My social platform...

[redeye]

...if I get lynched this time, I'm outta here and I beg my non-American friends forgiveness for having posted almost 3000 posts here.

1. A committee is to be appointed in order to investigate whether it's a good idea to lower the voting age to 16.

2. All elections are to be publicly funded, with political parties getting money proportionally to the square root of their previous vote total (in order to handicap large parties that can finance themselves).

3. The Patriot Act and Homeland Security Bill are to be revoked and replaced with a bill to make the CIA and FBI communicate and start using human intelligence instead of waste billions on satellites that can read license plate numbers off cars.

4. Patriotism is to be banished from schools; the pledge of allegiance is to be completely eliminated, and flags are to be removed from classes.

5. All acts violating separation of church and state are to end; public prayers and Congressional prayers are to end, the national motto is to revert to E Pluribus Unum, faith-based initiatives are to be repealed, creationism is to be banned from schools until the academia judges it to be a real scientific discipline, and the Boy Scouts are not to be puclicly funded or given public ground until they admit atheists and gays.

6. The draft is to remain abolished - by a constitutional amendment if necessary.

7. The United States army is to be used only at the discretion of the UN.

8. Incest between consenting adults is to be permitted, if Lawrence vs. Texas hasn't already done so.

9. The death penalty is to be abolished.

10. Prostitution is to be federally legalized, complete with safeguards against exploitation by pimps and rape by customers.

11. Public education is to be subject to the following reforms:
a) An increase of at least 50% in the education budget;
b) Teaching of foreign languages in schools from first grade until twelfth grade;
c) Adequate teaching of analysis and critical thinking skills;
d) Assertion of education as aiming to give people knowledge, not jobs, and creating scientists and artists and programmers, not lawyers and businessmen;
e) Repeal of the No Child Left Behind act;
f) At least doubling of the spending on public libraries; and
g) Replacing school library books and text books with newer versions, so that by 2005, fewer than 5% are to be from before 1990, 15% of the books are to be from before 1995, and fewer than 50% are to be from before 2002.

12. Health care is to be defined as a right, not a privilege.

13. Echelon Project is to be scrapped in a year.

14. All immigration restrictions are to end, except those concerning health screening and preventing epidemics.

15. Airport security is to become smarter and less blunt; there is no need for anyone to wait 2 hoursat LAX for X-Ray screening when it's possible to screen after the baggage is checked-in, but on the other hand there is a need to eliminate the 10-cm blind spot at the bottom of those metal detecting gates, which allowed Richard Reid to almost blow up the plane.

16. Censorship of art in the form of NC-17 ratings, dressing naked statues, editing movies for television (I wonder how Southpark looks edited for TV...), or similar is to end.

17. Filesharing is to be legalized. If artists find that their revenues plummet as a result, then the government is to pay them from its money according to a rate fixed by law (e.g. 50 cents for every song downloaded, $1.50 per movie clip or TV episode, $3.00 per movie).

18. The speed limit is to be increased to 75 miles an hour, and the police are to enforce it laxly.

19. The drinking age is to be reduced to 18.

20. The War on Drugs is to end, and marijuana is to be legalized.

21. By 2010, the average fuel efficiency of cars is to be at least 15 km/liter (35 mpg).

22. By 2020, the official system of measures is to become metric.

23. Welfare reform is to be repealed.

24. The government is to formulate a real urban policy other than "fuck those niggers," pardon the term.

25. Abortion is to be fully legalized and publicly-funded (and yes, that also refers to extraction and dilation procedures), and contraception is to be given freely to whoever wants it.

26. All new government computer systems are to be open source.

27. The government is to sign the Kyoto Treaty.

28. By 2020, the workweek is to be reduced to 35 hours unless there starts a shortage of labor.

29. Federal initiative, referendum, and recall procedures are to be legislated.

30. Full voting rights are to be insured for all American citizens of voting age.

31. The United States is to define itself as the slave of every single human being in the world.

32. The United States is to slowly demilitarize and disband its nuclear capabilities. It's not as if a huge military is needed to take care of terrorism.

33. The United States is to at least double its foreign aid, seeking to:
a) Help third-world nations build infrastructure needed for development;
b) Sharply reduce birth rates worldwide via availability of sex education, contreception, and abortion;
c) Quench anti-American sentiments by actually helping the world; and
d) Eliminate death from hunger and curable diseases in the third world.

34. Stem cell research is to continue unabetted.

35. Women are to be encouraged via tax incentives to work outside home.

36. All acts of discrimination against gays, including don't-ask-don't-tell in the military, are to end when they cmoe from the government or be prohibited when they come from individuals.

37. Freedoms of thought and information are to be secured.

Okay, that's it for now...

[jiacinto]

1. Why must you disrespect American values?

#4 and #5 are examples of issues that anger me. Why do some on the far left must ridicule basic values? Why must you direspect mainstream values? This is what I hate about the far left. I mean I like having the American flag up in the classroom. And most people do. Why must you disrespect the flag?

On the Boy Scouts I can agree with not giving them money if they refuse to stop discrimination. I also don't think creationism should be taught in the schools.

Otherwise I see you insulting milliions of Americans. I just don't understand why the far left has to insult everything average Americans take for granted.

I disagree with 31. I don't "Blame America First" like you do.

Regarding #36, who the hell are you tell women whether they should work or not?

As for #7 I completely disagree with you there. The US does have its own foreign policy interests. Washington should dictate where the military gets sent, not the UN. The US should respect and work with the UN. But ulitimately they decision to use our military should rest with our leaders.

Regarding #8 this is stupid. Incest is wrong. It creates children with birth defects. You have got to be kidding.

This platform is too extreme. Those are the items with which I have the strongest opposition.

[JanMichael]

3. Why must you worship the flag?

Smacks of idolatry to me:-)

edited for crappy spelling...

[jiacinto]

4. It's respect

Something some people here don't have for this country's sytem. I don't worship the flag but I don't feel the need to insult and ridicule it either like some people here do.

[charlie]

6. Where does he ridicule or disrespect the flag?

Or religion? He doesn't. You're trying to hard to work yourself into a snit.

[jiacinto]

8. No I'm not

He wants flags removed out of classrooms. What it says to me is that this is just another person from the far left who wants to insult and to disrespect the flag. He wants to ban the Pledge of Allegiance. It's obvious that he has little respect for The American flag. If he did he wouldn't be advocating those things.

[redeye]

11. Wha'ts wrong with not respecting a flag?

And anyway, I want it removed from classes because patriotism is just another ideology, and I think that states should be ideologically neutral.

[jiacinto]

12. A lot

To me it says that you disrespect America, which clearly you admit to in this thread.

[SyracuseDemocrat]

19. socialism

is an ideology too...

[redeye]

24. It is an ideology...

...which I don't adhere to and whcih I don't think has a place in schools, either.

[charlie]

15. As usual

you're insulted because you want to be insulted. It's a policy proposal. If you want to say it's loopy, unjust, unworkable... fine. But, there's no disrespect in it.

[goobergunch]

31. In PA, a flag must be flown in every classroom

do you support that? It often gets in the way of the overhead projector, for one thing...:shrug:

The flag's just a symbol. If we're going to have the flag flown in every classroom, we should have the Constitution posted in every classroom for consistency. Given a choice between the two, I'd take the Constitution.

[JVS]

46. One of my mennonite freinds says differently

His School district did not have flags because most of his town was Mennonite. Once a senator visited and was bothered by that.

But I've personally never seen a PA classroom without a flag.

[redeye]

7. I disrespect American values...

...because they're stupid, mainly *L*. I don't see any reason why I should respect American values any more than I should respect Persian, Soviet, French, or Nigerian values.

Anyway, #31 doesn't blame America at all; rather, it makes it a force that exists to serve 6.3 billion people, not 300 million. Blaming America first is supporting the idea behind 9/11, thinking that American corporations are to blame for all of the world's ills, saying that American culture must be changed whereas other must be preserved, etc. I don't do any of that.

As for #38, I'm not telling women to work, I'm saying that the government needs to give tax incentives to working women. That's not the same thing.

Finally, incest does tend to produce birth defects, but who said all sex is for procreation? What if I want to fuck a cousin of mine just because she's good in bed and I'm wearing a condom?

[jiacinto]

10. Well then

You clearly are hostile to mainstream values. And I don't agree with you. And I find your position to be offensive and to be disrespectful to this country.

[redeye]

13. I say what I think, Carlos...

...not what I think is mainstream. I know I'm out of touch with the USA; no one needs to tell me that. I don't say "I should become dictator and enforce all those things on the Americans at gunpoint," only what I think is right.

[jiacinto]

18. That part of your platform is wrong

And I think you aren't going to go anywhere by insulting the mainstream values of Americans.

[Nazgul35]

26. I'm guessing you're on the young side...

cause only people who are young would give a damn about lowering the drinking age, or lowering the voting age...

PS: statistically, the amount of deaths caused by drunk drivers decreased radically when we raised the drinking age (I speak as one who was less then 14 months from being ole enough to drink when they raised it...so I feel you pain....but once you're old enough to drink, you will see that the attraction slacks off considerably...

PSS: the amount of fatalities as a result of car accidents fell drastcially after we lowered the speed limit (and before you give me that statistic about most accidents occur under 35 mph and within 15 miles of the home----duh, the large percentage of our driving time occurs under 35 mph and within 15 miles of our homes...so we should expect that), it is more likely you will be killed in an accident at 75 mph then at 55 mph....

PSSS: :evilgrin: Carter lowered the speed limit in part to reduce our usage of gasoline...45 mph is the optimum speed for maximizing your gas usage...this may have changed some in the past few years but perhaps your need for speed is incouraging terrorism...

:hi:

[redeye]

30. Yes, I'm on the young side...

...a week before 18 to be exact. I still think that if Europe has lower car accident rates with higher speed limits that no one cares about anyway (in Germany there is simply no speed limits on highways) and with drinking age at 18, then either American culture is to blame or there is some governmental policy that will enable us to enjoy the best of all worlds (drinking age at 18, higher speed limit, lower car accident rate).

Moreover, your argument that once people reach the drinking age their attention slacks off is kind of a boomerang. Some 19-year-olds nowadays drink because it's illegal for them; therefore, one could expect that they won't drink once drinking age is lowered. In other words, not only does reducing the drinking age show that there is in fact a problem of teenage drinking (something that increasing the drinking age kind of brushes off), but also fewer teenagers will drink.

As for gasoline usage, I don't see any reason why a nation 5000 kilometers side-to-side reduces its speed limit to reduce gas usage (by how much, by the way?), especially when there're cars that drive per liter what a large SUV drives per gallon.

Finally, a point about accidents: to a degree, they depend on what speed everyone's driving at. I hear that on the I-80 near Atlanta, for example, people are driving way above the speed limit so driving at 55 is mroe dangerous than driving, say, 80.

[jafap]

56. German speed limits

First of all, they have a massive bus and train system that we do not. Second, the lack of speed limit is only true on the Autobahn. My German cousin tells me that there are strong social disincentives for driving faster than 65. I have heard that Germans are so into law and order that they refuse to jaywalk.
As far as speed goes, yes, in general, it is safer to drive with the flow of traffic. Yet as I was flying through Michigan, bumper to bumper at 75 mph, I realized that if a car ahead of me lost a tire, that I would inevitably become part of a 30 car pile-up. That would be less of a factor at 60.
If you like 75 mph, then you should move to SD where there are few enough people to make it safer. I have seen people argue that raising speed limits would just make more drivers legal, but that is a load of crap. I have seen speed limits go up from 55 to 70, and drivers are still not paying alot of attention to it.

[ButterflyBlood]

36. I'm 19 and I get drunk all the time

so do all my friends under 21 except ones who have no interest in drinking and won't when they turn 21. It doesn't stop anyone.

[jafap]

57. I think cousin marriage is still legal in some states

As far as the desire to "fuck" a cousin, (or sibling, or parent or grown child?)

"Until recently, propriety demanded the use of the verb 'to make love,' and this delicacy was not without purpose. It was meant to remind us - to teach us, or at least allow us to be taught - that whereas human copulation can be physically indistiguishable from animal copulation generally, it ought to be marked by the presence of a passion of which other animals are incapable."

Of course, that kind of takes away from fornication as well, which I am not a big fan of, although I don't think it needs to be illegal.

[JanMichael]

2. No time to address much.

Generally speaking I agree with most of the points with an adjustment here or there.

"18. The speed limit is to be increased to 75 miles an hour, and the police are to enforce it laxly."

I think you mean the interstate highways, right? Residential streets need to be much, much, lower.

Have fun getting flamed.

[redeye]

9. Yes, I do

Many of them have speed limit at unenforced 70 anyway; I'm referring more to how the police lurk and get you when you least expect it when they should be doing something useful.

[sirshack]

5. Not in agreement with a whole lot there....

...but thanks for sharing.

I'd love to hear some elaboration on some of your policy ideas, rather than simply saying things like "real urban policy", etc etc etc.

[ArkDem]

21. Yes,

I'm interested in "securing freedom of thought".

[redeye]

27. That's mostly an issue of legal terms...

...Personally, I'd be happy with another amendment added to the bill of rights, "The people's freedom of thought shall not be violated." Since it'll rain in Death Valley in July before it happens, I'll settle for a government that doesn't demonize dissent and a president who lives up to Voltaire's "I may not agree with what you say, but I will die to make srue you have the right to say it."

Anyway, that's what I mean by that. If it's just an extension of freedom of speech, then my point is moot.

[sirshack]

39. OK...more clarification...

"The people's freedom of thought shall not be violated."

How exactly would a government violate this?

[redeye]

23. Good points

My idea for urban policy is mainly the standard thing: better education, reduction in crime. I just think that bussing doesn't solve the problem and that rather, there needs to be discrimination in favor of inner-city public schools in the form of them being the first in line to have library materials replaced and so on, teachers being offered higher salaries in inner-city schools than in suburban schools, and above-average spending on below-average performance or otherwise problematic schools. Reduction in crime should not take the form of cops being allowed to treat blacks like they did in Mississippi a hundred years ago, but rather of marijuana being legalized, safety nets ensuring that children don't have to commit crimes in order to have enough to eat, and harsh punishment of crimes in the family, which perpetuate crime in the inner city.

Feel free to ask for anything else you'd like to hear more about...

[sirshack]

25. I got ya....

And I'm not expecting you to wonk out on numbers or anything like that...I just wanted to get more specifics.

One other question: Why not just abolish the military wholesale? What's the point of even having one if the UN must approve any actions or can dictate when it is used?

[TheDonkey]

14. A bit extreme

It's a bit extreme but I respect that list. I just don't see you winning any elections on that type of platform haha.

I agree with much of what jiacinto commented on.

[SyracuseDemocrat]

16. well

I picked out one part of this that makes no sense and that will never pass.

7. Filesharing is to be legalized. If artists find that their revenues plummet as a result, then the government is to pay them from its money according to a rate fixed by law (e.g. 50 cents for every song downloaded, $1.50 per movie clip or TV episode, $3.00 per movie).

So American taxpayers are supposed to pay artists for their losses because of people like me who download tons of music? Sorry but that will never happen and it's not a very smart idea, either.

[Chicagonian]

38. and what about those of us who never download music?

why should our tax-dollars go for this kind of an initiative.

although amazingly- it's far from the stupidest idea on the list.

[redeye]

50. Only if...

...it's impossible to support artists otherwise. Movie downloads may be a pain in the ass now, but in 3 years they won't be; AO£ has bought a technology that would connect networks to one another more efficiently, thus increasing connection speeds by about 400, which means, in other words, that you can download a movie in between 50 and 70 seconds if you find a person with a good connection to download from.

[LWolf]

17. I agree with some.

I definitely support # 11.

The only item I can't do is # 31. That one's got to go.

A few others need some clarification, but can be worked with.

Why go? If the liberal tent isn't liberal enough to include dissenting viewpoints, what tent will be?

[SyracuseDemocrat]

20. From my calculations

All of the stuff that you advocate would require at least a 3 trillion dollar budget, probably even 3.5 trillion. Where do you propose to get the money for this stuff? Taxing the rich at a prohibitive marginal rate like 70%, most of whom will see no benefits from any of these programs?

[Nazgul35]

22. Personally I dont have a problem

with the pledge or the flag...only sheeple need by afraid of this...

Imagry only works on people who are severly undereducated...so rather then waste my time fighting battles over idiotic symbolic viewpoints, i'd much rather take the effort into making sure that each and every single American is educated to the fullest extent possible....

I'm sure you'd see that people who get sucked into nationalism and radical religiousity would decrease rapidly, or havent you noticed that the far right is doing everything in its power to undermine education in this country?

[Abaques]

28. How will you accomplish any of this?

Although I disagree with several of your points, others have covered that.

What I want to know is how you intend to bring about the changes in US society and government to implement your social program.


This isn't to bait or anything like that, but if you are serious in wanting change, then you need to have a realistic plan of action to implement that change.

[goobergunch]

29. I agree with most of that...

here are my only objections.

11. Public education is to be subject to the following reforms:
b) Teaching of foreign languages in schools from first grade until twelfth grade;

What if we're not good at foreign languages? I wouldn't support this unless science, English, math, history, and maybe computer courses were made requirements for the same period of time.

13. Echelon Project is to be scrapped in a year.

I probably don't object to this, but I'm not familiar with the Echelon Project and so would reserve the right to object.

14. All immigration restrictions are to end, except those concerning health screening and preventing epidemics.

There might be legitimate reasons for some other immigration restrictions...we don't want terrorists flooding the country, but we don't want all Middle Easterners to be excluded, either.

16. Censorship of art in the form of NC-17 ratings, dressing naked statues, editing movies for television (I wonder how Southpark looks edited for TV...), or similar is to end.

There should be some warning of nudity...it would be a little disturbing to be channel-flipping and suddenly come across a passionate love scene.

18. The speed limit is to be increased to 75 miles an hour, and the police are to enforce it laxly.

Good on highways, but not good on local roads.

31. The United States is to define itself as the slave of every single human being in the world.

This needs to be clarified.

Other than those points, good work! :bounce:

[ButterflyBlood]

37. just allow TVs to block out shows that show sex and the like

if you want to. But showing anything on TV should be allowed. Don't watch it if you don't like it.

[redeye]

40. Okay...

11. b) I agree that those English, math, science, and history must be compulsory for the same period of time as foreign languages. However, I think that foreign languages are the point where American schools are the worst; they're our connection to the world, and they're one way we can create an America that's aware of the world outside its boundaries. But basically you're right about the other subjects.

13. Okay... Echelon is basically the same as the Patriot Act, only covert. The idea is that the US, Canada, Britain, Australia, and New Zealand cooperate in a global dish system that is able to record everything passed on satellite. It means international phone calls, emails, sites you read on servers outside North America. It even tracked a phone call from Afghanistan to Saudi Arabia on September 10th, 2001 referring to an event that would happen tomorrow, when the "infidels" would be "brought down on their knees." That last part sounds promising; however, since the CIA and FBI apparently don't have enough Arabic speakers or computer systems that can translate, the call was only translated two days later, and one day too late... either give us results, I say, or don't waste money on invading our privacy.

14. I agree that terrorists need to be kept out, but it's quite impossible to prevent people from entering the US; just look at Mexican illegals. Al Qaida operatives can pretty easily row across the St. Lawrence, or hide in ship containers (they actually do that). Honest people who want to work in the USA can't.

16. Maybe nudity shouldn't be shown on channels that don't have the option of parental blocking, but swear words have no excuse. I was watching the Blues Brothers, edited for TV, a few weeks back, and not only did all swear words get edited - "hell" became "heck," "bullshit" became "balooney," and so on - but also the parts where Elwood pocketed some firecrackers in that store at the gas station and where he burned the elevator controls were trimmed.

18. 'Zackly. I'm not saying that you should be allowed to do 75 on city or county roads, only that you should be allowed to do that on highways.

31. You're right... It's mostly an attempt to stick it up to people who think that the US government should protect Americans at the expense of anyone else - for example, the Pat Buchanan types who warn of American jobs being exported to India and Mexico (note: I'm not comparing people who think outsourcing exploits people to Pat Buchanan), or those who support the tendency of the USA to operate on an America-first philosophy. The idea here is that since the USA is a world power, it has responsibility to everyone, not only to its citizens. This means, for example, that the US shouldn't rob third-world nations in order to lower oil prices, that it shouldn't act as if the rest of the world doesn't exist, and that it shouldn't restrict people of other nations from benefiting from its products by either immigrating or simply taking jobsthat would otherwise go to American citizens.

[Chicagonian]

47. regarding foreign languages...

"What if we're not good at foreign languages?..."

I didn't realize that students were able to skip core subjects if they were no good at them(except maybe in high school).

the point is that American schools are piss-poor when it comes to language training. If people wait until high school before they start trying to learn a language, they usually aren't going to do too well-
kids who start learning a second or third language at a young age do much much better at learning them.

I also agree that science, math, english, etc should be required every year as well... and I'd prefer that they start teaching history earlier and more accurately.

[Cato1]

32. Hmmm

"31. The United States is to define itself as the slave of every single human being in the world."

Based on this outlandish example, me thinks you are nothing but a right-winger trolling DU. In fact, I think you have posted similar policy listings before. All of which look like they have been copied from some "liberal lunacy" pamphlet made by Rush Limbaugh or some other right-wing propagandist.

[Cheswick2.0]

33. I would say that you are going to get almost nothing of that aggenda

and in addition you have no right under the constitution of the USA to ask for much of it.

[Character Assassin]

34. Even as a libertarian, that agenda is waaaaaay over-the-top

7. The United States army is to be used only at the discretion of the UN.

That is insanity, but I'm glad to actually don't try to candy-coat your opinion.

11. Public education is to be subject to the following reforms:
a) An increase of at least 50% in the education budget;

What evidence do you have that this would do anything positive?

c) Adequate teaching of analysis and critical thinking skills;

Careful! Ambiguous wording can cause unintended consequences. Who determines 'adequate'?

d) Assertion of education as aiming to give people knowledge, not jobs, and creating scientists and artists and programmers, not lawyers and businessmen;

So how are all those scientists, artists and programmers going to work when no one is trained in business?

12. Health care is to be defined as a right, not a privilege.

More insanity.

14. All immigration restrictions are to end, except those concerning health screening and preventing epidemics.

So know felons, people with known criminal and/or violent pasts and religious fanatics would be ok?

17. Filesharing is to be legalized. If artists find that their revenues plummet as a result, then the government is to pay them from its money according to a rate fixed by law (e.g. 50 cents for every song downloaded, $1.50 per movie clip or TV episode, $3.00 per movie).

That is utterly unquantifiable, and to leave future payments by the gov't as open-ended sounds like something only congress would be craven enough to dream up.

24. The government is to formulate a real urban policy other than "fuck those niggers," pardon the term.

Meaningless poltical hyperbole.

31. The United States is to define itself as the slave of every single human being in the world.

Why even post if you don't want to be taken seriously? Seems like a waste of time.

[ButterflyBlood]

35. and my replies

1. good idea
2. i'd rather just every party get a set amount, and can spend no more than that, period
3. good idea
4. no problem here
5. also no problem here
6. good idea
7. good idea
8. i'd like at least precautions took to make sure they don't reproduce
9. good idea
10. good idea
11.
a) depends on if it's neccesary
b) not so sure
c) good idea
d) good idea
e) good idea
f) depends on if it's neccesary
g) good idea, although out of print editions should be excluded from the count
12. a must
13. don't know what that is
14. good idea
15. good idea
16. The South Park movie was played unedited. Otherwise I agree except movie ratings are a voluntary system and can't really be regulated
17. good idea
18. this depends on the location and many other issues, but i don't see any problem with it at 75 on an interstate. in city is a whole other issue.
19. good idea
20. good idea
21. good idea
22. good idea, but can be done even quicker
23. good idea
24. good idea
25. good idea on fully legal and legal contraception, although completely publicly funded abortion would cause way too many problems from protestors. i'd say only if it is not affordable to the woman in question
26. good idea
27. good idea
28. good idea
29. good idea
30. good idea
31. i don't know what you mean here
32. yep, and good idea
33. all good ideas, although some just can't be solved instantly
34. good idea
35. i'd rather have them guaranteed equal wages, since i think it should be her choice to work outside the home or not.
36. good idea
37. good idea

[jiacinto]

41. Why must you disrespect American values

Why does the flag upset you so much?

[ButterflyBlood]

44. School is for education

not Orwellian indoctrination.

[jiacinto]

53. Why can't you respect the American Flag?

I just don't understand why you have so much disrespect for it.

[ButterflyBlood]

60. it's not an issue of disrespect

but in having it flown everywhere as an idol and having it required in schools is part of the Orwellian indoctrination that I mentioned.

[redeye]

48. Okay...

2. Maybe, although I think that there needs to be some way to make the system more cloneproof. We don't want the Republicans to create 15 bogus parties ("National Republicans," "Hamiltonian/Adamsian," "Christian Republicans," etc.) and get 16 times more funding than they should. They have some incentive to do that with a square rot system, but then they have to give each such party a lot of attention that can divide the GOP into 16 parts - never a good thing.

8. Good point... Although I think that sex education works best here, I think that there can be legal precautions as a package of anti-sex crimes laws (i.e. rape, sexual assault, even infecting someone with AIDS when you know you have the disease and don't tell your sexual partners); for example, as eugenic as it might sound, there might be some forced abortion as long as it is made public and the checks required are done very early in the pregnancy, preferably in the first trimester. Again, this is just a possibility; I'm open to suggestions that prevent the creation of a human being doomed to suffer without infringing on a woman's right to control her body.

11. g) Probably, especially if those editions are too damn important to replace (e.g. nonfiction literature). My concern is mostly with stuff like factbooks and encyclopedias; I'm not sure how much of what Moore says about outdated library books is true, though, mainly because my school was pretty good for a public school.

22. I'm not realy sure if it's possible to do that more quickly. Either way, for some years distances, fuel prices, weights, etc., are going to have to be in both English and Metric. In some parts of Europe, I know, prices are both in Euros and in the local currency, although people obviously pay in Euros.

25. The last bit sounds like a good idea and a good compromise...

33. You're absolutely right, unfortunately. Better late than never, though :) :(.

35. How could I overlook that... *blush* the ERA. Anyway, I'm talking mainly about tax rebates; the real treat here is that if women work at the same rate as men do (AFAIK 90% of the work-age men are in the workforce but onyl 60% of the women are), then it's possible to reduce the length of the workweek, finally after 100 years.

[Chicagonian]

42. Incest is legal?

Is there really a big groundswell of support for this...? or do you just have the hots for your sister?

some of the stuff is acceptable, some is not, and a lot of it is just plain...wierd.

(the U.S.is to define itself as a slave...?)

How about a rule #38: People who go off their lithium are not allowed to post their social programs to web-boards...

[ScreamingMeemie]

43. Patriotism, in my opinion, is free speech, and I'm not willing to give up

free speech. Define that differently and I might agree with you. Ban patriotism...Hell no, I love my country and I want it back.

As a mother, I think speed limits are already way high...so you lost me on that one also. More speed enforcement and less fabricated drunk driving arrests.

Moms should receive incentives...work outside or inside.

As for lowering the voting age to 16, with the way my daughter behaves at 13, I don't want her to drive, vote, leave the house at 16. But I don't have a huge problem with that one.

[ButterflyBlood]

45. I think it should be lowered to 16, but tie it to their GPA or something

but would your daughter vote Republican? Stupid people who are duped into voting Democrat are still doing a good thing, so I don't see anything wrong with it. Most under 18s would vote Democrat since they don't pay taxes or buy guns anyway and hate the religous right and have liberal social views.

[redeye]

49. I don't say ban patriotism...

...just ban it from schools. Love your country as much as you want to and speak about it as much as you want to; my problem comes when I have to pledge allegiance to the flag every morning or sit in classrooms with flags in them. I wouldn't want swastikas or socialist stars or hammers-and-sickles or fasce (those axes that the Romans carried and that Mussolini used as the symbol of fascism) or crosses or even atheist atoms <<<; for the same reason, I don't want flags.

[ScreamingMeemie]

54. So then ban free speech in schools...

Sorry, patriotism is a lot more that a flag...and I want my child to have the right to display his patriotism in the form of standing up for what is right when he goes to public school next year. Ban the Pledge of allegience...whatever floats it, but not patriotism, maybe phony patriotism...???

[redeye]

61. I don't say your child can't say it...

...I say he can't say it government-sponsored. If he wants to pledge allegiance, he can; but he shouldn't get any more sponsorship than if I say, "I pledge to do my best to leech, undermine, subvert, and ultimately destroy the gvoernment of the United States."

[redeye]

62. I don't say your child can't say it...

...I say he can't say it government-sponsored. If he wants to pledge allegiance, he can; but he shouldn't get any more sponsorship than if I say, "I pledge to do my best to leech, undermine, subvert, and ultimately destroy the gvoernment of the United States."

[DemocratSinceBirth]

51. 38

38 Lapdances shall be legal and free in all states

[ButterflyBlood]

52. i think that might fall under legalization of prostitution

basically any form of sex trade becomes legal.

[DemBones DemBones]

55. Some of your positions and comments show why the voting age

should go back to 21. Everyone is more mature and has more wisdom at 21 than they do at 18. If you're honest with yourself, you'll see this is true for you.

Some comments on your ideas:

"Women are to be encouraged via tax incentives to work outside home." Why? Someone should stay home with the kids so I'd support tax incentives to help one parent in each family to stay home and care for their children. Children are important to our future and day care is rarely a good substitute for parental care. Maybe it could be if day care workers were highly paid and there was a lot of competition for those jobs but I don't see that happening soon.

"File sharing" is stealing music and will ultimately bite you in the butt by causing recording companies to produce less music, economizing to offset their losses. When I say "less music," I mean that only the large labels will survive and they will produce only the most commercially successful music. If you'd be happy listening to Britney Spears all the time, fine. Otherwise, you guys are ensuring the eventual extinction of music you want to hear. Clear Channel will rule the world unless consumers figure out how to keep them from doing so. They're trying to take over the booking business now so that they can control who plays live in the clubs in your town.

No matter what the speed limit is, people will exceed it by 10-15 mph. Thus it would be most sensible to have a speed limit of 45 mph so no one would go over 55-60. Higher speeds lead to more fatalities. Why is it different in Europe? Perhaps because a smaller percentage of people drive in European countries.

Why wait until 2020 to reduce the workweek to 35 hours? Do it by 2005. And lengthen vacation times. Better to emulate the Europeans here than in speed limits.

Metric by 2020? The metric system is better and easier but people are resistant to change. Giving time to phase it in didn't work in the past. Again, do it by 2005 -- tie it to the reduction in the workweek and maybe people will support it. ;-) If all products are labeled in metric measures, people will have to deal with it and move on, though there will be a lot of pissed-off Americans.

The US should double foreign aid? No, the US should spend more on its own citizens before increasing foreign aid. If the needs of US citizens were being met, an increase in aid to other nations could be justified, but that's not the case at present.

US soldiers under UN command? NO. US the slave of the world? NO.
Legalize incest? NO.

"Stem cell research is to continue unabetted." I think you mean "unabated."

[jafap]

58. exactly on the metric

I think Canada converted in about 2 weeks, back when America started on some gradual plan that was eventually dropped. But at least now we have the 2 liter bottle, and I think the half liter is on the way. Also, I kind prefer Fahrenheit for temps, it gives you more differentiation 70 to 80 to 90 to 100 vs 19 to 24 to 29 to 34, and for winter below zero is kind of a threshhold you would lose in Celcius.

[ButterflyBlood]

59. why should the voting age be 21 when most 18-21 year olds vote Dem?

those who do vote at least, but that's a horrible idea.

Also, why should consensual adult incest where reproduction is not occuring be illegal? Not why it's wrong, but why should it be illegal.

btw, the file swapping comment is untrue, since the independent industry has been totally unaffected by it. However one thing is for sure: it's impossible to stop.