president for a "day"

[daydreamer]

or governor of your state if you prefer.

if you were either the president of the united states and/or the governor of your state, what 5 changes would you implement as soon as you could?

[Mader]

Hhmmm....

I would end the turkey pardons at Thanksgiving.
I would require that Congress always works in public (Florida has a sunshine law that seems to work pretty good)
I would be respectful of the other branches of government.
I would be sure to separate the branches of government (meaning, Congress does its job, I do mine)
I would paint the Oval Office periwinkle.

[Yhor]

I'd revoke all previous Executive Orders
I'd ask for a referendum on income tax of the individual
I'd ask for a referendum to remove the state's right to determine the legitimacy of marriage.
I'd stay busy.

and just before I was done...
I'd take my dogs for a helicopter ride.

[Geminii]

Assuming I could table and have passed one bill in that period, I do have the components for a mega-superduper bill lying around on my hard drive somewhere.

It's only up to about 15K of plain text so far, but I add to it every so often. I didn't previously know, for example, that marriage rules were state-based rather than federal in the US, so I've added some lines addressing that.

Come to think of it, I'd really rather only be President long enough to pass that one bill, instead of seeing out a full term. I'd be bored/stressed into a coma after a month in the Oval Office, I think. And I'm not the most personable guy...

[kepstein8888]

Universal health care.
End all wars.
Cut all aid to Israel.
War crimes trials and waterboarding for all GWB Admin members.
Make it legal to shoot anybody who talks on a cell phone while driving.

[phej]

I understand the concept of "If I were president, I would..." but, like King Canute, the Office of the President cannot move the tide. That said, if I were President for a day, I'd be ecstatic if nothing terrible happened under my watch.

[ElstonGunn]

Does the question include the realistic limits on presidential power, or is it more along the lines of "If I had absolute power for a day, and then everything went back to normal, but they couldn't change what I did, I would do XYZ"?

If it's the former, I'd...

1. I'd ask Congress to indict members of the Bush administration (or any other administration) who supported or ordered the violation of the UN Convention Against Torture.

2. Shut down Guantanamo Bay, cede the land back to Cuba, and bring all the detainees to the US (or possibly the international court in the Hague) for fair trials.

3. While giving Guantanamo back to Cuba, I'd also do what I could to end the embargo (although I think it's a federal law, so I couldn't do much other than support ending it). Might as well take care of that one while I'm in the area.

4. I'd try to repeal Don't Ask, Don't Tell. I'd also publicly state that I support full marriage rights for all consenting adults, regardless of any other personal characteristics. As I understand it, Washington DC recognizes same-sex unions and doesn't necessarily require any specific type of officiant. If that's accurate, then as a gesture of goodwill, I'd take an hour or so and officiate a few same-sex marriages.

5. Submit a budget to Congress in which science, education, renewable energy, health care, and social welfare spending was raised at the expense of military spending. Demonstrate that even with military spending cuts of 50%, we'd still be spending two and a half times as much (To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.) as the next top spender (China).

[daydreamer]

Does the question include the realistic limits on presidential power, or is it more along the lines of "If I had absolute power for a day, and then everything went back to normal, but they couldn't change what I did, I would do XYZ"?


originally i was thinking within realistic bounds. of course it's not easy knowing what would truly be possible until you try, but yes, what would you actually try?... that type of thing. but it is an open question to answer technically however one wants to.

your #5... i'm curious about science spending, not that i disagree, but it is a little generalized. do you have specifics that you haven't mentioned?

---

nobody wants to be a state governor first? or at all?

[True Rune]

I'd be as corrupt as I could be. >:) You don't go down in history any other way. 24 hour reign of terror here we come!

[ErikNikolai]

Assuming I could bypass Congress?

1. Implement the Fair Tax (To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.), abolishing all federal personal and corporate income taxes, gift, estate, capital gains, alternative minimum, Social Security, Medicare, and self-employment taxes and replacing them with one simple, visible, federal retail sales tax.
2. Withdraw membership in the United Nations, and kick them out of New York City.
3. Require all state budgets to be perfectly balanced.
4. Implement strict term limits on all political offices.
5. Repeal Sarbanes-Oxley.

[ElstonGunn]

your #5... i'm curious about science spending, not that i disagree, but it is a little generalized. do you have specifics that you haven't mentioned?

Not really. I'm just painting broad strokes on that one. Anything that looks promising. Cancer research, stem cells, alternative fuels, innovative education systems, space exploration, water desalinization... whatever anyone could make a convincing case for.


nobody wants to be a state governor first? or at all?

Nah. Go big or go home. Especially when it comes to hypothetical power-grabs.

[Paul Siraisi]

Universal health care.
End all wars.
Cut all aid to Israel.
War crimes trials and waterboarding for all GWB Admin members.
Make it legal to shoot anybody who talks on a cell phone while driving.

President. Not God.

[Silverity]

What, none of you want to mess around with NAFTA? Aww :(

[phej]

What, none of you want to mess around with NAFTA? Aww :(

What's wrong with NAFTA?

*scurries away before the pebble turns into an avalanche*

[Zsych]

This is like those 'what would you do if you could wish for anything?' questions.

Step 1: Make sure I stay President for longer than a day - since you can't get anything done in a day.

Step 2: Institute a massive review process on all laws, to see where the intent is being violated and how to fix it, and how to make it more effective.

Step 3: Focus on process improvement and cost cutting everywhere - create a branch of government just to make everything work more efficiently and cheaply.

Step 4: Develop upgrades for the education system (maybe add some MBTI bias :p)

Step 5: Create a system to train and help find funding for new business owners.

Step 6: Find funding for more technological research, and push for more of that.

............. something along those lines.

It would boil down to better education and process improvement everywhere. I suppose better healthcare would fall into process improvement.

[hubcap]

President for a day -

As Commander in Chief I would declare martial law and suspend the Constitution. That would enable me to remain President long enough to hire a bunch of INTJ's and straighten out the financial mess in Washington D.C.

I would have all members of the House and Senate arrested and jailed. I would have a recording of the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Federalist Papers played in their cells 24 hours a day.

I would abolish or consolidate 98% of all government agencies. I would ask the states to pass an amendment to the Constitution limiting all representatives to two two-year terms and senators to one six-year term.

I would then call for nationwide elections of all representatives, senators and for the presidency itself with the caveat that no person who had ever served in government would be eligible to serve in the new government.

My last act in office would be to get a ride in an FA-18. I would love to do a CAT shot off an aircraft carrier.

Then I'd retire write a book and go on a speaking tour charging outrageous amounts to give speeches.

[SShack]

I'd just veto everything.

Actually, no. I would take every unwarranted expansion of the president's power that has developed in the past 15 years and abuse it directly toward members of the Congress until they passed new laws scaling those powers back. I'd wiretap and post recordings of Nancy Pelosi's personal phone calls online. I'd declare Mitch McConnell an enemy combatant and have him waterboarded.

[plotthickens]

Blow a million in that one day on making all public servant's financial records publically accessable on the web for the duration of their term.

Let them try to talk their way around THAT. So much for corruption.