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on being the man who rules the world… (for a day).

so while doing the interview meme, I came up with what I thought was a quite interesting question for dcalle. I was also quite impressed with his answer. I got to thinking, I wonder how other people would answer that question. I am not going to bother to interview all 170-odd of you reading this with 5 different questions, so instead I’ll just ask this one question here, and hopefully you’ll all comment and tell me what you think:

You’re ruler for a day. What three laws do you enact(or repeal, whatever) that will remain enforced after your reign is over.

(Interpret ruler as you see fit.)

om

10 comments for “on being the man who rules the world… (for a day).

  1. April 13, 2005 at 4:46 pm

    The specifics would be implemented by my crack team of policy wonks, like

    • The Controlled Substances Reform Act: DEA Schedule I-III drugs may be dispensed, without prescription, in state-licensed establishments. Significant restrictions on advertising, dispensation to minors. Medical precautions must be taken (nurse ratios, needle cleanliness, etc). Tax proceeds go to pay for treatment programs.
    • The Sexual Liberty Act: Gay Marriage, the ERA, standardized age-of-consent laws, legalized & regulated prostitution, no bogus Alabama-style vibrator bans, pr0n for everyone, continue the TV ratings system, but allow double-penetration donkey-on-college-coed watersport sex during daytime soaps if marked TV-MA, that sort of thing
    • The Sustainable Energy Act: require all power sources (vehicle, power grid, tv remote control battery) be indefinitely sustainable, phasing it in over 30 years.
    1. mav
      April 14, 2005 at 7:31 am

      1) So does that mean, I can go to the clinic and ask for a heroin shot for recreation, but the nurse has to be the one who injects me?

      2) Heh… I never though of logical extension to media there. I’m sure the bored lonely housewives who’s husbands are away that always send me mail asking me to view them on their webcams will thank you for making daytime TV that much more interesting.

      3) So I’m pretty curious about this one. Its a good idea, but what types of energy are you theorizing here. Environmental activist stuff aside, is there currently technology available that would make this possible in your 30 year window?

      1. April 14, 2005 at 4:51 pm

        1) I don’t know. At the very least, there should be a nurse or MD on duty. I’ll tend towards ‘you can shoot yourself up’, but this is a detail I’ll leave to my crack policy experts

        2) Yup

        3) I honestly don’t know if 30 years is enough time to get the research, engineering, and infrastructural changes done. At some point (50, 100, 200 years?), we are going to run out of petroleum, and I’d much rather we have a controlled transition to more expensive, but sustainable, fuels. The alternative is Mad Max-style chaos. My butt says that we can synthesize biodiesel-esque vehicle fuel in a sustainable way (no petroleum-based corn fertilizer, either, that would be not sustainable). As for the general power grid, I’m more confident that we can get there with some wind/solar/hydro/geothermal gangbang.

        1. mav
          April 14, 2005 at 7:35 pm

          hey… don’t knock mad max style chaos… i’ve been looking forward to it for years…

  2. April 13, 2005 at 6:06 pm

    I would …
    1. Legalize gay marriage/civil unions
    2. Legalize marijuana but make it have similar regulations as alcohol
    3. Illegalize abortion

    1. mav
      April 14, 2005 at 7:34 am

      Wacky. Liberal, liberal, conservative. I don’t necessarilly agree with the way you fell on all of those, but I think its refershing to find someone young who doesn’t just fall squarely in the republican or democrat camps without thinking all the issues through. So instead, before I give you my views, I’m gonna ask you to explain yours a little more. How did you come to each of those ideals and how would you implement them? Do you think that any of them specifically conflict or support any of the others?

      1. April 14, 2005 at 10:23 am

        heh. okay I don’t know if i can answer all your questions.
        1. Gay marriage should be legal because this is the land of the free. I could give two shits if people support homosexuality, they deserve every right that any other citizen has.

        2. People are going to smoke mariujana anyway. I really don’t know much about drugs at all, but I’m assuming that if it were legal and the government could somehow regulate it, people wouldn’t get as much weed with other bad things laced through it.

        I’d make the laws similar to alcohol though, like no smoking weed while driving or no driving while under the influence. Probably 18 years old to smoke, cuz i think you should be aloud to drink at 18 too. (If at 18, someone faces the penalties of an adult, they should get all of the priviledges too.

        3. I believe a woman’s choice is should I use birth control or not? Should I make the guy wear a condom or not? and in cases of rape– there is a 72 hour pill. So there is no reason to murder a life. If you still don’t want a baby, there are plenty of infertile people in the world that would like to adopt it.

        I don’t know how I’d implement these rules. That’s why I’m not going into politics. And I don’t see them directly affecting the others. They’re just my opinions. Hope I answered your questions. 🙂

        1. mav
          April 14, 2005 at 10:48 am

          well, good job on thinking them all through all the way. Thanx for answering.

          1. April 14, 2005 at 10:37 pm

            My only comment on this is that it is a proven fact that until a particular point during pregnancy does the fetus develop any sort of consciousness. The current situation of abortions only allow said act to occur to a certain point- when the fetus still has no sense of being, or even a sense of pain for that matter.

            I think we need to focus more on those already living than those who have yet to be born. For me, the soldiers in Iraq are more important than a baby who hasn’t even began to develop. To me it’s all about prioritizing.

            Not that you’re wrong and I’m right, or the other way around. That’s just my take on the situation. That’s what makes this country great- you can voice your opinion.

  3. April 14, 2005 at 10:33 pm

    1) Prostitution would be legalized, but there would be many regulations stringently enforced to ensure the safety of the customer and the “working girl.” Why keep such a high revenue business illegal with the overwhelming risk of being stricken with some sort of transmitted disease. I would want there to be some sort of medical test and disclosure in which both the employee and the consumer are tested and the results logged in some sort of public record.

    2) Disease Prevention and Cure Act: A bureacracy would be created with the sole purpose of investigating, researching, and testing diseases, and possible cures, that have the potential to become a global epidemic. It would be under the control and watch of the Health Department, which would be recieving larger amounts of allocated funds which would be taken from the defense budget. Which the US Defense Budget alone is literally equivalent to the defense budgets of the 7 other large, wealthy, industrialized nations.

    3) The Innovation and Inventive Act: I would promote what the United States is best at- being the most innovative and inventive nation in the world. Once, every state and culture of people and industy emulated the United States. A tax incentive would be offered to companies, stating that the corporations that make strides towards newer technological advances, particularly in the realm of transportation would recieve these tax breaks as a reward. More money would also be allocated to, in a way, subsidize technology corporations- help pay employees and for resources and machines. This act could save certain industries billions of dollars from piracy, help enforce intellectual copy rights, and make us non-dependent on oil and natural gas (transportation and heating).

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