I venture to say,

[WheelWalker]

it's issues for us now. No matter who is leading "the free world." The candidates, are beyond our control.

What are the ultimate issues that MUST be addressed in the next four years? Is it energy? Climate change? Pollution? Population? Peace? Food? Water? Shelter? Something else? You name it...I'm listening. What is it we HAVE to do? What's #1, do you think?

[muddrunner17]

1. oil independence

I believe oil independence is going to be important for us. We will continue to see oil prices rise. It's something that affects both domestic and foreign policy. As oil becomes scarce and everyone competes for it, I could see WWIII in the making. We could improve our national security by putting ourselves in a position of power in negotiations with the Middle East. Right now they know we need their oil. As green energy become more viable, then we could begin to solve many of our energy, pollution, and environmental problems.

If the Manhattan project developed the atom bomb in 2 years, why can't we do the same with alternative energy? Why do we not put the same resources into progress as we do into destruction?

[WheelWalker]

3. Critical.

Upon energy, all life relies. QED. We must make it happen.

[gateley]

4. EXCELLENT, mud! Great example about the bomb... nt

[elleng]

8. muddrun, we CAN;

but our 'system,' such as it is, encourages/forces those who might 'lead' to drop the 'tough' fights.

Strong and creative leadership is what we need.

[WheelWalker]

9. Is what we DEMAND...

There will be people in the streets, across the planet, sooner than we'd imagine. We'd better have leaders who can adapt to change, not egotistically claim to fashion it. It's all about evolution (theoretically, of course).

[elleng]

10. Well Idiot,

from what I've seen, in the last 4+ years, we wont 'have' such leaders if its up to our current process; I've watched 2 highly capable, skilled and creative leaders rejected by our system.

Not good.

[jillan]

12. And Biden held those hearings on how climate change would effect our security

because millions of people from all over the world would be displaced from their homes if the ocean levels continued to rise.

[gateley]

2. Week One:

1. End the war in Iraq w/the Biden Exit Plan NOW.
2. Rescind the tax cut for the wealthy that Bush put into place. Biden said that alone would bring in I THINK over a billion dollars.
3. Reinstitute the provisions that this admin has cut for those in need, including veterans.
4. Immediately provide health care to those who don't have it, and have TRULY affordable health care for those who can pay a premium WHILE moving
full bore toward a single payer health care system.
5. Provide shelters for the growing number of homeless.
6. Stop tax cuts or offer incentives to the companies that have outsourced American jobs.
7. Mandate that all cars must be hybrid, or preferably electric, within the next few years. Mandate that extremely low cost versions be made available.
None of this so-many-miles-per-gallon crap -- we don't NEED the oil to run our cars, so let's get moving on it.
8. While SIMULTANEOUSLY working with other countries around the world to mend our fences, and work toward peaceful resolutions.
9. I don't understand all the intricacies of the economy, but I just now heard a financial consultant say that food prices alone have risen 10-20% over the
last year. I DO know that salaries and wages certainly have not increased. I don't know how, but somehow all workers have to be paid fairly.

I think these are all CRUCIAL - we are hurting in so many areas -- where do you begin?

What do YOU think?

[WheelWalker]

5. If I were POTUS? First of all, I'd appoint you

as chief of staff, gateley. Seriously.

What I'm wondering is what would best address all the secondary issues facing our nation and the world. I think that's energy.

I would make the # 1 priority of my administration - developing sources of energy that are sustainable and harmonious with planetary cycles and the continued existence of sentient being. Every goal that we might nobly pursue necessarily flows of, by and through energy. Energy has the capacity to be creative or destructive. Energy is.

[gateley]

6. Energy is ALL. Everything.

I think your priority is right on.

And I accept. :7

[WheelWalker]

7. I think achieving all you name, and more,

would flow precipitously from an Energy Initiative. But I do not disagree at all with your secondary objectives. They are of primary importance to those who suffer as a result of chimpanzee policies.

I am reminded of how wealthy I have felt with a mammoth stack of firewood laid up for the winter. Energy can be the solution to social challenges. So it has been for Saudi Arabia, Iran, the Arab Emirates, Russia, Venezuela and the rest of the oil producing nations. It can also be the cause of great suffering and even global catastrophe. If we don't handle energy, she will handle us.

[jillan]

13. Gateley for President!

Thanks - I finally figured out who I will vote for!

[CrispyQ]

11. I think the most critical issue facing America

is getting corporate money out of our electoral process. Electronic voting pales in comparison considering that we don't even get to select our candidates -- the corporations do. Sadly, I don't think this issue is ever going to be addressed seriously.

http://reclaimdemocracy.org/rdc/index.php?title=Q%26A_on_corporate_personhood_and_money_as_speech

Q & A Abolishing Corporate Personhood and Money as Free Speech

snip...

Q. How would we benefit by reversing the Supreme Court doctrine that money equals speech?

A. The Supreme Court struck down the poll tax, which was pay-to vote, and prohibited deliberate economic exclusion of citizens from the electoral process. But, the bias of wealth still plagues our democracy, largely because in 1976 the Supreme Court, in Buckley v. Valeo , ruled that spending money to influence elections is a form of constitutionally protected free speech, and largely beyond democratic control. This has resulted in two distinct classes of democratic participation. One is the majority who can vote. The other is the smaller group that wields the real power—the ability to finance campaigns, control the political agenda, and determine the options for the rest of us. When corporations use money to exercise their political speech, the situation worsens. With money's amplification of corporate speech, our government hears the voice of corporations much more loudly than it does the voices of the citizens it was designed to serve. This is minority rule and is anti-democratic. Declassifying money as speech would further the principle of “one person, one vote” and would finally limit the corruption of money in our government.

[jillan]

14. Another huge issue.

I am hoping that Biden and Dodd work on this together.
They were both victims, as is Edwards.

We don't really have a true democracy, do we?