It's Time for Change

[queen-asante.livejournal.com]

What changes do you feel still need to happen in America? How can these changes come about?


Personally, I think LGBT Rights need to be reformed or improved, especially in certain states.


What about you guys? Any thoughts?

Comments

[pastorlenny.livejournal.com]

Everything in America is fine. I don't know what you're talking about.

Why do you hate the Constitution?

[the-rukh.livejournal.com]

Did you know the first reproductions of the US Constitution and Declaration of Independence were set in a font created by William Caslon? He was the first major English typesetter. He borrowed his cuttings heavily from Dutch typefaces, which were very popular at the time. Adobe Caslon is a reconstruction of Caslon's typefaces.

[root-fu.livejournal.com]

1. Better separation of church corporation and state.
2. More proliferate and improved methods of birth control, especially within demographics in poverty.
3. Restructuring and better oversight and regulation of ridiculously expensive government programs: the afghan war, the war on drugs, anti-terrorism programs, etc.
4. Mandatory computer & internet competency educational standards in classrooms.
5. Abolishment and a comprehensive reboot of the current educational curriculum. When the Discovery Channel can make learning and science fun, and the only thing your government run school program does is make learning and science boring -- at a significantly higher dollar price, something is definitely wrong.

There's nothing to it, really.

Every problem could easily be fixed IF there was a legitimate motivation to do it. Which, unfortunately, there is not.

[the-rukh.livejournal.com]

They not be my top priorities but besides 5 I think they're all good. I think 5 is way more complex than stated here though.

[mijan.livejournal.com]

We need to stop punishing people twice over for getting sick.

[themistressmoon.livejournal.com]

This has nothing whatsoever to do with the post and I'm sorry for being off-topic, but I love your icon.

[soliloquy76.livejournal.com]

Politically: Get special interest money (read: legalized bribery) out of politics.

Socially/Culturally: Less religion.

Economically: More emphasis on education.

[fizzyland.livejournal.com]

I think given our track record to date, change will be for the worse, until our Mandarin overlords take over.

/the upside will be all the delicious Orange Chicken you can eat.

[themistressmoon.livejournal.com]

因为大家觉觉得中国...

Damn it. I was going to ask "Why does everyone think the Chinese will take over America?" and then I realized I don't know how to say "take over" in Chinese. They didn't teach us any political phrases in my Chinese class. Pity.

[the-rukh.livejournal.com]

{.........politics.......money---}---->

[meus-ovatio.livejournal.com]

Cable channels a la carte.

[the-rukh.livejournal.com]

Why do people still get TV?

[underlankers.livejournal.com]

First things first, the United States needs to retool the four biggest chunks of the Budget. The entitlement programs were designed for a much poorer USA where blacks, Asians, Amerindians, and white women were excluded from meaningful participation in society, and a USA where people also lived shorter, more brutish lives. The society of the 1930s therefore is simultaneously too expensive and too stingy a basis for social programs of the 21st Century. They need to be retooled to accept the larger, more socially inclusive United States of the present day, not clinging to what FDR, author of Executive Order 9066 did.

The military needs to be streamlined, troops withdrawn from bases where they are no longer needed, their presence increased where they are needed, US military power withdrawn from Iraq and Afghanistan and declaring victory to soothe the ruffled feathers of the 90-year-old jingoists who make up the jingoistic section of the population. In line with the reforms for the rest of social programs, the VA is in obvious need of an overhaul, it's not working very well.

The USA needs as well to change education programs. A lot of things are structured to mass solutions underfunded and undermaintained. That quite obviously does need to change, and a balance found between Federal standards and local freedom to alter them as seen fit (with the obvious lines being to prevent abuses of this on class or racial grounds).

The USA should also legalize the soft drugs like cannabis that can be regulated, and then start taxing the profits made from legalized trade in those drugs. Hard drugs should still be penalized and people in jail for what are no longer crimes be given a blanket amnesty.

The proudly secular traditions of the USA should receive official sanction, with a National Prayer Breakfast bringing together clerics of all the major US religions, and an ecumenical prayer presided over by one prominent cleric from each religion.

The United States needs to also mandate that states at minimum keep a balance with what they take from the Federal government as opposed to what they pay into it. As well, there should be a mandated public service, with non-military options for people to whom conscription into the armed services is a moral evil. Also, people who buy guns should have mandatory classes about basic gun safety and aiming required to ensure people know how to use them, while assault rifles and other military-grade weapons are restricted, as are handguns, but hunting rifles and other weapons which can be a basic necessity or recreational should be maintained free and fair in use.

Finally, the US Constitution should be revised to accommodate the reality of the existence of political parties, overhaul the process of declarations of war to fit the political realities of the 21st Century such as faster communication and a more habitable Washington, and to revise the 14th and 15th Amendments for positive declarations of civil rights for all, with the new Constitution mandating things like universal suffrage, and the responsibility of all citizens to participate in some meaningful sense in society, without specifying exact requirements for this.

[jlc20thmaine.livejournal.com]

Not a bad list.

[sandwichwarrior.livejournal.com]

I suspect this will be an unpopular answer but on a macro level I'm pretty happy with the way things are going.

Sure, there is plenty of room for improvement and I have my pet issues and a agendas just like anyone elese but none over which I would consider starting a fight/riot.

That said there are a few issues which I could see becomeing major in the future. Immigration, Education, and the War and drugs all spring to mind but as it stands I am content to let things ride.

[onefatmusicnerd.livejournal.com]

Yes, with the exception of my pet issue, I agree with this.

And I just got a Road Defender 5000, so red light runners beware!

[rick-day.livejournal.com]

1. elimination of the war on some drugs

1. strict federal term limits on elected and appointed offices, with 5 year moratoriums on working for anyone who ever donated cash to an elected official from a lobbyist representing that interest.

1. Elimination of corporate personhood.

[mrsilence.livejournal.com]

I like option 1 the most: Elimination of corporate personhood.

[d353r7r47.livejournal.com]

I think that in general, the government should stop trying to get involved in pretty much every aspect of our lives. Also, I think it is important that people can make their own decisions about things. For example, I think that ideas like making abortion illegal are bad. You don't necessarily have to agree with abortion or support the idea, but you shouldn't take away other people's right to make that choice for themselves.

I agree that LGBT rights need to be pushed, mostly because of the fact that they should be able to make their own choices. But also because it isn't fair to deny them happiness and it's not like they're hurting anyone.

[mlledesade]

I agree.

[kylinrouge.livejournal.com]

http://www.tomdispatch.com/blog/175361/tomgram%3A_chris_hellman%2C_%241.2_trillion_for_national_security

Cut defense.

[a-new-machine.livejournal.com]

Entitlement reform.

A recognition that rationing of medical expenses will take place. Call it what you like, but unless we see deflation of medical costs, we are not going to be able to afford even today's level of care indefinitely. Policies should adjust to fit this.

And then all the boring stuff like ending the drug war and the like. There's a lot of fiddling I'd like to do with the legal system, like changing mandatory minimums, but that couldw ait. Budget reforms are the top of the list.

[allhatnocattle.livejournal.com]

Major reforms need to be had.
Gay right is a start.
USA needs to go metric as it costs USA in trade in both directions.
USA needs to abolish the death penalty like all civilized nations have.
Thirdly it needs to scale back spending on military and amp up spending on health care. In my opinion USA is in deep financial trouble, when it doesn't even have gold reserves anymore. (http://www.thetotalcollapse.com/russia-says-imf-chief-jailed-for-discovering-all-us-gold-is-gone/)

[the-rukh.livejournal.com]

I hope that was in jest.

"The Total Collapse
World War III guaranteed"

[jaye-elle.livejournal.com]

Revamp of the gun laws. In the 5 months I was in the USA there were five shootings in a 30km region of my university (west NY). At home there have been two shootings in the twenty two years I have lived here. And they were both huge issues. After the Port Arthur massacre John Howard cracked down and did one of the best things in his 11 years in politics.

IMO as an outsider of course.

[eracerhead.livejournal.com]

Form a 1-day dictatorship, then round up every tea party republican who promised to focus on the debt but instead focused on abortion, and send them to Gitmo. Likewise the ones who claim small government except when it comes to "moral" issues.

[dwer.livejournal.com]

1) Stop discriminating against gays and allow them to marry
1a) Repeal the Patriot Act
2) Legalize drugs
3) Get out of Iraq and Afghanistan
4) Stop propping up dictators

[raichu100.livejournal.com]

A succinct list - and good choices.

[mlledesade]

Decrease federal government spending, especially on defense.

Encourage cooperation with other countries on global initiatives. We shouldn't use our influence to impact other countries negatively, but the world is too small for the U.S. to return to an isolationist policy. We need to be able to work with other countries and cultures.

Give states and local governments more power to make decisions and pass laws. I don't think the federal government should have to carry the burden it does. This would also encourage people to become more invested in local issues. The more I think about it, the more I think things like healthcare reform should be left up to the individual states. The government is in enough debt without taking on another unwieldy burden such as healthcare. I would love to see healthcare for all, but I think it's going to take time.

Decrease government involvement in private life, including ending the war on drugs, legalizing prostitution, drugs, and gay marriage.

Decrease taxes, if only because I hate that a good portion of my paycheck goes to the federal government instead of to me when I get paid. I could use that money.

[jlc20thmaine.livejournal.com]

Revamp the electoral process so that it favors more than a 2 party system.

Give more power and rights to the states and less power to the federal government.

Create a wall of separation between state and education, business, ...

Get the government out of the health-care business.

Term limits on all elected and selected offices (cabinet secretaries, judges and justices, ...)

[htpcl.livejournal.com]

Just for the record, I'd appreciate if from now on you could expand a bit more about your point in your original posts. That's what we usually do here (look around the other posts to get an idea). Thanks in advance.

[dreadfulpenny81.livejournal.com]

Changing the tax system, legalizing and taxing canibus, consolidating government, stopping frivolous government funding (like shrimp on a treadmill), legalizing same-sex marriage, and expanding sex education so that maybe the abortion rates will be lower.

[raichu100.livejournal.com]

1. Legalize SSM already (or get the government out of marriage altogether)
2. Legalize drugs
3. Ease up on gun control laws - require permits and training for guns, but don't prohibit people from carrying in public places (including college campuses)
4. Overhaul the adoption system and provide better resources for pregnant women and their unborn.
5. Why is the drinking age still 21? sheesh...
6. I wish we would change the voting system from plurality to majority run-offs. The way it is third parties never even have a chance...
7. gtfo of countries we do not need to be in
8. stop earmarks (and pigs will fly...I know) and slash other unnecessary spending. Then, cut taxes for ALL (and apply a flat percentage rate) and focus on using the money that's left to actually provide quality services for the ones that are left (and are most important).

That's all I've got for now.

[foolsguinea.livejournal.com]

1) An actual public health system that works for everyone.
2) An actual industrial policy.
3) In general, social insurance and yes, welfare, BECAUSE WE KNOW BY NOW THAT TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION CAN LEAVE SOME PEOPLE'S LIVELIHOODS BEHIND. (ahem)
4) Also, the Senate should be dissolved permanently.

and of course, though I long ago gave up on this one simple thing...

[foolsguinea.livejournal.com]

BUT MOSTLY ACTUAL CRIMINAL PENALTIES FOR ENVIRONMENTAL CRIMES.

[anfalicious.livejournal.com]

It's time for the speciesism to stop and actual monkeys to be allowed in congress.