First Order of Business

I originally thought to call this blog, "When I Rule," but decided that was too fring-y. The spirit of the blog was to capture how the world would be a better place if I were in charge.  In the spirit of that idea, I would like to throw out some reasoned arguments on how to better govern.

Redraw political boundaries that make economic and cultural sense. My initial ideas would be either something along cultural lines like Joel Garreau's Nine Nations of North America or this map showing where people are more likely to call each other (article at http://bigthink.com/ideas/39249); OR

Recognize how our cities are the engines of growth and creativity, and organize a government directly from the federal level down to city-states without a "state" middleman (this is the other map, right).  This would be a throwback to the city states of antiquity and would be good for democracy.  (For more reading, see this article http://www.newgeography.com/content/002359-cities-have-outgrown-their-role-mere-creatures-provinces).

Embrace a "balanced market".   I think that just as communism failed because it ignored human nature in favor of an ideal, a completely unfettered, free market ignores human nature in favor of an ideal.  In truth, deciding on a balance of public investment, incentives, and regulation/penalties is the key to economic success.  Anyone who thinks that the public sector should not have a place in the economy is being unrealistic. Admitting that this balance point is always changing in light of technological advances and market conditions gives legislatures a reason to exist.

As part of this implementation, I would remove minimum wage laws, but I would decree that executive compensation shall not be more than 17 times greater that the wages of the lowest-paid employee of the firm.  Any excess money can become capital to reinvest for the firm and the shareholders.  Though I don't believe in wealth redistribution, I also don't trust concentration of capital. If the firm reinvests, this indirectly redistributes capital back to labor when more people get hired.  Keeping a balance between how much of our "national capital" is in capital or labor at any given time is important to a strong economy.

I would create a single-payer health care system, not just because it will be the right thing to do morally, but because it will help industries compete against places where government subsidizes health care.  It will free up entrepreneurs to leave their corporate job to start their own firm without worrying about how their kids can afford a doctor.

In the very short term, I would demand the banking industry negotiate terms with homeowners in foreclosure. This is not to be sympathetic to homeowners, but to slow the glut of housing supply and the free-fall of home values.  The US economy won't recover until we address the oversupply of housing.  The market will eventually fix this, but at what human cost?  I would also reinstate the usury laws that Nixon threw out, so that banks can charge reasonable interest, but not the crazy amounts that lead to the housing collapse.  They would have to be more prudent with their lending, and average folks would have to save a down-payment for a house again.

Education Reform/Mandatory National Service.  That's right.  Everyone spends one year learning firsthand where their tax money goes.  If you don't want to serve in the military, a works corps that assists with infrastructure maintenance and construction would be available.  You'll be paid 1/17th of what I make to work on a road crew, or maintain facilities in a park, or install sewer lines in a rural community, or shelve books in the Library of Paul (formerly the Library of Congress).  I would abolish welfare, but provide work in the corps (and transportation and child care) for those who want to work.

Our educational system should be based on ability, not your age.  If you are ready for college-level work at age 15, why are we wasting 3 more years of high school on you?  Move on!  Your school should be encouraging you, not holding you back.  A series of tests to move up and eventually graduate could be taken at any time.  Sick of school?  You can't drop out, but you *can* work hard to graduate early.  And athletics should be in private clubs, not a drain on academic budgets.  A return to fundamentals also means booting the football teams and pep rallies.

Ditch the bi-cameral legislature AND the first-past-the-post election system.  Of course this hinges on when I decide to retire my emperor-ship, but seriously, if we get the geographies right, the need for the Senate would be gone, since there would not be "little" states.  It would speed up legislation and make the interplay between the executive and the legislative more direct and efficient, not some crazy 3-way like we have now.

What I really can't abide is the current 2-party system, where 49.9% of the population could be unrepresented.  It's not enshrined in the Constitution now, and won't make it into my update.  Every "state" gets representation based on population, and there is one ballot.  Every voter picks their top candidates.  The top vote-getters move ahead.  We might end up with something more like a parliament, but if somebody wants to vote Green or Libertarian, they might actually get represented!  Plus it's impossible to gerrymander.

10 AM is muffin time.  I'm emperor in this scenario, right?  I want a buttery muffin with either tea or coffee delivered to me at 10 AM.  Scones also acceptable.  Now stop kowtowing and figure out how we raise revenue to fix the deficient bridges.