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Sarge

Your top 5 issues

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Cool thread idea. Should get some good discussion going. I'm too busy/lazy [?] to type out my positions on everything, but here are the five most important issues to me.

 

1) Education

2) Climate Change

3) Healthcare

4) Electoral Reform

5) Foreign Policy

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If minimum wage went up so would the cost of living companies arent going to pay every employee from 12-15 dollar hr and keep there prices the same

Edited by WeaponX20

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Cost of living goes up no matter what. People are getting buried by it because wages stay the same.

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1. Healthcare. It's time to make it a basic human right and not an overpriced good designed to amass huge amounts of money and put citizens in a place where they have to pay whatever insurance companies want in order to not go broke if they need significant care.

 

2. Gaining control of radical politics. Radical conservatives are stuck and the past and extremely dangerous. Radical liberals are some of the most useless people on the planet, effectively censoring people over words and actions they don't like and destroying every single protest in the country right now. Nearly every single major protest started with knowledgeable individuals who had a point to get across. Then all the under-informed snowflakes showed up to party at the site (Dakota Access Pipeline protests, anyone?). Talk about pathetic. I'd rather have an argument with a backwoods redneck with more guns than teeth than a goddamn snowflake.

 

3. Taxes on the middle class have got to get under control. Guys like you and me can't handle sending the government a check for 5K+ every year. Fucking bullshit.

 

4. Environment. While I don't hate this administration's efforts to get the EPA under control (if the EPA had their way with everything, there'd be no small farmer like me), they can't be ignoring things like Climate Change and Global Warming. Jesus fucking Christ.

 

5. Prioritize issues properly. For instance, this bathroom issue is absurd. No money should be spent on this. It's time tell sally to quit crying and put up with reality. If we can't let people pee wherever they want without opposition, we need to drop it. Public funds and legislative time can't be spent because Bobbi with an 'i' is an overly sensitive twatwaffle.

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1. Campaign Finance Reform, without it nothing meaningful will ever change in a positive direction for anyone but the 1%. Anything good will either get dismantled and poisoned in negotiation or out right just shot down. I bet we would be in a lot less foreign conflicts if this happened too so right there I think it covers literally just every important issue facing us

 

2. Education, the world is going to be changing a lot and it is absolutely vital that we prepare our youth for those changes if we want to stay on top. Many of the jobs that have carried the American work force will soon be gone and we have to educate and train people to adjust to that. It's also apparent that despite being the richest country in world history that our education system is completely archaic We don't make leaders or independent thinkers, we train lemmings, that must change. The cost of college is also way too high. Something has to be done about that. I would be for incentivizing the pursuit of certain degrees in science and energy and just paying for their schooling so long as they make it through. I would also erase college debt.

 

3. Healthcare, We need to make it cheaper, crack down on Pharma and just make sure that everyone is covered. Personally I think single payer is the best way to go, but it's absolutely vital that liberals and libertarians work together to make this thing more cost effective and go after the corporations who are raking us over the coals

 

4. Global Warming/the environment, Even if you don't believe in global warming, our water supplies are being poisoned and in the long run renewable energy, once perfected will save a lot of money and a lot of jobs and could create a new industry for this country. We have to take care of the planet or it will press the re-set button and wipe us out.

 

5. Income inequality/Minimum wage, for the economy to thrive, money has to circulate and people have to buy stuff. When all the wealth of the nation is tied up in bank accounts and tax haven's we ALL suffer, even the rich. We're also starting to reach a tipping point with personal debt in this country.if everybody is underwater in home payments, student loan debt and medical bills we are in for a MAJOR ecomomic collapse.

 

Really wanted to put reinstating the telecommunications act and busting up these huge media conglomerates on here and I probably should have but I just couldn't justify leaving out any of these other issues.

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1. Money in politics. I struggled a lot in deciding how exactly to phrase this, but I think it should encompass more than just campaign finance reform. As much as I like to suck on the free market dick, I really do believe this is the key to allowing economic opportunity for all. The government is completely controlled by corporations who are pushing their own interests and abusing the system. The amount of tax loopholes and openings for big business to beat the shit out of the country are outrageous, and the cost come pouring back onto the average citizen. We need to completely eliminate money from politics. Which carries into my next point, which I think would be one of the best ways of eliminating money from politics.

 

2. Decrease the size of the government. With a smaller government, all transactions and decisions become magnified and transparent for the average American. It's much easier to seek out and eliminate corruption in a limited government than it is to dig through a mess of bureaucrats trying to slow you down. Eliminate as much ineffective government as possible, and it becomes much easier to see where the pieces are and how you want to play the board.

 

3. Healthcare, not Health Insurance. I've teeter-tottered a shitload on this one, but it has quickly become one of the things I am most worried about. The problem that you run into with trying to implement a system in which everyone can pull money from a pool to pay for small medical fees is that you risk the value of insurance going down. I do think a system should be implemented to provide for all procedures or medications that involve a life-threatening condition. This should cover 100% of the costs with no charges after the fact to individuals who use the system. The problem with insurance coverage is the upfront charge that is needed to pay for anything out of your plan, so rather than dig through the mess of trying to implement regulations on insurance companies, they should be funneled out by a model that is not able to be competed against. While I do think coverage for life-threatening procedures should cover everyone, I would still argue that over-the-counter drugs that aren't as mandatory to one's health should be paid for by the individual. Doctor visits, dentist appointments, etc.

 

4. Reduce taxes as much as possible. The need to eliminate unnecessary taxation is huge for a nicely functioning economy. The higher the taxes, the tougher it is to do business in general. High business tax rates, like the current 35% that we face, are absolutely outrageous. It drives companies to go elsewhere, and it gets high enough to where it's cheaper for companies to move most of their assets overseas rather than pay the current tax rate. That's simply not feasible for the long term health of our economy. Eliminating taxes is an incentive for the government to stop spending money on stupid shit, like a huge military, along with the previously mentioned steps.

 

5. Education needs change. This is another one I've gone back and forth on quite a bit, and I'm honestly still down the middle on this. A large part of my problem with the public education program is that it simply doesn't do enough to make a diploma valuable. There is also a huge disparity in the education you will receive from a rich district compared to a poor district. Simply pouring money into schools that are failing is not the proper solution, in my opinion, as I think it too often results in no actual improvement. I'm a huge fan of the idea of privatizing schools and implementing a voucher system with the hopes of allowing more opportunities for students who are underprivileged. The current problem with the education system is that if you want to get your child to go to a nice private school, you have to pay the property taxes to fund your local public school, along with pay the rates of your child to go to the private school you desire for them to go to. This results in a huge disparity of the wealth between those going to private schools and those going to public schools. To change that, I'd suggest a voucher system that gives an equal amount of money to students regardless of where they are located. While this is a huge undertaking for the government to implement, I believe it is the only way of creating a fair system which allows all students to go to schools that are much more equal, regardless of their actual wealth outside of the education system. Allowing private schools to dominate the market, while eliminating public schools, opens up the opportunity for competition that was not previously there. It allows schools of poor quality to be beaten out by school of good quality, and raises the general value of education as a whole.

 

There also needs to be a push to eliminate the programs implemented by government to artificially raise graduation rates. That jazz has resulted in overcrowding of colleges by students who are not capable of getting a college degree, but were pushed through the system in high school. The devaluation of a high school diploma has made it tougher for people to get jobs, regardless of the skills they may possess. Stop forcing people through a broken system, find them alternatives.

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#1 - The Environment - I attended the first Earth conference in Portland Oregon more than 2 decades ago. I had the fortune to sit and talk with a man who had just spent 6 years on the front line, fighting the devastation of the Brazilian rain forests. I asked him what he thought was our most pressing issue. He said, "Without a doubt....it is overpopulation. Every single issue we have is because humans are overusing this planet, and it's resources".

 

To keep a blind eye to the fact that the sustainability of planet Earth does not include unlimited population, regardless of your political or religious fucking stance, is truly a crime against our lives, and the lives of all species of this planet and the future of all things.

 

 

#2 - Corporation status - We will never get control back of our environment, our government, or our bodies as long as corporate status is as it is.

 

From theatlantic.com in 2014!... "For every dollar spent on lobbying by labor unions and public-interest groups together, large corporations and their associations now spend $34. Of the 100 organizations that spend the most on lobbying, 95 consistently represent business." Remember....In 1978 a sharply divided Supreme Court ruled for the first time that corporations have a First Amendment right to spend money on state ballot initiatives.

 

 

#3 - Money Funneling to the Arms Industry​ - Lockheed, Boeing, GE, Bechtel Corp, Raytheon, Gen Dynamics, Etc . This is hundreds of billions folks. It is our future, It is our debt. We are sucking the resources of this earth, turning it into profit that is being funneled into a small percentage of the population know as the military complex. Do you remember "shock and awe?" We were told at the time that it was a response to terrorism. What it actually was was a response to 8 years of the Clinton administration cutting military funding. There were stockpiles of weapons...and the new ones had not been purchased in some time. "Shock and Awe" was simply the quickest and easiest way to use 200+ billion dollars in weapons and other military spending, so those fucks could build us new ones, at the new, higher rate.

 

 

#4 - Media influence​ - NO....I am not talking about politics. I am talking about mental sheep. If you keep your focus on your phone, on your tv, on your email, and on your (insert whatever new media craze), you are being led, controlled, subverted, and seduced. It is subtle. It is intentional, and it is powerful. I feel the sorriest for those who were born into this, as they know no other way. If you don't believe me, try going without all media for a day. Tell me what that feels like. It feels like withdrawal from an addiction. I watched the saddest thing last year in my guitar shop. A 6 year old boy walked in with his mother. He was scrolling through the phone...looking at things. He never once looked around to see a store full of instruments. He just stared at a 4" by 6" device. It made me want to cry.

 

 

 

#5 - Governmental Design - Decisions made at the Federal, State, and local levels are now made in a micro-level field. We make almost no decisions for the future. Our buildings, our roads, our architecture, our schools, our water supply ... you name it, are being decided upon based on THIS budget, on THIS officials term limit, or on THIS decision that will affect that officials next election. All public construction goes to the lowest bid...to hell with the long term effects of those decisions. We used to build structures to last many generations.

Edited by Warhorse
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Cool thread idea. Should get some good discussion going. I'm too busy/lazy [?] to type out my positions on everything, but here are the five most important issues to me.

 

1) Education

2) Climate Change

3) Healthcare

4) Electoral Reform

5) Foreign Policy

 

 

I want to put reform of drug laws in the US on a federal level, but I agree with these 5.

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I like this list, so I am stealing it. Or most of it... and re-ordering to fit me.

 

1. Limited Government / Thriving Individual Liberty -- Bjorn nailed it, but as long as I am doing me and living life, I should be able to live it how I want. That's an inalienable right to me, or should be. I shouldn't lose that right if / until I begin infringing on somebody else's equal right to live their life how they want.

 

We hold these truths to be sacred & undeniable; that all men are created equal & independent, that from that equal creation they derive rights inherent & inalienable, among which are the preservation of life, & liberty, & the pursuit of happiness...

 

In other words... the government can fuck off until I or we, the collective people, need them for the greater good. That is what their job is supposed to be. Should be pretty rare occasions.

 

2. End The Global Nation Building Initiative -- If it isn't our battle, we shouldn't be fighting in it. The world and the nations contained within it, just like us, will face their own problems and issues. It is not our duty or right to interfere in those conflicts unless we are expressly targeted / attacked.

 

Our military deserves to be HERE on our soil defending our home. God bless anyone who has ever been enlisted / drafted for a couple of reasons. A) I am too much of a pussy to ever enlist. They have more courage in their ears than I have in my body. B) They are fighting for a cause that, at least to me, I can't get behind. They shove this "Fighting for Freedom" stuff down our throats, but in the end a lot of it is for oil, resources, political advantages, and other "Stuff". Most of that freedom and building democracy shit is just that bullshit propaganda to stew patriotism and support for causes that otherwise wouldn't garner that support.

 

Prime example... Chemical weapons attack in Syria. We had nothing to do with that.. yet we fire dozens of missiles onto a nation who did nothing to us. We are in the wrong.

 

We've toppled governments, established puppet governments -- not all of which were good, mind you. Saddam was a great friend of ours until he wouldn't play ball with us anymore. He wasn't a good person, and we enabled him to hold power, fight wars, and do unthinkable things.

 

We supply weapons to and enable terrorism around the globe. Our arms end up in the hands of Syrian terrorists, ISIS, Al-Qaeda, etc etc etc and have for decades. Hell, we are at least partially responsible for the creation of some of these terrorist cells / groups to begin with. Hell, we trained and funded Osama Bin Laden when he was fighting the Russians some 40 years ago...

 

Why, in the land of the free, do we need Congresswomen like Tulsi Gabbard and Senators like Rand Paul (god bless you both) to introduce legislation BANNING THE SALE OF WEAPONS TO TERRORISTS?!?! Like, are you shitting me right now? (BTW -- I could totally get behind Gabbard for President)

 

Even Wikipedia has information on US Involvement in 25 regimes changes since 1950... Who do we think we are?

 

3. Fauxocracy -- What kind of fake democracy (or republic) allows for two parties to dominate like this? Most of it is mindless drivel, used as a weapon to divide us. Keep us, the people, stupid, ignorant, and fighting about really dumb shit to keep our minds off real problems. If we had more parties able to get in on the action, I guarantee less in-fighting and at the very least more understanding. Things could actually get done, progress actually made. I could rant forever about this, but I used up my entire TL;DR quote on #2, so I will stop.

 

4. Education -- Our entire educational system and the foundation on which it rests has crumbled and it is failing us on every level. Enter the system a young and promising individual and leave it a poked and prodded sheep ready to be herded for grazing.

 

5. Good-Bye Middle Class -- I think part of this falls into education, and could also fall into another category of taxes, so it's kind of a hybrid -- but the middle class is fading fast. They shoulder the load of most of the country and get hit the hardest. Pathetic. Cut taxes, stop feeding into the "you are only successful if you have a college degree" bullshit and I honestly think we can fare pretty well.

 

Honorable Mentions

Taxation Is Theft & Failing Infrastructure

 

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6. Gaining control of Religion. If Religion won't get out of our legislative chambers, I'm for eradicating it in all forms. The world would be a significantly better place without religion.

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Prime example... Chemical weapons attack in Syria. We had nothing to do with that.. yet we fire dozens of missiles onto a nation who did nothing to us. We are in the wrong.

This I kind of disagree with. I think it is appropriate for us to step in when horrible things are happening to a large amount of innocent people. My issue is that we have been helping to manipulate things in Syria for a long time before this. If chemical weapons are being used or human rights are being ignored, I am all fine with us stepping in, even though I do consider myself an isolationist. That being said, I wish it wasn't completely our initiative to take. I believe it should be through a NATO or UN coalition if anything.

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Bware my dude, You've said a lot of stupid things on this site, but that may take the cake.

 

As an atheist- no it most certainly would not.

 

First off, eradicating religion would require a despot/dictator like approach. That in and of itself is a very bad thing that would certainly lead to other areas where you're telling people how to live their lives.

 

Secondly, we have freedom of conscience and thought. Telling people they can't worship the god of their choosing from a non-religious standpoint is just as bad as if we did it from a religious one, (ie you can only worship my god).

 

Third, its impossible. No matter how much you tried, people would worship God anyway. People have been making religion illegal for millennia and it does nothing but grow that religion.

 

Fourth, many major advancements in technology and culture have been made by Muslims, Jews, and Christians, (I am unfamiliar with most of the major Eastern religions as far as what they have contributed to their society, but I am quite sure it is not nothing). So to say society would be a better place is just plain false.

 

Fifth, religion keeps a great deal of people from doing immoral things- like murder, theft, etc. There is a large chunk of people that without restraints would simply run wild. This is what Marx meant when he said religion is the opium of the masses- it keeps a great deal of people in line that otherwise would see no reason not to do something criminal.

Edited by Thanatos
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As an athiest, that's one of the stupidest and most radical things I've ever heard. You're inciting we give power to someone who eliminates religion, or that we should have bunch of vigilantes killing off believers. That's ridiculous. Religion affecting legislation is not an excuse to "eradicate" it.

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My political stances can be best summed up with the following phrases:

 

"Leave me the fuck alone and mind your own goddamn business."

 

"Fuck the pharmaceutical and (health) insurance industries."

 

Um...

 

I can add more but those were the first two things that came to mind because those are the two things I care about most. Individual liberty and not treating fucking healthcare like it's a fucking business. European healthcare professionals still make very good money relative to the commonfolk. I think it's incredibly irrational to be so attached to the health insurance market that people won't even consider "Hey, it's totally wrong that we turn away poor people form healthcare because they can't afford it."

 

And with that last point... I usually don't delve into emotional arguments. They're weak and I don't think they're effective at reaching the audience I care about. But I've been trying to logically explain the benefits and the necessity of universal healthcare for so long that it's seriously getting tiresome trying to explain it to people. Might just have to break out the old emotional blackmail as I get older...

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Eliminating religion is facism. lol I hope you were just venting some frustration there.

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1.) The government system we have. Truthfully it needs blown up. Get rid of the bicameral legislature, the two party system, have term limits on the senate as we would get rid of the house, you have one democrat and one republican from every state no exceptions, The only money you can collect is from your salary only with thorough audits every quarter. You are not allowed to own public or private companies, and you are not allowed to accept donations. Presidential candidates will all be given the same amount of money to prove their case. The people will decide which 10 they like the best and all 10 get to go through the process in a single elimination at the debates. These are just a few ides, but I feel as though they would be much better and our government would be much more efficient than we have now.

 

2.) Unionization. Get right to work states the hell out of here. That is literally the most misleading title and something that has to go. This country was strongest when labor unions were strong. The men who build this country are in short supply and their are excellent opportunities, on the job training, no student loan debt, and great pay. This would increase the money spent, and do a better job of redistributing wealth then social welfare programs if people could get paid a decent wage for working 40 hours a week.

 

3.) Education. We need to go on a school building rampage and reduce the class sizes. We need to take a good chunk out of government slush funds from arm sales around the world and redistribute those billions of off the books dollars into the education system. Our schools need to be equipped with the technology that will make our younger generations competitive in global market places.

 

4.) Healthcare. There is no doubt, a single payer system is the only really feasible way of doing this, it can be done and it can be done well if you take greed out of politics. Healthcare costs are going up astronomically and with the babyboomers voting against there own self interest for the last 60 years we have to do something drastic to get these costs under control and not shift the burden on the taxpayer.

 

5.) Legitimate punishments for congress and the misrepresentation of the American electorate. Honestly if it were up to me we would just shoot these sorry pieces of shit until the aisles of congress ran red with the blood of the greedy fucks, but alas we live in civilized times. So if you vote contrary to the wishes of your constituency you are given a 1 year jail sentence and barred form politics ever again and you receive no pension. If you are caught funneling public money you are prosecuted for lying under oath, perjury, and embezzlement with the max sentences being automatic, there are no deals. Get your shit right or be shipped out, plain and simple.

 

So those things and we send a message that we are not taking it anymore, which is why it will never happen, but hey I can dream.

 

Not that far in this thread, but I just wanted to say that I think it's funny that Ngata says he would murder politicians and he gets repped while Sean has said that for years and gotten nothing but backlash. I agree with them both. :laugh:

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Fifth, religion keeps a great deal of people from doing immoral things- like murder, theft, etc. There is a large chunk of people that without restraints would simply run wild. This is what Marx meant when he said religion is the opium of the masses- it keeps a great deal of people in line that otherwise would see no reason not to do something criminal.

 

I understand your rebuttal but this part is asinine. I don't think for a second that religion provides a moral compass for most people, and I think these people you are talking about are few and far between. I am dead serious when I say if I could eliminate religion (without people realizing it, of course. I wouldn't eliminate it if it was just going to be known and therefore hurt a bunch of people). However, you give me the chance to wipe the concept of worshiping a nonexistent omniscient deity from the face of the Earth without the people knowing, you bet your ass I'd do it.

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I understand your rebuttal but this part is asinine. I don't think for a second that religion provides a moral compass for most people, and I think these people you are talking about are few and far between. I am dead serious when I say if I could eliminate religion (without people realizing it, of course. I wouldn't eliminate it if it was just going to be known and therefore hurt a bunch of people). However, you give me the chance to wipe the concept of worshiping a nonexistent omniscient deity from the face of the Earth without the people knowing, you bet your ass I'd do it.

 

Hmmm, I don't think you really understand people as well as you think you do.

 

I realize that it's a reality (or at the very least, seemingly so) that atheists and agnostics seem to be more prevalent then ever. But there are still A LOT of people around this country and the world that use religion, gospel, etc as a cornerstone.

 

Your last sentence makes you sound very demeaning and not very understanding of people.

Edited by Banned4Ever
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Bware, this is your top 5 issues in the real world. Don't give me the hypotheticals, give me something you could actually do.

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