If you were given 4 years of supreme authority to totally revamp this
country, what would you do?
WKMAC has shared his loss of hope in our elected officials.
Texan wants term limits and a flat tax, and the IRS to go away.
TOS has shared how FOX News, Rush Limbaugh need to be silenced.
If you were given total power to reshape this country, how would you fix all the corruption
and problems we face? Economic, Elections, Government.
Then after 4 years, what then? Who or what system would be in place so it does not go back
to the same cycle?
First off... the old saying of power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely I believe is true. So I wouldn't want anyone with that kind of power, including myself.
However, for fun, this is what I would put in place.
Congress: - 3 large items to change:
1. Term Limits enacted. Probably somewhere around 12 total years. (This includes everything, representative, senator, president). So a person couldn't be a rep for 6 terms then a senator for 2 terms then a president for 2 terms. He\she could do a max of either 2 senate terms or 6 rep terms or some combination.
2. After a person left the government, they would not be allowed to do anything to do with government (work as a lobbyist, work as a VP of company dealing with govt policies, be appointed as an ambassador etc.
3. All laws that are passed they would be subject to, no exclusions for them (or for that matter anyone).
Judicial: I believe the judges should interpret the laws not make new laws or add to existing laws. For example, the ADA was greatly expanded by the judicial branch. In my opinion the laws should be written much more rigid without loopholes for interpretation and the judges should indicate, this was not a provision in the law and send the law back to congress to amend the law to include a new provision or congress can choose not to.
Constitution: I believe the constitution as written gave very limited powers to the federal govt but they were expanded due to commerce clause way too much. I don't disagree with all the laws written for example, having a law regarding the FAA is very important. But if congress gets new powers, it should do so by constitution amendment not by carte blance using commerce clause or the taxing power amendment.
Taxes:
Federal Taxes: The tax code is waaaaaay too complicated, too many loopholes, too many deductions, too many exemptions all due to lobbyist. It should be completely rewritten and completely simplified. For individuals, there should be a standard deduction per person in a family up to 4. If you want you can have more children, but you won't get more of a tax break after four. The deduction per person should be similar to what we have now. A large break for the first person, a similar for spouse\domestic partner, and a reduced amount for each child (up to 2 children). In this way a family of four will pay no federal taxes for what would be necessary to live (housing\food etc).
No deduction for state taxes, states like NH\TX who have no income taxes pay more federal taxes due to high tax states like CA and MA.
Two tax brackets after that. 1st at 15% up to 100K, 2nd at 25% above 100K (after deductions).
Capital gains\dividends pay the same tax rate for individuals as earned income
Corporate taxes also greatly simplified. Companies that are based in another country pay equivalent of "sales tax" here based on total sales in US (not profit). Makes it more of an incentive to be based in the US. If it's a global conglomerate like Toyota that builds cars here. Then they pay minimum of profit based tax rate or a slightly lower "sales tax %" the higher of the two. Again, make for incentive of companies to be based in US, if they want to do business in US.
Social Security\Medicare: Tax rate is OK, but people live longer and healthier now. Social security should start at least 5 years later (67 for early retirement, 72 for normal retirement).
Other taxes: Such as gas tax should be set at rate where all money goes back to what it was intended for for example the roads\bridges to repair\maintain and build new. At same time, we need to watch the boondoggle like the Big Dig. That was way overbudget, largely because local politicians were using federal tax dollars with no penalties.
Welfare\Unemployment: I'm all for helping those who can't help themselves, the truly disabled, (esp those who became disabled in the military). We should help and support them any way we can. However, welfare\unemployment is supposed to be temporary for those who can work. I am against giving people more money because they had their umpteenth child, I'm against generation after generation being on welfare. That has to stop.
Civil Servants: People should be held accountable on jobs and fired\laid off as needed. Lifetime employment should not be a given.
Budgets etc: Governements budget should be similar to how they hold accountable companies. For example a CEO would be in huge trouble if they had unfunded liabilities like we have for social security etc. They should run by same laws they enforce on companies.
Administration: Goverments should assist businesses to set up fair playing rules, keep people safe etc, keep the land\air\water clean. But with balance. They shouldn't subsidize certain industries over others.
If govt wants to support clean energy for example, they should do it so they give money to colleges\universities\financial aid grants for students going for STEM or a particular field. It's good for our kids, and good long term for the country.
Immigration: No amnesty. It's been done before and before that. Make it so there is no work for illegal immigrants. Make companies pay if they hire illegal immigrants. With no work, there is less desire to come here. Enforce the border, send illegals back to their home country. People need to get in line to legally immigrate. No social welfare for immigrants for at least first 5 years.
You need to chill out
