of Education and return school control over to local control.
• Privatize all schools.
• Allow school choice.
• Drill for oil wherever it is.
• Build more oil refineries.
• Build more nuclear power facilities.
• Win the war in Iraq once and for all.
• Bomb Iran.
• Bomb Russia ‘cause Putin just ticks me off.
• Eliminate abortion.

Okay. That’s just off the top of my head. And my question is this…

If you were President of the United States of America, what would you change?

__________________
"To the distinguished character of Patriot, it should be our highest glory to add the more distinguished character of Christian." - George Washington

Joby

Jesus, that's not so much "if you were president," it's more like "If you were the fascist dictator of America what would you do?"

anyway, i'd remove all intolerant scumbags like The Baron before handing almost all power back to the state and county level, along with congress, closing almost all foreign bases, and then going on vacation.

__________________
When it's advocated that the government help the poor, it's un-American socialism.

When the government helps millionaires, it's to save the American dream.

Cephus

Maybe. A flat tax looks promising on the surface, it's certainly more fair than the graduated tax we have now, so long as things like food and rent/mortgage on your primary residence are not taxed at all.

Yes and no. We need to stop cradle-to-grave welfare, I have no problem with a social safety net that catches people when they fall and puts them back on their feet. Beyond that, you're right.

If they want to be independent organizations, then they should not be funded by the taxpayer. Same goes for so-called Public Television. Either these groups stand on their own two feet or they have no business existing.

Damn straight.

That's hard to enforce and even harder to codify. I really think we need to get away from the idea that we *OWE* the planet a place to live. We don't. So long as it is in our national best interest to have immigrants, then we should allow them in. Once it stops being in our best interest, we should not.

Exactly. In fact, I think we need to make it a requirement that all businesses based in the U.S. are required to follow all U.S. labor and environmental laws regardless of where they do business. That means they have to pay at least minimum wage, not pollute, no child labor, etc. It would certainly make it less attractive for companies to go overseas so their CEO's have a much more bloated paycheck.

So long as it's in our best interest, of course.

I wouldn't go that far, they still have some uses but you're right, their primary uses are long over. Now they're largely criminal corporations.

I don't buy that one.

Along with the whole Bush family. Come on, fair's fair.

I go the other way, actually. I'd like to see a federal standard for education so that no matter where you go in the country, everyone is learning the same thing at the same time and everyone graduates with the same basic education. Right now, it's so variable across the country that some high school diplomas aren't worth the paper they're printed on.

Nope, sorry.

So long as the schools up for a choice hold to minimum educational standards, that's fine.

Within reason.

Since we haven't built any since the 70s, hell yes.

Same as above. If we built just 400 modern nuclear power facilities in the U.S., our entire electrical power needs would be met.

It's an unwinnable war, we just need to get the hell out and admit we made a mistake ever being there to begin with.

Isn't that kind of stupid, immature crap what got us into trouble to begin with?

Hell no. Can we eliminate religion instead?

The Baron

Come on, folks...

I was being a bit "tongue-in-cheek" with my posting.

But what would you do if you were President?

"...i'd remove all intolerant scumbags like The Baron..." - Joby

Sir, I am offended!

I am forever dealing with (tolerating) people who do not share my point of view.

I just don't care what there's is.

I am, therefore, an insensitive scumbag.

Please make a note of it and have a nice day.

Navy Pride

• Eliminate the income tax. Everybody pays 10%. Agree
• Eliminate most social programs. If you were dumb enough to put yourself in a position where you cannot support yourself that is not my fault and I don’t want to support you or your family. Agree
•Eliminate all taxpayer funding to the NEA and the ACLU. Agree
• Secure the stupid border and deport all illegals. Agree
• Change immigration law to allow only the “best and brightest”. Agree
• Eliminate all of the taxes and regulations that make doing business overseas or in Mexico more attractive than doing business here. Agree
• In fact, I would do everything I could to make the USA the place were every business in the world want to come and do business. Agree
• Unions would be illegal. They’ve had their place but that’s over. [b]Agree/B]
• Eliminate the minimum wage. Disagree
• Ted Kennedy, John Kerry, Hillary Clinton, John Murtha and Howard Dean would all be illegal. Amen
• Eliminate the Department of Education and return school control over to local control. Agree
• Privatize all schools. No Opinion
• Allow school choice. Agree
• Drill for oil wherever it is. Agree
• Build more oil refineries. Agree
• Build more nuclear power facilities. Agree
• Win the war in Iraq once and for all. Agree
• Bomb Iran. Disagree
• Bomb Russia ‘cause Putin just ticks me off. Disagree
• Eliminate abortion With exception if the mothers life is endangered

__________________
http://www.swiftvets.com/

vetsforfreedom.org

Captain America

• Eliminate the income tax. Everybody pays 10%. I would tend to agree but need more education on the subject before I would sign it into law. I'm tired of all the fat cats getting the lucky breaks.

• Eliminate most social programs. If you were dumb enough to put yourself in a position where you cannot support yourself that is not my fault and I don’t want to support you or your family. I am against government cheese programs but I want to provide for our elderly, veterans, and children as well as we possibly can under certain circumstances. And that means with my tax dollars, so be it. Some things are more important to me than money.
•Eliminate all taxpayer funding to the NEA and the ACLU. Eliminate Civil Liberties or just the ACLU? Who would be the vanguard of our liberties in their absence? The ACLU has a nasty job to do. I wouldn't want their job for all the tea in China.
• Secure the stupid border and deport all illegals. Impossible, but I agree.
• Change immigration law to allow only the “best and brightest”. Agree. Only the smart lettuce and tomato pickers should be allowed in.
• Eliminate all of the taxes and regulations that make doing business overseas or in Mexico more attractive than doing business here. Agree
• In fact, I would do everything I could to make the USA the place were every business in the world want to come and do business. Not everything. Not at the risk of our rivers, lakes, woods and air. I am a big hunter and fisherman.
• Unions would be illegal. They’ve had their place but that’s over. The unions need a reality check for sure. But, who's gonna be the watchdog for labor vs. management? That need still exists
• Eliminate the minimum wage. Damn dude.... you ARE a tyrant!
• Ted Kennedy, John Kerry, Hillary Clinton, John Murtha and Howard Dean would all be illegal. Ditto that! Take Bush, Sharpton, Jackson, Cheney and Rove with 'em!
• Eliminate the Department of Education and return school control over to local control. Agree
• Privatize all schools. Disagree.
• Allow school choice. Agree• Drill for oil wherever it is. Agree
• Build more oil refineries. Agree 100%
• Build more nuclear power facilities. Agree
• Win the war in Iraq once and for all. We have already won. Saddam is dead and the WMD's do not exist. I feel no more obligation to the world or Iraq. We are only prolonging the inevitable there. No amount of force or money will change what's gonna happen over there. Screw 'em. They are not worth one more drop of blood from our children.
• Bomb Iran. I disagree but I don't think I would lose a lot of sleep if we did. I still got issues with them from the 70's. Plus, their bombs are killing our kids. And then there's the nuke thingy. Screw Iran too.
• Bomb Russia ‘cause Putin just ticks me off. Disagree
• Eliminate abortion. Eliminate CONVENIENCE abortions.

__________________
Diplomacy is the art of saying 'nice doggy" until you can find a gun.

Huckabee for prez in 2012!

ravens24

I think that once a person becomes President, theres so much crap going on that they didn't know about before that its almost impossible to really accomplish what you need/want to. Maybe theres some sort of Presidential underground organization, the people who really control the contry, and the president just becomes a figurehead and swears to secrecy because he is made aware of some universal and previously unknown truth. Interesting. Heres my list...

-Iraq : Stay strong and continue the fight until General Patraeus' report. If the report cites significant progress or some sort of significant finding that warrants us to stay, I would approve a stay until the new year and press more benchmarks/successes. If General Patraeus says things haven't changed/are worse than we get out.

-Military-Make sure we spend a lot of money on benefits for our fighting men and women, increase incentives for joining armed forces, and spending a lot of money on missile defense technology. As Obama and Romney have said, we must increase our Armed forces by 70,000-100,000 men(Even More Perhaps).

I would make it a large issue however, to increase military tech. so we can depend less on our troops for brutal ground battles and use them in ways that can help create, improve, and utilize technology.

-Patriot Act/Gitmo-I would support them but also make it an issue to create a partisan, yes, partisan committee to oversee and scrutinize the usage of both.

-Make a better committment to support moderate Muslim/Middle-East Nations

-Make nuclear trafficking as severe of crime as such crimes as genocide. (Stole from Romney)

-Take on a larger role in the Darfur and AIDS crises.


-I'd appoint Al Gore to a cabinet position and increase funding/attention to global warming

-Drill in ANWAR and offshore

-Make stricter regulations on car emissions/industrial emissions

-Keep taxes lower than pre-Bush but raise them a very minimal amount from what they are now. Also, create a tax for the super-wealthy that would go directly towards block grants towards states for state-by-state education and healthcare plans.

-Work to make healtchare more affordable through market reforms

-Increase federal marshalls/security on airlines and other public transportation

-Meet with the New British and French Prime Ministers to create a very strong union

-Meet with China to improve ties and create a better economic and government relationship

-Greatly increase relations around globe to put pressure on Iran and to make sure Russia doesn't have anything negative up its sleeves.

-Support Moderate Southern American countries and put more pressure on Chavez and hopefully he will be overthrown/ousted or just rendered useless.

-I'd call on members of professional sports leagues to become more active in community participation/service especially in the hoodlums.

-Make Conan O'Brien my Press Secretary

-Support making English the national language
-Support Allowing states to decide social issues
-Tougher penalties on sex offenders, drunk drivers,

idk what else

Kandahar

Aight, here's what I would do as president. If you (the reader) are a person who believes all the world's problems can be solved by boiling them down into a few simple rules, you'll probably hate my platform. If you favor pragmatism over ideological purity (and are somewhat left-of-center), there's a good chance you'll agree with a lot of it.

SOCIAL POLICY:

• Oppose any federal restrictions on abortion, while supporting the overturn of Roe v Wade as an assault on federalism.
• End the war on drugs immediately and unconditionally. Pardon every person convicted of a non-violent drug offense, and legalize all drugs.
• Support needle exchange programs to reduce the spread of blood-borne diseases associated with heroin use.
• Allow gays and lesbians to serve openly in the military.
• Legalize gay marriage nationwide (or abolish government-recognized marriage entirely), as the 14th amendment calls for.
• Keep creationism, intelligent design, and any other turds of the Christian Right out of the science curriculum in public schools. We could, however, have classes in public schools that teach the basic concepts of various religions in a non-denominational, non-preachy way.
• Oppose the Kyoto Protocol. While human-caused global warming is obviously real, we cannot successfully implement it without destroying our industry, which would be counterproductive to fighting global warming in the long run.
• Prison reform. While prison should not be a pleasant experience, we at least owe it to Americans to see that prisoners are not raped or beaten. This only encourages them toward further violence.
• We can beef up security on the border, but no wall. This is an awful symbol to the world. Also, we should increase LEGAL immigration by as much (or more) than the amount of illegal immigrants we expect to keep out of the country each year.
• Gradual amnesty for the illegal immigrants living in the United States.
• Require all immigrants who want to become citizens to show proof of employment, have a clean criminal record, and complete US history and civics classes/exams (taught in English).
• Establish a point system for determining which immigration applicants we should allow to come. On a 100 point scale, 30 points could be based on merit, 30 could be based on family ties, 30 could be a random lottery, and 10 could be for other miscellaneous characteristics. Points could also be taken away for negative factors, such as being from an Islamic country with rampant terrorism, or not understanding English well.

ECONOMIC POLICY:

• Allow the Bush tax cuts to expire in 2010 as planned. Raise taxes an additional 2% on the top bracket, and an additional 0.5% on the second bracket.
• Repeal the alternative minimum tax, which will affect millions of Americans whom it was never designed to affect.
• Expand the Earned Income Tax Credit, which is much more effective than welfare has ever been.
• Implement a $2 per gallon tax on gasoline, phased in at 10 cents per month, to reduce consumption habits.
• Abolish the minimum wage and most labor laws. Paying someone more than they're worth will only lead to labor surpluses (aka unemployment).
• Eliminate social security benefits for those earning over $150,000 per year. I know that it isn't fair, but the current system is unsustainable and cuts have to be made somewhere.
• Work to restructure social security so that this problem never happens again. Establish personal social security accounts that the government cannot touch, and which are partly within the workers' control. People should be able to invest some of this money in higher-return investments than the government.
• Raise the age for SS benefits gradually. It is much too low given the current life expectancy.
• Total overhaul of our primary and secondary education system. Extend the school year from 180 days to 200+ days; the school calendar is still based on the long-irrelevant agrarian calendar.
• Gradually transition our education system from funding schools to funding students. Allow students/parents to choose any school they want, and have the government provide a voucher for them to attend. Ultimately, at least 50% of education funds should be attached to the student rather than to the school.
• Repeal any federal laws granting teachers tenure in as little as one year. Tenure is a horrendous concept as a whole, but at the very least it should be limited to teachers with 5+ years of experience. It is much too difficult to fire unproductive teachers. This is mostly a state issue though, so there is probably little the President can do.
• Expand free trade zones. Work to create a Free Trade Area of the Americas, encompassing every Western hemisphere country that is willing to participate. We should work with countries in other parts of the world as well.
• Aggressively pursue the Doha Round. Unilaterally eliminate all of our agricultural subsidies that are the biggest hindrance to the Doha Round.
• Universal health insurance. Provide a $2,500 voucher to any American earning less than $150,000 per year to purchase a private health insurance plan of their choice. But keep the government as far away as possible from providing the health care itself.
• Tort reform. Anyone who brings a frivolous or knowingly false lawsuit shall pay the court costs for both parties, and be fined for bringing the lawsuit in the first place. This will drastically cut down on malpractice lawsuits that drive up the cost of medicine.
• All doctors' malpractice records shall be made available to the public.
• Abolish the FDA, and allow all Americans to use any pharmaceuticals they want at their own risk.
• Legalize, but regulate and closely monitor, the organ market. It should be legal for persons to buy and sell their organs, because the free market will ensure that the organs and cash both find their way to those who need them.

FOREIGN POLICY:

• Withdraw 50% of our troops from Iraq within six months. Do what we can to secure Baghdad with some of the remainder, but begin to (quietly) shift most of the remaining troops outside of Baghdad to the Kurdistan region of Iraq.
• Withdraw 99% of our troops from Arab-controlled Iraq within a year. If we want to avoid the appearance of "cutting and running," we can call for a nationwide vote on our presence, which we know we will overwhelmingly lose. Leave enough troops to protect our embassy and the immediate surrounding area, but all the rest should leave.
• Look the other way as the Kurds consolidate their power in the North. Look the other way if they declare independence.
• Continue to support Israel, while advising them against overreaction to minor provocations. Support the "India model," which basically favors quiet diplomacy and has been much more effective.
• Do everything in our power to support the current regimes in Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt.
• Continue to ignore Venezuela's inane babblings.
• Support the creation of a Concert of Democracies, as an alternative forum (but not a replacement) for the United Nations. This would have more legitimacy because it would be much more democratic, and we'd avoid situations like having the Sudan on the Human Rights Council.
• Provide as much assistance to Ethiopia as they need to stop the Islamists from taking over Somalia.
• End the ridiculous embargo on Cuba, and lift the travel ban. Immediately restore full diplomatic relations with the government, unconditionally.
• Continue working peacefully with North Korea toward a diplomatic solution. While it has not yet produced anything fruitful, it isn't hurting anything.
• End the (non-weapons, non-nuclear) sanctions on Iran. Gradually restore full diplomatic relations with the government, with only some small strings attached.

Fire away with the criticism. And if you have any questions, or if I missed an issue that you care about, feel free to ask.

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In the beginning the Universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry and has been widely regarded as a bad move.
-Douglas Adams

M14 Shooter

yes, though see below

Yes, though if we do this, we would probably not need the full 10% noted above.

If the Fed Gvmnt supports the ACLU, then it should certainly be stopped.

Immediately.

I would change immigration law to make it easier to deport illegals, and more difficult to become a citizen.

The free market rocks.

Freedom of association.
If you want to join an organization that exploits you, you have that freedom.

The DoEd is extraconstitutional. Kill it now, as well as all funding for state schools.

Schools are a state issue. The fed gvmnt has no power here.

These are all private industry/public utility matters. I would see that they have as much freedom as possible in these things, but I woul dnto have the fed Gvmnt do them.

Indeed. Even if this meant expanding the military.

As soon as it becomes apparant that its necessary.

I would bomb the French, because they smell bad.

In most cases.

__________________
Any time someone says there should be a prior restraint on gun ownership, ask them what they think about a person's right to talk to known al Qaeda operatives without fear of being listened in on.

Captain America

"If I Were President" and "She's a Jolly Good Female" from "Olive Oyl for President" (1948) [Olive Oyl, Congress]

[Olive Oyl]
If I were president, if I were president,
There'd be at least ten months of June,
For folks to spend their honeymoon,
And night winds would all have the sweetest scent.
If I were president.

If I were president, if I were president,
Silk worms in every house would grow
And they would all be on the go
(In case there were a stocking accident).
If I were president.

There'd be lampposts like you've never seen.
And streets would all be spotless clean!

If I were president, if I were president,
I'd have a cure that would work right,
For those who couldn't sleep at night.
The time they spent awake would be well-spent.
If I were president. If I were president.

If I were president, if I were president,
The dogs whose habits all were strange
Would undergo a brand new change.
An all-day cone would cost a cent.
If I were president.

If I were president, if I were president,
Each bus would have a smoother run,
With lots of seats for everyone.
Apartments once again would be for rent.
If I were president.

There would be no wrangling anymore,
For drumsticks that fell short before.

If I were president, if I were president,
I'd pick up feminine morale,
And get a man for every gal.
More holidays would get my strong consent.
If I were president.

[Congress]
She's a jolly good female,
She's a jolly good female,
She's a jolly good female.
We love our president.