gvg

Another example: What about the CEO's who used the bailout money designed to help them, which was stealing from EVERYONE to give to the RICH, and used it to fund their vacations?

UtF: I must admit that you're posts got me thinking. Maybe my ideals had been wrong; yours seemed to work. And then I remembered why I believe they are wrong: I do not have as optimistic a perspective on human nature as you do. Your posts give me the feeling that you believe people to be inherently good; if this is true, then God bless you. I however, cannot agree with this. Although I am not a religious man, I believe that people are, in the majority, inherently evil. My first piece of evidence: children must be taught the concept of sharing. They aren't born charitable; they become that way through parental guidance as children. People, and organisms as a whole, are born with one thing naturally in their mind: Help yourself to survive and reproduce. I truly believe that, if we went and did an experiment, we would find that a person not taught such things as sharing would worry about their needs and nothing else. Why, for example, should they give that person a piece of meat that they got through whatever means to the other person? It's theres after all. You yourself said it: why should the rich help the poor? People don't want to give up what they have and benefit society: a governing body is needed to guide them make sure it gets done. Example: The depression. Partly caused by people irresponsibly putting money that they didn't have on hand immediately into the stock market, heightened by a sense of panic that caused people to remove THEIR money. Hoover attempts to allow things to fix themselves; people would be charitable. It fails, nothing happens, and people, even now, hate Hoover. In comes FDR and the New Deal. He creates jobs, public works, and help for those who needed it but couldn't get it. Through taxes. The depression ends, and many people, like me, regard him as the hero of the depression. So while your ideas look great on paper (And they do, believe me) they, like communism, cannot work in real life. Humans are too greedy. Now, no form of government is perfect, of course. I am really for reform, and will continue to be until there is nothing else to reform. Thus, I will never be done, because there will always be something wrong. With welfare: as you said, some people mooch. It's true. Which is why I want welfare to be only for those who prove that they have tried to do something. Is it fair that someone will never have to work because they just happened to be born into a rich family, while someone else who works 'til they drop makes less than is needed to live? Is it really that child's money? No, it's daddy's or mommy's money that they are so lucky to have. These are who welfare is for. Those who can work but don't, well, sucks for them. Those who cannot need to be helped as well, especially if you want whats good for society as a whole. The disabled: It's not their fault. I know many disabled individuals who try to fight against their illness. Some are successful, some aren't. One of the smartest men in the world is mentally disabled: he can't get his clothes on without help, but is, to put it bluntly, a genius. If you didn't know that, and only his struggles to do basic activities, according to you, you wouldn't help him because he was disabled. How many great men and women would be lost because of such a thing? The elderly: They've completed their work, and deserve to have some time to relax and enjoy themselves with the knowledge that they will have a steady income to support them. The unemployed who have tried repeatedly to get a job: do I have to say it? They are part of society too, and have their own place. On taxes: Do you enjoy having hospitals to help you if you're injured? Do you enjoy the feeling of protection from an ORGANIZED arms forces that isn't just an angry mob? Now think: People enjoy these things, at least I do. But what if there were no taxes to pay for them? If many people do not think that hospitals are worth paying for, because they believe they will always be healthy, why should they pay? Why should they waste their money because their neighbors need it? Same with an armed forces: Why pay for that when all they'll need to do is get their own weapon to defend their home, 'their money,' etc. Why should they help to defend their neighbors? Your idea will not help to progress and help society, which is your goal, because as I said, people are greedy. Also, the national highway system, which literally created the suburban life style, was built by the government through TAXES. Dawh wrote what everything that needs to be said. Privatizing schools: If this happens, and we do as you say and not give any welfare, you would only allow the rich or middle class to go to school. The poor person who dreams of being a doctor? Nope, you can't pay. Plus, schools would all teach wildly different things: Catholic and other religious schools would say that nothing but their sacred scriptures are right, extremely scientific schools would say only science was fact. And no one would question: they payed for it, so it must be true. And why risk angering the school? Public schools, at least the ones I have gone too, tell students to be very open minded. My science teacher, for example, always told us that although she was teaching evolution, it didn't mean that the bible or other religious scripts weren't right. Under privatization of schools, we would most likely lose separation of church and state, which to me is bad.

You're right. The immigrant army was my idea, and I now see the problems with my idea. So I agree, we should do something about the companies, and possibly help Mexico too. I didn't know that about the taxes. It makes no sense. So I say we make a progressive INCOME tax that affects every source of income. And yes, that was a good start

Use The Force: If you want all of society to be happy, that includes the poor. Thus, because help cannot come from nowhere, what are we left with? Taxes and such on those who have money. They are already happy in their own way, and can afford to give money to help their fellow man, their "society." We can't ignore the poor, so we have to take from those that have to give to those that don't. And when has violence been used during taxation??? Usually the violence is from those who don't want to be taxed, not those that tax people.

Framm: Those who can give more to help should. That's it. To all: Think about this one: A child is born into the family of one of the richest men in the US. He or she will NEVER have to work a day in his or her life. Meanwhile, there are people who work there heart out and never get anywhere. There should be a law that states that all those born in rich families, once they turn 18, cannot use or inherit family money until they try to work and show that they deserve it. Or something else along those lines; luck shouldn't play a major role in life past being born able to and willing to work. Those not able to work are what welfare is for, and those who are able to but don't for no other reason but laziness or "not wanting to" deserve to get what's coming to them: a life of misery and unhappiness.

We need a leader, voted for the general population and independent of any parties. People would vote for him/her based on his/her position on the issues, not because they are Democrat or Republican. It's nearly impossible to vote on every single thing, so we could vote for people who would carry out those things as the masses would want in the first place. And to make sure it was what the masses wanted, we could either make it illegal not to vote for the president or whatever it would be called, or give people rewards and incentives for doing so.

Fine. I agree with that. Also, campaign contributions by people should be illegal. It's not fair that one party will have more money to do stuff with because they have a rich guy on their side. The only money political parties can use is money raised by the party through fundraisers. The maximum amount a person can contribute at such a fundraiser is, say, 5-10k.

Right... I remember that stuff about it not being allowed to sell stuff on Sunday... Yeah, I agree.

All the one's in green I agree with, although #28 will take some getting used to =)And for number three, can we increase the age of a consenting adult to 18? And for 4, I want a tax of at least 25%. 2. Aye 5. Aye to a point. The government has to make the use of slave labor in other countries by U.S. companies illegal, and all workers outside of the U.S. must be paid at least minimum wage. There's something else I wanted that I can't think of right now, but I'll let you know. 12. Aye 13. Still not sure about this one. 16. Aye 19. Rich more. 1% for poor, 5-10% for middle, 20% + for rich. And those who are eligible for Medicaid (130% of poverty line) pay nothing. 20. Aye. And no one can receive welfare without attempting to get a job. 21. Aye. It's disgusting. 23. Nay for some crimes, Aye for others. 25. Aye 26. Nay You beat me to it, btw. I was going to do this =)

What I mean by money being taken: I was watching The Pursuit of Happiness (GREAT movie btw). In it, he kept waiting to pay his taxes because he was very poor. Then one day, without warning, instead of helping him, the government took his money and he was broke. I don't want something like that to happen. And they do NOT give it back; that's the banks.

I agree with making greener technology. It makes no sense to give the middle east, our apparent worst enemies, money for there oil. They basically control us now; we are dependent on their prices. And we're NOT drilling in Alaska or other places like that, so green energy development is a plus. My favorite to power homes is geothermal, but there's many more. =) And I'm glad we can agree: no late term abortions. And about the taxing: Think about this: Those 100 dollars matter more to the man making 1,000 a year than that million does to the man with 10,000,000 a year. That's my reasoning. Also, I don't think that people that fall within 130% of the poverty line (eligible for Medicaid) should pay anything. It wouldn't help them get out of poverty, but deeper into it. Also, the government cannot take money out of your bank account. That's NOT cool.

Izzy: I agree with everything you said about the military. However, once again, I believe that a fetus is alive (Cells are living, after all) and after a while deserve some rights, at least after month eight. Can we agree that month eight and up, abortions are illegal, and in the second trimester, it's heavily taxed? Also, if it is a rape or can cause MAJOR harm or death to the woman, the government can help pay. Why should they be punished for the stupid mistake of someone else? And yes, reforming the DARE program is a good idea. Unreality: I agree with your compromise. =) Nick Fleming: I agree with you. Not everyone is an expert, but I do suppose, as Izzy said, that giving them proper information would help. Oh, and by the way, I don't think teaching Intelligent Design in public schools is a good idea. Anyone disagree?

Unreality: What if having the child would kill the mother? And what in the case of rape? These are times when it's OK to me. Your birth control thing is a good idea though. Framm: I live in the US, and I remember Bush's tax cuts for the rich. NOT cool. I just don't want something like that, and I want the percentage to increase the higher you go. For ex., 25% for rich, 8% or lower for middle, nearly nil, maybe 1%, for poor. And military shouldn't be mandatory. If war is made illegal, there wouldn't be a need for a military anyway =). I still think my idea with the illegal immigrants would work; until they're legal, they have to serve. It should scare them away. I agree with you about the welfare thing; only help those who attempt to, or do, help themselves.

I agree with you completely on the marriage equality thing. On abortion... To me, I think it should only be legal in the case of possible harm (like death) to the mother or after rape, or before a certain point in the pregnancy, because think about it: if you see a picture of it in the ninth or even eighth month, it looks like a baby. Now, I'm not one of those religious nuts that say it's evil and if you think otherwise you're going to hell, but there's a certain point that I don't think it's right. Because think about: it's not the fetus's fault that you were stupid enough to get pregnant when you didn't want to in the first place. Why should it be punished?

Izzy: True, but again, I think that more government control is a good thing (Not where they put their money, of course, but the business). And yes, degrees should matter a little bit. Now on to another issue: I don't know if someone has written about it yet but: Abortion, yes or no????

Sorry about the double post, but the edit function isn't working. Again, socialism: make money based on how hard you work. That's fair, no? It's not fair that a person becomes rich by being born into it, without working a day in his or her life (and never will)while a poor man will work and possibly never go above the poverty line. That MUST change, with a law of some sort; it interferes with the pursuit of happiness. Any ideas?

I like the bullet to the head idea... quick, cheap, and nearly painless. If possible, an inexpensive anesthesia would make it more humane. That's why I like socialism,it's sorta a nice middle ground... I agree with you about both extremes, although actually, capitalism is not the extreme on that 'side,' it's anarchy. But that's another monster =). I've been trying to think of a form of socialism that will avoid the evils of capitalism and the impossibility of communism (the only reason it doesn't work is because humans are greedy; it's not a bad ideal.)When I find that, I will have found, to me, the perfect economic system (socialism isn't a government type; representative democracy is the best government.)

Thanks unreality. I disagree. I'm OK with the death penalty. It costs tax payer dollars to keep those with the "life without parole" sentence around, and they're never going to get out. However, I am NOT OK with public executions, whippings, things like that. Although I guess we could put some to work... but mass murderers, serial killers, criminals like that, I say we should, to put it nicely, remove them. And it would be best if we borrow things like jail time from what works. After all, it works, no? =)

You're probably right about the revenue from marijuana... Again, though, taxes should be involved (We already have a compromise completed; we're on a role =) Oh, even though this probably doesn't need to be said, slavery is illegal. We have to make sure that it's in there or people will do it because it isn't. And how do you do the quote thing? I'm not sure how.

Framm18: That was along the lines of what I was going to say about work. I also agree with the thing about entertainers making less than teachers. It's ridiculous that a basketball player, like Joe Johnson, makes 120 MILLION DOLLARS while some teachers barley make enough to live. Izzy: I don't really like "Freedom of Body." My belief is that people naturally make stupid decisions. I know that there are things that I have done that were probably, well, stupid. Example: Prior to FDR, when it was laizze-faire out the wazzoo, depression occurs. In comes the New Deal, bam, we're out (well, world war two may have helped =)Another example: If people made good decisions, would there have had to be a progressive era where the country was fixed through government acts and such? But if Right to Decide (My term for it =) will be included, then HIGHLY TAX EVERYTHING THAT WAS ILLEGAL, as well as alcohol and tobacco. Make people not want to do it, and penalize them for actions done under the influence of drugs and alcohol. I agree with you on the war thing, though, but not the school thing. Once again, if it will be included, it should ONLY apply to high school. In middle school you're still under control from your parents, thus, you are a child. It's mandatory in middle school. And the health care thing you brought up works too. And yes, this thread is very fun. We can finally see what a modern constitution would include. Oh, and make sure to include an amendment process and an elastic clause.

Hate speech: You may be right, it does fall under freedom of speech, so, as much as it is evil, no jail time. But that doesn't mean people have to live with it. If you say something bad to your boss, i have no problem with you being fired. Also, I don't think drug laws should be repealed. Illegal drugs= bad. That's it. Is it really that smart to allow people to choose to kill themselves? I like your idea about minors being caught with alcohol, but again, if it's drugs, then there should be a punishment. However, the purchase of alcohol is illegal for those under 21 (yes, 21, not 18, even though I consider it adulthood.) The stores who sell it to them should also receive punishment. Also: NO PATRIOT BILL. People should have a right to privacy unless there is OVERWHELMING EVIDENCE to prove that they should be watched. I also agree with all laws being the same from state to state. Education wise: Regents in all states. I live in New York, and the regents is a good way to determine how much a child knows. What I do not like, however, is that some teachers strictly teach only what's on the regents. That's not cool. I also believe that people should make money based on how much they work, and that the rich should be taxed more than the middle class or poor. (I'm part socialist =) I don't have time now, but next post I will expand on the above statement.

Are we allowed to disagree with something and possibly change it? Because I think that government social security should be available as a sort of "Default" option, instead of just strictly privatized... Also, I would get rid of the "Don't ask, Don't tell" thing in the military... Gays should be allowed to freely serve (This may go under no sexual discrimination though...) I also want increased government regulation, to prevent monopolies and trusts and unfair business practices, as well as laws that prohibit the use of slave labor, or for that matter ANY labor, from people outside of the U.S. that aren't U.S. citizens working in another country (Although legal aliens in the U.S. are allowed jobs)... it sickens me that people are losing their jobs to people in other countries who simply take less money. And slave labor is just evil. And illegal immigration... I have a solution that may work: Any immigrants who are illegal MUST serve in the military until they become legal aliens. I for one would NOT remain illegal with that kind of law. Oh, and no bill like the Arizona Bill... It's stupid. In case you wanted to know, I voted liberal =)

I just got one today, actually. CLICK ON IT PLEASE!!!!!

Now that I'm looking at the other answers, ezdrocks looks pretty good =)

Beat me to it RoteFreiherr