Is it time to think radically different? :-)__~~~

[kentuck]

I don't know which candidate might be most capable of doing that? From what I've noticed so far, it would be Wes Clark or perhaps Dennis Kucinich. But we are going to need radical changes in this government. Business as usual will not solve the problems. It is going to take a strategy that none of them have yet talked about. It is going to require radical change in our military and in our tax policies.

To talk about solutions as we have done in the past is simply blowing smoke. There's not going to be any money for anything. That is why the Repubs are going for the changes in Medicare. They need revenues and they need them bad. First place to look is at the old folks on Medicare. They are going to pay more - no matter if they are deceived or not.

But we must be prepared for some serious economic changes in this country. We should be prepared for something akin to the old CCC or WPA programs - otherwise we may end up with a lot of our people suffering. Mostly it would be those that can least afford it. We need to be ready to shut off the insurance companies from the healthcare business. These are the types of radical changes we need to prepare ourselves for, in my opinion.

[JailBush]

1. We should have been thinking outside the box years ago.

I think a good place to start is with the TRUTH. I'm sick of hearing people say, "We can't talk about that issue because the public doesn't understand it," or "The public doesn't care." How the Hell can we expect the public to understand or care if no one tells them the truth or makes them understand why it's important?

I don't undestand what you mean by your comments on talking about solutions and lacking money for anything. There are always solutions, and there's tons of money available - we just have to emulate the Republicans and TAKE IT.

Frankly, I'll vote for the candidate who's willing to nationalize corporations like Microsoft and boil down the carcasses of corporate executives for whatever we can extract from them of value.

Of course, that's too extreme for Mom and Pop, but if the candidates aren't going to say something meaningful abut holding corporate crooks accountable, what's the point in voting for them?

[kentuck]

2. There's really not tons of money....

We do have to pay for their sins and profligacies...If we were as irresponsible as the Repubs, how long do you think our nation would last?

As for money for "people", we need to make drastic changes in our military strategies. We cannot afford $400 billion per year on a military budget - equal to the rest of the world combined. We need to have a more progressive tax - not a 90% tax, but much higher than it is at present. We need to repeal those inheritance giveaways. We need more doctors in rural areas, which would be part of a new healthcare plan. Everybody that wants to work should have a job, no matter if it is paid from tax receipts. We do need to repeal the NAFTA and GATT trade treaties and not get into anymore of these messes. We have lost millions of our best paying manufacturing jobs and now we are even losing service jobs to India and other places. But we have to be more budget conscious than the Repubs but we just prioritize differently.

(edited to respond to above post)

[JanMichael]

3. Maybe w...No, I won't say it. Let's just keep cleaning up the pachyderm...

...crap till the end of time:-)

[Gringo]

4. PLEASE forgive me for being petty...

But can we PLEASE retire the EXTREMELY annoying and white-yuppie-ish catch-phrase "think outside the box" I hated it the second time I heard it in the late 90s. It ranks with "synergy" and "paradigm shift" as an incredibly annoying catch phrase.

Overlooking the semantics, I have no problem with the ideas you're presenting, but it would also require a new way of measuring unemployment, wouldn't it? On paper, there are only 6% unemployed. In reality, we know that millions have been underemployed for many years, there are millions off the rolls who've given up, and most of those of us with jobs haven't had a real increase in income for 20 years...

[kentuck]

5. What's another phrase that means the same?

and I will use it because I agree that it sucks. :)