First, I would impeach Bush while simultaneously changing the Middle East policies we are engaged in, such as the Iraq disaster Bring the troops home and let Iraq self-destruct with their sectarian conflicts..I would cut off funding to some places in Africa, etc., which are just using the money to support corrupt governments and slaughter innocents.

Next, I would institute nationalized health insurance.

I would require the meatpacking industry to actually HAVE a standard rather than being the inhumane, unpoliced, unregulated industry it is.

Next, I would forgive all student loan debt (just like the US has forgiven whole countries their debts to the US while throwing taxpayer money around like candy).

Further, I would make it against the law for lobbyists to operate by closely auditing congressional acceptances of gifts and money. I would actually make it illegal to receive either.

I would refuse to grant tax-exempt status to any religious organization or individual using religion, also removing In God We Trust on everything.

I would totally revolutionize the education system in the US, which is an abysmal failure, also dropping SAT scores, GRE scores, etc. I just don't happen to believe that a person's worth is measured in numbers. I would also assist people at an earlier age to acquire vocational training, making it affordable. The way it is now, the same old subjects are taught K-16 and people still don't learn anything. I would require a second language from kindergarden through high school.

I would immediately allow diesel cars from Europe into the US and totally require corporations to clean up their messes with pollution. I would require Exxon to pay for its mess in Alaska. I would protect all old-growth forests and parks and spend money to build mass-transit systems. (get Dick Cheney to fund that - he's made enough off Iraq with Halliburton) I would revoke corporate charters of those who pollute.

I would drop the neo-cons off a cliff.

Finally, I would remove any discussion about women's reproductive rights from all branches of the government as it is NONE OF THEIR BUSINESS.

What a lovely dream! I'd vote for you... if I was American of course.

personally i would line up their politicians along the California coastline and just use a giant bulldozer to scrape the entire lot into the Pacific.....
:wink:

Well, just short of dumping the whole country into the ocean, which I admit might be well deserved, you have to consider the following thought:

Just as you are what you eat, the American people are what they've been told or taught. The entire public school system in the US was dreamed up about a century ago by the industrialists of the times - Ford, etc. The concept was to teach school children to be obedient workers for the workplace in assembly plants and companies.This involved teaching reading, writing, and arithmetic but mainly teaching young ones to respect authority (their future bosses). Arranging desks in rows, regurgitating memorized facts,following directions, and never arguing were the primary objectives. It has only been in the last decade that the phrase critical thinking was pushed - but in name only. The history that is taught is not only biased but inaccurate. So basically, you have a population of people who know little to no geography,almost nothing about other cultures, very few know foreign languages or have traveled abroad, and most come from strong Christian homes. In short, they don't know that they don't know, but they, like the Muslims and Jews, think that God will fix everything for them.Or their omnipotent god does not approve of other cultures - just of capitalism.

One thing I know for sure! There was a time when I felt that the German people were equally responsible for the Hitler years, but I realize now that they were the same kind of "obedient" little people.But then many Hitler supporters from Germany came to the states after the war. Because anarchists have been so decried because they have fought for a better world (gone against authority), they are ridiculed as being unpatriotic. I'm not sure that most Americans are even capable of critical thinking at this point. The combination of historical ignorance,
religious brainwashing, school obedience programming, and patriotic mind-bending have resulted in what you see today in the typical child and adult. The more intellectual liberals, who understand there are areas of gray and are much better informed, are constantly smeared by the media, the government, and the corporations that control everything in US society.

I think I have just depressed myself. The people need to rise up but they have no clue how to go about reclaiming a country worth reclaiming - in short, it's a bunch of lemmings who probably deserve to go over the cliff and into the Pacific, as you say.

I saw a documentary a few years ago that suggested that after WWII, American policians concluded that if a highly intelligent, sophisticated and educated population such as the Germans at the time, could be convinced to commit such atrocious acts, they'd better have a rethink about their own population. This documentary suggested that it was then a concerted political effort to turn Americans into passive consumers and to dislocate them from the political system, so that they wouldn't end up repeating the behaviour of their European cousins across the Atlantic.

I think it has worked quite well. Although I don't think the Americans are in any way alone. I've seen and heard a lot worse than the rhetoric that comes out of the US. I've worked with people who cheer when innocents are killed. I've heard people say that they believe that even if millions of them have to die in order to achieve their religious/political objectives then it would be worth it.

I've also talked and worked with people who lived under the communist system, and when I asked them if they didn't feel that in some way the old system was better - the answer was simple. At least with the American system there is the possiblity of happiness. They acknowledged that it was not perfect, but the chance of individual happiness was so important to them, that they would gladly give up the certainties that communism gave them for the chances that "the American way" gives.

Anyway, I get a bit tired of America bashing sometimes. When taken in it's entirity, I like America and what it stands for. I would gladly live there (at least in some parts), and I would not ay the same the same for most of the rest of the world. Should they be in the middle-east - absolutely not. But I only say that because I think they have unleashed a hornets nest of hatred that is directed towards themselves and the rest of the West.

Anyway, now I'm depressed.

I agree, Lisa, that there are many good things about the US - I particularly miss Whole Foods and its organic food as well as a lot of really good vegetarian restaurants. I'm having a lot of problems eating here as you might guess.

Yes, you can make a fortune in the US if you're entrepreneurial and hard-working and willing to be a shark. Plus, you have to avoid the credit card game that is always being pushed.

It's just a shame that such a rich country can't do something good for its people now and then. You never see any laws passed that actually benefit ANYONE. The politicians are a front for the corporations so it doesn't seem to matter whether they're Repubs or Dems and what's up with always selling weapons to countries that hate the US then trying to fight with them. Everyone knows we're in Iraq for their oil - a corporate raid.

When I leave here down the road, I will probably go to Australia or Thailand because it is expensive living here, thanks to the devalued US dollar to the euro. The Europeans have learned not to bankrupt themselves warmongering all over the world (from past history).

The one good thing I can say is that Americans can be very kind-hearted and generous - is it their fault that they're so naive politically? Yes.