This election cycle continues to be weird. Unlike most elections, there is hardly any talk of "the issues". It's really about personalities. People who hate Trump think he's a megalomaniac. People who hate Clinton think she's a corrupt liar.
However, regardless of what you think of either candidate, barring some bizarre event, one of them will be President, and they will have to deal with Congress and.....then what? Governments really have to do something. If we were talking about issues, what should they be?
I'm going to share some of my thoughts, focusing on some things that have been topics of discussion in the campaign. In no particular order.
Immigration - It's unfair to say that there has been no talk of issues. This one was incredibly important in the primaries on the GOP side. I know what I would like to see done on immigration: Nothing. It's just not something I care about. I find a couple of things disturbing related to immigration. Trump's anti-Muslim rhetoric is at least borderline racist. Obama's use of an executive order to do something that sure looks a lot like law disturbs me. It's a bit of a power grab. Nevertheless, when all is said and done, I just don't care very much about immigration, or any related issue.
The Deficit I've always been, and I remain, a "deficit Hawk". I wish government would do some combination of spending cuts and tax hikes to balance the budget, like they did in 1999. I was hopeful that the Republican Congress and Democratic President would work as well as they did in the '90s, but apparently that was a bygone era.
Terrorism: Nothing. Or at least not much. They are doing what they do now. I don't see any real need for any change. I wish we could just go in and boot ISIL out of control of anywhere, but if we did that, we would have to figure out what to do next.
Student Debt: It would really tick me off if we just forgave student debt, because those are government backed guaranteed loans. You took the loans. Pay them. On the other hand, the program itself is stupid. Tell 18 year old kids that they can have an unlimited line of credit, backed by the US government (i.e. taxes), but you can't go bankrupt. Watch what happens. It's bad. Throw that program out. Replace it with ....something, but whatever it is, don't make taxpayers pay someone to study art for four years. Engineers, doctors, maybe even a few lawyers, would be a good investment, but I hate the idea of my taxes subsidizing sociology majors.
K-12 education: Can anyone explain to me why the federal government has anything at all to do with K-12 education? Get out.
Jobs: This is really a non-issue, even though in every other election it has been front and center. No one is ever against jobs, so we all agree, right? After a lifetime of observing the economy, I have decided that most things politicians do to boost the economy, don't. It's mostly shuffling money to their friends or constituents.
"Welfare": A word that continues, even though the program doesn't really exist. End as much of it as possible. Exactly how much is "possible" is really problematic, I understand. If it's taking food out of hungry mouths, I can't do it. Still, in general, I really don't like taking money from one person and handing it to another, with no obligation for the recipient. it seems like a bad idea.
Global Warming: This is one of those things that's a real thing, but one nation can do almost nothing about it, and may do more harm than good in trying. I would be happy if the President could just convince people that it isn't a hoax.
Health Care: Tweak Obamacare, but the basic principle is really sound. Everyone should be required to be responsible for their own health care, to the extent possible.
Well, that's it for now. I just wanted to start some sort of dialog on what we wanted government to do for us, without so much focus on what the two best and brightest that our primary elections have brought to us for choice.
However, regardless of what you think of either candidate, barring some bizarre event, one of them will be President, and they will have to deal with Congress and.....then what? Governments really have to do something. If we were talking about issues, what should they be?
I'm going to share some of my thoughts, focusing on some things that have been topics of discussion in the campaign. In no particular order.
Immigration - It's unfair to say that there has been no talk of issues. This one was incredibly important in the primaries on the GOP side. I know what I would like to see done on immigration: Nothing. It's just not something I care about. I find a couple of things disturbing related to immigration. Trump's anti-Muslim rhetoric is at least borderline racist. Obama's use of an executive order to do something that sure looks a lot like law disturbs me. It's a bit of a power grab. Nevertheless, when all is said and done, I just don't care very much about immigration, or any related issue.
The Deficit I've always been, and I remain, a "deficit Hawk". I wish government would do some combination of spending cuts and tax hikes to balance the budget, like they did in 1999. I was hopeful that the Republican Congress and Democratic President would work as well as they did in the '90s, but apparently that was a bygone era.
Terrorism: Nothing. Or at least not much. They are doing what they do now. I don't see any real need for any change. I wish we could just go in and boot ISIL out of control of anywhere, but if we did that, we would have to figure out what to do next.
Student Debt: It would really tick me off if we just forgave student debt, because those are government backed guaranteed loans. You took the loans. Pay them. On the other hand, the program itself is stupid. Tell 18 year old kids that they can have an unlimited line of credit, backed by the US government (i.e. taxes), but you can't go bankrupt. Watch what happens. It's bad. Throw that program out. Replace it with ....something, but whatever it is, don't make taxpayers pay someone to study art for four years. Engineers, doctors, maybe even a few lawyers, would be a good investment, but I hate the idea of my taxes subsidizing sociology majors.
K-12 education: Can anyone explain to me why the federal government has anything at all to do with K-12 education? Get out.
Jobs: This is really a non-issue, even though in every other election it has been front and center. No one is ever against jobs, so we all agree, right? After a lifetime of observing the economy, I have decided that most things politicians do to boost the economy, don't. It's mostly shuffling money to their friends or constituents.
"Welfare": A word that continues, even though the program doesn't really exist. End as much of it as possible. Exactly how much is "possible" is really problematic, I understand. If it's taking food out of hungry mouths, I can't do it. Still, in general, I really don't like taking money from one person and handing it to another, with no obligation for the recipient. it seems like a bad idea.
Global Warming: This is one of those things that's a real thing, but one nation can do almost nothing about it, and may do more harm than good in trying. I would be happy if the President could just convince people that it isn't a hoax.
Health Care: Tweak Obamacare, but the basic principle is really sound. Everyone should be required to be responsible for their own health care, to the extent possible.
Well, that's it for now. I just wanted to start some sort of dialog on what we wanted government to do for us, without so much focus on what the two best and brightest that our primary elections have brought to us for choice.
via International Skeptics Forum http://ift.tt/29ZnCmP
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