The 5 Questions meme has reached me, these posed by dbauler:
1. Imagine you’re running in the 2004 Presidental Election. Sum up your
platform.
Short form: “America: Let’s quit being stupid, paranoid and aggressive.”
Long Form:
Foreign Policy and Militarism
Foreign policy, including America’s use of the military, should be focused on supporting self-developed democracy, economic and social development and human rights, thus creating goodwill through international consensus and cooperation.
The 5 Questions meme has reached me, these posed by dbauler:
1. Imagine you’re running in the 2004 Presidental Election. Sum up your
platform.
Short form: “America: Let’s quit being stupid, paranoid and aggressive.”
Long Form:
Foreign Policy and Militarism
Foreign policy, including America’s use of the military, should be focused on supporting self-developed democracy, economic and social development and human rights, thus creating goodwill through international consensus and cooperation.
Bush has surrounded himself by paranoid, belligerent, wackos (see: Paul Wolfowitz, Condi Rice). This has led American foreign policy down roads that GB the 41st didn’t even dream of traveling for fear of being too right wing and aggressive. Pre-emptive invasion of Iraq, as well as the fashion it was accomplished in, was a mistake of monumental proportions that America will be dealing with for decades. Being that part of my job would be to clean up this mess, I would create a Marshall plan for Iraq, and Afghanistan while I’m at it, to forgive their debt and secure the money and resources they need to operate a democracy and economy that best fits their cultural needs. Amazingly enough, there are other viable democratic models that may actually work better than the U.S.’s (see: Florida, 2000 election, electoral college, two party system).
I would work towards debt forgiveness for the most economically strapped developing countries from the U.S. and other first world countries. This would allow these countries to be able to build their own infrastructure and economies, and increase their security, thus reducing the need for the U.S. to play World Cop.
Economy, Taxes and Health Care
Domestically, it’s obvious that the tax cuts for the insanely wealthy do nothing but help Bush’s Pioneer campaign donators. This tax cut should be repealed. The Estate Tax should be reinstated for wealth over $5 million. This money would help to pay down the ballooning deficit, actually give some of the promised money for Homeland Security to the states, invest in infrastructure projects such as building schools and hospitals as well as covering Medicare, Social Security and start paying for universal health care for all American children while beefing up the adult health care in this country. I would take steps to reign in health care costs, such as the small step of re-instating the law that disallows pharmaceutical companies from advertising their products to consumers.
Environment
The U.S. should sign on to the Kyoto Treaty as a start. We should strengthen laws against pollution, close grandfathering loopholes for power generators, make companies clean up their damn messes. We should immediately pass a law required higher fuel efficiency in American cars and SUVs by 2005. Automakers can bite me when they whine, “We can’t do it, whine, bitch, moan!” Are we Americans or not? Are we more innovative and smarter than the rest of the world or are we not? Get over it you lazy wusses and clean up your act, this is a national security issue as well as an environmental issue.
Some(or most) subsidies for coal, oil and nuclear should be diverted to clean source energy research and production: wind, bio-fuel, solar. No logging in national forests. Funding for alternative paper and construction material sources. Support the un-damming of rivers for wildlife protection and the transition that the local economies affected will go through.
Establish an office of “Eco-Sexy”: give support, grants and press to designers, architects and eco-geeks who create sexy, market-savvy gadgets, autos, buildings that have cache and make people want to reduce their energy and material consumption.
Civil Rights
Legalize same-sex civil unions with all of the rights and responsibilities of legal marriage. Abolish the death penalty and take the U.S. out of the fine ranks of Saudi Arabia, China and Sudan in this regard. Maintain and improve protection for a woman’s right to choose a safe, accessible, legal abortion.
Education
Let’s try listening to American teachers. And teachers from other countries whose education system is successful. And actually paying the teachers for their work. And getting rid of all of these stupid tests and “accountability systems” that schools cheat on anyway.