primitives dream of being a new Mao

[franksolich]

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x3549342

Oh my.

It's a good thing the primitives are meaningless.  A very good thing.

bean fidhleir  (1000+ posts) Tue Jul-01-08 02:58 PM
Original message

Your Top 10 priorities if you had dictatorial power in the USA?
   
What would be the very first things, in priority order, that you would decree be changed? You can have up to 10, but they have to be specific, changes that could be described in legislation or a constitutional amendment. No vague statements like "end poverty".

What are the 10 things in the worst need of fixing?

ayeshahaqqiqa  Donating Member  (1000+ posts) Tue Jul-01-08 03:03 PM
Response to Original message

4. End corporate citizenship would be number one for me.

Single payer health insurance would be next.

Diversification of media ownership

Progressive taxation to the level of the Kennedy years (93% on incomes over 200K)

Government work programs fixing infrastructure and using green technology

Creating an energy independence program

Strict separation of church and state

Equal rights for all on all matters

Instituting a Department of Peace to handle our foreign policy

Free college education for all who desire it

After which ensues the usual boring erroneous primitive yibber-yabber about the high income-tax rates of the Eisenhower-Kennedy years.  The percentages quoted by the primitives are correct, but nobody, but nobody, ever ever ever ever ever ever ever paid those rates.  Joseph Kennedy didn't give 91% of his income to the federal government.  Nobody ever paid those rates, and it's harder to get this into the heads of primitives, than it is to pry open a clam with a wet paper towel.

Stupid primitives.  Really stupid primitives.  Just really stupid primitives. 

DJ13  Donating Member  (1000+ posts) Tue Jul-01-08 03:08 PM
Response to Original message

7. Hmm
   
Stop all US corporations from moving manufacturing offshore......try to bring some back as well.

A nationalized health care system.

Eliminate, or at least severely limit, commodity trading to prevent speculators from driving prices higher on goods vital to the people, like food and oil/gas.

Eliminate corporate perks to management based on that company's stock valuation.

A crash program similar to the space program in the 60's to develop a rational alternative energy program that can be implemented nationwide within 10 years.

Those are just a few that come to mind.

LWolf  Donating Member  (1000+ posts) Tue Jul-01-08 03:12 PM
Response to Original message

12. They are, in no particular order:
   
1. War as an instrument of international policy comes to an end. No military presence in the world, and the U.S. military never acts except in response to direct military threat from outside.

2. Kill NAFTA/CAFTA in favor of fair trade agreements based on environmental and labor standards.

3. Universal, single-payer, not-for-profit, comprehensive health care

4. Civil Liberties

5. An updated version of the fairness doctrine to cover satellite, cable, and all other media.

6. Updated, stronger anti-trust laws

7. De-privatize, re-regulate. Everything.

8. End NCLB, all high-stakes testing, and the "standards and accountability movement" in public education.

9. Election reform: campaigns 100% publicly funded with no outside campaigning allowed; no polling; equal NEUTRAL media time for all; hand-counted paper ballots; IRV; no corporate media debates, but real debates where all candidates answer all of the substantive questions, and get equal talk time; and, in the case of the presidential primary, no caucuses, and one national counting day for all primary votes, no matter when cast.

10. Universal public preschool - trade school or college.

RoseMead  Donating Member  (541 posts) Tue Jul-01-08 03:20 PM
Response to Reply #12

14. I like those and I'll add one for # 11
   
End the War on Drugs. lol My list would go to 11.

coalition_unwilling  (1000+ posts) Tue Jul-01-08 03:39 PM
Response to Original message

20. My ten priorities (as a benevolent despot):
   
In decreasing order of importance

1)raise marginal tax rates on personal income over 200,000/year to 70%.

2)expropriate all personal property valued at over $500,000.00, exclusive of first home equity

3)nationalize energy industry (expropriating assets where necessary and buying out small stakeholders in other cases) and begin rationing program

4)nationalize health care

5)cut defense budget by 75% annually, eliminating all funding for Cold War weapons systems like nuclear submarines and F-22 fighters

6)levy 'luxury tax' of 20% on all purchases of SUVs

7)institute immediate program of class-based affirmative action and completely eliminate race-based affirmative action

8)extradute BFEE to International War Crimes Tribunal for indicment and trial on war crimes charges

9)re-institute Kyoto accords

10)Apologize profusely to the rest of the world for what we have done to it and its people for the past 50 years

On edit: in discussing with a friend, suggestion is that #10 become #1 and #8 become #2. I can't say I disagree

scheming daemons  Donating Member  (1000+ posts) Tue Jul-01-08 03:40 PM
Response to Original message

22. 1. Intelligence Design teaching outlawed, Evolution teaching mandatory...let's end the war on science.

2. There would be just TWO gasoline formulations for the entire country: Summer blend and Winter blend. This would lower gas prices by 25%. Each state would no longer be permitted to have their own separate "blends". Refineries would be streamlined and the savings from adopting this national standard would be immense.

3. A Nuclear power plant would be built on every former military base in the country.

4. Election day would be a NATIONAL HOLIDAY. Failure to vote would be a $100 tax. Yes... you would still have the right to NOT vote... but it would cost you a Benjamin. 80 million eligible voters didn't vote in 2004. That $8 billion dollars we could collect. The money would go DIRECTLY into buying and maintaining voting machinery that has a PAPER TRAIL for all 50 states.

5. The FCC would be disbanded, and there would be no censorship of any kind on the airwaves. TV and radio would be like the internet.... the marketplace would decide the content.

6. All automakers in this country would be required to increase fuel-efficiency in their vehicles to a minimum of 35-MPG by the year 2020.

7. All ethanol production in this country would be halted immediately. Never again should we use food to generate fuel. It's inefficient and downright immoral.

8. Supreme Court justices would get ONE 20-year term and then be forced to retire. No more lifetime appointments.

9. Unlike most liberals, I say we SHOULD complete the fence along our southern border. No more illegal immigration. You want to come to this country, then enter legally. In exchange, lets open up our immigration process to make it EASIER to enter legally, to get green cards, to apply for citizenship.

10. Get rid of the tax exemption for churches. Especially property taxes.

LSK  Donating Member  (1000+ posts) Tue Jul-01-08 03:45 PM
Response to Original message

24. #1 Out of Iraq
   
#2 Cut Defense by 50%

#3 Eliminate Bush tax cuts

#4 Raise the top income tax bracket to around 40 to 50%

#5 Medicare for all HR 676

#6 Re-negotiate free trade agreements

#7 Raise minimum wage

#8 Review all Bush executive orders

#9 Review all provisions of the Patriot Act

#10 Explore a Carboon emmissions cap and trade system

EOO  Donating Member  (1000+ posts) Tue Jul-01-08 03:57 PM
Response to Original message

25. 1. Reverse the patriot act
   
2. Remove corporate citizenship

3. Declare Iraq War officially over

4. End the war on drugs, declare embargo against Cuba officially over

5. Disband the CIA

I'd probably be shot after #5 so it doesn't make much sense to finish the list.

Lydia Leftcoast  Donating Member  (1000+ posts) Tue Jul-01-08 04:16 PM
Response to Original message

26. 1. Cut the Pentagon budget by canceling all unnecessary weapons systems, closing all overseas bases, and making the U.S. military strictly defensive.

2. Put the unneeded troops (and anyone else who needed a living wage job) to work repairing our existing infrastructure and building mass transit, affordable housing, and intercity rail.

3. Institute a national health care system, with both a simplified single-payer system for paying private doctors and a network of free clinics staffed by salaried medical personnel for underserved areas. Doctors could get their med school loans forgiven if they worked in such a clinic for ten years.

4. Institute a new purchasing policy for all federal departments: a preferential option for companies that do the majority of their manufacturing in the U.S.

5. Set up a research program for alternatives to petroleum, not only for fuel but also for replacements for petroleum-based plastics.

6. Reestablish the Fairness Doctrine and forbid any company from owning more than one media outlet.

7. Set an example for the nation by rewarding companies that keep jobs in the U.S., holding artistic events in the White House, and encouraging people to read about and discuss current issues.

8. Repeal NCLB and replace it with curriculum guidelines for each grade, with a heavy emphasis on academic content such as reading age approprite, high quality literature; explicit instruction in English grammar and rhetoric, American and world history, math, science, and the arts.

9. Reverse the Republican tax cuts and save Social Security by removing the income cap.

10. Any executive compensation that was more than 100 times that of the lowest-paid worker in a company, including wages and benefits, would be subject to a 100% marginal tax rate.

leftofthedial  Donating Member  (1000+ posts) Tue Jul-01-08 04:28 PM
Response to Original message

32. 1. order immediate summary executions of all war criminals, traitors and war profiteers and the seizure of all their assets

2. restore the bill of rights--all the amendments and all the phrases within each amendment

3. eliminate corporate personhood

4. establish a "maximum wage" indexed to the minimum wage, say by taxing any income in excess of 20X minimum wage at a 100% rate.

5. nationalize the energy, health care and "defense" industries

6. nationalize the financial system (eliminate the fed--banish the global financiers after seizing their assets)

7. cut the military budget by 80%

8. eliminate the two-party system and its artifacts, such as the electoral college

9. make all elections publicly financed, outlaw any political donations and all "lobbying" contact with elected officials except by private citizens from the politician's own district.

10. institute extremely high taxes on all organized religious entities

Oh my.

It's a good thing the primitives are insignificant, their opinions not mattering.

One can hear even the big floppy earred one shouting at the primitives, "Hey, put down the crack pipe, man."

[Ralph Wiggum]

When I first saw that thread, Frank, something struck me.  The DUmmies constantly piss and moan that Chimpy McBushHitler is a fascist dictator, yet they start listing the things they would do if they could be a dictator.

Silvery, Goldy, IRONY. 

[jukin]

And they would wonder why it failed soooooooooooo fast.


What is the definition of insanity?

[BEG]

They act like people making $200k are rich.  Now it is a lot of money but people making $200k are not rich.  How did they come up with that arbitrary number anyway?  

[JohnnyReb]

....and when the Mao-see-Dung communists come to power, their top priority will be........KILL ALL THE DUMMIES.

[franksolich]

....and when the Mao-see-Dung communists come to power, their top priority will be........KILL ALL THE DUMMIES.

Probably.

What the primitives don't understand is that when a revolution happens, the useful idiots are done away with before anybody else.  We're only number two.  The primitives would be number one.

It's always happened.  One wonders why this escapes the primitives.

[DixieBelle]

They jumped on that pretty fast didn't they?

Irony indeed!!!

There's too much stupid there to address. Sigh.

[Red October]

Stop all US corporations from moving manufacturing offshore......try to bring some back as well.

Yeah, I can see that happening with 93% taxes.    No American citizen would be able to open up a snow-cone stand in Liberalville.   

[Red October]

eliminate corporate personhood

Forgive me, but WTF is coporate personhood? 

7. cut the military budget by 80%

Raising taxes and gutting the military... the liberals answer to everything. 

[BEG]

eliminate corporate personhood

Forgive me, but WTF is coporate personhood? 

Laugh, I was going to ask the same thing.

[BlueStateSaint]

....and when the Mao-see-Dung communists come to power, their top priority will be........KILL ALL THE DUMMIES.

Probably.

What the primitives don't understand is that when a revolution happens, the useful idiots are done away with before anybody else.  We're only number two.  The primitives would be number one.

It's always happened.  One wonders why this escapes the primitives.

Maybe because the primitives have two brain cells (each?  Or no?), with each waving goodbye to the other?

[Chris_]

I noticed the LWolf DUmmie listed "Civil Libeties". Does that mean that under the LWolf DUmmie that heterosexual, white males who are Christians would finally have the same exact rights and liberties as everyone else?

[Chris_]

They slipped this one in:

7. De-privatize, re-regulate. Everything.

There you go -- Soviet-style Communism.  That is indeed their agenda.

But they are thinking they will be the ones on top -- the new Party elite.  Instead they will be the ones at the end of the food and shoe lines.

They don't know how stupid they are.

[Lord Undies]

3. Institute a national health care system, with both a simplified single-payer system for paying private doctors and a network of free clinics staffed by salaried medical personnel for underserved areas. Doctors could get their med school loans forgiven if they worked in such a clinic for ten years

.

This one had me laughing.  Can you imagine?  Yeah, after finishing your education at the age of 30 or so, waste another decade before you get your life going.  

They say life begins at 40!  

[Rebel]

ayeshahaqqiqa  Donating Member  (1000+ posts) Tue Jul-01-08 03:03 PM

Progressive taxation to the level of the Kennedy years (93% on incomes over 200K)

You're about as dumb as a ****ing rock. You expect someone to bust their asses getting an education to land a job making 200K, only to bring home 14K a year?

Someone shoot this fool now. 

[Chris_]

ayeshahaqqiqa  Donating Member  (1000+ posts) Tue Jul-01-08 03:03 PM

Progressive taxation to the level of the Kennedy years (93% on incomes over 200K)

You're about as dumb as a ****ing rock. You expect someone to bust their asses getting an education to land a job making 200K, only to bring home 14K a year?

Someone shoot this fool now.  ::)

Remember -- the DUmmy definition of unfairly rich is: "anyone who makes more than me."  To the typical DUmmie, $200K is a gagillion bazillion dollars -- more money than they can comprehend making in 10 years, much less 1.

[LC EFA]

Sounds like a ten-step plan for making North Korea look like a civilized bastion of freedom.

These DUmp Monkeys don't realize that THEY would be first up against the wall, should their insane fantasy ever come to fruition.

Stupid like this hurts to read.

 

[Chris_]

If only we could get these people out front and center, we would see a 2 or even 3 generation GOP majority.

[ScubaGuy]

ayeshahaqqiqa  Donating Member  (1000+ posts) Tue Jul-01-08 03:03 PM

Progressive taxation to the level of the Kennedy years (93% on incomes over 200K)

You're about as dumb as a ******* rock. You expect someone to bust their asses getting an education to land a job making 200K, only to bring home 14K a year?

Someone shoot this fool now. 

Remember -- the DUmmy definition of unfairly rich is: "anyone who makes more than me."  To the typical DUmmie, $200K is a gagillion bazillion dollars -- more money than they can comprehend making in 10 years, much less 1.

I guess when you're some burnt out middle age hippie who never got beyond minimum wage everyone else is rich, and of course they didn't work for it.

Their standard solution to any problem is to add a new tax or raise existing taxes.  We're going to tax the USA into prosperity!

[Bondai]

Stupid commie assholes, the lot of them. I am surprised nobody said ban all guns....

[Peter3_1]

I

[Rebel]

II

[Splashdown]

I agree with Dixie; too much stupid there.

8. eliminate the two-party system and its artifacts, such as the electoral college

I mean, where does one begin? 

[ReardenSteel]

bean fidhleir  (1000+ posts) Tue Jul-01-08 02:58 PM
Original message

Your Top 10 priorities if you had dictatorial power in the USA?
   
What would be the very first things, in priority order, that you would decree be changed? You can have up to 10, but they have to be specific, changes that could be described in legislation or a constitutional amendment. No vague statements like "end poverty".

What are the 10 things in the worst need of fixing?

#10 - (made number ten so I could play too) Resign as dictator, go back to being a Constitutional Republic with free elections.

#9 - Repeal all Sarbanes-Oxley type laws dealing with antitrust issues. Abolish antitrust laws altogether via constitutional amendment.

#8 - Eliminate the Department of Education. All schools would be private. The cost of Kindergarden - 12th grade would be tax deductable. Corporations and individuals could get tax breaks equal to the cost of school scholarships for kids of their choosing. (Microsoft/etc can send kids to college for tax breaks, so can GE or P&G or Uncle Joe) Sponsorship of education gets an equal tax break.

#7 - Massive deregulation,  particularly of competition killing deals. (For example, Cable companies could be in any market offering any package they find a willing buyer for. Same goes for Power companies or Phone companies or any other buisness that currently enjoys government protection from the free market)

#6 - Constitutional amendment guaranteeing the right to private property with an eminent domain clause forcing the government to pay 2X market value for seized property. The government would also have to prove in court that the property gained by ED is for public use and the original owner is first in line to buy the property back if the land is to be sold again as private property at any point in the future.

#5 - Privatize social security, end medicare and medicaid.

#4 - No man or woman who serves in the military full time has to pay income tax for the duration of their service. No military member wounded in the line of duty has to pay income tax for the rest of their lives. Dependents/Spouses of those killed in the line of duty get generous compensation pay untill the children are 18 and free college scholarships to any school they are accepted into.

#3 - End selective service and the possibility of a draft by constitutional amendment.

#2 - End the Federal Reserve and return to the gold standard.

#1 - Send secret service to find the girl I talked to in the coffee shop the other day and ask her out on a date for me.

Hey! That was easy. It's good to be the King. 

[Rebel]

I'd get rid of the income tax system and have it replaced with the Fair Tax TOMORROW.