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This is why I see politics and activism as my end-game. I can't believe the sheer... well, I can't think of a better word than stupidty, of the social order we allow ourselves to be hemmed in by. It's either work within the system to change it (politics) or work from the outside (vigilante rebellion a la V for Vendetta).
So long as we don't totally break the system, I'm willing to work within it (though the destruction of habeas corpus is getting close to breaking it irreparably).
I don't ever see myself getting elected though. When you start talking practical solutions that value all people, not just the rich, it starts sounding like socialism to a lot of people (even though it really isn't). I also refuse to sloganeer the way politics is now. And I'm not afraid to admit that I don't have all the answers. Our country's problems are messy, complex and hard. There is no three-word soundbite simple solution that will work. And we've already seen that expecting people to think is a losing proposition (or we'd have Al Gore in his second Presidential term right now instead of a bad rehash of 1984...).
An alternative I like is to have a graduated tax rate and let people decide on their returns where they want half their money to go (the other half would be used for things that are necessary but not something people think about, like highway construction, social security and the FAA... ok, maybe they'd only get to decide a third of their tax).
I guarantee we would quickly become a space-faring nation with great education and health care, and though I think there'd be enough funding for a substantial defensive military, our ego-driven wars of greed and imperialism would become a thing of the bad old days.
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I have a unique relationship with Lady Luck. She smiles on me often. Usually it's with derision.
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