Sunday, June 06, 2004

If I was a dictator...

If I ran this country, here's the biggest changes I'd make:

1) All forms of education be free. Universities, technical schools, all of them. Educational attainment shouldn't be dependent on one's (or their parents') financial fortunes.

2) To control population growth, which is a serious problem not just for this nation but the entire world, the government fully funds vastecomies. If a woman goes through it without having any children, she receives a highest bonus. 1 kid, somewhat less money. 2 kids, even less. And so on. Have you noticed that the families that are least able to afford children have the most children?! Now they have incentives not to reproduce like rabbits. In addition to controlling population growth, poor families would be better able to take care of their individual children. Less kids, more attention and resources they individually get.

3) Legalize drugs. This website offers an excellent rationale (read "Step 2")...and read this for a more in-depth look...

4) Make sure no kids grow up in poverty. Conservatives basically believe poor people deserve their fate because they don't work hard enough. Even if that is true, it doesn't mean the kids have to suffer because of their parents' laziness (or fate). I don't think handing more welfare money is the answer. Instead, the government should supply poor families with actual food and vitamin supplements (poor kids tend to be malnourished), clean housing (not like the HUDs of today), and free public transportation.

5) Driving and parking penalty fees be dependent on the guilty party's income. $100 is like a million dollars to a poor person, 1 cent to a rich person. It ain't right. How the hell the police would know somebody's income? Have their PDAs connected to IRS which has that information and automatically calculate the fee based on a formula (i.e. percentage of the last year's income). Yeah, I get too many traffic tickets :)