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Hello WR. I thought it would be interesting to see what issues we might actually find common ground on. Issues like abortion, the economy, taxation -- most of them I guess -- we're all pretty entrenched in, but I think there is some common ground for us commies and fascists to share. So here are mine, what do you think? And let me know yours.
Getting money out of politics:
What we have right now is essentially legalized bribery in the form of Super PACs, big money dinners, lobbying, etc, allowing billionaires (Koch Brothers, Soros) to have unfair advantage with politicians who are supposed to representing all of us, not just a few of us. Would you support an amendment making it illegal for politicians to accept campaign contributions? How about only allowed to accept a certain amount of money from small donors? Along with this would perhaps be the requirement to publicly fund campaigns and require businesses who run political adds to offer equal promotion of the opposing party.
Regulating social media platforms as public utilities:
I often hear my conservative friends complaining about how left-leaning social media platforms (Facebook, Twitter, YT, etc) more harshly censor and remove conservative viewpoints. If we regulate them as a public utility we can then apply the 1st amendment to them, thereby protecting all speech on these platforms as protected speech. Social media platforms are the new public square and should be treated as such.
Gun control:
The knee-jerk reaction here might be to think this issue is too partisan, but from my personal experience and some polling data I've seen, most Americans are pretty much in the same place. Universal background checks when buying from licensed dealers (most states already do this), as well as some kind of reporting system or bill of sale for private transactions or gifts. If I sell my car the state finds out because the new owner has to register the title, I think it's fair if you sell your gun privately that there should be some kind of paper trail to know the purchase history of said gun.
Marijuana & other recreational drugs in general:
The cat's out of the bag for marijuana, and it's time for our laws to reflect that federally. While I'm open to the idea of states having the right to legalize or not internally, marijuana should be de-criminalized federally and removed as a Schedule 1 so it can be properly researched without unnecessary red-tape. Other "natural" drugs like mushrooms should also be considered. If it grows out of the ground it's probably okay and up to the individual how to use. Also the "Green" Industry is the largest growing industry in the country. So there's that.
Bring the troops home:
We've been in Afghanistan for 18 years, Iraq for 16, and we're in shadow wars across the Middle East and Africa. It's time to bring the troops home. The Middle East has been a quagmire for thousands of years, it's time we stopped sending young Americans to die for the greed of the military industrial complex, especially given the pretenses for some of these wars (Iraq) turned out to be false (where dem WMD's at?).
Infrastructure:
Our infrastructure gets a rating of D+. We need an overhaul. The means are important (private or public) and are a separate debate, but we should be able to agree that the whole patch-and-pray philosophy we've been following will eventually catch up to us. Plus jobs. Jobs jobs jobs.
These are just a few off the top of my head. Thoughts? Additions?
Getting money out of politics:
What we have right now is essentially legalized bribery in the form of Super PACs, big money dinners, lobbying, etc, allowing billionaires (Koch Brothers, Soros) to have unfair advantage with politicians who are supposed to representing all of us, not just a few of us. Would you support an amendment making it illegal for politicians to accept campaign contributions? How about only allowed to accept a certain amount of money from small donors? Along with this would perhaps be the requirement to publicly fund campaigns and require businesses who run political adds to offer equal promotion of the opposing party.
Regulating social media platforms as public utilities:
I often hear my conservative friends complaining about how left-leaning social media platforms (Facebook, Twitter, YT, etc) more harshly censor and remove conservative viewpoints. If we regulate them as a public utility we can then apply the 1st amendment to them, thereby protecting all speech on these platforms as protected speech. Social media platforms are the new public square and should be treated as such.
Gun control:
The knee-jerk reaction here might be to think this issue is too partisan, but from my personal experience and some polling data I've seen, most Americans are pretty much in the same place. Universal background checks when buying from licensed dealers (most states already do this), as well as some kind of reporting system or bill of sale for private transactions or gifts. If I sell my car the state finds out because the new owner has to register the title, I think it's fair if you sell your gun privately that there should be some kind of paper trail to know the purchase history of said gun.
Marijuana & other recreational drugs in general:
The cat's out of the bag for marijuana, and it's time for our laws to reflect that federally. While I'm open to the idea of states having the right to legalize or not internally, marijuana should be de-criminalized federally and removed as a Schedule 1 so it can be properly researched without unnecessary red-tape. Other "natural" drugs like mushrooms should also be considered. If it grows out of the ground it's probably okay and up to the individual how to use. Also the "Green" Industry is the largest growing industry in the country. So there's that.
Bring the troops home:
We've been in Afghanistan for 18 years, Iraq for 16, and we're in shadow wars across the Middle East and Africa. It's time to bring the troops home. The Middle East has been a quagmire for thousands of years, it's time we stopped sending young Americans to die for the greed of the military industrial complex, especially given the pretenses for some of these wars (Iraq) turned out to be false (where dem WMD's at?).
Infrastructure:
Our infrastructure gets a rating of D+. We need an overhaul. The means are important (private or public) and are a separate debate, but we should be able to agree that the whole patch-and-pray philosophy we've been following will eventually catch up to us. Plus jobs. Jobs jobs jobs.
These are just a few off the top of my head. Thoughts? Additions?
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