i thought i would start this thread, its based on an essay contest in Canada. what would you do if you were the leader of your respected country, what would you change or propose to do, what policies would you implement? i thought it would be fun to see what different peoples responses would be and what they would want to do. it can be a bitch session about how things are in your country, or how you agree with them.
if i were prime minister i would change canadas importance in the world. we need to enact some measures to strenghen us at home and abroad. at home i think we need to improve our justice system. after the killings of 4 rcmp officers by a known criminal menace, we need tougher laws to prevent things like that happening again. we need an equal justice system as well, equal across race, culture and money lines. this past summer a native woman with a suspended license was drunk and got in her car and killed 6 people on the july 1 weekend. all she got was 10 years for that, less than 2 years per person. things like that shouldnt happen, we need tougher laws. there also needs to be more equality in canada. welfare needs to be equal, one group gets more than the rest and leads to them not being equal members in the work force. they have no reason to work if they are well provided for by the govt, while others dont receive the same. everyone in canada should equally provide for the greater good of the country.
we need to treat immigrants the same too. there are cases where young foreign hoodlums are allowed to stay in the country, while honest hard working people who want to make a better life for themselves are deported. get rid of the little bastards i say. i know places like BC have lots of problems with ethnic gangs and crime. we should have lower tollerance for crime from foreigners. if we can get rid of them, do so. it saves us from having to deal with them. we have enough problems in the country from citizens to deal with that we should be concerned with ourselves first.
we also need a better military. our military has become a joke. the budget has increased funds for the military but they should be spent differently. rather than increase the numbers, we should increase the quality. get better equipment, such as aircraft and naval vessels. we do not need submarines, get rid of them since they are broken anyways and costing money. i think our military should be more about disaster response and peacekeeping. as for naval have more of a coast guard capacity, hence no need for subs. small operations such as afghanistan were good. so if we were to provide troops, even if its small numbers they should be well trained and well equiped.
we should legalize pot as well. not decriminalize it, legalize it. have it regulated such as tobacco where taxes are collected and growers are registered and licensed. have govt operated coffee shops. allow people to grow one plant each. these measure will free up police services and take away income from the gangs.
thats what i would do
Don’t let these guys get you down, troy. I actually think it’s a fun idea for a thread. Can I ask you a quick question though? Most national leaders need to ration their political capital and choose maybe only 2 or 3 major initiatives to focus on. What would your two or three TOP priorities be?
Like I said – it’s an interesting idea, but I think that if you were to summarize the most important key points (not even instead of the detailed explanations, but perhaps in addition to them) and maybe put bullets or tag-numbers on each one, then it might make the discussion/debate flow a little more freely.
If I were president of the US, I would do the following:
Support strong action including invasion to deal with Syria once and for all.
I would give strong support and open moral encouragement to any and all democratic forces in Iran.
I would privatize the post office, Amtrak, as many ports, airports and other infrastructure including power generation and distribution.
I would get rid of the following departments: HUD, health and human services, agriculture, interior, energy, education, commerce, labor, transportation and devolve all responsibilities directly to the states involved.
I would targeting long-term alliances with India, Argentina, Chile, Mexico, Brazil, South Africa.
I would push tort reform to lower medical costs.
I would push for a flat VAT tax of 18 percent and would cancel all income, corporate taxes etc and there would be no deductions.
I would end all US subsidies to agriculture.
I would concentrate all nuclear and chemical waste at Yucca mountain in Nevada where I would set up a facility to recycle and recover as much as possible.
I would open the north shore to drilling for oil.
I would raise double the tax on oil and gas.
I would end all ethnic and racial designations on federal forms.
I would end all affirmative action programs.
I would go to China and set up a specific treaty to encourage China to forgo military development while doing whatever it takes to ensure Taiwan’s democratic rights were respected.
I would build a large pyramid-like mausoleum so that for thousands of years wondering visitors could gaze upon the dead remains of Frederick P. Smith v.
This is why I like numbered points and tag lines. Whether one agrees with Fred or not, this list is succinct and far easier to respond to.
Each one of these could actually be a thread, but for now I will say that if I were a senator dealing with the Smith Administration, I would give submit my tentative voting positions (subject to change based on further consideration or new persuasive arguments) as follows:
As to being against subsidizing my mausoleum, I find that hard to believe. Don’t tell me someone who would paid for Fred Smith to wine and dine last night would then stint at paying a much smaller amount to erect such a structure.
Neutron-bomb major Chinese cities. Free Tibet, and everything else. Give Shanghai back to Japan.
Cut off all aid to Israel. Freeze bank accounts of anyone with an Israeli relative, rendition them to various Muslim countries for gentle questioning.
Bring Robert Mugabe to America. Stage a public hanging. Place his severed head on my desk, use it for ventriloquism act. Refer to it as a " summit meeting."
Ditto for Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson.
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Invite Marilyn Manson to National Prayer Breakfast. (First course: bat head.)
That one might actually be in the Undecided category. One thing I would not want to do is publicly take the option “off the table” (always good to have the stick in plain view). My concerns are basically:
(i) cost in human lives and resources
(ii) diplomatic/PR cost among allies and neutral countries adding fuel to US “empire building” conspiracy theories (You know I do have a fair amount of sympathy for the tough love/“They’ll like us when we win” school of thought – but I am still concerned with the real consequences of perceptions, even false ones)
(iii) spreading thin of military capabilities
As I said, I’m not unreceptive to good arguments that might change my mind on any of these points. But right now I am unconvinced that the benefits of a military invasion of Syria would outweigh the costs.
On points 15: It’s possible you could buy my vote on this as long as the large pyramid-like mausoleum was very understated and tastefully done.
Strong support for new democracies to prevent backsliding – efforts to ensure that basic services function so that nobody sits about pining for the days when the local tin-pot dictator used to keep the streets clean or make the trains run on time.
Gradual privatization of certain government services, but with an eye toward preventing services from becoming mob-run (e.g., garbage collection), monopolistic or otherwise not subject to the normal rules of market economics.
Make education a major priority, noting that it has a major relationship to our ability to remain competitive against all the other nations. Bust up the rules on who can become a teacher and get the pay up to where talented people from the private sector would be willing to work as teachers via grant programs. Make school a near year-round obligation. Offer special programs for linguistically talented kids to learn foreign languages while young – use them later as the basis for our future pool of “goodwill ambassadors” and deadly assassins.
Push tort reform but perform vivisections upon hospital administrators and doctors who fudge evidence to hide incompetent colleagues.
Provide loans to cities and regions to rebuild public transportation networks within cities and do everything possible to get us off the oil that makes a bunch of sand-dwelling motherf***ers powerful despite their astonishing ignorance.
I would end all US subsidies to agriculture. Not paying American farmers agricultural subsidies will result in a lot of busy foreign farmers making a decent living (goodwill!) and a lot of Americans getting great cheapo food (second term!), so I will take a tiny fraction of the money to light my pipe with a single $100 bill every night during my presidency. I will then blow out the bill before it has burned too much to be useable – and spend the weekly amount to eat cottage cheese off the chests of strippers. I will do this with full disclosure to the media and public.
I would concentrate all nuclear and chemical waste at the sandy wastelands formerly inhabited by nomadic people who once sold something called “oil”. (See No. 5)
I would end all ethnic and racial designations on federal forms. I would also require MTV to never use the word “flava” to refer to anything involving minorities.
I would end all affirmative action programs but would take massive efforts (see No. 3) to ensure that American kids, no matter where they are born or to whom, get the chance for the sort of education most of the rest of you never had.
I would take a fraction of the money saved from not invading Syria and use it, instead to fund technical institutes featuring free McDonald’s lunches for people in Pakistan and other places filled with awful madrassas that currently serve as training academies for Islamic extremists. I will also use that money to treat AIDS and to cure a variety of other diseases throughout the 3rd World.
After a mountain is recarved in my image, perhaps re-creating my triumph in hand-to-hand combat against the leadership of, say China or Italy, my remains will be moved into a place that shall ever thereafter be known as the “Valley of Mofangongren”.
[quote=“Olive Oyl”]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.[/quote]
Senator Hobbes hereby submits his preliminary vote positions on the proposals of the Gongren Administration as follows:
[b]Support: 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 10, 13[/b]
[b]Undecided: 5, 9, 12 [/b]
[b]Oppose: 11, 14[/b]
An amendment is suggested designating mathematics as an educational priority so that every American child will be able to count to 14 without skipping any steps.
Wow, who’d of thunk it?: My support percentage for the Gongren Administration currently stands higher than my support percentage for the Smith Aministration. Something must be wrong with my math here. (No good, useless public school education… )
Nice to see there are some posts related to the original topic, and not about my spelling. I can use capital letters as is evident, however for the most part I choose not to do so because Iam lazy. I was unaware that I was submitting a formal essay where I was to be graded. It was meant to be a fun. And no Iam not in high school, I ended that nightmare many years ago.
Actually, color me shocked. I for one cannot believe that MFGR and I are in agreement about so many things. Why then this battle royal over most of the threads on this forum? Color me confused.
Hobbes – wow. that was fast. I fixed my list’s numbering almost straightaway and yet you responded in the meanwhile. Any interest in joining the cabinet? Anybody who types that fast oughtta at least be a Secretary of something!
Fred – Mine would be a bipartisan administration. Any interest in being my Secretary of Agriculture? You’d basically cut all the subsidies, ensure that healthy (i.e., not dripping with herbicides/insecticides) food comes in from the 3rd world, and in ensuring that at least one $100 bill is in the Oval Office during my administration’s daily brandy-drinking hour. (Cottage-cheese hour is, necessarily, limited to me and the strippers… ) You will also be in charge of ensuring that Richardm’s “Hemp for the War Effort” campaign is a success.
)