The I can't go to sleep so I'll post something thread

[vy65]

le says it all. Here's some ideas:

1. Gay Marriage: not a federal issue. I don't see how the equal protection or due process clauses reach gay marriage. Loving v. Virginia should be read in the context of the civil war/14th amendments racial protections. Don't see how it reaches non-racial marriage discrimination of a non-suspect class. Let the states decide on something that has traditionally been a state issue.

2. Gun control: strict limits. Extensive background checks. Full assault weapon ban. You don't need an automatic gun and this ain't 1783; Indians aren't raiding homesteads. Only allowed usage is hunting and home protection. Limit the number of weapons each person can own to 2 or 3.

3. Crime: murder convictions result in automatic application of the death penalty. Violent crimes result in minimum 30 year sentences with a sliding scale upward depending on victim and other attendant cir stances. Legalize and tax the out of all drugs, release all those convicted of drug offenses

4. Elections. Overturn citizens united. Cap corporate contributions at 5k per candidate. Individual's capped at 1k. Abolish PACS and have contributions made directly to an interest bearing account managed by the political party, with the interest being given to the government.

5. Welfare: cut all direct federal welfare programs. Take half the money, and directly invest in creating new jobs for a) the repair and expansion of national infrastructure; b) federally funded research initiatives like the NIH or the NEA; c) earmarked subsidies to states to increase teachers salaries. The other half is given to those who are below a federally set "starvation line." In order to qualify, the applicant will have to do ent a) their eligibility, ie why they're below the starvation line and b) monthly attempts to secure work. Federal assistance runs out after three years. A percentage of all welfare must be paid back to the government. Failure to do so is a crime.

6. Taxes: streamline the code to a progressive scale. Eliminate a corporations ability to claim any deductions.

7. Foreign Policy. Cut all aid to Israel. Withdraw troops from Iraq and Afghanistan immediately. Let them all go to . Shutdown Guantanamo Bay. End extraordinary rendition. Allow torture of high level terror suspects subject to strict scrutiny from a specially created military tribunal. Publicize said tribunal to the world.

8. Legalize abortion. In all instances. End of story.

[ElNono]

About to go to sleep... but I'll indulge.

le says it all. Here's some ideas:

1. Gay Marriage: not a federal issue. I don't see how the equal protection or due process clauses reach gay marriage. Loving v. Virginia should be read in the context of the civil war/14th amendments racial protections. Don't see how it reaches non-racial marriage discrimination of a non-suspect class. Let the states decide on something that has traditionally been a state issue.

The problem with this one is strictly a religious one, IMO. FWIW, Romer v. Evans is an interesting case that goes beyond the nominal rational-basis scrutiny on equal protection. While not necessarily a conduit to legalization of gay marriage, it could be construed as a tool against potential discrimination.

2. Gun control: strict limits. Extensive background checks. Full assault weapon ban. You don't need an automatic gun and this ain't 1783; Indians aren't raiding homesteads. Only allowed usage is hunting and home protection. Limit the number of weapons each person can own to 2 or 3.

I don't think the number is as important as the background checks. Mandatory, IMO, and must be renewed at least every two years. Psychological profile every 5 or 10, depending on cost.

3. Crime: murder convictions result in automatic application of the death penalty. Violent crimes result in minimum 30 year sentences with a sliding scale upward depending on victim and other attendant cir stances. Legalize and tax the out of all drugs, release all those convicted of drug offenses

Don't agree with the auto-death penalty, in light of the advance of DNA testing which uncovered a bunch of wrongful convictions. Agree with the rest, including non-violent crimes should not result in jail time.

4. Elections. Overturn citizens united. Cap corporate contributions at 5k per candidate. Individual's capped at 1k. Abolish PACS and have contributions made directly to an interest bearing account managed by the political party, with the interest being given to the government.

Agreed.

5. Welfare: cut all direct federal welfare programs. Take half the money, and directly invest in creating new jobs for a) the repair and expansion of national infrastructure; b) federally funded research initiatives like the NIH or the NEA; c) earmarked subsidies to states to increase teachers salaries. The other half is given to those who are below a federally set "starvation line." In order to qualify, the applicant will have to do ent a) their eligibility, ie why they're below the starvation line and b) monthly attempts to secure work. Federal assistance runs out after three years. A percentage of all welfare must be paid back to the government. Failure to do so is a crime.

Disagree overall on this one. IMO, solid oversight is the key. Perhaps a third-party, out of government ombudsman? There should also be a penalty of some sort for government not effectively acting on reported fraud (I'll take ideas on this one).

6. Taxes: streamline the code to a progressive scale. Eliminate a corporations ability to claim any deductions.

Agreed, plus: Close loopholes. Capital gains shouldn't be treated any different than any other income.

7. Foreign Policy. Cut all aid to Israel. Withdraw troops from Iraq and Afghanistan immediately. Let them all go to . Shutdown Guantanamo Bay. End extraordinary rendition. Allow torture of high level terror suspects subject to strict scrutiny from a specially created military tribunal. Publicize said tribunal to the world.

Protect our borders. Make it succinctly clear that an attack on our country will immediately trigger turning the entire middle east into a parking lot. Yeah, the nuclear option.

8. Legalize abortion. In all instances. End of story.

I think the current Roe vs Wade balance is fair. Stick with that.

[FuzzyLumpkins]

Welfare reform such as yours assumes the economy is good enough to best full employment. It will never happen and is often much worse. For example the massive economic downturn of 2008 put a ton of people out of work and job retraining won't do . That plan for welfare was the same notion that Gingrich pushed in his contract for America. It did not work. Repeating the same tact when you have recent empirical evidence to the contrary makes zero sense.

The pay it back or youre a criminal is asinine.

[Nbadan]

Short of creating 'shovel ready' jobs that the all ready over incentive-ized private sector won't, there is not much else the federal government can do...so, why not retrain people so that they get the skills they need to get a decent paying job...there are plenty of decent jobs out there for people with the right skill set and work ethic..

[The Reckoning]

cut back on unnecessary military spending and close our major bases in europe. this isn't the cold war anymore, and in the age of information our presence is much more felt online and in communications than boots on the ground.

scale back our military. have a highly trained and technologically superior force focused on special forces and air tactics. we don't need to build a military industrial complex around major wars with thousands of boots on the ground imo. focus non-combat mos around training that will easily translate to the civilian workforce. career soldiers should be a thing of the past.


but i'm not military so whatever.



legalize drugs and regulate the out of them. focus our prison system around rehabilitation than exploiting it for cheap labor. it's much more cost efficient in the long run. white collar crimes and violent crimes should have the harshest penalties.


we really need to do something about population control unless we plan on colonizing other planets. the work force no longer needs bulk but rather specialty. if we can control the population and have a highly skilled workforce, the gap between the classes will close. business hierarchies and ladders should be a thing of the past.

education shouldn't be centered around being a day care. find out early what kids are good at and what they like to do then put them in specialized programs. general knowledge is great, but unnecessary classes need to go. leave the rest up to the state.


we need to get rid of the idea that everyone deserves to go to college and that college is the only way to succeed. it's not.
race-based incentives, race censuses and affirmative action need to go asap. policies such as these of the boomers need to die out, and can only tear up the US from within.


gun policy should be regulated by the state. abortion and death penalty should be regulated by the state.

marriage? don't care. marriage is outdated anyway now that women think they can have 10 simultaneous boyfriends.



and for s sake we need to overload our mass transit system. high speed trains from the pacific to the atlantic? yes sir. and to think the US used to be at the forefront of all of that.


the drinking age should be 18. it's outrageous that you can send a kid to die in afghanistan but he can't drink a beer. if our mass transit sytems were better, we wouldn't have to worry about drunk driving either. the "most free" nation in the world also has the highest drinking age.


we need more paid vacation time. 6 weeks. so many americans are ignorant of the world because we aren't able to go out and travel. in response, the world is ignorant of us and only know us by how we conquer nations and our ty tv programs/movies.


minimum wage should be increased to $15 an hour. service jobs shouldn't be paid based on their tips but that rather be between servicer and customer. i never realized how poor people are in the US until i actually left.

we need to invest in other forms of energy. let the middle east kill itself off by pulling out and not buying their oil. it's our thirst for their oil that creates all the chaos over there strung together by religion.

religion should be completely removed from the state.


paper is a thing of the past. everything should be digitalize imo.


i'm not an economist or care much for money so maybe i'm not biased here...but i don't see a problem with a flat percentage tax rate across the board. that'd cut out thousands of pages of the tax code and bring the classes closer.

presidents need to appoint specialized advisers and rely on them for decisions. presidential powers and celebrity need to go. one man cannot speak for 300 million people.

the main source of political power needs to be drawn back to the local scale. people are so focused on the presidential-congressional elections that they forget municipal government has far more impact on their lives.


naturalized citizenship needs to go.

it's insane how we let drug companies control healthcare. it should be the other way around.

[Trainwreck2100]

Gay Marriage- take away the privileges straight people get from marriage and then everyone has the same rights

Gun Control- background checks

Crime- Don't know what ElNono is smoking by not jailing violent crimes. Just would further incentiveize white collar crime. As for drugs keep meth and heroin illegal.

Elections- absolutely citizens united, is what led us to where we are now. And in this session the supreme court is hearing a case to overturn the cap on individual donations. Which will just over the poor and not as rich, more than they already have been,

Welfare- jack you can do in its current state. Punishing abusers would punish their children that they use to get welfare. And paying it back or jail is stupid because debtors prison was wiped out for a reason

Taxes- create jobs or get ed in the ass by the IRS.

Foreign policy- don't let the oil in iraq or metals in Afghanistan go to the damn chinese after we spent all the money to secure it.

Abortion- A woman's body is her body and her business. If a man has no say in whether or not she keeps it than he should be able to walk away free and clear.

[vy65]

Welfare reform such as yours assumes the economy is good enough to best full employment.

Warrantless assertion. Why?

It will never happen and is often much worse. For example the massive economic downturn of 2008 put a ton of people out of work and job retraining won't do .

Who said anything about job-retraining? What does the 2008 downturn have to do with limitations on AFDC and TANF? Particularly when state welfare programs are still available?

That plan for welfare was the same notion that Gingrich pushed in his contract for America. It did not work.

Another unsupported assertion. And also incorrect.

Repeating the same tact when you have recent empirical evidence to the contrary makes zero sense.

Pot/kettle

The pay it back or youre a criminal is asinine.

Calling something asnine without explaining yourself is asnine.

[vy65]

The problem with this one is strictly a religious one, IMO. FWIW, Romer v. Evans is an interesting case that goes beyond the nominal rational-basis scrutiny on equal protection. While not necessarily a conduit to legalization of gay marriage, it could be construed as a tool against potential discrimination.

Been awhile since I read Romer but my recollection was that SCOTUS struck down the Colorado referendum because it failed to provide a rational basis. I don't think the court applied strict scrutiny (meaning that it didn't recognize s as a protected class). Rather, the court basically stated the Colorado law disproportionately affected s by taking away more of their rights compared to an average citizen. I get your general drift, but don't think Romer gets there. Lawrence v. Texas might.

[Clipper Nation]

Marriage: the government shouldn't be involved in any type of marriage, gay or straight.... as far as the government is concerned, it should all be viewed as civil unions with the same benefits across the board, and then let churches decide how they want to define marriage....

Gun Control: uphold our Second Amendment rights to defend ourselves.... realize that our justice system is already equipped to deal with gun crime and murder, so punishing all law-abiding gun owners for the actions of criminals is unfair and overzealous....

Crime: abolish the death penalty, as it's an extremely costly form of justice that, when applied mistakenly, cannot be reversed.... additionally, the type of s who deserve the death penalty are not worth the extra taxpayer money required to give it to them, tbh.....

Elections: repeal Citizens United, abolish political parties, and require all votes to be cast on paper ballots and counted in public by American citizens...

Welfare: end the cradle-to-grave welfare state as well as corporate welfare in the form of bailouts.... promote private charities who can do a better job of helping people in need, restore sound money, and end the hidden inflation tax that gouges the poor and middle class every year....

Taxes: replace the income and property taxes with excise taxes and non-protectionist tariffs, and most of all, stop spending so much money.... throw out our insane current tax code and replace it with a new streamlined one without any loopholes for politicians to use to reward cronies or punish enemies....

Foreign Policy: stop meddling in other nations' affairs unless we are directly attacked by them.... follow the Cons utional principle of Congress - not the President - declaring war.... don't send in full military forces for missions where letters of marque and reprisal would suffice.... follow the rule of law and respect the right to due process in all instances....

Abortion: I personally am against it, but I understand why others are for it.... at the very least, it should be limited to rape and incest... it really shouldn't be easy for a chick who slept around without protection, got knocked up and then doesn't want the baby to get an abortion without an extremely compelling reason why she shouldn't shoulder the risks of her behavior....

[ElNono]

Crime- Don't know what ElNono is smoking by not jailing violent crimes.

I actually said I would not give jail time to non-violent crimes.

[Wild Cobra]

I'm back to a graveyard shift. Haven't decided yet if I'm going to sleep or stay up, but like ElNono, I'll indulge too.

le says it all. Here's some ideas:

1. Gay Marriage: not a federal issue. I don't see how the equal protection or due process clauses reach gay marriage. Loving v. Virginia should be read in the context of the civil war/14th amendments racial protections. Don't see how it reaches non-racial marriage discrimination of a non-suspect class. Let the states decide on something that has traditionally been a state issue.

I agree. This should remain a state issue, should the state want to decide. I personally think marriage should remain traditional, but I will not impose my values on others. just don't impose collateral damage of this issue on me.

2. Gun control: strict limits. Extensive background checks. Full assault weapon ban. You don't need an automatic gun and this ain't 1783; Indians aren't raiding homesteads. Only allowed usage is hunting and home protection. Limit the number of weapons each person can own to 2 or 3.

Sorry, but as one shooting multiple types of weapons as a child... I disagree.

I never shot a full auto weapon till I was in the military, but man... They are fun!

Why do you want to restrict a person's freedom until,they p[rove they cannot handle it? Cars kill more people each year than guns. I say all citizens have the right to the firearms they want, until they show cause not to be trusted with them any longer. I'm OK with requiring classes and even insurance, but the right to own firearms should be just that. A right.

3. Crime: murder convictions result in automatic application of the death penalty.

I'm with you on this one, at least for 1st degree murder.

Violent crimes result in minimum 30 year sentences with a sliding scale upward depending on victim and other attendant cir stances.

Again, I will agree with this for first degree crimes. Past that, the judge and jury should have they say. With both murder and violent crimes, i would say that mitigating cir stances can justify such actions at times.

Legalize and tax the out of all drugs, release all those convicted of drug offenses

Weed and other drugs that are no more harmful than alcohol, I agree. I would require that users of other drugs only be free of penalty of they or others can provide any financial support needed that takes all burden off the tax payers.

4. Elections. Overturn citizens united. Cap corporate contributions at 5k per candidate. Individual's capped at 1k. Abolish PACS and have contributions made directly to an interest bearing account managed by the political party, with the interest being given to the government.

Well, I don't think there is any fair way to implement and monitor such actions. I would want to stress to the importance of voters being informed. Unfortunately, we have charismatic charlatans and biased media that shape elections no matter how much money or truth is involved.

5. Welfare: cut all direct federal welfare programs. Take half the money, and directly invest in creating new jobs for a) the repair and expansion of national infrastructure; b) federally funded research initiatives like the NIH or the NEA; c) earmarked subsidies to states to increase teachers salaries.

Wow...

I say we do away with federalizing the education system. There is way too much bureaucracy in teaching, and that is the biggest hindrance to educating young people. This "one-size-fits-all" approach to teaching, and so many other things, is flat out stupid. Let the local districts, counties, and states make the decisions and fund the financing.

Also...

Get rid of all "zero tolerance" policies.

The other half is given to those who are below a federally set "starvation line." In order to qualify, the applicant will have to do ent a) their eligibility, ie why they're below the starvation line and b) monthly attempts to secure work.

Really? You ant to keep the reasons why red states get more federal aid than blue states? Again, federal one-size-fits-all policies are stupid.

I would prefer the federal government spend more money evaluation and imposing tariffs on foreign goods that are in compe ion with the jobs we do now, and have traditionally have done.

Shouldn't we put people back to work in manufacturing jobs, instead of subsidizing them?

Federal assistance runs out after three years. A percentage of all welfare must be paid back to the government. Failure to do so is a crime.

No.

I consider our safety nets more like an insurance that tax payers contribute to. A strict timeline doesn't account for mitigating cir t=stances, and I am dead set against until we disassemble the free trade agreements put in place since 1993.

6. Taxes: streamline the code to a progressive scale. Eliminate a corporations ability to claim any deductions.

You cannot tax corporate gross receipts alone. They need to deduct legitimate operating costs if a standard income tax system in applied. Progressive scales are also so lib ed.

I say, either a flat tax, or consumption tax. I prefer a consumption tax because it will help balance our trade with other nations.

7. Foreign Policy. Cut all aid to Israel.

Maybe. Only if we cut all foreign aid to all other countries.

Withdraw troops from Iraq and Afghanistan immediately. Let them all go to .

We would need to make a slow withdraw, but I can agree with this. We need to stop stirring the pot with these nations.

Shutdown Guantanamo Bay.

No. Stop using it for what it has been used for... Sure. However, it is an established military base with strategic importance.

End extraordinary rendition.

Yes, as long as you mean actual rendition, rather some of the BS seen in the media.

Allow torture of high level terror suspects subject to strict scrutiny from a specially created military tribunal. Publicize said tribunal to the world.

Really?

Actual torture is rarely useful. I guess you mean "enhanced interrogation techniques" which aren't true torture...

8. Legalize abortion. In all instances. End of story.

So...

You believe in infanticide...

I know!

How about also making retroactive abortions legal to perform on people who think like you?

[ElNono]

Been awhile since I read Romer but my recollection was that SCOTUS struck down the Colorado referendum because it failed to provide a rational basis. I don't think the court applied strict scrutiny (meaning that it didn't recognize s as a protected class). Rather, the court basically stated the Colorado law disproportionately affected s by taking away more of their rights compared to an average citizen. I get your general drift, but don't think Romer gets there. Lawrence v. Texas might.

That's why I said it would not be a conduit to legalization, but a protection against states zero-ing in on overwhelmingly denying particular rights based on sexual-orientation (which both you and I know would happen mostly because of religious forces).

This is under your premise that states would have full control over marriage.

[Trainwreck2100]

I actually said I would not give jail time to non-violent crimes.

Typo, context should have clued you into that. Due to the fact it was followed by white collar crime

[m>s]

Long as op appoint himself as the one to go collect all the guns

[vy65]

That's why I said it would not be a conduit to legalization, but a protection against states zero-ing in on overwhelmingly denying particular rights based on sexual-orientation (which both you and I know would happen mostly because of religious forces).

This is under your premise that states would have full control over marriage.

Misunderstood what you said and agreed.

[vy65]

Long as op appoint himself as the one to go collect all the guns

When I am king you will be first against the wall ...

I actually support a strong, centralized federal government. Just as long as said government promotes the values I agree with.

[ElNono]

Typo, context should have clued you into that. Due to the fact it was followed by white collar crime

I see what you mean now. But I still don't agree. My beef is with unfairness. It's the bankster that steals a fortune and walks vs joey smokes a doobie and has to do hard time.

Bankster will eventually have to return a lot of the stash through a civil proceeding, but he basically walked scott free.

[m>s]

When I am king you will be first against the wall ...

I actually support a strong, centralized federal government. Just as long as said government promotes the values I agree with.

you sound like a true national socialist, welcome aboard brother

[vy65]

Arbeit Macht Frei

[FuzzyLumpkins]

Warrantless assertion. Why?



Who said anything about job-retraining? What does the 2008 downturn have to do with limitations on AFDC and TANF? Particularly when state welfare programs are still available?



Another unsupported assertion. And also incorrect.



Pot/kettle



Calling something asnine without explaining yourself is asnine.

There are no such state welfare programs. Wait, I can just pull your tactic: yours is a warrantless assertion.

Contract For America tried many of these conditional programs like attempts at securing work. Having people attempt to secure work when the economy has removed their job specialization from the region is fun but frankly is a waste of time. At least Contract for America supplied job training. Your idea is even less comprehensive.

Contract For America was more comprehensive and certainly more well thought out than the 'the states will handle it with their fairy tale programs' idea. Do you really want me to supply evidence that the rate of poverty and reemployment has not improved?

Pot/meet kettle is a warrantless assertion. I am not asserting a plan much less one with evidence that is contrary to it's efficacy.

And criminalizing poverty is not only asinine, it's stupid, banal and more than a little cruel. The full employment comment was because if people cannot find jobs in your time frame then they cannot pay your fee. If they cannot pay your fee, they become a criminal. Putting them in jail, fining them or otherwise punishing them does no societal good. To the contrary it makes their situation worse. It's punitive for the sake of being punitive ie asinine.

As I have told you before, I hope you do better when filing briefs in court. You complain about warrantless assertions and then supply a string of one liners. Very weak on logic and pretty much petulant. I hope you aren't such a whiner either. Cannot be compelling methinks.