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How can we better the USA?

In your opinions?

Give us examples that say, work in your country, that we can apply to ours, in hopes to make the USA better.

Thanks.
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well in USA we supposedly have "freedom" but yet gays and lesbians cant get married??? thats not really "freedomish" if you ask me so when we say we have freedom...we should live up to that

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Like if we had socialized medicine?  Or stronger labor unions?  Or drug legalization and prostitution legalization?
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You'd need to change your whole tax system to put together socialized medicine (I assume you mean something like our NHS)... it costs humungous amounts.  Though maybe it could be paid for by legalizing and licensing both drugs and prostitution.

One thought for a place to start: make lawyers personally responsible for costs in frivolous cases.  That'd make them think twice before issuing lawsuits along the lines of "But the iron didn't say 'do not lick when hot', so how was I to know it was dangerous?"  The legal system in America worries me, as ours looks like it's starting down the same sort of trend.

Phil

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You'd need to change your whole tax system to put together socialized medicine (I assume you mean something like our NHS)... it costs humungous amounts.  Though maybe it could be paid for by legalizing and licensing both drugs and prostitution.End Quote

Paying humongous amounts of taxes for a system that could end up like Canada's doesn't really appeal to me.  I think your intentions are good but the means are impractical :-/

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One thought for a place to start: make lawyers personally responsible for costs in frivolous cases.  That'd make them think twice before issuing lawsuits along the lines of "But the iron didn't say 'do not lick when hot', so how was I to know it was dangerous?"  The legal system in America worries me, as ours looks like it's starting down the same sort of trend.

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HAHA!  :D  You noticed that too?  This is why I'm so reluctant to become a lawyer, because A) I don't have the same greedy bast@rd attitude and B) I don't want to be lumped in with them bloodsucking vampires :P  I am all for tort reform, and a return to some COMMON SENSE in our legal system.  

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I have no problem with gays have equal rights just like straights.

Two guys making out?  Well, that isn't something I ever wanna see.  But if it floats your boat.


But this board is about America and how non-Americans think the USA can be bettered.



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I dont really care if I walk outside or near people of the same sex making out....well actually I do...I dont really even like it when couples of the opposite sex make out in Plain Public...it makes you feel uncomfortable.....but I know this thread was for non-Americans...I just wanted to add a little something so I can get opinions on what I said too.......to show what I think we could do to make a better US

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Paying humongous amounts of taxes for a system that could end up like Canada's doesn't really appeal to me.  I think your intentions are good but the means are impractical :-/
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Amen to that! ;)

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Someone got their religion teacher to admit that two guys can make out?  Heh-heh.  I would have loved to have heard that conversation.  You probably were pushing all his little politically correct buttons just right, I am a social liberal (mostly) but it cracks me up how you can manipulate leftists into saying things like the two guys making out thing.
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If my religion teacher had been liberal, it wouldn't have been funny. It would have been a non-issue. My religion teacher was a right wing conservative Catholic. That means he took his orders straight from the Pope and George W. He also was kind of a traditional uptight square. That's why it was amusing for me to use Church teachings to get him to admit that it would be morally acceptable for two men to date and... well... make out.

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We need a multi-party system, NOT a two party system.

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Multi-party systems are dangerous. A small group of radicals could use inter-party conflicts to take over. That's how the radical Nazi-ish party came to power in Austria some time back (I don't know if they're still in power). It is a dangerous thing to do and I don't advocate it. With the two party system, changes come slowly, but that can sometimes be a good thing. It makes for easier damage control.

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We need a multi-party system, NOT a two party system.
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I thought we had a ONE party system called either the Republacrats or the Democans.  ;)


Cat

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well in USA we supposedly have "freedom" but yet gays and lesbians cant get married??? thats not really "freedomish" if you ask me so when we say we have freedom...we should live up to that
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Good news on this front:  the Supreme Court just ruled that sodomy laws violate the Constitutional gaurantee of privacy.  Surpriseing from THIS Supreme Court.  We may be getting there, although it is painfully slow, with as many reversals as advances.

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Multi-party systems are dangerous. A small group of radicals could use inter-party conflicts to take over. That's how the radical Nazi-ish party came to power in Austria some time back (I don't know if they're still in power). It is a dangerous thing to do and I don't advocate it. With the two party system, changes come slowly, but that can sometimes be a good thing. It makes for easier damage control.
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The neo-facsists are OUT in Austria.

Yes, multi-party systems are more volital than one or two party systems.  That's because they are more democratic.  Think about it this way.  In a 2 party system, each party has to try to include a wide spectrum of political beliefs, agendas and philosophies.  That means that they stand for everything - and nothing.  In a multi-party system, each agenda/interest/philosophy has a chance to get represented at some level, and forces the coalition building that goes on behind closed doors in a 2 party system into the open, on the floor of the legislature.  If democracy is good, as you have said elsewhere, the more of it, the better.  A multi-party system insures the widest representation for the widest number of political persuasions.  And if we believe in democracy - which ultimately means believing in our fellow citizens - that has to be a good thing, IMHO.

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I thought we had a ONE party system called either the Republacrats or the Democans.  ;)


Cat
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There was a time when this was true, but ever since the neo-cons have taken over the Republican party, I don't think so.  Contrast Howard Dean with GWB, and tell me that they are the same.

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2. Reform the seystem of representation so that political parties are represented based on the persentage of the votes they recieve, instead of "winner take all".  We need a multi-party system, NOT a two party system.
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We do have a multi-party system (green, independent etc) it is just that the others are largely ignored.

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There was a time when this was true, but ever since the neo-cons have taken over the Republican party, I don't think so.  Contrast Howard Dean with GWB, and tell me that they are the same.
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You are right about HD but what other Democrat has been as vocally opposed to GWB's policies?


Cat

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You are right about HD but what other Democrat has been as vocally opposed to GWB's policies?


Cat
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The problem with Howard Dean is that although he is very charismatic, he's so far to the left that he's almost in danger of falling off the edge.

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The problem with Howard Dean is that although he is very charismatic, he's so far to the left that he's almost in danger of falling off the edge.
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I wouldn't concidered HD "so far to the left." In many ways he is conservative-in terms of budgeting, and he also disagrees with the legalazation of marijuna. He may be a bit farther to the left than some but he is FAR from falling off the edge.


Cat

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We do have a multi-party system (green, independent etc) it is just that the others are largely ignored.
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While you are right that there are "third parties" our "winner take all" electoral system discourages them, and historically they are absorbed into one or the other major party.  This has been the case going back to the 1820s, when the platform od the Workingmen's Party was absorbed by the Jacksonian Democrats, and continued to be the case through the Anderson and Perot bids for the presidency.  What I am suggesting is the abolition of state congressional districts, and state-wide votes for the House.  Seats would be apportioned based on the percentage that each party received in the election.  The result would be that more 3rd party candidates would get seats, and compromise would have to take place openly on the house floor.  It would, to an extent, end "backroom" wheeling and dealing, and promote more ideologically clear and consistant parties, and therefore politics.

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Multi-party systems are dangerous. A small group of radicals could use inter-party conflicts to take over. That's how the radical Nazi-ish party came to power in Austria some time back (I don't know if they're still in power). It is a dangerous thing to do and I don't advocate it. With the two party system, changes come slowly, but that can sometimes be a good thing. It makes for easier damage control.
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Ah, so you are advocating democracy up to a point. You can choose between to similar parties but when, even if a majority want a 'radical' party in power, then you have to throw democracy out the window so things don't get dangerous.

If this sort of party-democracy we have currently is supposed to be about freedom, then i think - this may sound foolish - that people should have the freedom to give up their freedom.


And why doesn't my pic come up half the time?  >:(
*shrugs*

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The problem with Howard Dean is that although he is very charismatic, he's so far to the left that he's almost in danger of falling off the edge.
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We Vermonters know that this is a crock cooked up by the beltway Dems to trash an outsider.  As Governor for 6 terms (2 years each) Dean was a fiscal conservative who also, by the way, managed to get health isnurance to virtually every child in Vermont, and payed for it without raising taxes.  He also paid down the state's bonded debt, increased funding for education at all levels, made public school funding fairer, and signed a Civil Union law that gives gay couples most of the benefits of marriage.  If all that makes him a leftist, than bring on the leftists!