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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Gut Trader who wrote (512414)	12/18/2003 2:20:08 PM
From: 10K a day	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769667

can you piss in that pot?

To: Gut Trader who wrote (512414)	12/18/2003 3:11:56 PM
From: cnyndwllr	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 769667

If I were president I wouldn't be looking at making "wishes." I'd be taking a long, hard look at the BIG picture with all it's complexities and nuances, and I'd be gathering the best minds to look at what it took to foster a WORLD IN BALANCE with the understanding that free choice will result in different ways of life in different countries. It's not enough to let the enemies of America and the enemies of freedom and peace set the agenda. It's not enough to let THEM choose the battleground and the methods of battle. That's the way to fruitless suffering and a death of a thousand cuts. The key to victory is to undercut their support and gut their platforms that are the basis for their power. We need BIG THINKERS like we had following WW11 when we took a long hard look at what kind of future we wanted to build in the WORLD, correctly analyzed the possibilities, correctly analyzed what we could afford to do and what was beyond our means, and THEN laid the foundation and expended the resources. The bullying tactics of the Bush administration can clearly achieve short term goals of cowing governments and even some local populations into submission. Those tactics will not, however, address the underlying ignorance, imbalances and inequities that create many of the problems that threaten America and Americans. If we are to remain a long term superpower and live in a progressively safer world we MUST act as, and be seen as, a power for justice, prosperity and tolerance BY THE NATIONS AND PEOPLE OF THE WORLD and for THEIR interests. The steps we have taken under Bush's lead have created the opposite impression. On a more practical level, I'd cede authority to contract for the rebuilding of Iraq, along with temporary power over the immeasurably valuable oil recources, to the U.N. I'd maintain our level of troops in Iraq under the direct control of U.S. military leaders but subject to the policy decisions of the U.N. authority. I'd make it clear to the entire world that we have relinquished all rights to control of or profits from Iraq and I'd set a date for the withdrawal of U.S. forces, or the addition of U.N. "other-nation" forces, to the point where our forces were no more than 40% of the U.N. forces in Iraq. I'd educate the American public to the ugly truth that things will not keep getting better for us. I'd tell them that our share of the world's wealth and resources cannot be maintained as the world educates and industrializes and as the cumulative effects on the environment of more and more population and more and more industry grows exponentially. I'd prepare them for a "less is better" future where expectations are not as high. I'd restructure our decision making process in procurements and program decisions so that those feeding at the trough would have to earn their place. There is probably at least 50% waste in government spending in terms of inefficiency and pork that could be cut without losing ANY efficiency. To the extent that this meant cutting bureaucratic jobs, through tax incentives or public spending, I'd encourage job creation in public works, health care, energy alternatives or elsewhere to ease the transition. I'd spend for a powerful "defensive" military and I'd foster our alliances throughout every continent. I'd let every nation's internal affairs, even those that were repugnant to our values, be resolved internally but I'd intervene to protect our allies WHEN SUCH INTERVENTION WAS SANCTIONED BY TREATIES OR THE U.N., but only when such intervention was likely to be effective. There are a lot of other "outside the box" things I'd do that would require the courage that JFK showed to trust the American public to see the "right thing" and turn from a "same thing" path that leads to a dinosaur like demise. What would you do?