I've had all I can take of these candidates! So I'm tossing my hat in the ring. Presidential power is very limited, so I'm only promising what a President alone can do. My program is called "Lighten Up!" The Lighten Up Program means basically "Live and Let Live." It's anti-exaggeration and against the bald faced lying of both major parties. Here's Part One.
We are the richest country in the world! When one major party threatens to cut food aid and Social Security to millions, when its' leading candidate talks like a Nazi, and calls for the largest mass expulsion in history it is sign of a real national crisis. It's a cracking of our national mosaic of identities, races, religions, and economic classes. It is as true a national emergency as civil war and revolution. Those crises led our founders to create a Constitution containing Article 1, Section 8. Read and respect it! It allows for the creation of debt -- free Legal Tender United States Notes (greenbacks.) The "Lighten Up" program says great differences of wealth can continue to exist. But the richest country in the world has enough wealth to provide, by pay for private work or transfer, or both, from birth to death, unthreatened security of a sufficient basic income for a decent life: food, clothing, shelter, education, and retirement. This can be done without new taxes, without benefit cuts, and without great consumer price inflation.
Threat makers: Lighten up! Neither food stamps nor Social Security are inflationary. I'll direct my Secretary of the Treasury to create greenbacks in electronic form only. First they'll be created only in the quantity necessary to make the S.S Disability fund solvent for 20 years. When this proves non-inflationary, I'll direct creation of sufficient electronic greenbacks to make the Survivors Insurance also solvent until 2036.
Previously in part one of the "Lighten Up Program," I explained how the U.S. President could make Social Security solvent for another 20 years with no new taxes or inflation or benefit cuts. Now, here is Part Two, on foreign policy: The Bush and Obama administrations have screwed up horribly in Afghanistan and Iraq, and widened wasteful war to Syria, Libya, Yemen, and elsewhere. So as Commander in Chief the first thing I'd do is direct a change of our foreign policy from interventionism to one called Disengagement. I'll order a Cease Fire unless fired upon. I'll negotiate say, 3 years support for subsistence and integration of threatened populations in Iraq and Syria into the countries of Turkey, Jordan and others nearby that would resettle them for pay. I'll direct our troops to prepare plans to evacuate these populations, fighting their way out, if necessary. Then I'll direct our troops to get out of Afghanistan and Iraq, and move into positions in the host countries to protect the threatened populations. They are never to return, while I'm president, no matter what!
9/11 was a unique, non--state terrorist attack. Bin Laden had very publicly asked the U.S. to get out of his holy land, Saudi Arabia, before 9/11. When Clinton and Bush played dumb, he then made very public attacks on us overseas. Instead of Bush's disastrous preemptive ground invasion of Afghanistan, the best we can do is to use foreign aid reduce hostility and gather ground intelligence and surveillance from the air and space with very brief, but massive local attacks should we ever have actionable intelligence of a facility that could strike our mainland. Most defense contracts should be honored for payment for the three years of support for refugees. We can't put a cop on every corner in the world. Disengagement will be vastly less lethal, less alienating, and cheaper than the folly of occupying whole countries or supporting puppet military governments over whole countries.
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