My Ideas for American Renewal

[Libsmasher]

The US is a declining power. It is declining not because of a foreign enemy, but because of destructive internal forces. Here are some of my ideas to reverse the decline:

1. End american ties with the UN and NATO - these organizations have long lost any meaning for american interests. All defense treaties should be reviewed from the ground up and evaluated as to how they serve america's interests. The US should create a new United Democratic Nations, which would admit only democratic nations. Other than this, bilateral treaties only are permitted.

2. The congress should announce that they will never again pass "war resolutions", only declarations of war. There must never again be a question whether the people support a war.

3. The US should institute quotas on foreign oil - starting with 95% of the base year, then declining by 10% a year until the imported amount is zero. This will cause consumers and manufacturers to make decisions, in an environment of certainty, about their use of oil products. There will be no government subsidies of alternate energy sources - these represent the preconceptions of government bureaucrats and politicians, with subsidies going to the politically connected and supporting faddish energy ideas, usually resulting only in boondoggles, as they did in the early 1980s.. Instead, let the market work in an environment of gradually increasing scarcity. The U.S. must build new generations of safe nuclear power plants as part of the solution.

4. The U.S. lived in a golden era economically in the fifties and sixties, when there was no competition because europe and japan were devastated and third world countries were still unindustrialized. That world is gone - now america must compete with the world. All "affirmative action" policies should be stopped, and the Civil Rights Act of 1964 should be enforced in its plain meaning. We have to put the best people in the best positions if we are going to compete. Further, immigration into this country should be based on needed skills, except for genuine refugees needing protection from persecution.

5. The U.S. cannot be a dumping ground for mexico's poor - to prop up the Mexican oligarchy, live off the welfare state, worsen the health system, balkanize the country, commit lots of crimes, and provide cheap exploitable labor for lawbreaking companies, and nannies and gardeners for hollywood types. A new high tech border has to be put in place, illegals deported, and immigration policies favoring the qualified put in place - probably favoring lots of asians. Companies should be required to identify employees from a new national database based on biometrics, and get huge fines for violations. The old court ruling that person born in america to non-citizens are automatically citizens, a distortion of the original intent of the 14th amendment, should be challenged in court, and the constitution amended if necessary.

6. Health insurance provided by employers should be illegalized - this has been part of the problem of high health costs - third party payers. Non-emergency care to illegal aliens should be illegalized. Cost shifting in hospitals and other medical entities should be made illegal. Laws should be enacted to greatly simplify the medical paperwork. Pregnancies and other treatments which are not related to diseases should be prohibited in insurance policies.

7. U.S. military doctrine and law should be revised to account for the new threats to national security. The army should be more trained for asymmetric warfare, and the US should begin a Manhattan Project to work on miltary technologies for use in asymmetric warfare. The US should develop a smaller, more automatic army, with professionalized soldiers as in the UK. The US should strongly push robotic warfare strategies, and militarization of near space. The military needs to stop being a social service agency refuge for the unemployed, single mothers, etc.

8. The CIA, designed for the Cold War, has been wrong too many times. It didn't predict the fall of the soviet umion, the iranian revolution, the iraqi invasion of kuwait, and made other big mistakes. It needs to be dissolved, and a new intelligence agency, built from the ground up, needs to be put in place.

9. New powers should be given to congress to declare war on warlike organizations. The U.S. should widely publish it's changed rules of engagement with irregular forces - eg enemy combatants without identifying uniforms or at least insignia will be shot if captured, as spies or saboteurs. The US needs to go ahead with the difficult job of providing an anti-missile system.

10. The education system in america should be completely privatized. Educational unions would be made illegal. The education of poor or disabled children, if the parents can't pay, should be paid for by taxes.

 

[Questerr]

...

Even as a liberal, I agree with most of these points. I take exception to 4,6, and 10, but I think they could work with a bit more detailed info on how you would go about it and make sure that innocent people don't get screwed over in the process.

As for 9, the Constitution already has provisions for fighting pirates. Terrorists aren't that far off.

 

[Libsmasher]

Even as a liberal, I agree with most of these points. I take exception to 4,6, and 10, but I think they could work with a bit more detailed info on how you would go about it and make sure that innocent people don't get screwed over in the process.

As for 9, the Constitution already has provisions for fighting pirates. Terrorists aren't that far off.

Not sure what you mean, because the effect of almost everything in the status quo re 4, 6, and 10 is to screw over innocent people. You have an interesting point regarding 9, but I would object to the word "terrorist". Terrorism has evolved into a PC term that avoids the un-PC "islamofascism". Terrorism refers to a tactic, not the essence of a new type of global warfare carried out by non-state actors. That people don't change laws to account for this new type of war-making entity has caused many problems - eg the status of prisoners from those groups (Gitmo, etc), that they have a free pass to fight and then blend into the civilian population, an action that would get you shot in previous wars, that they can retreat to non-involved states, etc etc.

 

[BigRob]

1. End american ties with the UN and NATO - these organizations have long lost any meaning for american interests. All defense treaties should be reviewed from the ground up and evaluated as to how they serve america's interests. The US should create a new United Democratic Nations, which would admit only democratic nations. Other than this, bilateral treaties only are permitted.

These organizations still play a role in US interests. To call the UN irrelevant is like saying countries talking to each other is irrelevant. The UN maintains legitimacy in areas where the US does not, enabling the US to push its own interests in these areas as well. The UN fights disease and poverty worldwide, the UN is better at peacekeeping than the US (and its cheaper for the UN to do it than the US), the UN works to prevent nuclear proliferation.. the list can go on and on...

2. The congress should announce that they will never again pass "war resolutions", only declarations of war. There must never again be a question whether the people support a war.

This will never happen. War resolutions are intended to give political wiggle room to people when the war goes badly etc... Further, I do not believe that people need to support a war to make it the right thing to do...

3. The US should institute quotas on foreign oil - starting with 95% of the base year, then declining by 10% a year until the imported amount is zero. This will cause consumers and manufacturers to make decisions, in an environment of certainty, about their use of oil products. There will be no government subsidies of alternate energy sources - these represent the preconceptions of government bureaucrats and politicians, with subsidies going to the politically connected and supporting faddish energy ideas, usually resulting only in boondoggles, as they did in the early 1980s.. Instead, let the market work in an environment of gradually increasing scarcity. The U.S. must build new generations of safe nuclear power plants as part of the solution.

There is no viable alternative energy form to oil (for cars especially) that can meet the needs of the entire nation. Further, there will be no system in place to have a viable alternative in 10 years, even if you get oil imports to zero. I agree with you on the nuclear power plants, however, cutting oil imports to zero is not going to happen in 10 years. And even if it did, then what, are we to be relying on Brazil for sugar for ethanol?

4. The U.S. lived in a golden era economically in the fifties and sixties, when there was no competition because europe and japan were devastated and third world countries were still unindustrialized. That world is gone - now america must compete with the world. All "affirmative action" policies should be stopped, and the Civil Rights Act of 1964 should be enforced in its plain meaning. We have to put the best people in the best positions if we are going to compete. Further, immigration into this country should be based on needed skills, except for genuine refugees needing protection from persecution.

I agree that the US needs to compete. All this talk of losing manufacturing jobs overseas is useless in my mind because the US economy does not run based on these jobs. The best person for the job should get it, end of story.

5. The U.S. cannot be a dumping ground for mexico's poor - to prop up the Mexican oligarchy, live off the welfare state, worsen the health system, balkanize the country, commit lots of crimes, and provide cheap exploitable labor for lawbreaking companies, and nannies and gardeners for hollywood types. A new high tech border has to be put in place, illegals deported, and immigration policies favoring the qualified put in place - probably favoring lots of asians. Companies should be required to identify employees from a new national database based on biometrics, and get huge fines for violations. The old court ruling that person born in america to non-citizens are automatically citizens, a distortion of the original intent of the 14th amendment, should be challenged in court, and the constitution amended if necessary.

This is going to cost a ton of money... who is going to pay for it? I think what should be done is penalizing the company for hiring an illegal, it was done in New Mexico, and they all left because they could not find a job. They come here to get a job, if there is not a job for them, there is no reason to stay.

6. Health insurance provided by employers should be illegalized - this has been part of the problem of high health costs - third party payers. Non-emergency care to illegal aliens should be illegalized. Cost shifting in hospitals and other medical entities should be made illegal. Laws should be enacted to greatly simplify the medical paperwork. Pregnancies and other treatments which are not related to diseases should be prohibited in insurance policies.

I am not sure if you are saying people should buy it directly or if the government should take care of it... I assume you mean people will buy it directly, which is ok, but whats the problem of a company buying it for that person?

7. U.S. military doctrine and law should be revised to account for the new threats to national security. The army should be more trained for asymmetric warfare, and the US should begin a Manhattan Project to work on miltary technologies for use in asymmetric warfare. The US should develop a smaller, more automatic army, with professionalized soldiers as in the UK. The US should strongly push robotic warfare strategies, and militarization of near space. The military needs to stop being a social service agency refuge for the unemployed, single mothers, etc.

The US army as it is is the best trained and best equipped army in the world. It is not a group of unemployed single mothers. All of these actions you speak of are already under way, except militarization of space, which is good I think. If we militarize space, we can expect an arms race with China.

8. The CIA, designed for the Cold War, has been wrong too many times. It didn't predict the fall of the soviet umion, the iranian revolution, the iraqi invasion of kuwait, and made other big mistakes. It needs to be dissolved, and a new intelligence agency, built from the ground up, needs to be put in place.

It does not need to be resolved, it needs to be allowed to do its job. The legislative and especially the executive branch basically cuts everything that the CIA can do to gather intelligence. At the time of the Iraq invasion there were whole middle eastern countries with 1-2 people having to look at all the data coming in. Big shock half of it got missed.

9. New powers should be given to congress to declare war on warlike organizations. The U.S. should widely publish it's changed rules of engagement with irregular forces - eg enemy combatants without identifying uniforms or at least insignia will be shot if captured, as spies or saboteurs. The US needs to go ahead with the difficult job of providing an anti-missile system.

I think this will only ensure that everytime you go into battle, you are going to have to kill everyone since no one is going to surrender.

10. The education system in america should be completely privatized. Educational unions would be made illegal. The education of poor or disabled children, if the parents can't pay, should be paid for by taxes.

If you wanted the government to take over healthcare (not sure if you meant that or not) then it makes no sense for you to want to do this. I think that students and teachers needs to be held accountable. You can put the best teachers a classroom but if kids do not want to learn they will learn nothing. Parents must also educate their children.

 

[Libsmasher]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Libsmasher

1. End american ties with the UN and NATO - these organizations have long lost any meaning for american interests. All defense treaties should be reviewed from the ground up and evaluated as to how they serve america's interests. The US should create a new United Democratic Nations, which would admit only democratic nations. Other than this, bilateral treaties only are permitted.

These organizations still play a role in US interests. To call the UN irrelevant is like saying countries talking to each other is irrelevant. The UN maintains legitimacy in areas where the US does not, enabling the US to push its own interests in these areas as well. The UN fights disease and poverty worldwide, the UN is better at peacekeeping than the US (and its cheaper for the UN to do it than the US), the UN works to prevent nuclear proliferation.. the list can go on and on...

We'll just have to disagree. The UN is a conclave of dictatorship's representatives, euroweenies, theocracies, and third world toilet bowl countries. Much of the time, it's actions seem to be only to circumscribe US power. Remember when Hugo Chavez compared Bush to the devil in a speech to the general assembly? Big guffaws all around. The US massively supports the UN, and then the UN gets credit for the few good things they manage to pull off. Does the US really need the UN as an intermediary for these things? The UN actually has never kept the peace anywhere. The US and allies could fight the North Korean aggression in the Korean War only because the soviet delegate was absent when the security council took a vote. Did it keep the peace on the Lebanese-Israel border? The UN only posts token forces between states that already agree they aren't going to fight. The UN has also failed to prevent nuclear proliferation (india, pakistan, israel, south africa, north korea).

Quote:
2. The congress should announce that they will never again pass "war resolutions", only declarations of war. There must never again be a question whether the people support a war

.

This will never happen. War resolutions are intended to give political wiggle room to people when the war goes badly etc... Further, I do not believe that people need to support a war to make it the right thing to do...

The US history of going to war without a declaration is bad: The Gulf of Tonkin resolution, eg.

Quote:
3. The US should institute quotas on foreign oil - starting with 95% of the base year, then declining by 10% a year until the imported amount is zero. This will cause consumers and manufacturers to make decisions, in an environment of certainty, about their use of oil products. There will be no government subsidies of alternate energy sources - these represent the preconceptions of government bureaucrats and politicians, with subsidies going to the politically connected and supporting faddish energy ideas, usually resulting only in boondoggles, as they did in the early 1980s.. Instead, let the market work in an environment of gradually increasing scarcity. The U.S. must build new generations of safe nuclear power plants as part of the solution

.

There is no viable alternative energy form to oil (for cars especially) that can meet the needs of the entire nation. Further, there will be no system in place to have a viable alternative in 10 years, even if you get oil imports to zero. I agree with you on the nuclear power plants, however, cutting oil imports to zero is not going to happen in 10 years. And even if it did, then what, are we to be relying on Brazil for sugar for ethanol?

Necessity is the mother of invention. Neither you nor I know what those inventions will be, but they will surely occur in a market where gasoline is, say, $50 a gallon. Electric cars seem to be coming along, and with a renewed source of environmentally clean power, the cost of electricity will come way down.

Quote:
5. The U.S. cannot be a dumping ground for mexico's poor - to prop up the Mexican oligarchy, live off the welfare state, worsen the health system, balkanize the country, commit lots of crimes, and provide cheap exploitable labor for lawbreaking companies, and nannies and gardeners for hollywood types. A new high tech border has to be put in place, illegals deported, and immigration policies favoring the qualified put in place - probably favoring lots of asians. Companies should be required to identify employees from a new national database based on biometrics, and get huge fines for violations. The old court ruling that person born in america to non-citizens are automatically citizens, a distortion of the original intent of the 14th amendment, should be challenged in court, and the constitution amended if necessary.

This is going to cost a ton of money... who is going to pay for it? I think what should be done is penalizing the company for hiring an illegal, it was done in New Mexico, and they all left because they could not find a job. They come here to get a job, if there is not a job for them, there is no reason to stay.

The only money needed is for a new high-tech methof of identifying employees. This is a big expense but it also dovetails with new national security concerns. A lot of it could come from cutting the irrational security mechanisms at airports. Also the inspectors for typical illegal alien - hiring companies could come from fines.

Quote:
6. Health insurance provided by employers should be illegalized - this has been part of the problem of high health costs - third party payers. Non-emergency care to illegal aliens should be illegalized. Cost shifting in hospitals and other medical entities should be made illegal. Laws should be enacted to greatly simplify the medical paperwork. Pregnancies and other treatments which are not related to diseases should be prohibited in insurance policies.

I am not sure if you are saying people should buy it directly or if the government should take care of it... I assume you mean people will buy it directly, which is ok, but whats the problem of a company buying it for that person?

Health insurance from employers was started during WWII by companies to compete for defense workers in an environment of fixed prices and wages. Now what it does is encourage wasteful consumption by isolating health care consumers from the true costs, and isolates businesses from the true costs by making it a tax deductible business cost. The health system should remain privatized, but where each person buys his health care insurance.

Quote:
7. U.S. military doctrine and law should be revised to account for the new threats to national security. The army should be more trained for asymmetric warfare, and the US should begin a Manhattan Project to work on miltary technologies for use in asymmetric warfare. The US should develop a smaller, more automatic army, with professionalized soldiers as in the UK. The US should strongly push robotic warfare strategies, and militarization of near space. The military needs to stop being a social service agency refuge for the unemployed, single mothers, etc.

The US army as it is is the best trained and best equipped army in the world. It is not a group of unemployed single mothers. All of these actions you speak of are already under way, except militarization of space, which is good I think. If we militarize space, we can expect an arms race with China.

China is ALREADY doing that - remember it's destruction in space of one it's old satellites last year? China sees everything as a weapon. It's current expanded activities in space come from it's realization that much of the US military depends on space assets: communication, command, and control satellites, spy satellites, even control of bombs and cruise missiles. China realizes that in a conflict it could put a good deal of the US miltary out of operation by attacking these satellites, which now need to be defended.

Quote:
8. The CIA, designed for the Cold War, has been wrong too many times. It didn't predict the fall of the soviet umion, the iranian revolution, the iraqi invasion of kuwait, and made other big mistakes. It needs to be dissolved, and a new intelligence agency, built from the ground up, needs to be put in place.

It does not need to be resolved, it needs to be allowed to do its job.

Like when George Tenet told Bush it was a "slam dunk" that Iraq had nukes? Who prevented them from doing their job when they repeatedly failed to do it? There are still lots of people there, in power, who are fighting the last war - the Cold War, but times have changed - drastically.

The legislative and especially the executive branch basically cuts everything that the CIA can do to gather intelligence. At the time of the Iraq invasion there were whole middle eastern countries with 1-2 people having to look at all the data coming in. Big shock half of it got missed.

I agree partly - Jimmy Carter drastically cut the human spying capability. I think part of exactly what you are describing is a legacy of the whole place being ordered to deal with the soviets and their proxies.

 

[Libsmasher]

Quote:
9. New powers should be given to congress to declare war on warlike organizations. The U.S. should widely publish it's changed rules of engagement with irregular forces - eg enemy combatants without identifying uniforms or at least insignia will be shot if captured, as spies or saboteurs. The US needs to go ahead with the difficult job of providing an anti-missile system.

I think this will only ensure that everytime you go into battle, you are going to have to kill everyone since no one is going to surrender.

If they don't follow the new rules of warfare, they're asking for it. No longer should the US put up with a situation where we are targets wearing uniforms, but the enemy can slip back and forth from being a soldier and a "civilian".

Quote:10. The education system in america should be completely privatized. Educational unions would be made illegal. The education of poor or disabled children, if the parents can't pay, should be paid for by taxes.

If you wanted the government to take over healthcare (not sure if you meant that or not) then it makes no sense for you to want to do this.

No, the government should take over neither.

I think that students and teachers needs to be held accountable. You can put the best teachers a classroom but if kids do not want to learn they will learn nothing. Parents must also educate their children.

The main problem has been the disastrous government schools - all their failings will disappear in a privatized system.

 

[Jarlaxle]

I think this will only ensure that everytime you go into battle, you are going to have to kill everyone since no one is going to surrender.

Works for me...no controversy over treatment of prisoners if there are no prisoners.

And, it is completely in accord with the Geneva Conventions.

 

[Andy]

Necessity is the mother of invention. Neither you nor I know what those inventions will be, but they will surely occur in a market where gasoline is, say, $50 a gallon. Electric cars seem to be coming along, and with a renewed source of environmentally clean power, the cost of electricity will come way down.

Bad idea. Very very bad. By rationing imported oil, the cost of fuel and thousands of products based on and/or produced using oil will skyrocket. The cost of living, and the cost of business will have a blow out that undoubtedly will cause a national depression. There will not be any inventions because everyone will be broke and looking for food.

Further, having done a great deal of research during my time in automotive technology, there simply is no alternative fuel to oil at this time. "renewable energy" is a joke economically. It will not come down in price, I promise you that much. The main reason the cost of electricity is on the rise is due to renewable energy mandates. Something I can explain further later if you wish.

The real answer is to unshackle domestic oil production. Let the companies drill and explore for oil in our own land. Billions of barrels of oil could be under your feet as we speak, and our oil companies are not even looking for it. If they can't get the oil we already know is here (gulf of mexico, ANWR), then they won't bother looking for more.

The only money needed is for a new high-tech methof of identifying employees. This is a big expense but it also dovetails with new national security concerns. A lot of it could come from cutting the irrational security mechanisms at airports. Also the inspectors for typical illegal alien - hiring companies could come from fines.

The reason so many of our jobs and business are losing to... or moving to... foreign countries, is because they have too much regulations and cost of operating. You intend to add more. This will exacerbate the problem.

Force the building of the boarder wall, which is already law. Deport anyone caught at any time. If they are pulled over for speeding, if they end up in court, if they file a law suit, if they renew their auto registration, deport them. The problem is, in some states, the police are actually prevented from asking about their citizenship. That needs changed.

Health insurance from employers was started during WWII by companies to compete for defense workers in an environment of fixed prices and wages. Now what it does is encourage wasteful consumption by isolating health care consumers from the true costs, and isolates businesses from the true costs by making it a tax deductible business cost. The health system should remain privatized, but where each person buys his health care insurance.

Good... what about the cost of health care that is rising due to Medicare and Medicaid? Your solution is good, but doesn't answer that problem. People who pay for their own health insurance, also pay for those on Medicaid/medicare that doesn't cover the full cost of treatment.

Like when George Tenet told Bush it was a "slam dunk" that Iraq had nukes? Who prevented them from doing their job when they repeatedly failed to do it? There are still lots of people there, in power, who are fighting the last war - the Cold War, but times have changed - drastically.

I could not find this quote anywhere. I only found that George Tenet said there was undeniable evidence Saddam had 'unconventional' weapons. And clearly Saddam did. I think the perception that the CIA didn't do it's job is put out by people politically motivated to do so. It wouldn't matter what agency there was doing what the CIA does, political opponents to America will always portray them badly.

 

[Coyote]

Purchasing health care insurance privately is horrendously expensive. Many people would not be able to afford it.

Why should pregnancy related costs be excluded?

 

[Libsmasher]

Bad idea. Very very bad. By rationing imported oil, the cost of fuel and thousands of products based on and/or produced using oil will skyrocket.

Duh, ya think?

The cost of living, and the cost of business will have a blow out that undoubtedly will cause a national depression. There will not be any inventions because everyone will be broke and looking for food.

Nonsense - when people SERIOUSLY have to do something about reducing oil consumption, solutions will be found.

Further, having done a great deal of research during my time in automotive technology, there simply is no alternative fuel to oil at this time. "renewable energy" is a joke economically. It will not come down in price, I promise you that much. The main reason the cost of electricity is on the rise is due to renewable energy mandates. Something I can explain further later if you wish.

Uh, where are you getting this from me? For electric power, I advocate nuke plants.

The real answer is to unshackle domestic oil production. Let the companies drill and explore for oil in our own land. Billions of barrels of oil could be under your feet as we speak, and our oil companies are not even looking for it. If they can't get the oil we already know is here (gulf of mexico, ANWR), then they won't bother looking for more.

This is part of the solution. Other parts, eg more efficient engines, will be developed.

The reason so many of our jobs and business are losing to... or moving to... foreign countries, is because they have too much regulations and cost of operating. You intend to add more. This will exacerbate the problem.

This is one sliver of regulation that is needed. And you're a little confused - by hiring mexican illegal aliens, a company has effectively exported the job.

Force the building of the boarder wall, which is already law. Deport anyone caught at any time. If they are pulled over for speeding, if they end up in court, if they file a law suit, if they renew their auto registration, deport them. The problem is, in some states, the police are actually prevented from asking about their citizenship. That needs changed.

I agree, but you'll fine many police departments who will say we're hunting bank robbers - we don't have time for illegal aliens.

Good... what about the cost of health care that is rising due to Medicare and Medicaid? Your solution is good, but doesn't answer that problem. People who pay for their own health insurance, also pay for those on Medicaid/medicare that doesn't cover the full cost of treatment.

No, taxpayers pay for it. One part of the cost is the new Medicare Part D - a trillion dollars over ten years, and passed by Bush and the republicans in a bidding war for the votes of geezers, people who would not vote republican anyway.

I could not find this quote anywhere.

Huh? I got over 36,000 hits be googling slam dunk george tenet

I only found that George Tenet said there was undeniable evidence Saddam had 'unconventional' weapons. And clearly Saddam did. I think the perception that the CIA didn't do it's job is put out by people politically motivated to do so. It wouldn't matter what agency there was doing what the CIA does, political opponents to America will always portray them badly.

I don't remember that. A few years ago, people were rushing to the defense of the CIA, saying Bush forced them to say that. Also CIA members and retirees have put out politically motivated anti-Bush stuff.

 

[Libsmasher]

Purchasing health care insurance privately is horrendously expensive. Many people would not be able to afford it.

You're making an invalid static analysis. NOW private insurance is very expensive. If EVERYBODY gets private insurance, the cost will come down from

1. Removing the inflation consequences of third party payers
2. Increased competition
3. Economies of scale

Why should pregnancy related costs be excluded?

Because the attitudes of feminazis to the contrary notwithstanding, pregnancy is not a disease or injury, it's a voluntary condition. There are all kinds of subisidies of parents by working people that don't make sense, and should be ended.

 

[SW85]

I don't see that abolishing public schooling will improve the educational quality of the country. Private schools are good in part because they're able to keep out the rabble. If they're made to accept said rabble (which will presumably be the case if public schooling is abolished), their quality will no doubt decline.

Heavy reform of the system is more likely -- beginning with, as you mentioned, doing away with teachers' unions (and other benefits they don't deserve, like tenure). A more rigorous curriculum with a focus on American history (without the creepy zeal for racial grievance-mongering), philosophy, and a generally more well-rounded curriculum is desirable. So are vocational skills for those looking to go into skilled labor fields rather than go on to college.

The only other thing I'd add to your list is a focus on creating an advanced industrial policy. America cannot survive if it continues with this "post-industrial" garbage. Trade deficits will eat her alive.

 

[Andy]

Purchasing health care insurance privately is horrendously expensive. Many people would not be able to afford it.

Why should pregnancy related costs be excluded?

Oops... I have private insurance currently. It's not horrendously expensive. My muslim friend needed insurance, I got her a policy for $68 a month. Mine is $130 a month.

There was a time when people had midwives and had births at home. There was a time when there was no neonatal care. If people want that type of service, they must pay for it. Doctors and nurses do not work for free.

 

[Andy]

Nonsense - when people SERIOUSLY have to do something about reducing oil consumption, solutions will be found.

Carter 70s energy crisis. Didn't happen. You are betting the future of the US on a possible outcome that is not probable. Further, even if an alternative fuel is found, it will not be cheaper than oil is today, or it would already be found.

Thus since only the US will use the more expensive fuel, this will give our economic competition a huge advantage. Since only the US will be the only ones stupid enough to a more expensive energy source, our companies and business will have a huge disadvantage in the global market where other nation use cheaper oil energy.

Uh, where are you getting this from me? For electric power, I advocate nuke plants.

I am merely pointing out that all forms of energy are sub-standard to oil. As to electricity, I don't think anyone has a clue what converting to electric cars would do. We don't have a fraction of the power generation, or distribution, or economic support for that.

Many people don't realize that the average electric car uses more power than the average family household uses daily. And that is for a small car, not an SUV or large truck. If you have two cars, take your electric bill and triple it, and add some extra. Plus if you get a car for your young adult, quadruple it. Not to mention every car would have to be in a garage, since you need a secure place to charge it, or risk having someone else charge their car at your home while your not there. Plus, most homes do not have enough power from the utility poll to charge you car. Many home will need an upgrade from the power company. Then if everyone got electric cars, the current power distribution system is not capable of supplying that. Finely, vastly increased demand would raise cost of electricity regardless of the production method. Nuclear power? No kidding. We would have to start building dozens of them, and start immediately.

This is part of the solution. Other parts, eg more efficient engines, will be developed.

No I have to disagree. Unless some truly amazing miracle of God occurs... this is a pipe dream. My main issue here is you seem to be hedging your bets on something happening, when there is no evidence that it will. Engines will constantly improve, but not even a fraction as much as would be needed to make a real difference.

It's a matter of Physics. It takes X amount of energy, to move Y amount of weight, Z amount of distance. This is unavoidable. You can not extract more energy out of a drop of gas, than what is there. You can not move more weight or go farther with that energy, than what it is capable of moving.

The only improvement on milage in the last 20 years had been by reducing the weight of the car. Making it cheap and plastic. Which is why when you see a Saturn or Honda hit a tree, it disintegrates. GM made a car in the 80s that got 113 miles per gallon, but it was a one seater, and was all plastic and couldn't pass any government safety regulations, and was never produced.

This is one sliver of regulation that is needed. And you're a little confused - by hiring mexican illegal aliens, a company has effectively exported the job.

Which is my point. One way we can reduce this problem is by removing the regulations currently in effect that make hiring illegals so economically beneficial. By preventing them from hiring by adding more taxes and fees and regulations, you'll just send more business south.

I agree, but you'll fine many police departments who will say we're hunting bank robbers - we don't have time for illegal aliens.

That's fine. When they find the bank robber, force him to prove he's a legal US citizen and if he isn't deport him. We have far to many non-US citizens in prisons and jails across the country. Deport them first. Then deport illegals with speeding tickets next. By the time we filter all those out, we can worry about the ones not causing problems other problems.

No, taxpayers pay for it. One part of the cost is the new Medicare Part D - a trillion dollars over ten years, and passed by Bush and the republicans in a bidding war for the votes of geezers, people who would not vote republican anyway.

You missed it. Medicare and Medicaid is taxed from you and me... but when someone goes in for care under medicare and medicaid, the government refuses to pay the full cost of treatment. So... Hospitals/Doctors pass that unpaid cost on to those that do pay... namely you and me. We pay for medicare medicaid twice over, once through taxes, and again through inflated insurance premiums due to hospitals and doctors subsidizing their medicare/medicaid patients.

Huh? I got over 36,000 hits be googling slam dunk george tenet

Great. Me too. Where does it say Nukes? He only said unconventional weapons, which is true.

 

[Andy]

I don't see that abolishing public schooling will improve the educational quality of the country. Private schools are good in part because they're able to keep out the rabble. If they're made to accept said rabble (which will presumably be the case if public schooling is abolished), their quality will no doubt decline.

Heavy reform of the system is more likely -- beginning with, as you mentioned, doing away with teachers' unions (and other benefits they don't deserve, like tenure). A more rigorous curriculum with a focus on American history (without the creepy zeal for racial grievance-mongering), philosophy, and a generally more well-rounded curriculum is desirable. So are vocational skills for those looking to go into skilled labor fields rather than go on to college.

The only other thing I'd add to your list is a focus on creating an advanced industrial policy. America cannot survive if it continues with this "post-industrial" garbage. Trade deficits will eat her alive.

Well I totally am against forced schooling. A student that is disruptive should be removed permanently. Not come back in a week/month/year to be disruptive again.

I also have seen far too many absolutely horrible teacher. When a teacher is bad, there should be a simple and streamlined process to remove them. So banning teachers unions could only be a good thing in my mind.

On the federal level I disagree with making a forced private school system. I think the federal government should be absolutely removed from the issue completely. National Education Association should be disbanded. Leave the states in charge.

I support home schooling, more than anything. I think each state should provide cheap accessible grade school level curriculum. Not only so that children can be taught, but I think it would help parents too. Too many dumb adults. Maybe they could learn along with their children.