What would you do if you were president (or dictator)?

[Fugus]

If you were president (or dictator for this one) and could pass the laws as you see fit, whatwould you change while you were in power. Here is what I would do.

1) Legalize pot and heavily regulate it. That alone would save billions of dollars from going out of the country in the black market every year, it would bring in millions in tax revenue and would effectively cripple most organized crime as that is their staple product and would decimate the Mexican Cartels. It would also cut the prison population by over half and allow us to close many prisons. All taxes, fines, and prison sentences for said offenses will be forgiven and expunged from your criminal records. And with it legal and regulated gets much better control over the distribution and quality of it.

2) Close private prisons. The prison system is to be used for corrections and incarceration, it should not be a for-profit venture. Saved millions in tax payer money.

3) Healthcare paid for by taxes. We currently pay several times more than any other nation for vastly inferior services. This approach would save us billions per year with better quality service. It would allow us to do away with insurance companies (Healthcare should never be a for profit venture) effectively closing whole branches in most medical centers, we could also do away with Medicare, Medicaid, Tricare, the Congressional healthcare programs and the Veteran Hospitals would removed as well effectively delegating the VA to nothing more than benefits saving billions in military spending and removing the wait on much of their healthcare.

4) Gay Marrage, Legalized and given all the rights of heterosexual couples. If you don't like guys marrying each other, than don't marry one.

5) Military spending put under heavy scrutiny. I would remove private contractors and put the military back in control of building their own equipment. This removes a great deal of the spending as it removes the profit motive. I would also throw my weight around in the UN and get the more involved in many conflicts while we scaled back. Many fights we should not be in and others we should be helping in but not alone, we should not be the worlds police, we have to watch our own ass too.

6) Congressionl service will be massively overhauled to remove the effects of business. After becoming a congressman or senator for even a single term (not even a full term). You are given full pay for life (benefits already covered in #3) but you are also barred from ever working another non-govenment job for life and barred from holding any stock in any company or any vested interest of any kind or taxing any favors, donations, discounts or gifts from them of any kind.. Your pay will be no more than 100% of the median income of the area you represent. Also, you will no longer live in Washington, you will live in the area you represent. You will handle your business from home and your business communications will be monitored and recorded for public record. Once a month, you will spend a weekend in Washington for the major issues that can not be handled from home, exceptions will be made for emergencies. This removes much of the effects of business except from the congressmans local area (as it should be and even they can't bribe) while also removing the cliche mentality some while removing their need to lobby hard when they get home as they are always there and always a presense and has to see and live with the ones he represents. The officials wife/husband are bound by the same restrictions, sorry can't have a wife in Senate with a CEO Husband now, conflict of interest.

7) Copywrite reform: returned to original state where they have a single 14 year copywrite with a 1 14 year extention.

8) Patent Reform: Can not patent math, anything that occurs in nature, the obvious, and not patent an idea, only implentations of that idea. When applied, you are also given a 4 year grace period before the term on the patent starts if you are still in the process commercializing it. If after the end of that 4 year grace period you have not done anything with it or if you stop using that patent for a period of more than 4 years, it enters the public domain. You can't patent stuff just to keep others from working on it and moth balling it. Software patents have much faster term limits than other patents as it is a much faster pace.

9) Import workers: Before any company can hire an import worker, they must have tried to hire a local worker for a period of 1 year and must have also offered "On the Job" training for that position at rates at or above the going market value and the requirements for the job must be reviewed and explained to a government panel made up of people educated in that field to explain why they have the requirements. After that 1 year, the government agency attempts to find a local qualified applicant. If both failed, THEN and only then can they import a worker and must pay them no less than 20% ABOVE the going rate for the position as they have proven they need them. After getting here, the import worker will be allowed here long enough to apply for residency and can apply for work elsewhere regardless of if they continue to work for said company to ensure the company is taking care of them and not exploiting them or the process and to keep the companies from rotating cheap labor out faster than they can seek residency.

10) Any company requiring a certain level of college must submit proof why they require that to keep companies from seeking overqualified people for jobs to lower the number of applicants for the issues in #9.

11) Taxes on the top raised back to 1960 level (still lower than other first world nations too might I add). Including taxes on captial gains. And benefits will also have a monetary value tied to them.

12) NO MORE GOLDEN PARACHUTES FOR EXECUTIVES by law.

13)illegal immigrants and companies using them: If found, you are photographed and identified and returned to your country of origin. But....

I will have 2 more laws passed:

Law 1) Any company caught knowingly hiring or remaining willfully ignorant of hiring an illegal shall have its management (all they way up to CEO if they knew about it or tried to make sure they couldn't) fined no less than $10,000 per illegal and shall be imprisoned in no less than a medium security prison for a period of no less than 1 year per illegal employed. If they were not paying the illegals prevailing wages, the fine jumps to $20,000 per illegal and the prison sentence jumps to 5 years per illegal. These fines are paid, not by the company itself, but out of the managers personal money and shareholder profits, including retirements and dividends and the confiscation of property and this debt can not be removed with bankruptcy.

Law 2) Any illegal who turns themselves in along with the company that is hiring him, with proof he works for them and they know about his status or make sure to avoid the topic, shall be granted 1 year room and board in the US and a fast track for citizen ship with all fees paid but he still must do all the tests and meet all requirements to become a citizen as a reward for his good deed. During this time he is given a temporary visa and may also find a new job while doing this as it allows him to find work and save up for when he finishes his paperwork and can immediately establish themselves.

14) Import tax, nuff said.

15) Companies will be allowed only a limited percentage of their work for be part time or temporary and minimum wage will be raised to no less than cost of living for the area and adjusted yearly, no one will be required to work more than 40 hours, including managers. Salaried positions will be capped at no more than 40 hours. If they can't afford to pay you enough to live, they evidently don't need anyone to do the job. As things progress I hope to lower the required hours and adjust the pay as automation increases so the benefits can be given to all. If you have 50% of the population working 32 hours or more while the other 50% is unemployeed, then you can have the other 50% take some of that load and give everyone a break some. But the 2nd half of this one is up for debate and would be evaluted later before implementation to see how the other parts of effected things.

16) Any large scale fines or penalties levied against a company or corporation shall be paid out of the executives and shareholders money, not the companies. It is only when they take the risk that they actually try to avoid many of them. If it ruins them so be it, their decions have ruined others as well and they don't get handouts.

17) Repeal the Postal Accountabiltiy and Enhancement act.

18) Congress may no longer take money from the social security fund.

19) Homeland Security closed, NSA put on a VERY tight leash with a full investigation handled by a separate company.

20) Voting method changed to allow for more third party opinions.

21) Companies may no longer donate to anything. Only individuals and capped at their respective caps. Companies are not people, only people are people and no company is devoid of them.

22) No one may lobby while in Washington, they may only do so within the congressman or senators town and are barred from offering favors, donations, gifts, discounts or anything of any kind.

I have more, but this is a start. What do you think and what would you do?

[Rocko9]

1) Remove alot of congressional benefits, and make it $5 an hour. It should be an honor to serve as a congressman, not a career choice.
2) Remove alot of gun bans
3) No Obamacare
4) Make it a felony to hire illegals and a $10,000 fine for each one found under your company. $5,000 fine for people who hire a company that uses illegals and doesn't report it.
5) Get rid of welfare
6) Legalize pot
7) Legalize gay marriage
8) Open up insurance sales across states
9) No TSA
10) Screw the middle east and drill in North America
11) National Service, kinda combined with Sweden's idea of also requiring rifle qualifications once a year and keeping a specific rifle (can't think of it atm) in the house. I'd probably make the M16 our civilian gun.
12) Get as much of a free market as possible, how? idk atm
13) Make the F350 dually the national vehicle/emblem, fuck yeah

I'm out of ideas off the top of my head lol

[Adam Jensen]

The only important thing there is to do: Produce a strong defense plan and contingency situation to deal with the imminent Reaper threat.

[NYC17]

The only important thing there is to do: Produce a strong defense plan and contingency situation to deal with the imminent Reaper threat.

Even if your plan has no real effect on the outcome?

That's right...I said it.

[Grummgug]

Top priorities are:

1. create jobs
2. help students out with student loans / college reform
3. help homeowners out with mortgages
4. media reform. The mainstream press is hopelessly liberal. Its turned into an old boys network. You have the freedom to assemble, but it doesn't mean a bunch of white people can discriminate a large section of the population based on race. You enforce integration. Likewise, you have freedom of the press, but that doesn't mean the liberal ideology can game the system to create an "old boys network" of liberals running the media. You enforce integration. Newspapers, radio, tv, hollywood must hire and include conservatives, and conservative thought. Freedom of the press doesn't mean you can create what is effectively a monopoly. Those that refuse are bigots.

[Deleted]

Law 2) Any illegal who turns themselves in along with the company that is hiring him, with proof he works for them and they know about his status or make sure to avoid the topic, shall be granted 1 year room and board in the US and a fast track for citizen ship with all fees paid

Sure is gonna be a lot of illegals coming over that border trying to screw over decent folk looking for a quick handyman.

[Butler to Baby Sloths]

General government policy:
Ban any religious argument from government policy decisions. People will be able to believe whatever they want (so long as it doesn't infringe the personal rights of others), but there will be no "but the bible/koran/scripture says" argument made in parliament.

Taxation:
Tax rate increases as your income increases. Capital gains count as income.

Healthcare:
Government paid healthcare for all. Falling ill or injury shall not be something you should worry about bankrupting you. Dental and eye surgery is included. Funded by a percentage of your tax as well as duties on tobacco, alcohol and similar products.

Dropping a cigarette butt on the pavement shall incur a 150 currency unit fine, as will not cleaning up after your dog and general littering. It is unhygienic and disgusting. No smoking in public buildings, and within 5 meters of doorways. There shall be dedicated smoking rooms in public buildings which shall be behind a fire-door (to stop the smell getting out). Use them.

Education:
Tertiary education is subsidized heavily by the government, as are apprenticeships. The qualification obtained after a 3 year apprenticeship shall be equal to a bachelor's degree, a 5 year "master" apprenticeship will be an equivalent qualification to a master's degree. Funde

Public transport:
Every city shall have access to cheap, fast and safe public transport that is not run by a private company or corporation (governments don't have to turn a profit to stay in business).

You get 4 weeks paid holiday per calendar year as a basic right. This does not include national holidays. More paid time off is to be discussed with your employer. If a national holiday lands on a Thursday, taking the Friday off shall cost no more than half a day PTO.

Electricity:
Each rubbish dump shall have an incinerator which powers a generator, which provides electricity for the national grid.

Think that's enough to be getting on with.

[Templar 331]

You pretty much hit the nail on the head for me. But if I were a dictator, number 20 wouldn't really matter.

[Derpleton]

Well let's see off the top of my head I can think of...

1: Put Term Limits on Congress
2: Abolish Welfare for people without disabilities that stop them from working
3: Reform/Abolish the NSA/IRS
4: Legalize Gay Marriage
5: Require an ID for voting
6: Strengthen the Borders then begin Immigration reform
7: Lower Taxes on the middle class and small buisness raise taxes on the rich
8: Repeal Obamacare
9: Make it illegal for any company to make political donations
10: Drill baby drill
11: Import tax
12: Apologize for my predecessor and blame them whenever something goes wrong

[LilSaihah]

1.) Have a short nap. Dictators always make bad decisions when they are cranky.
2.) Publicly execute my political rivals in a juvenile and ultimately self-defeating display of power.

Other than that, I dunno. Maybe I could build a big wall around all my kingdom.

[Jermain]

Nuke Israel.

[christarp]

edited........

[lockedout]

Nuke Israel.

But then who would we give those billions of dollars to, surely not the american people!

[Raptor With a Saber]

Destroy the world by blowing up the ice caps and being the only person to actually take over the world... Why? because i'd be a mad ruler the type that kills the bird for chipping.

[Puck]

I would command everyone in the land to be gay. Being straight would be illegal.

We would have wild orgies until we all eventually died out due to no children being born, it would be totally worth.

[breadisfunny]

1.make the death penalty mandatory for cases involving murder. all executions will be done by firing squad.
2.send the military into mexico and have them eradicate the drug cartels. just like the singapore military did with the drug dealers a couple years ago.(by this i mean do military actions like raids and send predator drones to target the cartel leaders. )
3. do a overhaul of the country's infrastructure. it would create jobs and help stop unemployment for a bit.
4. make voting for all citizens mandatory.
5. make gay marriage legal at the federal level.(deal with it bible belt.)
6. make marijauna legal in controlled amounts at the federal level.
7. mandate a minimum of 10 years for rape cases.
8. overhaul how people are put on the sex offenders list.
9. ban gerrymandering and divide each state into a certain number of box like shaped counties/districts.
10. limit senator terms to 20 years and raise presidental terms to 12 years.
11. institute REAL HEALTHCARE REFORM by adopting something close to what canada has.

[jwtelesio]

To OP, I get what you're going for, but there would be alot of serious repercussions to those decisions and if there were any other governmental body they'd move to block almost all of that immediately. Hell the amount of Red Tape from treaties would be a nightmare.

If i were president? I'd hire the best therapist in the world because there's no way in hell im prepared for millions of people to immediately blame me for every single problem there is, even if it's not my fault and im against it.

[Templar 331]

To OP, I get what you're going for, but there would be alot of serious repercussions to those decisions and if there were any other governmental body they'd move to block almost all of that immediately. Hell the amount of Red Tape from treaties would be a nightmare.

If i were president? I'd hire the best therapist in the world because there's no way in hell im prepared for millions of people to immediately blame me for every single problem there is, even if it's not my fault and im against it.

Just look at all the presidents before and after they took office. XD

[Prokne]

6) Congressionl service will be massively overhauled to remove the effects of business. After becoming a congressman or senator for even a single term (not even a full term). You are given full pay for life (benefits already covered in #3) but you are also barred from ever working another non-govenment job for life and barred from holding any stock in any company or any vested interest of any kind or taxing any favors, donations, discounts or gifts from them of any kind.. Your pay will be no more than 100% of the median income of the area you represent. Also, you will no longer live in Washington, you will live in the area you represent. You will handle your business from home and your business communications will be monitored and recorded for public record. Once a month, you will spend a weekend in Washington for the major issues that can not be handled from home, exceptions will be made for emergencies. This removes much of the effects of business except from the congressmans local area (as it should be and even they can't bribe) while also removing the cliche mentality some while removing their need to lobby hard when they get home as they are always there and always a presense and has to see and live with the ones he represents. The officials wife/husband are bound by the same restrictions, sorry can't have a wife in Senate with a CEO Husband now, conflict of interest.

IMO this would probably cost too much. You would have a lot of politicians that would just collect their pensions after being in congress for 2 years and losing re-election. You could easily fix this problem by making all politicians and public officials sign non-compete agreements where they cant participate in any industry they had part in making laws or policy for for a set amount of years, like twice the term for the office they held. And as far as holding stock in companies they make policy for, that should be illegal based on conflict of interest. They would either have to sell their holdings or turn them over to a blind trust while they are in office. If this is all too economically burdensome on them, you could possibly give them a severance package after they leave office that lasts a maximum of a year(I think normal corporate severance packages are about 6 months) or until the non-compete it up(only because they might not be able to get a job in a company they didnt have a previous conflict of interest in), but not their whole lifetime.

[Halyon]

Play Saints Row 4. c:

I kid, I'll make a serious post later.