Usdk wrote:
1b. The protections of US law now apply universally to everywhere and everyone in the Americas. No. American law should only protect American citizens.
The goal here is to discourage illegal immigration and hiring of illegal Mexicans by removing their competitive advantage.
Usdk wrote:
5a. Land, sales, income and corporate taxes are dramatically increased, normalized nationwide, and distributed to local governments per capita. Nope.
5b. States are no longer permitted to collect their own taxes. No. The states are just as capable without having the federal government as the middleman when it comes to taxes.
They aren't. Go read about the circus that is Prop 13. Or about how reliance of counties on sales/land taxes has led to overwhelming sprawl and terrible economic inefficiency as counties build redundant stores etc to compete for the same few dollars.
Usdk wrote:
6a. Charitable donations are no longer tax-deductible. No. Never put a roadblock in the way of charity.
How do you decide what's a charity and what's a tax shelter or political coven?
Usdk wrote:
7a. Candidates for office will receive a lump payment for expenses plus guaranteed airtime from all licensed broadcasters, upon meeting a quorum of 75,000 or one-tenth the voting age population of the region, whichever is less. Not sure how I feel about this. Not sure it would change anything.
7b. Donations to politicians are outlawed. Disagree. If 7a is in effect, this won't matter anyway.
It would kill the role of money in politics. 7b is necessary to ensure all candidates have an equal chance to get their message out there, then let people make up their minds on an equivocal basis.
Usdk wrote:
8a. The Electoral College is to be disbanded. Its responsibilities will devolve on the House of Representatives. Nope. I don't like the electoral college, but putting the house, which could be massively right or massively left in charge of the presidential election could be disastrous.
Read the Constitution. The Electoral College has the same distribution as the House of Representatives. The goal is to make it more accountable to prevent the kind of nonsense we saw in the last three elections (and will see again next year).
Usdk wrote:
10. As a condition of holding a license to practice medicine or law, lawyers and doctors are no longer permitted to work freelance. They must participate in the DKP system described in another thread (bid against their peers on cases and patients in a token economy). Don't recall this system. Seems like that scene in Rome when Titus Pullo needed a laywer though.
I watched bits and pieces on Youtube but never saw that particular scene. The real Titus Pullo was a Pompeian officer in charge of a naval squadron in Spain. He's a (very) minor character in
De Bello Civili. The Pullo depicted in HBO's Rome is pure fiction, and some of the things he does, such as the way he kills Cicero, are actually completely contrary to how things actually happened - we know how Cicero died and that scene bears no resemblance to reality. The depiction of Caesar's death is incredibly accurate, however.
Usdk wrote:
15d. Tenured educators are required to spend at least fifteen hours a week teaching classes. 18, assuming you mean professors.
15e. Administrators are required to have spent eight years at their respective institution as a tenured educator. Fewer years if they worked longer hours.
Educators spend a lot of time busy out of the classroom, both grading papers, meeting with students, answering emails, meeting with admin. Currently, a lot of educators spend all their time on "research", which usually means writing propaganda, and this is a major cause of spiraling education costs. The goal is to make sure research and education are undertaken by all the same people, keeping education relevant. However, it does mean that any one educator would have to spend less time teaching or doing research than at present.
Usdk wrote:
15f. Administrators are voted in by all educators at an institution. No. Leadership positions aren't popularity contests. Most qualified is most qualified. Though I wouldn't be averse to a veto power if by 2/3 of the educators vote against.
How do you determine most qualified?
Usdk wrote:
18a. Universities will be tasked with research and development on new fields of research: space exploration, bio-engineering, quantum theory, and fusion power. If the schools are science schools, yes.
The intent is to dramatically increase the dominance of science education. All universities will be science schools, with the humanities as basically a secondary concern.
Usdk wrote:
19. All foreign military offensive action requires a declaration of war. No. We've policed the world enough.
Uh, that's the point. A declaration of war is a much higher burden than currently exists (which is basically the president saying so).
Usdk wrote:
20c. seek amnesty for any crimes they may have committed, forfeit any and all future promotions, be required to register with the government as "persons of interest" (cannot leave their state, change residence, open a banking account or own a house), and are forbidden from quitting their jobs. No see 20d.
20d. declare all activities and face criminal prosecution for any misdeeds they have committed. No, clean slate for all or you put families and others at risk from foreign provocateurs.
That's dangerous reasoning. Which is more likely to provoke revenge, punishing the guilty, or refusing to do so? The concern here driving this choice is fear that these people would get disgruntled over prosecution or loss of prestige and form a conspiracy against the government. Go look what happened to the KGB - or JFK.
Offering them a choice between coming clean or being chained to their desks (until they die off and their positions vacillate) is a way of preventing these spooks from starting mischief.
Usdk wrote:
21a. Marriage is defined as between a man and a woman for the purpose of procreation. Couples of the same gender or without children are defined as households, with mutual power of attorney and inheritance. Nah. The practicality of a partnership should be private. Get rid of marriage licenses and let couples get their own lawyers.
Power of attorney doesn't mean actually practicing law, it's a formal legal designation similar to next of kin, including most of the powers that spouses have, over life and property and such.
Usdk wrote:
23a. Rape is no longer a crime. No. However, if a rape charge is proven to be false, extremely harsh penalty for the accuser.
23b. Sexual violence is considered an aggravating charge of assault and/or battery. Maybe
The problem with that is that it enables the powerful to get away with rape, or to use it as an instrument of terror. The goal is simply to rationalize rape and define it as necessarily involving violence, not just someone saying they "didn't want it".