What would you do if you were President/Prime Minister?

[Farnan]

This is a thread from another forum, and I thought I would ask it hear. You will hear my answer after I see some other people's opinions.

[Justinian]

If I was President of the United States it would mean I had won a victory running as the new third party candidate. This would mean I would already be in a position where the Republicrats wouldn't rule all with an iron fist.

I would probably have troubles in the House and Senate because my party wouldn't have a majority of the seats.

My campaign policy would be to reduce the power of the Republicrats and allow a true democratic system of three or more parties. This would lower Republicratic corruption as they would have to watch themselves if they wanted to get elected. (Take, for instance, the New Jersey gubernatorial elections this year - the two candidates were practically the same people, but the Democrat one won ... because he was a Democrat. He wouldn't have won if Democrats had someone to turn to who wasn't Republican).

In my term I would spend my time repairing the position of the United States in the eyes of other nations. Setting an example of coalition with the United Nations. Neither would I ignore the problems of other nations - but if a situation such as the War on Terror were to occur in my term I would look at things through the eyes of other nations and think long and hard before making my decision. My decision would also have to be strategically sound.

I would try to leave Washington with the corruption cleaned out as much as possible and the firm knowledge of being the first third-party candidate to win the Presidential Election (unless something happens before I'm old enough, of course). I would run for a second term and hopefully win, and my second term would be much like my first.

[GiantMonkeyMan]

good answer Justinian...

as prime minister of britain i would try to improve the NHS without raising taxes.... i would lower the welfare that we give to immigrants and come up with schemes to try and get them working to boost britains economy... with the money saved i would improve the conditions of public schools... but that is all i can think of

Prime Minister GiantMonkeyMan

[Templedog]

I would legalize pot and tax the hell out of it...and raise the NASA funds 10x over.

[Last Roman]

if i were president... (this sounds like something i wrote in 6th grade). But seriously, if i were i would focus on three things. The economy and the enviornment and tax reform. First try to stop businesses from "outsourcing" and bring jobs back to the US. second, do whatever i could to reduce the trade defiect (higher taxes on imports perhaps?). As for the enviornment, i would put tons of money into finding a safe alternative energy. For taxes, maybe a very low flat tax or getting rid of the income tax all together and raise the sales tax and create (if there isnt one already) and large luxury tax. Assuming i won a second term, i would focus on the public education system and repairing the national image.

[Empyrean]

Large luxury taxes destroy the industries that produce luxury goods. Middle class and lower class people have those jobs now. We actually already tried this during Clinton's administration, with predictable results.

Stopping business from "outsourcing" means the businesses leave the country all together. If they can't compete with foreign companies using cheaper labor, they fail in the world market. Restricting everything to domestic production kills productivity and the standard of living. We're better off with outsourcing, trust me.

Safe alternative energy will be developed when the need for it outweighs the costs of developing it and switching over. Markets incorporate all knowledge held by everyone participating in the market. The market drives decisions that are orders of magnitude more informed than anyone in government could ever even imagine.

As President, I would... hell, I don't know. I'm an anarchist. I wouldn't abdicate because that means someone else would just fill the spot. I'd use my power to pry as many gears out of the machine as I could, given my time in office. Or just bring back the gold standard, kick the Federal Reserve in the crotch, and use a significant fraction of our nuclear arsenal on the IRS. That would be a good start.

[Last Roman]

Large luxury taxes destroy the industries that produce luxury goods. Middle class and lower class people have those jobs now. We actually already tried this during Clinton's administration, with predictable results.

well I guess I could get rid of the luxury tax, but im still not sure about what you said on outsourcing, It just does not make sense to me, but oh well.

[CrackerMonkey]

If I was prime minister I would devise a cunning plan to snatch all the money the norwegian government is sitting on and travel to Hawaii where I would settle down and have a sip of fresh orange juice.

Seriously though, I would change the immigration policies slightly by restricting the number of people that got in.
Then I would probably give more money to developers of alternative energy-production, because the oil ain't gonna last forever.
Taxes would be lowered a bit, just to keep the major part of the population in check.
I would also change the system a bit so that we don't give money away to just about everyone. Rich palace-constructing sultans in Africa and "disabled" people. (Note: By "disabled" people I mean the people that aren't really disabled but wants to be.)
Our military would also be brushed up a bit.

[invictus]

Well now since there was no specific defined country, I would be "president" of california. I woud convert it to a socialist country, but enact laws to prevent corruption. The leader of course would be elected after the death of the former leader, and my main goal would be to achieve alternative power and to protect the environment while mainting a good economy. -Leon

[Tiwaz]

I would be rather unfortunate position compared to all of you before me since as president or prime minister here I would not have so much power I could make my will come true. So most likely I would spend most of my time hunting for support for my ideas.

[CrackerMonkey]

I would be rather unfortunate position compared to all of you before me since as president or prime minister here I would not have so much power I could make my will come true. So most likely I would spend most of my time hunting for support for my ideas.

But if you really had ultimate power, what would you do?

[Tiwaz]

Make sure I won't lose it.

And get lots of hot chicks.

[God-Emperor of Mankind]

If I was prime minister I would first make speeches on how way of life if being threatened by someone and the gently shift it towards home. People are gullible so they will believe it.
Then make elections illegal, ban other parties and declare myself king of all.
I will do so because as a prime minister I would have to go through the riksdag to get anything done and I doubt I will so I will take absolute power instead.
Every fourth year the people will be able to discuss with me of matters that concern the country through a ombudsman.
I would stop immigration completely and take further actions against illegal immigrants by simply pick them up instead of sending them a letter saying "no so please leave".
Immigrants that are not illegal will show that they have good knowledge of the language and are active searching for a job. Any immigrants that don't show these things will be sent back.
Any immigrant will after that be accepted into the country by their previous occupation and need.
Other language other then swedish and in smaller ways english will be illegal.
Then legalize prostitution and create state brothels and make pimps illegal. Any pimps still operating will get the death penality.
Prostitutes will be able to form unions and will be treated as any normal job.
Lower taxes to low and middle class by 1-2%(I go by the swedish tax which is 31%) and increase tax for rich with 1-2%.
Complete destruction of any religion within. Churches, mosques, jewish temples, pagan temples will be destroyed.
People will be offered to abandon their religion or leave.
Allow porn on public access TV after midnight.
Gay couples will be allowed to be married.
People that hits their spouse will get treatment for it(which as been proven to work in Norway and is something that doesn't exist in Sweden).
Reform the legal system, if you get life then you get life and not 20 years that it is now. Death penality will be allowed for a certain amount of time and for certain crimes only(one crime has already been shown).
Higher penality for rape.
Allow nuclear power.

[Kanaric]

I would reform the tax code so that rich people and corporations actually have to pay taxes. That would be enough to fix the deficit and economy in this country. While working that out I would cancle all bribes to foreign countries immediately and reduce payment to the UN to the point where we would pay only double of what the next country that contributes the most.

With the extreme amount of cash rolling in as a result of that I would highly step up INS funding and try to stop illegal immigration and definately up border patrols. Also I would attept to try to fix the trade deficit, dont know how I would now but I assume if I were able to run for president I would have some ideas. They are an evil communist authoritarian country afterall, we shouldn't be on good terms with them and allow them to control our economy. I would start competing with them as they are doing with us, which is being ignored by rich politicians that are removed from reality and dont care about the future.

I know the only way to get elected though would be to run for a party and agresively pursue talking points and push button politics, i'll just run like people have been doing lately. Doing so I could probably win as either party. Especially since many of the problems I listed are considered highly important now a days, and politicians wont touch ANY of them because of their greed and corruption.

[Atheist Peace]

As president...

I would pass lots of anti-corruption legislation and try to get rid of as many lobbyists as possible. I, like justinian, would be a third party candidate for sure and not have many allies in the House and Senate, which would make this task very hard to accomplish.

Second, I would legalize marijuana, and decrease the amount of money that goes to waste fighting drugs.
Then I would change the defense and H.S. budget heavily, I would seriously decrease the amount of spending which I see as unnecessary, and focus more money on actual national security and preventing terrorist attacks at home. I would take a more non-military stance towards the middle east, and instead work towards showing the muslim world how wrong the terrorists are, as they're starting to see now. Also, I would attempt to have people like Zarqawi assassinated, as I feel that works better.

I would strongly increase border security and either deport current illegal immigrants, or legalize some of them. This would go along with a strong increase in the number of legal immigrants allowed from Mexico each year, which still has positive benefits for everyone but does not carry the chaos of illegal immigration.

I would do all possible to deal with the issue of poverty, including heavily taxing the rich and lowering taxes on the poor. Education reform would also be crucial. I would assemble a panel of maybe 15 experts and conduct tons of research into exactly what is going wrong, both with declining schools overall, and schools in lower class areas and how people fail so miserably in them. Then I would take actions which I feel are best given the situation and continue to try and address the problem.
I would also promote universal healthcare, and propose a system for it. I would not try to force government healthcare on everyone, but make it an option for those who can't afford overpriced private healthcare, and yes it would cost money (but much less) for those using it. I would also do what I could to try and move those using it onto private, better healthcare.

I had a lot more on my mind, but forgot a lot as I typed this, i'll post more when I remember.

[Kanaric]

If drugs were legalized but controlled and sold by the government with huge warning lables we could save a lot of money their as well. Their is a lot of pointless thigns the money wastes money on, legalizing drugs would probably reduce crime as well.

Of course jobs should still have things like Drug tests to deny employment and all the restrictions on it now besides them being illegal. It would probably work quite well and save billions better spent on things like competing with China.

[Tigran of Sasoun]

I would militarize the society and take a few battalions of soldiers to africa and start invading. That is ofcourse if my government did not arrest me and America invade Canada because of my actions, lol.

But there is not much different one man can do. we are all ristricted to the amount of money we can use, and who can lobby better for things, and who you can anger and who you cannot.

[King Henry V]

I would crown myself King of England and gather an army of longbow and billmen and invade France, in revenge for what suffering its language has caused me. Charge!

[Erik]

To be honest I would only use my presidency to get chicks.

[CrackerMonkey]

To be honest I would only use my presidency to get chicks.

Well, that too, of course!
Anyone else than me who thought Monica Lewinsky (sp?) was rather hot in a naughty kind of way?