A Hypothetical Scenario

[vorlon13]

I'd turn on Bill Clinton to snowballing, and then the stain on the blue dress wouldn't have been an issue.

[thesummerqueen]

NC has to stay in the union, Nope, because exporting chicken, pork and Christmas trees would become much less lucrative if they were paying international tariffs and taxes. They don't have anything left after that except beer.

[Tonus]

Imagine if you were suddenly granted de facto dictatorial status over the United States? What reforms would you pursue?

The most obvious would be to close the loophole that allowed me to get de facto dictatorial status. Then I'd annex Mexico to save the few remaining Mexicans the effort of crossing the border in order to get into the USA. And make the Chili Dog the national bird.

Or...

Create a five-year plan to significantly reduce military spending, primarily by bringing US troops back from abroad. No more world police. Initially, apply the savings towards making sure that US servicemen and servicewomen don't get shafted when they return, so that all of that talk about "the price of freedom" actually means something.

Simplify the tax code. Any tax plan that can't fit on a single page will be dismissed as too complicated. A simple progressive tax with a standard deduction and standard rate, for both income and capital gains. Shrink the IRS down to an office of around five people who have to share two calculators and one iMac.

Overhaul campaign financing to require full disclosure of every dollar received. Want to pour millions into your favorite candidate's campaign? Fine, but you'll tell us first. Sure, we know most of you guys are bought. We just want to see whose name is on the receipt. Makes it a bit tougher for you to bullshit us on why you're approving specific legislation.

Make it impossible to add "riders" to any bills being considered in Congress. If you want your pet project to get funded, put it up for a vote. Don't try to stuff it into page 237 of some other funding bill as payment for your support. Also, any bill that requires more than one page to describe in full is too fucking big; scrap it until you can come up with something that doesn't require three days and a team of lawyers to decipher.

[Dystopia]

who the fuck has a 75% tax on corporations? Where I live companies are changing their headquarters to other countries because it's 23% and it's already to high - Holland wins a lot with just 12.5% (if I'm not mistaken). Not going to answer since I'm not American

Also going to the educational system - Why does everyone think Finland's system would work anywhere around the world? Finland has a great system but you're committing the fallacy of composition if you think what works for Finland would work exactly the same in the USA, it's necessary to know why something works, why it doesn't and what the solution may be. Just because solution X works for problem Y, it doesn't mean it will solve equally problem Z

[CapnAwesome]

who the fuck has a 75% tax on corporations? Where I live companies are changing their headquarters to other countries because it's 23% and it's already to high - Holland wins a lot with just 12.5% (if I'm not mistaken). Not going to answer since I'm not American

Also going to the educational system - Why does everyone think Finland's system would work anywhere around the world? Finland has a great system but you're committing the fallacy of composition if you think what works for Finland would work exactly the same in the USA, it's necessary to know why something works, why it doesn't and what the solution may be. Just because solution X works for problem Y, it doesn't mean it will solve equally problem Z

This is actually a rather poignant example of why dictatorships don't work.

[Thumpalumpacus]

Stop the war on drugs, flat 15% tax on corporations and individuals with no loopholes, require scaled increases in alternative energy sources per year, end our troop presence in Japan and Korea, end the overseas adventures, withdraw from NAFTA ...