PRIORITIES

People often talk of what our government should and shouldn't do. They tend to project their ideologies, needs, and wants on these demands. And so Hawks want a big military, and hawks vested in the military want it even more. And so Environmentalists want Green Energy, and Environmentalists vested in the Green Energy business want it even more. Meanwhile, even vest environmentalist hawks want the government to help them after a hurricane. Of course, we wonder if the latter type - the vested type - is a true believer, or just wants the money. And those in need simply need what they need. But most of use are really not all that needy at any given time and we are not of the Investment Class, at least not in a way so that we can exercise political power from it beyond just our votes, volunteering, and small donations. We are mostly among the former type - the simply interested.

This is why so many people are against healthcare reform: at any given moment most of us are healthy, and there happens to be some very powerful people heavily vested in the healthcare sector the way it is.

So, that leaves mostly just the interested who can make the changes we need in our governance.  Unfortunately, Americans are not generally interested in such.  I suppose one priority should be to teach Americans basic civics.  Anyways...

Here's some obvious priorities that I, as an interested person, see:


WE NEED UNIVERSAL HEALTHCARE

It is an absolutely necessary human right and we need it to be a constitutional right immediately.



WE NEED TO DEMILITARIZE

We're going broke, we can't afford it, and history shows that we absolutely, without any doubt, must demilitarize - our own greatest historical existential threat is our very own militarization. We MUST demilitarize.



WE NEED A NATIONAL POWER AND INFORMATION GRID

The private sector has no impetus to do this, but for both security and future growth, we can't do without it.



WE NEED TO END OUR DEPENDENCE ON FOREIGN OIL

We do not need as much oil as we use, and we could do without it. There are powerful people heavily vested in oil. We need to overrule them. For starters, just a few changes in patent law would go a long ways toward ending this un-American dependence.



WE NEED TO END THE WAR ON DRUGS

We are ruining American lives exponentially more with the Drug War than the drugs we're fighting. And it costs a pointless, Pyrrhic fortune.



WE NEED A SIMPLIFIED AND MORE PROGRESSIVE TAX CODE

Any look at modern history shows our tax code is heavily tilted in favor of the wealthy at the expense of the nation. It's obvious. We have to pay our bills and we can. As well, we have to grow opportunity. Europe has greater upward mobility than America. They also have higher taxes on the wealthy.



WE NEED TRADE WITH OUR INTERESTS IN FRONT

Our trade deficit is pathetic. Take big agro and scrap (our number one and two exports) out of the equation, and it would be dramatically worse. Enough said about that.



I could go on... By the way, I wouldn't personally profit from any of this, though I suppose I could. (?)

JMJ