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Sunday, March 29, 2015

Change since 2008? Yeah, but not enough

Someone who dislikes President Obama recently posted on Facebook that there had been no positive change since 2008.

I disagreed. The economy is better, we have less military exposure in Iraq and Afghanistan, and healthcare is more fair.

Fine, but that's not all the change we need. Here is my definition of real change:

  • Stop the destruction of the middle class. Emphasize growth in jobs that pay at least $50K per year and thereby make the minimum wage irrelevant.
  • Terminate the propaganda that everyone needs a university education, and shift government funding from fat-cat universities to community college systems. Cut back on student loans for universities; although well-intentioned, these loans are driving the country in the wrong direction.
  • Quit spending a trillion dollars on a year on an unproductive military. Instead, invest that money in infrastructure such as roads, passenger railroads, water and sewer, etc.
  • Reform income taxes to the simplest of progressive structures, such as four marginal tax rates (0%, 13%, 26%, and 39%) with no deductions and no exceptions. This will go a long way to remedy disparities in income.
  • Move the burdens of paying for healthcare and retirement pensions off of American businesses, so that they can compete more successfully in global markets.
  • Embrace immigration.
  • Cap the total federal expenditure on entitlement programs at today's levels.
  • End the failed war on drugs. Legalize them, regulate them, and tax them.
  • Get the government out of the bedroom forever. Repeal all sexuality laws and make same-sex marriage fully legal across the nation.
  • Reverse trends toward gerrymandering and restrictions on voting. We live in a democratic republic. Let's act like it.
  • Figure out how to cushion the impact of doubling or tripling the retail prices of electricity on lower-income Americans, so that we can reduce carbon footprint without screwing the poor or reverting to nuclear energy.
  • Replace the self-defeating Global War on Terror with recommendations for counter-terrorism in this book.
In 2016 I'm likely to vote for candidates that are the least distance from these positions.