Finish this sentence: If I were elected President, the first thing I'd do

[Up2Late]

...or the first thing I'd change would be...

(and by "do" I don't mean silly things like, go throw-up, or run around my neighborhood screaming "I Won, I Won, I Won! I mean Laws, bills, treaties, you know, President stuff.)

[saltpoint]

1. To your question "If elected president, the first thing I'd do would be...

--offer a (small) symbolic tax break for anyone who plants 2 trees in either their yard or a median strip or some other public zone.

--schedule a long-overdue summit to honor, acknowledge and plan with our neighbors in this hemisphere.

--have a Congressional panel begin hearings on developing state-of-the-art mass transit in view of the peak oil energy crisis.

--fire John Bolton's ass so fast it would make your head spin.

--honor Helen Thomas in a huge reception in the Rose Garden.

--have Bill O'Reilly hogtied and tossed into the far southeast corner of the Everglades.

[Up2Late]

3. You have some very good ones there, the Bolton and the O'Reilly...

...ideas, I especially like.

[saltpoint]

5. Hi there, Up2Late. 'Appreciate your post.

:hi:

[mopinko]

smash the cia

and all the other ia's that are out there, most of which we don't even know about.

[Syrinx]

2. Investigate and prosecute the prior administration

Decrease taxes on the middle class, and increase them vastly on the super-wealthy. I'd end the War On Drugs, which is really a War On Americans. And try to figure out some way to repair the mess in Iraq. And sign an executive order releasing immediately the secret papers of the Bush(s) and Reagan White Houses. Launch a Manhattan-project style program on alternative energy sources.

[Up2Late]

6. Those are good too. If we get enough like these, I might have to...

...send them all in a big package to Howard Dean, so he can start working on the 2008 DNC Platform.

I need to go to bed now, I look forward to reading more when I can focus my eyes again.

[Hekate]

4. Assign a dedicated staff unit to documenting every * Executive Order...

...secretly signed law, and the like, so that I could begin to un-do the monumental damage wrought by the bastard.

Beyond that, the ideas of the other posters sound like a good start.

Hekate

[wake.up.america]

7. The first thing would be to establish a required program...

for teaching the basic tenets of the American Constitution.

[saltpoint]

8. Not a bad idea at all.

:thumbsup:

[cpousnret]

9. bring the troops home,then have a dialogue

with the america people,open the doors of the wh and bring the congress in and govern in a non political way,get and give advice on current problems that are in the forefront of our lives,seek answers from experts in the fields,finally tell the neo-cons and the rightwing religious nuts to take hike.peace

[sweetheart]

10. All "wars" are now over

The word war would end on the first second of my presidency.
Every program with "war" in its title would lose all its budget.

[sutz12]

11. I think the first thing I would do ....

is go Cheney on every PNAC supporter I could find. :evilgrin:

[kitp]

12. a few ideas...

immediate:
paper ballots, hand counted nationwide
public funding of elections
cessation of hostilities in Afghanistan, withdrawal within 2 months, close bases within 4 months
cessation of hostilities in Iraq, withdrawal within 4 months, close bases within 6 months
shutdown Gitmo
nullify Patriot Act
return to pre-1980 media ownership rules
return of Fairness Doctrine and Equal Time provision
rescind every 'signing statement' of Bush's
nullify all tax-cuts enacted since 2000, increase taxes on wealthy
windfall profits tax on oil and gas

investigations:
2000, 2002, 2004 elections
9/11
9/11 commission
Iraq propaganda
CIA secret prisons, and shut them down
constitutionality of removing S.C. judges put in place by criminal executive/legislative
price fixing/gouging by oil companies
Halliburton in Iraq and the Gulf Coast
New Orleans
U.S. / Saudi connections, Saudi Arabia
(This admin and congress has done so much that, at 5:00 a.m. I just can't think of more, please help)

first term:
set 10 year goal to be completely energy independent a la Kennedy's get to the moon and back
remove all barriers with Cuba, support democratic and socialist movements in the America's
remove U.S. bias in Israel/Palestinian conflict by treating each side with equal weight ('fair and balanced')
WTO, IMF, World Bank - all need to be investigated and we need to withdraw or shut them down, not sure the best way to do this
Revisit all 'free trade' agreements enacted since 1980, probably do away with most of them

Okay, just a start

[Up2Late]

29. I don't know if you could get all that done on the first day, but I...

...like your list too.

Welcome to DU :toast:

[FloridaPat]

13. I'd put most of the repub party in Gitmo for treason. I'd freeze all

their money and upon conviction for treason, put the money in the treasury. Then maybe mandatory reeducation of the people on the Consitution and Bill of Rights.

[Up2Late]

30. Absolutly, that would be at or near the top of my list too.

Thanks FLPatB-)

[Justice]

14. Commence Major Project to Rebuild Gulf Coast

[riona]

15. Election law overhaul

get rid of the Electoral College, implement a publicly financed campaigning, verifiable voting records, Saturday voting.

[Vogon_Glory]

16. Things I'd Change--Gag Rule, Bolton, Bust Fox's Trust, FEMA, etc.

The first thing I'd change is to repeal Buckaroo Bush's global abortion gag rule.

The second thing I'd do is fire John Bolton from his post as US ambassador to the UN if he hadn't resigned already.

The third thing I'd do is ask the Justice Department to form a prosecutorial task force to probe corruption around such enterprises as Americans for Tax Reform, various DeLay-associated funding groups.

The fourth thing I'd do is ask the Justice Department to look into investigating NewsCorp and whether their activities could be covered by anti-trust legislation.

The fifth thing I'd do is make pro-passenger rail appointees to the Amtrak board and make plans to expand Amtrak.

The sixth thing I'd do is to convene a study group and try and make FEMA again as effective as it was under former president Clinton.

[patricia92243]

17. Hire Bill CLinton as my "Senior Adviser." I wouldn't have the faintest

idea how to be President, but I do have enough sense to bring in somebody who does.

[Vinca]

18. Universal health care.

I would immediately institute a national sales tax to pay for it. People would hate me at first, until they realized they could go to the doctor without ponying up $1,000 a month.

[Stinky The Clown]

19. Wow ...... so much to do .....

Reregulation of businesses that affect the national weal ..... utilities, oil, media, that sort of thing

Suspend, rescind, or reverse ...... most of the crap that got signed into law was just that. Crap.

Assign a presidential blue ribbon panel to fix the voting process

Roll back tax cuts as appropriate

Send special presidential envoys to Tehran and make it clear they're there to **listen** as well as speak. Assign somelike like Carter of Clinton to head it up.

If I am here and there hasn't been an impeachment of Bush, I would start a serious investigation and then give it to the courts to decide. If appropriate, assign the case(s) to the world court.

Give a speech to the world saying we have come to our national sesnses.

[BeachBuckeye]

20. Build a scaffold in the middle of the Mall in D.C.

And, maybe a guillotine too.

[Libby2]

25. That's a good one.

[Vogon_Glory]

39. Of Course, Some of The Duck Soup Posse Would Flee to Paraguay...

Of course, some of Buckaroo Bush's Duck Soup Posse would flee to Paraguay (which I don't think has an extradition treaty with the US). Of course, living there would prove an interesting experience for some of the Rethugs formerly employed at undermining the US constitution and ruining the USA--the exiles would have to learn Spanish and Guarani and Paraguay supposedly has an al Qaeda and Hezbullah presence in the east of that country, as well as having links to some of the Andean cocaine smuggling cartels.

[Arkham House]

21. Appoint a cabinet comprised entirely of DUers...

,,,make Peace Patriot Secretary of State...Will Pitt my VP, so one of us would know what the hell they're doing...Old Leftie Lawyer my Attorney General...appoint Swamp Rat to rebuild New Orleans...make Kentuck my Chief of Staff, so I'd always be kept honest...make Ava my Press Secretary...and appoint Oeditpus Rex the Minister of Silly Walks...

[Up2Late]

31. That would be a great day.

Thanks. :grouphug:

[tinfoilinfor2005]

33. Can I be the cook?

My pork chops will melt in your mouth! :)

[miss_american_pie]

22. Apologize.

Then I'd bring our troops home.

[Up2Late]

32. I think that would be my first act too, Apologize to...

...the people of the World for allowing George W. Bush into the WH, then I'd round up the entire Bush Crime Family and send them all to Club GTMO, for some canned fruit and all that other yummy food those fools in Congress said they get down there, and some quiet time to reflect and think about what they did to this country, in an 8'x10'x7' "tiger cage."

[mtnsnake]

23. The very first thing I'd do is take care of the environment

I'd re-enact every single one of the hundreds of environmental laws that Bush rolled back after he got into office.

[Libby2]

24. I would arrest everyone in the bush admin.

[enough already]

26. Have the Bush Crime Family prosecuted and jailed forever

Everything else can wait until the war criminals are taken care of.

[TriMetFan]

27. The first things I would do would be......

1. Grant every single American their civil rights, gender and sexual oration included.
2. Grant free medical care for any-one under the age of 18 or over 65.
3. Make it the law of the land to bring new ways for energy. aka biodiesal, or do what Brazil did.
4. Have a major summit with all The American Countries. Including Cuba and try to get this part of the world up and running.
5. Get the hell out of Iraq as fast as we could do it.

[gristy]

28. I'd meet with my senators and congressmen, ask them some questions,

and listen to what each has to say.

[Julius Civitatus]

34. Outlaw lobbying practices in DC

[riona]

35. After reading everyone's "to do" list

you have to wonder - how could one administration make such a huge mess in such a short amount of time? And who is the person the most qualified to get us back on track? It's going to be a monumental task.

[Progressive4Life]

36. Get rid of voting machines; go back to paper and pen

And that would just be the beginning

[Initech]

37. Levy a 40% tax on businesses who hold overseas bank accounts

Hey, they keep screaming "America for Americans!!!". Let's have them put their money where their mouth is. Literally.

[Joe Fields]

38. I wouldn't get much sleep, and I wouldn't take any vacations ......

for the first few years of my first term. I would be too busy directing investigations and reviews of all of the signing documents and executive orders of the Bush administration. It would take quite a long time trying to undo the damage that Bush has done, and to try to restore our democracy.

[Up2Late]

42. Maybe just take a "Mulligan" for every thing that happened between...

...January 20, 2001 and whenever we finally get rid of *. I wonder if you could just issue an executive order voiding everything he signed during his term.:shrug:

[Javaman]

40. that moron* and his* room full of dopes are never ever to be

pardoned.

[derby378]

41. The first thing I'd do is gut the USA PATRIOT Act

Emancipating public libraries is first on my list.