Now that the election is over, we all can take a deep breath and get ready. We have just a few weeks to prepare for all that CHANGE we voted for...
So what kind of change do we want, and how do we plan to make it happen? Here's what I've been hearing in the confessional booth of late:
-Economic reform - most agree that the economy needs an overhaul, but there is little consensus on what that means.
-Health Care reform - everyone should get the health care they need. Way overdue.
-Get out of Iraq - this one is kind of a no-brainer...
-Going Green - we need some kind of methadone for our fossil fuel addiction.
-Tax reform - many would be happy to pay a bit more in taxes, if the rich paid taxes in proportion.
-Education reform - it's time for "No Child Left Behind" to get, um... left behind. And not in that weird Kirk Cameron, Tim Lahaye kind of way.
Let me add a few of my own. I'd like to see political reform - but I'm not just throwing around vague aphorisms about "reaching across the aisle" and doing away with "Washington politics as usual." I have a very concrete suggestion - let's do away with the Electoral College. It's a vestige of another time, and we now have the technology to count a nationwide popular vote quite successfully. It would require a constitutional amendment to get it done, and the Democrats have a better chance of doing that during this term than ever.
While we are at it, let's take a good hard look at the whole constitution. The founding fathers were not infallible; clearly we need to do some updating. We could start by clarifying that whole "equal rights" thingy - and include everyone this time. We could also clarify the responsibilities and powers of the president a bit, just to keep someone from expanding executive power to an unreasonable point. We might also need to put it in writing that the vice president is, in fact, part of the executive branch, and add a clause about shooting old guys in the face with shot guns - I'm just working off the top of my head here.
So - what changes do you want to see? Leave your wish list in the comments - I'm pretty sure someone important reads this...
Can I get some change, please?
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5 comments:
This is very important stuff. I agree with you... Hopefully someone who can do something about it does too. Do you think you can have a protest with just two people and get your point across? I hope so.
A two person protest isn't likely to do much - unless the two people are named Obama and Putin...
Good point, WNG. I hope there is some reckoning to be had for some of the stupid, ill-considered, and just flat ILLEGAL shit that the last administration has done.
Obviously, I agree with everything you wrote. So I'm going to skip repeating all of that and take a left turn into Chrissyland for the less obvious issues that I'd like to see addressed.
1. Since the radios have apparently been playing Christmas songs since late October, I'd like to end the Christian stranglehold on the airwaves. Remember: Mithras is the reason for the season! And lots of people have holidays this time of year. Let's throw a few of their songs into rotation. Let's switch out Inkubus Sukkubus' "Hail to the Holly King" or Emerald Rose's "Santa Claus is Pagan Too" in place of the 159,356 repetition of "Jingle Bell Rock."
2. Someone on Snarkfest mentioned their son made a suggestion that I whole heartedly agree with: Free ice cream for everyone. We've agreed to nominate this child for Secretary of Treats.
3. Institute a national campaign of public shaming for people who have no cell phone manners.
4. Public funding for the arts. For real, this time. I'm talking significant money available to a broad range of people, not just the big name "elites."
5. Tangentially related to this, I demand fines be applied to "bellydance" fusionists who have no actual bellydance content in their dancing. This is happening more and more and it's really pissing me off. If you're just a contemporary or (worse) a burlesque dancer in a coin bra, yet you call yourself a bellydancer, you should be punished. It's easy to tell the difference: Bellydance, Bellydance, Not Bellydance, Strippers. See?
6. Mandatory sensitivity training and Peace Corps service for Republicans.
7. Redesign our country's food systems from the ground up. Every bit of our government's food and farming regulations, subsidies, the FDA, the EPA, and the nutrition guides are designed to pander to corporate farming and corporate pseudo-food providers. This is damaging the land and the people and it is on its way to collapsing in an eerily similar manner to the mortgage/housing market.
8. Mandatory paid vacations for everyone! They manage to give significant paid vacation time to workers in Europe and their economies are often in better shape than ours! Figure out how they make it work, then do it!
I would like to jump on the tail-end of raksha's bandwagon there and hit the food regulations - it should not be more expensive to buy real food than it is to buy processed crap that in fact costs more to make and is bad for the environment and bad for the consumers. The whole reason it is more expensive is unethical lobbyists and outdated ag subsidies - frequently voted for by republicans who wouldn't know fiscal responsibility if it bit them in the ass. So, not surprisingly, I would like to see some change in food - change from "King Corn" to the hundreds of thousands of other varieties of edible species out there.
Oh, and all the other stuff you said, too...
=)
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