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Written to fulfill a challenge at worldofscribble.
(Of course this is if I could be Supreme Dictator and didn't have to worry about how to convince people to shift to my ideas, or keep them going after I died. So don't rag on me too much, I do already know my ideas don't have teeth enough to hold water. Or something like that.)
1) Rich people and corporations would get taxed. And charged fees when they do things they should not do, like polluting or giving us products which damage our health. More concentration on Value Added taxes, lightening up on income taxes for the less well off. Income taxes would only kick in after someone made about four times the national average.
2) Radar-camera enforced speed limits on the roads.
3) Funding for trains and other public transit, sufficient funding so the trains can be running every fifteen minutes, and fast. High-speed rail service linking every city. Smaller towns and rural areas connected at least by regular trains. Make it so you can get to something useful, including other forms of transit, like the airport, in a reasonable amount of time.
4) Housing near businesses. Towns set up for walking. Trails should be allowed, and encouraged, to run around the borders of properties, at the very least, and if a trail is in use across a property it should never be allowed to be blocked, in perpetuity. This, in combination with the previous point, will help older people continue to get around, and make it easier for lower income people to keep their jobs and not go on welfare, as well as improving fitness and health.
5) Building codes that address humans need for beauty. No more tossing up an ugly box and calling it a building only to have it fall apart in a few years and need to build another. I think it's damaging to the psyche to be surrounded by ugliness. It has been shown that there's less violence in places that have a view of a park, even though the people there are no different from the uglier side of the building. And there's crime is reduced on streets that are cleaned up to look nice, even though the same people lived there before the street was cleaned up.
6) Land use laws. Fees on building on any piece of land which is fallow, worse if it's farmland. Great tax deals on refurbishing older and architecturally interesting buildings. Good tax deals on reusing property where the poorly built malls need to be torn down, and even better for well-planned and landscaped buildings. Fallow land should be taxed extremely low, while groomed lawns, buildings and surfaced areas (parking lots, etc) should get taxed highly. Land producing crops should be subsidized. Land that can't be used without filling should be identified and registered for potential purchase by, or donation to, conservation groups. Land should be extremely difficult to 'develop'. (The word 'develop' to be replaced by 'destroy' in all proposals.)
7) Underground parking garages with parks over them. There's one under Boston Common, it can be done. This should combine with the previous four points to create more green space in towns, reduce the heat produced by cars and parking lots and reduce our energy consumption for air conditioning.
8) Community centres where anyone can go to get a meal, or just hang out. The food doesn't have to be fancy, but there should not be any income restriction on who goes to a community centre to eat. Sometimes people need to eat in company because they need to make community connections. And maybe sometimes there should be a fancy meal in order to draw in some of the more reclusive community members. There should be something on the menu for every dietary need, board games to encourage people to hang out, and rooms for discussion groups.
9) Overhaul of the school system to produce kids who can think and have useful skills when they get out of high school. Pay the teachers well, give them respect, support them with any time off or extra training they might need. And, of course, monitor them carefully and reasonably, allowing them to have their own personal life.
10) Adulthood test - Scientists can now measure the part of the brain that rules gullibility; let's check into that and see how that part of the brain can be encouraged to grow. If that part of their brain isn't developing correctly, why not? And don't let kids graduate if they can't think - keep working with them. (Certainly don't let them vote if they can't think. I don't want people voting if the gullibility centre of their brain is underdeveloped.)
11) School year-round. Feed the kids healthy foods while they are at school during the day. Give them health care at the school. Give them a good understanding of why having good manners is smart - smoothing their way through life and making everything easier. Good manners for world peace.
12) Comprehensive sex ed classes and free access to plenty of non-latex barrier products. Free birth control. A lot of serious discussion about waiting until your brain is fully developed.
13) Universal health care. Let's get people living long enough and healthy enough so their brains can develop properly.
14) Comprehensive food assistance with cards on which you can only charge real food. Honestly, that shouldn't really be hard to develop - the register knows what you're buying. This should be a lot easier than monorails. If the person has specific dietary needs the card could be tailored to support purchase of those things.
15) Division of church and state. For real, this time. No favouring of one religion over another in any phrases used in public mottoes or laws, or in holidays. There should be a three-day weekend every month, and disconnected from holy-days as best we can. Everyone can use them to celebrate whatever they like.
16) Any rights must be universal, not voted upon. There must be some exceptions for mental incompetence, as in the case of children who's brains have not fully developed, or adults who can't pass the adulthood testing.
17) No raising kids unless you have a raising license.* No kid should be brought into the world by someone who's only motive in doing so is to have power over someone else, or someone who's going to ignore them as an inconvenience. Going back to point 15, this protects both the children and the people who are not competent to raise them. (Protects them from killing the children.) I believe that raising kids should be considered a privilege, because it IS complete power over another person, with the ability to make their life hell. Like teachers, raisers should be well paid, respected, supported and monitored.
18) Cut down on the military, work on re-building the Civilian Conservation Corps, and have them work on our infrastructure issues.
---------------------
* A raising license is not a new idea, I got it from Janet Kagan's "Mirabile."
(Of course this is if I could be Supreme Dictator and didn't have to worry about how to convince people to shift to my ideas, or keep them going after I died. So don't rag on me too much, I do already know my ideas don't have teeth enough to hold water. Or something like that.)
1) Rich people and corporations would get taxed. And charged fees when they do things they should not do, like polluting or giving us products which damage our health. More concentration on Value Added taxes, lightening up on income taxes for the less well off. Income taxes would only kick in after someone made about four times the national average.
2) Radar-camera enforced speed limits on the roads.
3) Funding for trains and other public transit, sufficient funding so the trains can be running every fifteen minutes, and fast. High-speed rail service linking every city. Smaller towns and rural areas connected at least by regular trains. Make it so you can get to something useful, including other forms of transit, like the airport, in a reasonable amount of time.
4) Housing near businesses. Towns set up for walking. Trails should be allowed, and encouraged, to run around the borders of properties, at the very least, and if a trail is in use across a property it should never be allowed to be blocked, in perpetuity. This, in combination with the previous point, will help older people continue to get around, and make it easier for lower income people to keep their jobs and not go on welfare, as well as improving fitness and health.
5) Building codes that address humans need for beauty. No more tossing up an ugly box and calling it a building only to have it fall apart in a few years and need to build another. I think it's damaging to the psyche to be surrounded by ugliness. It has been shown that there's less violence in places that have a view of a park, even though the people there are no different from the uglier side of the building. And there's crime is reduced on streets that are cleaned up to look nice, even though the same people lived there before the street was cleaned up.
6) Land use laws. Fees on building on any piece of land which is fallow, worse if it's farmland. Great tax deals on refurbishing older and architecturally interesting buildings. Good tax deals on reusing property where the poorly built malls need to be torn down, and even better for well-planned and landscaped buildings. Fallow land should be taxed extremely low, while groomed lawns, buildings and surfaced areas (parking lots, etc) should get taxed highly. Land producing crops should be subsidized. Land that can't be used without filling should be identified and registered for potential purchase by, or donation to, conservation groups. Land should be extremely difficult to 'develop'. (The word 'develop' to be replaced by 'destroy' in all proposals.)
7) Underground parking garages with parks over them. There's one under Boston Common, it can be done. This should combine with the previous four points to create more green space in towns, reduce the heat produced by cars and parking lots and reduce our energy consumption for air conditioning.
8) Community centres where anyone can go to get a meal, or just hang out. The food doesn't have to be fancy, but there should not be any income restriction on who goes to a community centre to eat. Sometimes people need to eat in company because they need to make community connections. And maybe sometimes there should be a fancy meal in order to draw in some of the more reclusive community members. There should be something on the menu for every dietary need, board games to encourage people to hang out, and rooms for discussion groups.
9) Overhaul of the school system to produce kids who can think and have useful skills when they get out of high school. Pay the teachers well, give them respect, support them with any time off or extra training they might need. And, of course, monitor them carefully and reasonably, allowing them to have their own personal life.
10) Adulthood test - Scientists can now measure the part of the brain that rules gullibility; let's check into that and see how that part of the brain can be encouraged to grow. If that part of their brain isn't developing correctly, why not? And don't let kids graduate if they can't think - keep working with them. (Certainly don't let them vote if they can't think. I don't want people voting if the gullibility centre of their brain is underdeveloped.)
11) School year-round. Feed the kids healthy foods while they are at school during the day. Give them health care at the school. Give them a good understanding of why having good manners is smart - smoothing their way through life and making everything easier. Good manners for world peace.
12) Comprehensive sex ed classes and free access to plenty of non-latex barrier products. Free birth control. A lot of serious discussion about waiting until your brain is fully developed.
13) Universal health care. Let's get people living long enough and healthy enough so their brains can develop properly.
14) Comprehensive food assistance with cards on which you can only charge real food. Honestly, that shouldn't really be hard to develop - the register knows what you're buying. This should be a lot easier than monorails. If the person has specific dietary needs the card could be tailored to support purchase of those things.
15) Division of church and state. For real, this time. No favouring of one religion over another in any phrases used in public mottoes or laws, or in holidays. There should be a three-day weekend every month, and disconnected from holy-days as best we can. Everyone can use them to celebrate whatever they like.
16) Any rights must be universal, not voted upon. There must be some exceptions for mental incompetence, as in the case of children who's brains have not fully developed, or adults who can't pass the adulthood testing.
17) No raising kids unless you have a raising license.* No kid should be brought into the world by someone who's only motive in doing so is to have power over someone else, or someone who's going to ignore them as an inconvenience. Going back to point 15, this protects both the children and the people who are not competent to raise them. (Protects them from killing the children.) I believe that raising kids should be considered a privilege, because it IS complete power over another person, with the ability to make their life hell. Like teachers, raisers should be well paid, respected, supported and monitored.
18) Cut down on the military, work on re-building the Civilian Conservation Corps, and have them work on our infrastructure issues.
---------------------
* A raising license is not a new idea, I got it from Janet Kagan's "Mirabile."