What are your suggestions for a better USA?

[howaboutme]

and a better government?

Yeah it sounds kind of corny but we need to think about ideas.

I still blame the new consolidated corporate media that has little allegiance to the USA as a nation for many of our problems.

In almost every news story we see a controlled corporate media that manipulates the opinions of the masses to a certain mindset, and it is always about not embarrassing countries, or politicians, or raising questions about reality, and not informing the public of the pure facts without adding major conjecture first.

I could go on with suggestions for improvement such as disallowing any lobbyist group to lobby in direct conflict of interest with Americans.

So what are your suggestions to improve and for a better USA?

[patrice]

1. Invest in ourselves & one another: living & working cooperatives. nt

[90-percent]

2. Engagement

I talk to people you run into in life, about "current events" and what the state of the world is.

I have an extremely cynical vision of what corporations and the elites are doing to our country and our world. We are a completely corrupted banana republic and I don't get a tremendous amount of push back for expressing that opinion. Fuck the media, I'm doing it one person at a time.

Bumper stickers work, too.

-90% Jimmy

[japple]

3. More public transportation, including high speed light rail.

Better, faster internet connections, made available free to all through city/county governments. More health and dental clinic services to those who are not covered by insurance or social programs.

Getting rid of lobbyists and having publicly funded elections might be a good place to start, but I would like to see something else in the near distant future. Instead of having elections every 2, 4, or 6 years, I think there should be a draft and those who are over a certain age should be required to serve as a representative to their city, county, state, federal governmment for a two year term.

[NoPasaran]

4. More cup holders

[Synicus Maximus]

37. agree

[glinda]

5. Dismantle Corporate Media ownership and install equal amounts of Liberal media

[TheFarseer]

40. sorry to single you out but

to all the people on this threat saying dismantle the corporate media, I'm not sure how you want to go about doing that. Yes, we can do things like limit the percentage of stations Clear Channel (or whoever) can own - and we should. Is there something else that we are talking about doing? Even if you do fairness doctrine, it's still corporate owned only it's a shill for the left, correct?

[madmax]

6. The only way

Publicly funded elections. mho

[howaboutme]

14. I can't agree more!

By taking the control and money from those who have an overabundance of it, and who now use it to control our government, would go a long way to eliminating the corruption of our politicians who control our government for the benefit of a few.

Somehow public pressure must be put on all politicians in an overwhelming belief that will overturn the status quo that allows lobbyists to manage and corral politicians as did the cowboys at the Kansas City stock yards in the 1800s.

Politicians will never say it, but must be sick and tired of being played with as puppets by the special interests. The pols need to be given a kick in the pants that will push they to change the system without being seen as being anti those who control them.

[MerryBlooms]

32. I'm with you on that one

We also need a truly independent media. The corporate media we have now does not serve the public interest.

[NuttyFluffers]

36. with discounted and fixed media ad costs as contingency to get FCC licensing! :)

no specialty pricing, no over-costing, no favoritism. that should break the private media obstructionist paradigm.

[McCamy Taylor]

7. Fair elections with public financing. Tax corporations like people.

Slash the military budget and increase education spending (best combo for the economy). Health care for all. True Public TV (think BBC not PBS). Parliamemtary system of government to replace our phony-baloney "two" party system.

That is a start.

[Swede]

8. Lots more money for education,lots less for military.

That would be a good start.

[The Straight Story]

9. If lazy unemployed people like me would just get a job instead of looking for one

You know people like me - hate to be able to pay bills, buy stuff, go on trips, save up, etc. If we would just go out and get a job the UE rate would be negative and all would be well.

But we are so lazy we don't even want to have dreams of better lives....

[RC]

10. Stop using our military to kill people for the benefit of corporations.

Bring our troops home.

[howaboutme]

15. Imagine No Vietnam War, No Iraq, No Afghanistan

Three worthless wars that killed and wounded many many thousands while solving nothing. Made some profiteers and neo cons rich.

The USA could have offered free college education and health care had we not allowed our country to be manipulated by a few corrupt politicians and false flag events.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

11. I like the government.

:shrug:

[Cleita]

12. The ideas are all there. They have been for sixty-five years or more.

It's a matter of getting the American people to agree with them and then run the gangsters out of our government and out of our lives. We could start with the arrest and prosecutions of the criminals from the last administration who brought us here.

[SecularMotion]

13. People before profits

[howaboutme]

20. Do you mean profits before people?

That's how our elite, Wall St, the bankers and Business Roundtable run our government, and why the people and those of lesser stature must sacrifice for the rich.

It is about class warfare where the rich who control government have waged war against the masses. Americans must understand that America does have an "overclass" that runs the nation and an underclass and middle class that always pays a price with lives in combat, livelihood, and quality of life. It seems that the USA overclass initiates itself with a degree from Harvard, while the masses are relegated to what is erroneously perceived as lesser education. We need a reversal of the widespread belief among Harvard grads that they are the elite, when the reality is Harvard is often about lesser ethics.

[SecularMotion]

23. The question was how to make it BETTER, right?

We need 2 constitutional amendments

1) Explicit separation of church and state

2) Explicit separation of corporation and state

[howaboutme]

24. Sorry

I was being facetious. I agree with both your statements and why can't we get such common sense from our leaders. It's because we don't have such explicit separation. They are beholden to a few and we ain't in that club. Thanks for commenting.

[taterguy]

16. Stop brainwashing people that cars should always be the first option in transit choices

Sure they're useful once in a while, but not all the damn time.

If people would just stop and think if a car is really the best way to

Aw forget it.

No one gives a damn.

[Dont TS Me Brah]

17. let's start...

healthcare for ALL.

bolster social security.

energy independence.

Rebuild international respect.






Oh... actually I guess we're ALREADY on the way :D

[LWolf]

18. That's a massive undertaking, and I have 100s of ideas.

Here are just a few:

1. 100% public financing of elections, with guaranteed equal, and equally neutral, media coverage. To go along with that, no elected official can be offered $$, gifts, or jobs after leaving office from special interest groups.

2. Some sort of new, updated SOMETHING to mandate media neutrality. I don't really have a good idea here; I just know that the constant propaganda and controlled "news" broadcast 24-7 from radio and tv are destructive, and it needs to stop.

3. Universal, single-payer, not-for-profit health CARE.

4. A living wage.

5. The end of NAFTA/CAFTA etc., in favor of fair trade agreements based on human rights and environmental standards.

6. High quality Public pre-school through trade or college provided free of charge. High quality meaning a non-privatized, fully funded system designed and run by educators, not politicians or CEOs.

7. New, major anti-trust enforcement, legislation, and focus.

8. No tax-exempt status for churches or faith-based groups of any kind.

[howaboutme]

22. An independent thinker

and that is more than most Americans who are being led into mental apathy by the Hollywood entertainment community and talk radio. Thanks for taking the time to respond.

I TOTALLY agree with all of your suggestions. Your number 1, would go a long way as would the others.

But they conflict with the interests of too many of our bribed politicians who claim they serve the USA. In reality they serve themselves and their ego and lobbyists who serve others.

[depakid]

19. Divest and reregulate your pathetic corporate media

How on earth is the US going to solve any of its problems when its people can no longer even agree on what the basic, objective facts are?

[howaboutme]

27. Our old media

I call it BC (before corporate) when it used to be considered the fourth estate, where they represented the citizenry and worked to uncover the inherent deceit, and cronyism, and corruption in government and when media was an asset and strived for a Pulitizer for investigatory journalism.

Today the media is propaganda arm of corporate and special government interests. Rarely if ever do they represent organized and institutionalized opposition to government shenanigans. Today they are in partnership with government and the moneyed interests, whether it be about pushing our nation into a phony war, or bailing out the fraudsters.

They will NEVER EVER push or publish a story that fails to align with their interests, even if it is totally against US interests.

[depakid]

29. The Washington Post once upon a time was largely a credible and ethical paper

Now it's become a laughingstock- and not dissimilar at times from Pravda in the Soviet era

[Canuckistanian]

21. Get. The money. OUT. Of political campaigns

60% of your problems solved right there.

The sooner Americans realize that fact, the better. Until then, the decline continues, regardless of what party controls the levers of power.

[howaboutme]

30. Bingo!

Total public financing of elections with required pro-bono public air time from the over compensated media using our public airwaves will do much to eliminate political corruption from big money interests.

Instead of corrupting they can spend their disposable money by giving it to charity.

[Canuckistanian]

38. It's how we do it in Canada

Free public airtime for political candidates. Every media outlet must comply. Campaign donations limited to $1,100 for EVERYONE. Corporations, trade unions, associations and groups cannot make political contributions.

It worked for us for decades. We have a system that's tolerable for us.

I can't imagine how it's tolerable to Americans.

[howaboutme]

48. Root cause

The inherent bribery that comes from our system of campaign financing and lobbying is the root cause of our corrupt and incompetent government. The most blatant outrageous example of this is that the most powerful lobbying group of our Congress and government doesn't even lobby for US interests, but instead lobbies for another country (you know what country that is). This is extremely counterproductive to the US people.

[DesertFlower]

25. get rid of lobbysists.

[Dr Morbius]

26. Ooooooh, thankyou thankyou thankyou.

Believe it or not I spend a great deal of my time thinking about exactly this.

I'll begin with the restoration of freedom of the press. I ask you, one and all: can you be free if you are not independent? I submit the answer is obvious: if you have to answer to higher-ups, your freedom is necessarily limited. The problem with the media is the consolidation. The government needs to pass a law mandating and protecting independent media, and prohibiting deals between media providers (like satellite services or cable) and the so-called news media itself. For those on the right who howl about government "regulating" media, they brought it upon themselves when they decided to treat the news as commerce. Government not only has the express power but the duty to regulate commerce; it says so in the Constitution.

When every town has at least one independently owned radio station, and for those cities large enough 1/4 of the radio stations are independent, we will instead of hearing two sides of every issue will hear hundreds. These radio stations can certainly play Rush Limbaugh's feed if they want to, but if they don't want to carry that they don't have to. Because each station would have freedom to play or say what it wants.

The same for television stations, although I suspect the era of broadcast television is nearing its end. Sure, stations can choose to carry a network feed. But they can also choose not to carry it, and therein lies all the difference.

Diversity. Diversity is essential to democracy and to the role the media has to play in it. Government has to protect independent media and limit the scope to which powerful interests can control the nation's media outlets. Do this, and there will not be a need for any kind of fairness doctrine. Get the diversity; fairness will result organically.

I've reached the end of my work day but when I get home I will offer more ideas. Ooooh, finally a thread that speaks to my inner self! :D Calloo, callay!

[howaboutme]

28. Bravo

I think about it too....maybe fantasize is more appropriate. But if we each don't think and project our views it will never change.

There used to be thousands of independent media viewpoints (newspapers, mags, radio and TV stations), and each with their own slightly different but INDEPENDENT viewpoint and that is crucial. It meant collaboration was far less likely. Today the media collaborates on a massive level and it is destructive to our country. I see the media not as a source of news but as means to manipulate the public.

Diversity whether it be cultural, race, religion, education, geographic etc is crucial to the balance of our nation. That's what disturbs me about Obama's government and now his selection of Elena Kagan. She doesn't represent diversity but more of the same ole elitist, Harvard educated, New York City, mentality that represents only a tiny segment of the USA. We're a nation of many people and different views and Kagan is a sterotype of Obama's elitist czars. I like Obama but he needs far more diversity in government.

[hunter]

31. Open all government, no secrets, complete transparency, even within agencies like the CIA.

Maybe especially within the secret agencies. If the CIA drops a bomb on innocents, let everyone know who gave the order.

Every interaction between corporations, their lobbyists, and any government official would have to be documented, transcribed, and posted on the internet. No secret meetings, no closed meetings, none of that.

If a congress person is having an affair with a lobbyist, that better be documented, with complete transcripts. "Oh God, Oh God, Oh God!!!"

If a congress person has lunch with a business leader, that'd better be documented too, with transcripts. "Panda roasted in duck fat? That sounds wonderful, but I was thinking about the saffron hummingbird tongues, followed by the whipped cream barely legal lap dance... Excellent."

After that, the rest is easy. Kill the health insurance companies, implement universal single payer health care, cut the military budget, raise the federal minimum wage to a real living wage, provide housing, healthcare, and excellent educational opportunities for all, reduce the work week to thirty hours, increase vacations to six weeks, build public transportation systems, high speed rail, and otherwise reduce our dependence on the automobile by rearranging our cities and suburbs.

That's just the first course. There would be plenty of satisfying jobs for everyone, and the cockroaches in power now who can't tolerate the light will just have to suck it up and abandon their estates and gated communities to find apartments in the city or houses on the farms where the real work is. Or else they might leave to buy themselves an Island to drown upon.

[KansasVoter]

33. Remove religion tax deductions.

[shirlden]

34. Put GREED back on the sin list

Raygun started this crap. We need to clip his angle wings.

:evilgrin:

[izquierdista]

35. Oh, oh, oh! I got a list

My top 10:
10) Universal Single payer Health care
9) Raise the top tax rate to 70% for AGI over $100,000
8) Replace the capital gains preference with an earned income preference
7) Publicly funded campaigns and elections with private contributions banned
6) End the tax exempt status of religious organizations
5) Take drug offenses out of the legal system and turn the problem over to the public health system
4) Exempt the first 3 months salary at minimum wage (~$3500) from FICA and remove the cap at the upper end
3) Scrap free trade agreements and gradually introduce protective tariffs.
2) Reduced the cost of higher education by greatly expanding grant programs
and the most important thing to do above all else
1) Cut the "Defense budget" by 80%.

[TheFarseer]

39. Public financing of campaigns

and longer terms for Congressmen so they aren't raising money and campaigning constantly. Maybe they can do what's best for the country if they aren't grubbing for money all the time.

[NoPasaran]

41. Bacon that's good for you

That would be awesome!

[Dr Morbius]

42. I return with more.

I'm for a Constitutional amendment giving Congress the power to recognize and define economic collectives. This means the Supreme Court can no longer tell us corporations count as people. People can swear allegiance to a nation; corporations hold allegiance only to profit. There's nothing wrong with that; profit and the pursuit of profit built this country. But the corporate model has run amok; virtually every money-making industry is now dominated by a handful of corporations. Government needs the power to define and limit economic collectives/

While I'm on the Constitution, we need an amendment that reads "spending money does not count as freedom of speech." Spending money might count as freedom of speech if any one person could speak a million times louder than everyone else. One fellow's right to a bigger megaphone cannot cancel the right of others to try to be heard.

And then there's the Supreme Court. The final arbiters of our law and ultimately our government, and they are appointed for life and have no accountability to the people. That offends me on a very base level. Terms for SCOTUS justices; twenty years sounds good to me, but fourteen years sounds better.

I'd actually rewrite the Constitution if I could, and include the right to vote. I'd also put in language preventing the federal governent or the states from denying the vote to criminals after their sentence has been concluded. If you've paid your debt to society, you should be permitted to vote again, whatever your crime. The Senate should not be permitted to allow secret holds on legislation or anonymous earmarks. And so on; Jefferson wrote that he believed government should be reworked every generation; he was right. History teaches us that circumstances will change government if we fail to keep up. This is the time, before our nation falls apart, to implement changes we can see need to happen. Let's not wait for another disaster.

[Dr Morbius]

43. I return yet again,

Public education has long been a top concern for America. It's obvious that in order to compete successfully in a global economy, we need an educated workforce. Our system of representative democracy works best with an informed and rational electorate. Our hope of future competitiveness relies on the ability of our children to make technological innovations. Smart soldiers tend to live longer than stupid soldiers; I don't know this for a fact but every person I know who has served will agree: the battlefield has its own way of weeding out the morons. The nation needs an educated populace merely for the sake of national defense. The right wants to privatize education; conservatives hate the notion of a government involved in education perhaps because it seems Orwellian to them. There has always been, and will always be, opposition to the very notion of public education, but as I wrote above, it is clearly in the nation's interest to educate our youth and do it well.

So how can we improve public education? The answer is a lot simpler than most people think. The federal government needs to set standards and offer a model for states to follow in achieving those standards. States, not schools but entire states, are expected to achieve these goals and if they follow the recommended policies, should achieve these goals. States that want to apply their own system may do so provided the national standards are met.

But a federal law must be passed which prohibits government at any level from dictating content or directing what or how teachers must teach. Our government has been micromanaging public education for decades, and it is way past time for government to step back and let the teachers teach. The federal government does much less than the states in this way because education is seen properly as a state responsibility under the Constitution, but the NCLB practically dictated content. States do too much in the way of interference; look at the recent debacle in Texas. And then school districts and school boards try to dictate what and how teachers teach.

Hire teachers. Measure their progress fairly. Hold them accountable. And let them do their job. It is manifestly unfair to hold someone accountable at the same time they aren't allowed to make decisions on their own. Give teachers freedom to teach the way they know how, and watch how much better educated our children will be. And witness the flowering of diversity, without which debate isn't real.

Parents need to be held to higher standards of accountability. I'd offer tax breaks to parents with children that are getting high grades, as a way to encourage parents to involve themselves in the education of their children. The kids themselves need to held accountable, for their engagement is key. And we need better ways to measure progress on a child by child basis without excessive intrusion on the process. But micromanaging the education of millions of kids is beyond the scope of government. We've been trying too hard. Don't blame the teacher. Work with the teacher.

[Dr Morbius]

44. Know how the right-wing is always pushing for a flat tax?

How about a flat tax for corporations?

Here's the deal. All corporations that are currently doing business entirely within the USA, that is to say completely domestic corporations, pay a flat tax rate of 13%. All international corporations doing business in the USA pay 16%. Doesn't matter where that corporation is based; you make money as a corporation in this country and you're international, you pay 16%.

And of critical importance: this law supercedes all existing corporate tax law. Swoop, like that: no more loopholes for anybody. Corporations that are legitimately paying taxes will pay much less. Corporations that are gaming the system will howl. Result: the right wing will be divided on the issue, and unable to unite in opposition. This top rate of 16% is relatively low as far as other nations are concerned; that makes this a competitive tax rate, always appealing. And that means ultimately more jobs for the country, as it is economically more attractive to remain in the country instead of outsourcing.

You see, with this law companies that outsource to other countries automatically move to a higher tax bracket. Don't ya love that? It's my favorite part. And the converse is also true: companies that decide to pay a little more in wages and bring those jobs back to America pay a little less in taxes.

Corporate tax rules no longer being terribly complicated, corporations no longer need to spend millions and millions on tax lawyers. The civil processes in which these tax lawyers engage aren't needed to the same degree, and reduced demand for government processes ultimately leads to reduced costs for providing these services. This corporate flat tax is a win-win-win for everyone who isn't currently abusing the laws for their own benefit. And too bad for them.

So the next time someone suggests a flat tax, ask them about a flat tax for corporations first.

[howaboutme]

47. Corporations

Flat tax sounds good.

Pre-globalism US corporations actually served the USA and corporate welfare was indirectly beneficial. That is not true today. Today they outsource our jobs; they outsource "our" technology that US taxpayers often subsidized; they over compensate a handful of their elitist executives while cutting compensation and benefits for those who do the work; they manipulate and locate their organizations to offshore locations, and they pay little in taxes...but worst of all they use their financial resources to manipulate our government.

[southern_belle]

45. I agree with most;/all of ideas offered plus...

I believe if we just did these 3 things, though it would be a far way of solving all, it would be a base for the future:
(1) Begin regulating the media fairly and openly and holding them accountable. I believe this cesspool of lies should have never been out there as news, thereby making it doubly hard to really find the truth and playing to the less intelligent.
(2) Education: I believe that we need to add subjects, on all levels, that teach children/adults how to think for themselves, how to discuss subjects intelligently, and how to respect others' opinions, etc. As an aside to this, I wonder how many of our lawmakers were home-schooled? While I am not against home-schooling, per se', I also see this as a vehicle for 'brainwashing' in the 'wrong' hands. So I believe it should be regulated as well. I know, this is a topic in itself and I know very little about it, but its the way I see it at this time.
(3) Consequences: I truly believe that some of our problems are due to the fact that there are no consequences to doing anything bad! Our Justice System needs a major re-do. Also, there are no consquences for radio & TV Hate speech and encouraging wrong-doing - what if the Station were fined. I also believe that fairness should exist in consequences.
I just firmly believe all of society is affected by the dumbing down of America and believe that its going to take getting down to basics to make a long-lasting difference. And, this has to be in concert with what you-all have suggested (many are very good suggestions).

[immune]

46. Lots of good ideas

Unfortunately, we have to rely on the same folks who've been failing us for so many decades to implement most of them or they would've already been a done deal. We need to think about what things WE can do to make it better.

My suggestion would be for people all across the country to get together with their neighbors and merchants in their own communities and set up local currencies. Obviously alternative currencies could never replace dollars for major expenses, but they would stretch the dollars we can get out hands on much further.

[Union Yes]

49. Socialism. nt

[BreweryYardRat]

50. Off the top of my head...

Create a government-owned industrial manufacturing base. We need those jobs here. (There may be a few initial exceptions -- foreign cars, some tech goods, but steel, clothing, et cetera all need to be made here.) Pay the workers a living wage. Pay the management staff a living wage reasonably proportional to that of the workers. Once it's up and running, tax the EVER-LOVING FUCK out of all manufactured goods imported from...anywhere that's not Europe, Australia, Canada, or New Zealand. The private companies will be forced to manufacture their stuff here or go under. If they flee the country, their assets here will be nationalized. Companies which outsource jobs will also be slapped with a huge tax. This will build our middle class -- the economic backbone of our nation -- back up.

National public health care system. Absorb as much of the low-level insurance bureaucracy as possible to prevent cutting those jobs. (The bloated insurance CEOs/CFOs/Boards of Directors, on the other hand, will be charged with murder for every denied claim that resulted in a patient's death. Any denied claim that drove a patient to bankruptcy from paying it out of their own pocket will be recompensed to the patient...if possible, out of the plutocrats' PERSONAL assets.) Non-reconstructive cosmetic surgery can remain privately-owned for those docs who want a fat profit. Those who actually go/went into the profession to help people will have their med school loans paid off. Mental health care -- including mental hospitals -- is included.

Make CEO/CFO/BoD annual pay indexed to worker annual pay. No more than 100 times the amount their lowest-paid employee gets, and the CEO/CFO/BoD don't get bonuses. Sounds like a lot, but if that employee is making $20,000 a year, the CEO/etc would take home $2 million -- which is much less than most of them make now.

Raise the Social Security cap.

New tax bracket: $1,000,000 or more annual income. 70% tax rate. Applicable to corporations and individuals alike. In other words, a guy who makes $2,000,000 a year would see $700,000 of that SECOND MILLION.

Dorm-style housing for those homeless people who are homeless from economic pressure, and those who aren't not mentally ill enough to require hospitalization. Private 8x12 bedroom, private 7x7 bathroom. In-building cafeteria, drawing its employees from the residents. Pay for it out of taxes, run it at cost.

Thorough regular audits of the military budget. Scrap outdated/non-viable/strung-along research projects. Bring logistics support and other roles now held by private contractors (except for arms manufacturing) back to the services.

Legalize and tax marijuana. Current cost for decent but low-end pot is roughly...what, $20-40 per ounce, depending on the area? Say legalization cuts it down to $5 an ounce, that's $80 for a pound. Slap a $2.50-$5 tax per ounce on it. That makes it at most $10 per ounce. Directly makes the government a lot of money, and cuts the legs out from under drug cartels, which will allow "War on Drugs" funding to be cut shortly thereafter.