I’ve been quiet on here about politics. The reason is that I’ve gotten angry about national politics on here in the past and want to avoid that. My political opinions are a bit strange generally. I recently took one of those online surveys of issues that match you with your top candidates. My top three came up as Mike Huckabee, Dennis Kucinich and Ron Paul. I don’t think you could handpick answers that get that top three. The problem I normally run into is that no candidate ever talks about the things that I care about. So I thought I would take a few minutes and tell you what I think would solve America’s problems. Brace yourself. 
National Security: Get our hands out of everyone else’s business and become self-sufficient and sustainable. That will mean cutting our dependence on oil from the middle east(and elsewhere) and cheap crap from China(and other sweatshop countries). Once we aren’t meddling anymore than 95% of their reason for hating us goes away.
Health: It’s generally talked about as health care, but it’s much larger than that. Our current system is disease care. Fixing our insurance system will not fix our problems. We need to move our food subsidy money out of meat and dairy and into healthier grains and fruits/veggies. We also need to move it to smaller organic farms and away form large factory farms. That will correct this(ht: SVN):
It will also make it so that cheap food is much healthier. If a decent salad was on the dollar menu but an okay burger cost $5(like a decent salad does)… then this country would be a lot healthier. Also we need to be more active. How about moving a large chunk of the automobile subsidies to subsidize bicycles and bike roads and lanes. Make it safe and cheap to get and ride a bike instead of a car. Now we are getting exercise much more regularly.
Once Americans are getting healthier instead of sicker the health insurance and doctors/hospitals issues would start getting better. To make it even better I’d advocate a law that prohibits you from advertising a drug that requires a prescription. The doctor should be telling you if you need to get on a drug, not commercials on tv. Throw in a law setting a max limit on the dollar amount you can sue a doctor/hospital for and we are in very good shape. For the finishing touches I would suggest state-level and state-sponsored cooperative health insurance plans.
Economy: Obviously my above thoughts already greatly change our economy. It will hurt some industries and help others. I’m totally fine with that. There are plenty of industries that we should want to put out of business(predatory lending, things that destroy the environment and promote unhealthy lives, etc, etc). We should also shape policies to favor small business and entrepreneurial ventures instead of large corporations wherever possible. There is much more economic stability in a metro-region if it’s economy is not 95% dependent on a handful of large companies.
There you go… that would be my plan for fixing America. I know that for many people that doesn’t touch on “their issues”. Sorry, but get your own blog and write about them yourself.
I’m voting for you!
Well said, Daniel. These are my issues, too.
And I can’t help but think there are others.
Maybe enough to win an election.
very nice
Daniel for President
[...] rather than into a candidate or political party? What are the issues that matter most to you? Check out what matters to Daniel. Also, below are some interesting links to think about as you process this 2008 election [...]
The economy is the issue we need to address. And without sounding like a conspiracy theorist……
The banks print the money (not the government). They send the money overseas where money grows (The money overseas in places like China earns, not interest, but deflation.) Then, the federal reserve, which is a private bank, prints up more money, thus causing inflation in the states.
Now the banks, who you generously trust to watch over your money, have your cash overseas earning this “deflation”, then, when you ask for it back, they give it to you at the new inflated value.
So not only do the banks use your money to make them money, but when they give it back they give you less than you put in (And here you thought you earned 5% in a CD! HA!).
It’s a scam of magnificent proportions.
What’s the risk? Our entire way life.
The only canidate who talks about it? He’s a short guy from Texas.