How about if we give everyone a choice?

[Xicano]

What do you all think of this idea? This is just something that popped into my head and of course is just for academic discussion, but, out of curiosity, what do you think of it?

What if we created a 'choice' of economic policies to live by in this country? What I mean is. What if we created a policy structure not unlike many large employers have for their employees with respect to health care options such as choosing between a PPO or an HMO insurance and allowing once a year to change your selection if you so desire.

What if we incorporated a choice of liberal or conservative economic policies to live by in this country and allowed each person to indicate which policy to live by in a selection made available on your tax return filings? Every year when one does their taxes they can choose which economic system they wish to live by, but, they can only change choices every ten years.

If the liberal system is chose, then, you'll be on a more progressive tax table where you might end up paying a little bit more in taxes than before, but, you'll enjoy all the public services including public health care without having to pay a fee since you already did through your taxes.

If the conservative system is chose, then, you'll be on a flat rate tax table where you're not included in the paying for public services such as medicare, medicaid, welfare, food stamps, social security, grants of all sorts, disaster relief, public education, etc. I'd even go so far as to not include the paying for police and fire fighter services. However, since in making this choice you'll not be allowed to benefit from these services without a fee. If you wish to receive any of these services you must pay for it completely out of your own pocket.

Businesses, however, will remain under a business tax table system similar to what they currently experience but with a choice too. And if they choose the business conservative choice they'll not be allowed to receive any type of corporate welfare or tax break incentives, or any public money whatsoever.

For the business who chooses the business liberal choice, certain grants can and low interest government loans can be available to help them if they suffer a financial crisis and we could thank of other reasonable benefits to offer them.

Also, with this 'choice' of systems some of the benefits must be made on an accumulative/contribution scale. The more one has paid into some of these services, such as social security, the more one can expect to get back.

So what do you think? And what would you predict seeing from the conservatives initially and then after ten years?

[T Wolf]

1. The Cons would crash and burn without their leeching off of productive and liberal citizens.

I would take this one step further. Being a sociologist, I would like to see each state adopt a Con or Lib set of laws - call it a grand experiment.

If their way is better, their states will prosper and ours fail. If we are correct, they will wither and die while we survive.

Let the "red" states see if they can survive without being parasites surviving on the (forced) generosity of the blue states.

[valerief]

2. Diebold (or Premier or whatever it's called now) would count it, so it wouldn't be a real vote.

And how would the War For Drugs be funded without Conservatives? Gotta get that heroin into this country somehow.

Who pays for people who can't make a choice, like children or mentally ill people?

Progressives don't want the massive military budget, so who's gonna tell the guys with the guns and gasses that they won't get an obscene budget anymore?

How will the prison slave labor be funded? Progressives don't want that but would it go away? Doubt it.

[SPedigrees]

3. I'd settle for being able to choose a public health care plan over a private insurance carrier.

But I wouldn't miss the red states if they all seceded tomorrow. We would have to warmly welcome those dems in red states who wished to relocate to the blue United States. What would we really lose... the corn industry?

[applegrove]

4. Yup. Obama's health care plan already is about choice.