Hellobee Boards

@MamaMoose: That's a great one! I've always been saying how wish school taught us more real life skillsets.

For me I would require people over a certain age to have to take their drivers test. Maybe at first only once every 2 years, and then the older you are, the more frequent?

And I *might* make road tests harder/longer. I feel like many people don't know how to drive

That's kind of hard to say because I have a wish list, but it's not like the president can just declare something and make it law. The realities of politics mean that almost nothing you really want to do is actually going to get done because there is always going to be half of congress fighting you, particularly if you're a democrat at this point since the republicans have basically admitted that priority 1 is to just not let Obama do anything, regardless.

But, if I was somehow given a free pass to just make laws, my first priorities would be:

1) Fix school funding. Right now in most places it is based mostly on taxes from your individual district, which (at least in Ohio) the supreme court has declared unconstitutional. But no one wants to invest more money in poor districts. I think all school funding should be a common pool so kids ANYWHERE get the same education and you don't have kids from rich districts getting 4x the money spent on them that kids in the poor districts get.

2) Universal healthcare. Like actual real universal healthcare, with a single payer system that could be supplemented by additional policies but in which the basic system meets the basic needs of our citizens.

3) Create federal law to allow basic civil rights (I.e. gay marriage and abortion rights for all).

Anyways, those are the first 3 that pop to mind.

I would outlaw handguns.

Government issued paid maternity leave.

Basic civil rights for all at a national level not state level (gay marriage, ect.) I'm embarrassed to still be in a state that outlaws two consensual adults to get married, it's just not right.

Tax credit for living a healthy lifestyle (ie: memberships).

Gym mandatory everyday of the week in school.

Consecutive life sentences.

@Lindsay05: consecutive life sentences? Could you elaborate?

@MamaMoose: I've always thought that economics should be required in high school, but your idea is great too.

Not sure what I'd choose overall...

@Arden: in Canada, a person can get maximum 25 years in prison regardless of crime commited. So if a person murders 5 people they may get 5 sentences of life but its served concurrently.

@Lindsay05: Man I agree with your last one so much.

I'll also agree with your second one if they offer options of how to exercise in class. I was always terrible at sports and would have loved to try aerobic dance classes or something.

I'd make a more progressive tax system - reduce tax breaks for capital gains and end corporate loopholes.

Then with that income I'd create a universal pre-kindergarten system. As well as strengthen our safety nets.

@looch: love that idea!

I would increase funding to help find missing, exploited and trafficked children and adults.

I just thought of something else that hasn't been mentioned yet. I'd make the path to permanent residency and citizenship clearer, shorter and fairer for both skilled immigrant workers and undocumented workers. Right now it's a $#&@*(&$ for everyone.

@jedeve: yes yes yes to corporate welfare. Although honestly I'd even settle these days for some sort of PSA so people actually understand where government money is spent. Every time I hear someone complain about individuals on welfare while having 0 clue that *most* of government welfare goes to corporations I feel like my head will explode.

@loveisstrange: A la Switzerland. I talked about it in this thread: http://boards.hellobee.com/topic/do-your-religious-beliefs-dictate-your-political-choices#post-382094

@MrsMcD: I'd support that, but only if they could figure out a way to make it cost effective. Right now the areas that have tried it have generally found that so few people test positive that the cost of testing everyone is higher than the money saved by denying benefits to those that test positive. And I don't really care about drug use from a "just because you suck so I don't want to give you money" standpoint-- only from a cost savings standpoint.

@sunny: I can hear the uproar now!

@looch: like Israel?

I would have teacher training be standardized (they vary so much in quality) and rigorous, and make sure teachers were then rewarded for their training and expertise with a good salary.

@jedeve: Absolutely agree on point 5. There is no sense in punishing kids who don't control what their parents do. Taking them away from their parents and putting them into foster care isn't a solution either. There is a big difference between testing positive for smoking pot and being a meth addict.

I would allocate more than 4% of the cancer research money to pediatric cancer. The National Cancer Institute spends less than 4% of its annual $5 billion budget on pediatric cancer research.