My plan to help fix [some of] America

[Irving]

Now to address the other concern that I have with the OP. I think that there are many ways to fix the government. First off we need to give them a reason to listen to their constituent population. So they should be paid at a rate consistent with their approval rating. That way if you cater to special interest groups you don't get paid. This would fix the union problem that someone hit on earlier. Along with that make it illegal to receive any additional income from any source other than a pre-established source of income. This way they are motivated to get the largest group of people happy and will work for you.

I want politicians to listen to their constituents, but I don't want them to just do whatever the people want. That's how stupid things like Prohibition and the War on Drugs get started. It is a fine line to tread.

[Danimal]

One, the current national debt is $16 trillion. The GDP is $15 trillion. Your claim that a single new refinery would yield trillions of dollars in gas production is simply ludricrous. The math doesn't add up. And evidently the oil companies have excess capacity to US needs, as the US has been a net exporter of gasoline since 2011.

I am not stating a single refinery would instantly produce trillions. I am talking about its effective life production. The only reason that we export gas is because other European nations have screwed themselves even more and limited or eliminated their production. Or the fact that they geologically do not have easy access to any large oil reserves making it prohibitively expensive to ship it there just to be refined. We export because per gallon other places pay three times as much as we do. It is about maximizing the money that they can make per gallon of gas produced because they have limited production. That is why when one refinery has a shortage in production or an outage gas prices in California spike 40 - 60 cents a gallon. We are maxed on production and have been for a lot of years.

The system through regulation is the most inefficient bunch of crap that you can imagine. For example take the oil fields in North Dakota. There is only one refinery in ND and it is at max capacity. So they ship the oil via train to Texas instead of building another refinery. How much does it cost to ship millions upon millions of gallons of oil all the way across the country? Apparently less than the EPA regulated mandates, because the cost of building a refinery otherwise is relatively low compared to other industrial processes. Also another little fun fact, they are burning more natural gas there daily just to get rid of it, than is being consumed in the rest of the US in the same time period. It naturally occurs around oil and the best that they can do is burn it because of storage and export controls. It could reduce your electric and heating costs by 50%, but they cant afford to store, transport or refine it for use.

When I say trillions it is not an exaggeration, it is a very real figure. We really could cut the cost of a gallon of gas in half if we were to build a few more refineries. We could cut the cost of natural gas in half and then it would be cost effective to build more natural gas power plants because they could compete with coal production. The trickle down effect would be a phenomenal amount of money and jobs for the US.

Now along with that I completely agree that there are some requirements that need to be met in order to protect the country that we live in from being polluted and abused for profit. But the current system is hell bent on picking winners based on who pays the politician the most. Oh you think a pipeline down to the Texas refineries is a bad idea? When someone else would pay for it? Is is when you have foreign billionaires that would rather you buy their oil.

[Danimal]

I want politicians to listen to their constituents, but I don't want them to just do whatever the people want. That's how stupid things like Prohibition and the War on Drugs get started. It is a fine line to tread.

It is not a fine line at all. You are stating that you would rather have someone tell you what is best instead of listen to the people. That is not the right thing no matter what the issue. I understand your concern that there are mass hoards of dumb people out there, but at the end of the day a politician is elected to represent their constituent population, not rule them. Yes there would be things like prohibition that come up, but as a nation we realized that it sucked and fixed it a couple years later. Nothing is permanent. But you did bring up a very good point and it is something that I did not touch on for fixing the country. We need to fix out education system. Imagine a country where you could count on the average citizen to think for themselves and think rationally. It is possible, but our current public education system is geared to basically make a bunch of little robots that can not think for themselves, where educational standards are catered to the lowest common denominator. That would need to be fixed first because it is the source of all of this. Make smart people who elect smart leaders who make us all work together more efficiently and the money problem would be solved.

[Sharpienads]

I fundamentally disagree with just about everything the OP said. Except getting rid of the TSA. That I agree with. Fuck the TSA. But I disagree because those programs need to disappear completely, not just be managed better.

EPA- It should be eliminated totally. I would cut it's budget by at least 10% each year until it is gone completely. During this time, EPA regulations would either disappear or the states, if they so choose, would take over the responsibility. Some of you guys sound like we either have an unconstitutional, overbearing EPA to protect us, or evil corporations destroy the environment. Because there's nothing in between, like states, responsible consumers, and the fact that everybody breathes the same air and drinks the same water. Do some people act stupid? Of course, but why does the federal government have to punish us all? The same "at least 10% a year reduction" would apply to all unconstitutional departments, including but not limited to education, energy, agriculture, HHS, etc. If you think they're such good ideas, they need to be constitutional amendments.

TSA- Fuck the TSA.

Congress - I think repealing the 17th Amendment would go a long way toward fixing congress. It forces people to be engaged in local and state politics (unless they just don't care) and gives states representation in congress. I'm also all about term limits. I understand that if we have a good congressman or senator we want to keep him, but as long as congress exceeds their constitutional authority, something has to be done.

All welfare should be handled at the state level.

But again, these changes can't happen overnight. They would have to be transferred slowly and steadily from the national government to the states. We'd end up paying a lot more in state taxes, but I bet we could eliminate federal individual income taxes.

[xring]

EPA- Some of you guys sound like we either have an unconstitutional, overbearing EPA to protect us, or evil corporations destroy the environment. Because there's nothing in between, like states, responsible consumers, and the fact that everybody breathes the same air and drinks the same water. Do some people act stupid? Of course, but why does the federal government have to punish us all?

Suprisingly i agree with you. The culture of inefficency, lifetime entitlement, and non practical purpouse is so epidemic to the federal ABCs that they are beyond reform. Their original mandatess would be better handled by the states. Of course the states would have to be given legal power to regulate that could not be challenged in other courts, otherwise they would just be overwhelmed by the corporations they would be regulating. In all liklihood the states laws would be decided by crooked politicians on the take to special interests.

"that everybody breathes the same air and drinks the same water. "

Disagree. The CEO of the hooker chemical company didnt live within twenty miles of love canal. The CEO of union carbide was not living in the slum outside the plant at Bhopal. The crooked politicians dont live next to the plants either. If the culture of managment is one of disregarding safety that culture will influence every employee. The recent coal miner deaths come to mind. If deregulation of environmental health and safety occurs leaving a vacumn the result will be as predictable as deregulation of the banking industry and elimination of glass steagal was. Regulation by well educated impartial efficent personel is neccesary to ensure safe communitys.

To sum up (again)

Yes goverment regulation stinks.

No the corporations can not be trusted to self regulate.

What needs to occur is a simaltaneous reduction of corporate and goverment power. That would allow less powerful enities (like the states) to regulate honest businesses in a efficent and impartial fashion thus allowing the ABCs to be disasembled without jepordizing health and safety. I never knew i was such a great science fiction writer.

[roberth]

I fundamentally disagree with just about everything the OP said. Except getting rid of the TSA. That I agree with. Fuck the TSA. But I disagree because those programs need to disappear completely, not just be managed better.

EPA- It should be eliminated totally. I would cut it's budget by at least 10% each year until it is gone completely. During this time, EPA regulations would either disappear or the states, if they so choose, would take over the responsibility. Some of you guys sound like we either have an unconstitutional, overbearing EPA to protect us, or evil corporations destroy the environment. Because there's nothing in between, like states, responsible consumers, and the fact that everybody breathes the same air and drinks the same water. Do some people act stupid? Of course, but why does the federal government have to punish us all? The same "at least 10% a year reduction" would apply to all unconstitutional departments, including but not limited to education, energy, agriculture, HHS, etc. If you think they're such good ideas, they need to be constitutional amendments.

TSA- Fuck the TSA.

Congress - I think repealing the 17th Amendment would go a long way toward fixing congress. It forces people to be engaged in local and state politics (unless they just don't care) and gives states representation in congress. I'm also all about term limits. I understand that if we have a good congressman or senator we want to keep him, but as long as congress exceeds their constitutional authority, something has to be done.

All welfare should be handled at the state level.

But again, these changes can't happen overnight. They would have to be transferred slowly and steadily from the national government to the states. We'd end up paying a lot more in state taxes, but I bet we could eliminate federal individual income taxes.

Agreed.

You mention a few of the many, many things that should be done at the state or county level but are being handled by the feds.

[Teufelhund]

I fundamentally disagree with just about everything the OP said. Except getting rid of the TSA. That I agree with. Fuck the TSA. But I disagree because those programs need to disappear completely, not just be managed better.

EPA- It should be eliminated totally. I would cut it's budget by at least 10% each year until it is gone completely. During this time, EPA regulations would either disappear or the states, if they so choose, would take over the responsibility. Some of you guys sound like we either have an unconstitutional, overbearing EPA to protect us, or evil corporations destroy the environment. Because there's nothing in between, like states, responsible consumers, and the fact that everybody breathes the same air and drinks the same water. Do some people act stupid? Of course, but why does the federal government have to punish us all? The same "at least 10% a year reduction" would apply to all unconstitutional departments, including but not limited to education, energy, agriculture, HHS, etc. If you think they're such good ideas, they need to be constitutional amendments.

TSA- Fuck the TSA.

Congress - I think repealing the 17th Amendment would go a long way toward fixing congress. It forces people to be engaged in local and state politics (unless they just don't care) and gives states representation in congress. I'm also all about term limits. I understand that if we have a good congressman or senator we want to keep him, but as long as congress exceeds their constitutional authority, something has to be done.

All welfare should be handled at the state level.

But again, these changes can't happen overnight. They would have to be transferred slowly and steadily from the national government to the states. We'd end up paying a lot more in state taxes, but I bet we could eliminate federal individual income taxes.

Not to derail the thread, but I just want to point out there is one candidate for president who has laid out almost exactly this same strategy as his plan. . .

[Sharpienads]

Not to derail the thread, but I just want to point out there is one candidate for president who has laid out almost exactly this same strategy as his plan. . .

Yeah right. You're totally trying to derail the thread!

[roberth]

Not to derail the thread, but I just want to point out there is one candidate for president who has laid out almost exactly this same strategy as his plan. . .

You're preaching to the choir here.

Your team needs to talk to the 90% of voters who want some form government intervention and who also think y'all are crazy.

[Teufelhund]

You're preaching to the choir here.

Your team needs to talk to the 90% of voters who want some form government intervention and who also think y'all are crazy.

LOL agreed. I have been talking to everyone I know when given the opportunity. Political discussions are strictly and officially verboten at my place of employment.

I'm starting to think I'm crazy for imagining I can convince anyone something different is what is necessary (see signature).