I'd kill welfare and any other similarities to a socialist state. The leechers of society would be out of luck. I'd kill a good 3/4 of the government bureaucracy. The US would be a pure capitalist state. I'd remove a good portion of the laws. The legal system would be brought back to the basics, and only the more important crimes would be illegal - crimes such as murder, rape and theft. Drug laws, prostitution, antimonopoly laws- they just congest the system. 90% of the lawsuits would find themselves with no grounds to go to court. Taxes would be a straight %, so that by default those who make more pay more. Tax brackets are confusing and unnecessary.
Education would recieve all of my attention. Dumb people annoy me. I want to trim their numbers. I also don't want my nation's education system to be as low on the international roster as it is. The US is one of the most prosperous nations in the world, and we should be proportionately better educated as a result of such. Better educated people make better businesses, doctors, scientists and such. The whole nation would benefit if everyone was smarter on average.
Military service would be compulsory at 18, similar to the system imposed in other nations. The military has a way of making people more responsible, and productive in society. Military service would be for men and women - there would be no bars to frontline service. Equal rights means equal responsibility. Women would no longer get the rewards without the risk.
The military would be streamlined. There are too many redundant branches. Army and Marines and National Guard - they're all the same. There would be one branch of the military for people who fight on the ground. There would be one branch for people who fight at sea. There would be one branch for people who fight in the air. There would be no crossovers. The army would not have airplanes, and the navy would not have ground soldiers. Keep it simple, I always say.
Congress would not be in charge of its own payrate. No government body should have the power to vote itself more money. By and large, government pay would cut significantly. The government serves the people - it's not an aristocracy. Term limits on a presidency would be removed. A good president should be allowed to run as often as the people wish it. Elections for all government positions would be held biannually. Politicians should be kept on task for their entire term, and not for only the last year before reelection. A president shouldn't have 3 years to ruin a nation before being held to task, and a senator shouldn't have 6. Government responsibility is important.
The electoral college would be abandoned. Direct elections better represent the people. Also, the democratic and republican parties would no longer recieve any national support. Their funds and power would be solely on their own efforts. Ideally, I'd like to encourage a political system where a multitude of political parties have a viable chance at government office.
Foreign relations would be given priority over national interests. I want the US to be respected around the world. The days of unilateral decisionmaking would be at an end. Free trade, Kyoto environmental treaty, many things would the US enter in on that it hasn't in the past. On the issue of foreign relations, the US would be at least militarily, an isolationist. The military affairs of other nations would remain their affairs alone, and no support will they recieve from the US. This would save a lot of money.
Money saved from the complete axing of so much of the government would first go towards removing the national debt. The US will be in the black again. After the US is in the positives again, with a healthy surplus, the money would be returned to the people. In fact, taxes would drop so that the people would never lose said money in the first place. A rich population is a productive population, and I'm all in favor of increasing society's productiveness.
