What If You Were Elected President?

[kamikaze483]

I'm sure this has been done before, but I've never seen it.

If you were suddenly elected President of the United States, what would your top three goals be and what steps would you take to accomplish those goals? Your goals and steps must be Constitutional. To keep it simple, lets only use Supreme Court precedent. You only get 4 years in office. What would the country look like after you left office?

 

[ksu_aviator]

1. Bring back jobs and tax revenue by instituting measured tariffs and reducing the corporate tax rate to 25% (down from 35%)
2. Fix income inequality among races by reducing class and school size in high density population centers.
3. Pass a balanced budget amendment with an exemption for multi-theater wars.

 

[winston53660]

One thing I would do is deal with copyright law where artist are more important than the corporation. Secondly I'd do trickle up.

 

[Moderate Right]

1. Fix the economy to create higher paying jobs, this would include balancing the budget by downsizing the federal government

2. Get foreign policy under control. Not enough space here to be specific

3. Fix healthcare with a real plan, not Obamacare, and not single payer either. We would tackle the problem from the roots up instead of the top down.

 

[Lovebug]

I'm sure this has been done before, but I've never seen it.

If you were suddenly elected President of the United States, what would your top three goals be and what steps would you take to accomplish those goals? Your goals and steps must be Constitutional. To keep it simple, lets only use Supreme Court precedent. You only get 4 years in office. What would the country look like after you left office?

1. Stop naming your race. We are Americans
2. Stop voting because of party. Potus is to represent ALL Americans
3. Speak English when in America
Lets unite this country and work together. Stop looking at what divides us.

 

[DA60]

I would stack the Fed with cronies, get them to print me a trillion dollars, resign and go and start my own little country.

 

[Casper]

I'm sure this has been done before, but I've never seen it.

If you were suddenly elected President of the United States, what would your top three goals be and what steps would you take to accomplish those goals? Your goals and steps must be Constitutional. To keep it simple, lets only use Supreme Court precedent. You only get 4 years in office. What would the country look like after you left office?

Reform spending: Have every program reviewed for waste and cut it out as much as possible, remove programs that have outlived their usefulness and ensure SS and Medicare remain solvent.
Stop sending buckets of money to other Nations until we get on our own feet and then in the future only help those that actually need it and are actually allies.
Reform the tax code so that everyone pays their fair share but no group is overly burdened with more than they should be, a modified Consumption tax might be the answer.
Abolish the Lobby system, oh wait ,you said three things.

 

[GottaGo]

1. Term limits for all governmental positions (local & Fed)
2. Remove ourselves from countries that beg for money, then spit on our shoes.
3. Write a law that provides additional healthcare facilities, on a sliding scale, staffed with Interns (who receive reductions in their student loans as incentive) and paid staff, remove 3/4 of the PPACA, including the reporting burdens on businesses.
4. No representative of the American people can earn more than 100% of the median income for all Americans, no life long free bennies.
5. So many things to fix, so little time.....

 

[radcen]

In no particular order...

1) Beef up veteran support.

2) No net gain in government. Ideally, I'd like to reduce government size (#s of employees, departments, programs, etc.), but realistically that'd be virtually impossible. I'd consider no net gain a victory.

3) Step back foreign policy. Not pull out or ignore truly important stuff, but know that not everything that happens is our responsibility.

 

[Velvet Elvis]

Day 1: Sign law repealing the 16th amendment and enact the FairTax.
Create a panel of individuals (public AND private) to come up with a way to trim 40% of the Federal Government.

Day 2: Enact law that makes it unfavorable for illegal immigrants to cross the border:
1) Babies born in this country take their mother's citizenship. Momma becomes a legal citizen, kids immediately follow suit.
2) No social services for illegal immigrants, aside from life-saving ones. No welfare. No public schools. No nothing. Those benefits are for citizens and legal immigrants.
3) Draconian punishment for businesses that employ illegal immigrants.

Day 3: Term limits for all elected officials.
Dissolve the National School Lunch Program. Michelle Obama is an out-of-touch idiot for concocting that.
Enact laws that remove state barriers for healthcare providers so that they must compete with each other, nationwide.
Create a panel of individuals who will come up with a viable healthcare system that doesn't give insurmountable power to government over citizens' health. Give them a one-year deadline.

Day 4: Enact laws that make it very attractive for corporations to come to the USA. I know that might mean big tax cuts, but that is the price to pay for hundreds of thousands of new jobs.

Day 365: Smile while I repeal ObamaCare.

 

[radcen]

Day 1: Sign law repealing the 16th amendment and enact the FairTax.

How does one sign a law to repeal Constitutional Amendment?

 

[Mr Person]

I'm sure this has been done before, but I've never seen it.

If you were suddenly elected President of the United States, what would your top three goals be and what steps would you take to accomplish those goals? Your goals and steps must be Constitutional. To keep it simple, lets only use Supreme Court precedent. You only get 4 years in office. What would the country look like after you left office?

I'd leave the country if I was elected President.



More seriously, I'd try to be like Bill Clinton minus the woman "issues" thing. A politician who comes into office thinking he's going to work some great society change is sadly naive. What you can do depends on your willingness to play politics (dirt, hand-greasing, etc., included), your likability, the intrasigence of the "other side" and general atmosphere in congress, as well as your ability to get national public support for yourself or your issues.

I'd try to get something like Huntsman's tiered flat-tax plan passed.

If I could not get a tiered flat-tax plan passed, I would try to get an income tax rate that doesn't rely on brackets, but relies on an algorithm. You wouldn't bump from 15% to 25% (I mean...that is SO stupid). You would bump from 15% to 15.01% to 15.02%, etc. It would be a sliding scale, easily calculatable by any simple program because it is an algorithm. You wouldn't have to worry about whether your raise is actually an income cut because you just jumped brackets.

I'd try to get multiple investigations of all federal agencies going, looking to trim them with waste, as independent as possible. Perhaps have any agencies that compete in some way or "have beef" with one another to investigate each other. I don't know.

I'd try to get a bill passed that simultaneously dismantled all federal welfare programs and consolidate them into a single guaranteed basic income. Idea being: here's a realistic amount of money to live on. Spend it all on drugs or booze? Starve. Not my problem.

I'd try to get personal possession of all drugs decriminalized and sales of a few legalized in limited circumstances. Major emphasis on harm reduction, ie, treatment and things like sweden's (I think) heroin clinics ...where admitted addicts are administered a controlled dose of clean pure heroin.

I'd engage in a massive reassessment of the US's strategic goals around the world and try to determine whether or not the goals require the massive amount we spend on our armed forces.

I'd try to get a SS lockbox bill passed....meaning SS funds go into the stablest investment vehicles and are never mixed with the general fund or otherwise raided.

I'd say precisely nothing about gun control because nothing meaningful will happen, nor can it as long as the 2nd exists, and so it would pointlessly inflame a certain large contingent against me.

I'd gather a bunch of highly respected economists from each school of economics, and get recommendations on how, if possible, to restructure corporate taxation so as to make hiding assets offshore unprofitable without driving enough corporations offsoil completely that it would be harmful in other ways.

After addressing the spending policies, I would see if the tax rate could be adjusted. I would be focused on spending and deficit as a percentage of GDP, not on an absolute numbers basis. The goal would be to try to set things up so that we have a realistic way of paying off more of our debt, but not necessarily all of it. (As long as a fiat money world economy is in place, it really does make sense to maintain a debt, hard to believe though it may be).

I would not push any legislation that looks like an absolute pipe dream or that would affect my ability to get a second term, unless (a) it was necessary for justice, (b) I decide that I really do not want to deal with this **** for another term.

I'd.....(wanders away from the keyboard).

 

[Mr Person]

3. Speak English when in America

Lets unite this country and work together. Stop looking at what divides us.

Requiring people to only speak English in America would be the most divisive thing ever, overbroad, and almost certainly a violation of the 1st amd.

 

[Helix]

What If You Were Elected President?

nope. Senate.

 

[Mr Person]

Most importantly, if I were elected President, I would focus on coming up with concise but detailed explanations of policies, but then also have listed on the WH website my philosophical/etc argument for why this policy should be in place, for why you should agree that would work.

I would not say things like "I will downsize the government to fix the economy and create jobs" because that kind of statement means nothing. Who says "downsizing the government" would "fix" the economy or the job situation? Does it matter in which way we downsize the government? Or is there a large contingent that has simply accepted without thought the proposition that, no matter what factors are in play, smaller government = better economy. And better economy for whom? Martin Shrekli? A middle class worker? A miner? An upper-mid manager pulling 200k? For whom?

The trouble is that people want to hear politicians say that, then not read 500 pages of text, and just not worry about it anymore. This is fundamentally the reason why I could not be president, and fundamentally the reason why we keep electing people then calling them liars.

The vast majority of America wants soundbites and doesn't have time to think about the details. That leads us to elect people who don't deliver and/or whom we just call "liars".....because they said they'd fix the economy...and then, the economy isn't completely fixed. Or whatever.

 

[calamity]

I'm sure this has been done before, but I've never seen it.

If you were suddenly elected President of the United States, what would your top three goals be and what steps would you take to accomplish those goals? Your goals and steps must be Constitutional. To keep it simple, lets only use Supreme Court precedent. You only get 4 years in office. What would the country look like after you left office?

get a bj in the oval office

attack a country that did us no harm

pass a healthcare plan no one liked.

 

[radcen]

get a bj in the oval office

attack a country that did us no harm

pass a healthcare plan no one liked.

So, you would be President Clushma.

 

[Mr Person]

Possibly final post: for anything potentially affecting the economy, consult a spectrum of respected economists from the various schools, and listen. We face a dangerous movement in the cloak of "anti-elitism", which is in effect a foolish rebuttal of specialization, which has made our technological explosion possible.

 

[Moderate Right]

Requiring people to only speak English in America would be the most divisive thing ever, overbroad, and almost certainly a violation of the 1st amd.

English is the American language. While I have nothing against people speaking whatever language they wish here, English should be the only language used in schools and other places, except for when older kids are required to learn another language. We shouldn't have to change ourselves to accommodate people that speak another language. They need to learn OUR language and not expect us to accommodate theirs.

 

[beerftw]

I'm sure this has been done before, but I've never seen it.

If you were suddenly elected President of the United States, what would your top three goals be and what steps would you take to accomplish those goals? Your goals and steps must be Constitutional. To keep it simple, lets only use Supreme Court precedent. You only get 4 years in office. What would the country look like after you left office?

1- Legalize weed, then give out govt ration cards for free(or taxpayer paid) weed rations, after which you would have to pay for.
2- liquor and beer ration cards same as above
3- the country can be in the dumps, but the country will be too high or drunk to care about unemployment, and the snack food industry would recieve a major boost.

 

[ecofarm]

1- Legalize weed, then give out govt ration cards for free(or taxpayer paid) weed rations, after which you would have to pay for.
2- liquor and beer ration cards same as above

Quite a few people already live under that system, selling food stamps.

 

[beerftw]

Quite a few people already live under that system, selling food stamps.

Yes but this would be food stamps for beer and weed, tell me the country would not be happier? Don't have a job? Can't afford your house payment? screw it the govt is subsidizing your weed so you will be too high to be sad.

 

[ecofarm]

Yes but this would be food stamps for beer and weed, tell me the country would not be happier? Don't have a job? Can't afford your house payment? screw it the govt is subsidizing your weed so you will be too high to be sad.

I get it and was making a joke that's funny because it's true. I've known people that go to other sources of charity food and sell their food stamps for their "government allotment" of weed and drink.

 

[kamikaze483]

Also in the OP I meant to say that you can assume you have the full support of Congress, but not of 2/3rds of states. So everything has to be constitutional- because you can't amend the constitution.

For me:

1. I would sign the repeal of every law that allows labor unions to operate.

2. I would sign the implementation of the fair tax, so that all consumers pay taxes and so that there is no longer a need for CPA's, tax returns, or the IRS. I would abolish the IRS.

3. Each cabinet secretary (with the exception of the defense department) would be instructed to eliminate his/her own department except for a small office of 50 or less people. I would abolish every other government agency not expressly allowed for in the constitution. I would sign whatever laws were necessary to transfer to the states most of the authority for the cabinet department functions- for instance the VA would be largely dismantled and handled by the State Departments of Veteran's Affairs, who would have to answer to the Cabinet Secretary and his/her staff for all matters that involve federal law. The Cabinet Secretary would basically be there to ensure that the state followed federal law in the administration of VA benefits, etc., which would be funded by the Federal government. Any disputes between the state and federal agency would immediately be referred to the requisite Congressional Committee for a decision, with possible appeal to the federal courts.

4. Federal courts would remain as they are.

5. The US military and defense department would be beefed up.

6. The budget would be balanced during my term, even though I would be unable to get an amendment requiring the same from subsequent presidents.

7. All federally funded welfare programs would be limited to 18 months and there would be a program to help people get back on their feet during that time. Then they would be cut off. Starvation is a great motivator.

8. I would allow an opt out for Social Security and Medicare to everyone. This would pay zero for money already paid in, but for those who chose to opt out, there would be no further payroll withholding. Those over the age of 40 would be offered a cash buyout of their Social security. Those who did not take it would be informed that they would be paid based on money available. If there's no money, there would be no payouts. We would STOP the bleeding in THIS generation, even if that meant casualties.

9. After 4 years there would be a surplus, which would hopefully be used to pay off debt until the debt is gone and then the surplus would be issued back to the states for whatever programs each state chose to implement.

 

[Lovebug]

Requiring people to only speak English in America would be the most divisive thing ever, overbroad, and almost certainly a violation of the 1st amd.

Common language, common goals.