If you were the leader of the nation you live in...

End all free foreign aid. If other countries want it they can pay for it.
Legalize all drugs
Repeal all gun control laws
End all entitlements
Cut aid to the states. People in one state should not have to pay for the wants of the people in another.
Bring all military home from other countries and slash the defense budget.
Eliminate most government agencies.

Flashlight said:

End all free foreign aid. If other countries want it they can pay for it.
Legalize all drugs
Repeal all gun control laws
End all entitlements
Cut aid to the states. People in one state should not have to pay for the wants of the people in another.
Bring all military home from other countries and slash the defense budget.
Eliminate most government agencies.

Click to expand...

How about the Fed?

If we're talking about things that could practically be done as the PotUS (rather than as a fantastical dictator), then the FIRST thing I would do is abolish the Federal Reserve and set the dollar at a par value reflecting the actual assets held in specie by national banks (something like .06 grains of gold per dollar) and just set up a clearinghouse for old bills. Thereafter the "dollar" would represent a weight of metal. I would also repeal all legal tender laws to ensure competition in the issuance of currency, and make fractional reserve banking illegal as fraud.

Next thing I'd do is issue a blanket pardon for all non-violent criminals in Federal prisons and order federal police to stop enforcing victimless crime laws.

Then I'd eat lunch. After that, there would be an awful lot of repealing to do.

I imagine that by the end of a 4-year term, if I didn't get assassinated by one of the many, MANY formerly privileged organizations I'd have angry at me, I'd have writers cramp from all the vetoes, too.

When you guys speak of "entitlements" do you mean financial payments to people in hardship? Such as people who are out of work? What would replace it? Would you hope, as our Conservative govt tends to, that enough people would be altruistic enough to support those local to them who were in financial hardship or other difficulty?

If I were president, I would follow this itinerary:

• Nuke Luxembourg. I mean seriously, who's going to miss it? And that dang nation is like the cockroach of Europe - you read about it getting annexed in history, then two pages later it pops up again. What the heck? I'll make sure it goes away FOR GOOD! There might be fallout in France, Belgium, and Germany, but sacrifices have to be made. Plus they should be ashamed for bordering Luxembourg and not annexing it sooner.
• Invade Australia and New Zealand. Australia will be turned into a giant litter box for America's stray cat population, whereas New Zealand will be turned into a parking lot for people dropping off their cats.
• All network news stations will be closed down and replaced with a single channel: The Wow Look At That, That's Really Cool Network News (also known as TWLATTRCNN for short). It will consist of 24/7 coverage of a guinea pig running around his cage squeaking happily.
• A new traffic law will be enforced, wherein tailgating will be punishable by death.
• All federal funding will be diverted into one single funding, which will be used to determine why I can't get my pants back by Thursday.
• I will declare my birthday to be "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God Day," in which everyone in America will have to talk about how really cool Jonathan Edwards is. It'll be celebrated by George Whitefield coming down the chimney and leaving gifts for good boys and girls, as well as games such as "pin the smallpox vaccine on the Puritan."
• Mexico will be invaded and renamed "Texaco," where a giant star hovers over the land and all citizens are men in red uniforms waiting to fill your car up with gas.
• All guns will be banned. The new weapon of choice will be boogers, which will be flicked at the opponent. People will have to acquire a license to carry concealed boogers.
• Chris Hanson will be appointed Attorney General. His job will be to hunt Osama bin Laden down, enter his cave, and say, "Why don't you have a seat over there...?"
• The police force will be nationalized, and given those cool flying cars from Blade Runner. Also, the Miranda Rights will be thrown out in favor of the Carmen Miranda Rights, wherein the police don fruit-filled hats and sing the Miranda Rights in a Hispanic accent to the suspect.
• The Geneva Accords will be rejected, and replaced with the Geneva Bible, 'cuz it's cooler.
• No ambassadors from Brazil will be allowed in the nation until they confess that the movie by the same name was the bestest ever.
• Starvation in Africa and obesity in America will be resolved by transferring all the fat people in America to Africa and all the starving people in Africa to America. In about ten years or so, they should both be back to normal, therein which both groups can return home.
• Every State of the Union address will simply consist of me going before Congress and giving the "I drink your milkshake" speech from There Will be Blood. At least one senator has to play the part of Eli.

So in conclusion...vote for me.

By no means a comprehensive list:

• Set the default drinking age 16, allow the states to adjust if they want to, however.
• Legalize Marijuana
• Legalize Prostitution and make a strongly regulated industry (Dutch model)
• Abandon efforts in the middle east, including Israel if nobody is willing to compromise (knowing full well they won't)
• Develop a massive inter-metropolis maglev bullet train system and solar-power intra-city light rail system that all functions on an ad hoc ticket system with the option to have a card like a debit card where you can manage all travel expenses and order daily tickets on line. Move focus away from the roads
• Scale down world military presence
• Massive investments American-based renewable energy firms
• Tax breaks to cities and businesses that work towards a sustainable model of living for humanity
• Subsidize the purchase of bikes for a main mode of metropolitan transportation
• Work to maintain strong relations with BRIC powers and the EU.
• Allow for the existence of private insurance firms but marginalize them substantially by implementing a single payer model for healthcare. (Now that I have removed America's money god: the military, this should be easy )
• Secure the southern borders with near-military force while allowing and accelerating the entry of immigrants with skills and education. Implement a point system like Canada.
• Install OC-96 class fiber lines in rural areas to make them more economically competitive and well connected.

A bunch of other stuff as well that I am too lazy type. Don't forget the obvious like assassinating those who disagree with me and trolling as many people as possible, both of those are just implied lol

If I was king of the universe...

...my palace would NOT be on Earth. (WAY too overcrowded)

There would be quite the list of things I'd have on my plate, but that'll happen on a later date perhaps; what I really wanted to do was post this for Becky:

Man invents machine to convert plastic into oil. [VIDEO]

Can I vote for Edwards1984 AND Zoness please?

-I'm going with Russia here...
1. Set weapon laws to make it easier for law abiding citizens to acquire guns, while making it harder for criminals to acquire them.
2. Begin the former ministry of defence's plan of pacification and hearts/minds campaign that worked in chechnya in dagestan, North Ossetia and ingushetia.
3. Kadyrov, governor of Chechnya would immediately be sacked.
4. Reinstatement of the death penalty for terrorism only. (currently in moratorium)
5. Allow the citizens of South Ossetia to vote on whether they still believe they want to join Russia- should they still wish to- annex it. With or without Georgia's consent.
6. Formally recognise the independence of Abkhazia.
7. Reinstate the Chukotka improvement programs
8. Begin a wholesale review of the Russian military. Coporal punishment out the window.
9. Use the all ready projected increased budget for defence to improve the quality of the airforce and Navy.
10. Halt most long distance movements of aircraft and the navy. It's unnecessary unless we have strategic reasons for doing so.
11. Inform Somalian government that we shall be responding to any further attacks on Russian ships by Somali pirates by invading and destroying their staging areas.
12. Accept the NATO request for Russian involvement in Afghanistan by doing the following- perform surgical strikes from airbases in Tajikistan and Kyrgzstan. Also continue to allow aid to go through Russia.
13. Tell North Korea they WILL stop manufacturing nuclear weapons... or else
14. Tell Finland to bugger off.. they're not getting Karelia or Vyborg back.
15. Lock down on corruption in Government AND the police force
16. Revitilise the interior ministry forces. They need modernisiation and higher mobility
17. Continue to push for NATO/EU to stay out of Georgia and Ukraine.
18. Push for even greater ties with Belarus while still trying to help Belarus become more democratic
19. Push for more media freedom. Not as much as in the USA.. but not like in a dictatorship
20. Push for a new strategic nuclear arms treaty that will include an agreed reduction of ALL nuclear nations. Note reduction.. not removal of all
21. Build more AN-124s and donate at least 2 to the UN aid network
22. Start a campaign to get the UN to do something in darfur.
23. Aid AU forces in Somalia with the Mi-8 helis they requested from UN (3)
24. Allow more freedom of speech so as ot be able to have formal protest marches without crackdowns more often
25. Lower drinking and smoking age to 16 for all forms of alcohol, but increase taxes on tobacco
26. Seriously revamp public improvement programs
27. Tell Georgia that if they fire on Russian citizens again- a repeat of 2008 WILL occur. No more games...
28. Finally tell Lithuania thank you in a tangible way for their efforts to make it easy to get across to Kalingrad by allowing them a special rate for importing items in Russia.
29. Improve Progress,Novolazarevskaya, and Vostok Stations, Antartica to have a better medical facility and better communication facilities as well as cleaing up the Bellingshausen Station and improving the road network created to the nearby 3 stations of different nations. Improve the Bellingshausen docks to accomodate more ships for supplies as well.

I think that's a good start...

resign

Edwards1984 said:

Nuke Luxembourg. I mean seriously, who's going to miss it?

Click to expand...

I would.....
I loved that place

Carian said:

When you guys speak of "entitlements" do you mean financial payments to people in hardship? Such as people who are out of work? What would replace it? Would you hope, as our Conservative govt tends to, that enough people would be altruistic enough to support those local to them who were in financial hardship or other difficulty?

Click to expand...

Whether people are "altruistic" or not, it is impossible to make people be moral through force. More importantly, it is immoral to attempt to make people moral through force. What we can do is persuade people to be more giving and offer incentives for them to do so. And ending the bureaucratic, violence-run monopoly that the government has on welfare would be a good start toward that.

AllForJesus said:

resign

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You win.

Gym said:

I would.....
I loved that place

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Aha! You're a Luxembourger plant! ARREST HIM!

No wait, spare him...he's given me a brand new idea. We won't nuke Luxembourg, we'll convert it into a giant fast food restaurant called "Luxembourger King." Yes, yes...I can see it now. All passing through will have to buy a whopper. It'll be mandatory.

G'fa ha ha ha ha.

MacFall said:

Whether people are "altruistic" or not, it is impossible to make people be moral through force. More importantly, it is immoral to attempt to make people moral through force. What we can do is persuade people to be more giving and offer incentives for them to do so. And ending the bureaucratic, violence-run monopoly that the government has on welfare would be a good start toward that.

Click to expand...

I tend to agree with you. Current tax and welfare schemes forcibly redistribute resources that in an ideal world would be the happy task of the richest to distribute to the most needy. I generally have a positive view of humanity, but it is all the evidence to the contrary that prevents me believing that without structured ways to provide for the most needy, they would suffer terribly.

Zoness said:

By no means a comprehensive list:

• Set the default drinking age 16, allow the states to adjust if they want to, however.
• Legalize Marijuana
• Legalize Prostitution and make a strongly regulated industry (Dutch model)
• Abandon efforts in the middle east, including Israel if nobody is willing to compromise (knowing full well they won't)
• Develop a massive inter-metropolis maglev bullet train system and solar-power intra-city light rail system that all functions on an ad hoc ticket system with the option to have a card like a debit card where you can manage all travel expenses and order daily tickets on line. Move focus away from the roads
• Scale down world military presence
• Massive investments American-based renewable energy firms
• Tax breaks to cities and businesses that work towards a sustainable model of living for humanity
• Subsidize the purchase of bikes for a main mode of metropolitan transportation
• Work to maintain strong relations with BRIC powers and the EU.
• Allow for the existence of private insurance firms but marginalize them substantially by implementing a single payer model for healthcare. (Now that I have removed America's money god: the military, this should be easy )
• Secure the southern borders with near-military force while allowing and accelerating the entry of immigrants with skills and education. Implement a point system like Canada.
• Install OC-96 class fiber lines in rural areas to make them more economically competitive and well connected.

A bunch of other stuff as well that I am too lazy type. Don't forget the obvious like assassinating those who disagree with me and trolling as many people as possible, both of those are just implied lol

Click to expand...

Dutch prostitution isn't that strict. A lot of illegal prostitution here, and even more prostitutes that are forced to work in the business. They either get kidnapped in eastern europe or africa, or they get seduced by something the Dutch call Loverboys, and again get forced to do such business. I've heard the stories from, and about such women, horrible stories.

- Put a ban on abortion, only exception when the mother's life in serious danger.
- Re-instate the draft, but give people the option which kind they want to do community service, or military service.(scandinavion model)
- Kick out all foreigners that have shown repeated criminal behaviour(would do the same with the Dutchies but that is impossible)
- Put a stop on double child benefits for people with Children in foreign countries.(they actually get double the money for each child outside of the country, that sometimes don't exist)
- Make it easier for people from countries like Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan to get a green card(people are in serious danger in those countries).
- At the same time instate laws that don't allow double pasports for people that want to function in public office.
- Instate laws to encourage people to take care of their own children, instead of just dumping them.
- Put a ban on gay marriage
- Put a ban on the building of Mosques
- Put a ban on the burqa(seriously they serve no purpose but to oppress women)
- Make sure both evolution and creationism are taught in schools.
- Quit the EU
- Stop plans to make waterways that lead to Belgian ports deeper as to defend the position of Dutch ports.(vital upon leaving the EU)
- Ban on prostitution
- Ban on softdrugs
- Raise alcohol legal age to 18
- Higher punishments for certain crimes like rape and murder(seriously some people here get out after a year when they murder someone)
- Increase the military budget, or stop foreign missions
- Improve elder healthcare
- Decrease benefits for Foreigners that make no attempt to adapt to the country, and also try to motivate them more to integrate into society.
- Lower the paperwork, and other non-necessary things teachers are obligated to spent time on.
- Give schools more say in the teaching methods they want to use
- Allow homeschooling
- Lower salaries of all top people in the country, including government officials.
- Lower bonusses, especially of the banks that required government support.
- Repeatedly voice my support for Israel.(much like Canadian Prime-Minister Harper, truly deserves to be in office if only for that)
- Stop the funding of palestinian terrorists
- Lower funding for development projects in the third world, but also increase efforts to reach people individually. So not just dump billions on just some corrupt bank account and say how good have we done, but take the money and help people personally, and cut out the middle people. And if that works well, then by all means I'll increase the budget again.
- Increase the number of police officers on the street.
- Increase help for the homeless
- Increase healthcare funding
- Prevent corporate attitude in healthcare, and other public services.
- Force the media to paint the full picture, not just the liberal one
- Clean out the corrupt highcourts, that persecute people that don't agree with their liberal views, instead of because of them breaking laws. And then try to influence witnesses.
- Make it impossible for judges to demand persecution when the DA says there is no reason to persecute.
- Increase funding for students, and Universities.
- Kick out the royal family

Probably could think of some more, but this paints a good general picture.

Carian said:

I generally have a positive view of humanity, but it is all the evidence to the contrary that prevents me believing that without structured ways to provide for the most needy, they would suffer terribly.

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And I agree with you there, too. The important questions for me are (1) are the means just as well as the ends, and (2) what means is the most effective in each particular case.

But to qualify (2), I think that there is no single most effective means. There should be many different methods and systems that are applied as needed for different cases. And the problem with political systems is that they tend to settle on what "works" and never allow for alternatives, nor change their methods unless it is to increase their own scope and power. I don't want the government taking my money and filtering it through the welfare bureaucracy not because I want to be a miser and keep it to myself, but because their way SUCKS compared to what I could do with it, in my own community, with my own private incentives. (Well, that and the fact that I have a moral objection to coercion against peaceful people.)

MacFall said:

And I agree with you there, too. The important questions for me are (1) are the means just as well as the ends, and (2) what means is the most effective in each particular case.

But to qualify (2), I think that there is no single most effective means. There should be many different methods and systems that are applied as needed for different cases. And the problem with political systems is that they tend to settle on what "works" and never allow for alternatives, nor change their methods unless it is to increase their own scope and power. I don't want the government taking my money and filtering it through the welfare bureaucracy not because I want to be a miser and keep it to myself, but because their way SUCKS compared to what I could do with it, in my own community, with my own private incentives. (Well, that and the fact that I have a moral objection to coercion against peaceful people.)

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This is a huge problem in democracies - governments and opposition parties do what they have to do and say what they have to say to stay in power/get power back. It seems they barely ever make long term plans, especially not if they are likely to annoy the electorate.

Im_A said:

Something else that comes to mind:
Leave the UN until the UN becomes something of worth again...if it ever does.
Push for legislation to ban the death penalty in all states. Legislation would be similar to that of the Supreme Court invalidating all Sodomy laws.

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Oh, yes, I would definitely ban the death penalty. How could I forget that one?