Many people fantasize about what they’d try to accomplish if they were president of the United States. Some even write it down, and a few publish their thoughts, as filmmaker/provocateur Michael Moore did earlier this week in the 150th-anniversary issue of The Nation.
A few of the ítems on Moore’s list of twenty seem to be meant humorously (e.g., “free HBO for everyone”) but he’s serious about the clear majority of them, which are consistent with the lefty views on economic and political issues that he’s expressed since the 1980s, first as a print journalist and then in movies such as Roger & Me and Fahrenheit 9/11.
From Moore’s piece (bolding added):
3. If there is a call for war, and if we are to invade another nation, I will declare as commander in chief that the first to be sent into combat must be the conscripted adult offspring of all members of Congress, the president and the president’s cabinet (and then, in order, the children of the CEOs of the Fortune 500, all military contractors and the top media executives). This should reduce the number of wars considerably…
6. I’ll reduce the Pentagon’s budget by 75 percent. That will pay for the above free college and most of my ideas that will follow. We will still have one of the biggest militaries in the world and the ability to blow it up many times over—just not as many times as before.
7. All Americans will get the same free health plans that members of Congress have access to...
9. The wealthy will pay the same percentage in Social Security tax on their entire income as every middle-class person does. Right now, those who earn any income over $118,500 pay zero Social Security tax on whatever they make over that sum…If the rich were forced to pay Social Security tax on all that they earn, there would be enough money in the Social Security trust fund to last us many more decades—perhaps close to the next century.
10. We will return to the income-tax rates that existed when that great Republican Gerald Ford was president. That’s all. No need to take it back to the Eisenhower days, when the wealthy paid more than 90 percent in income tax. Just take me to the last Republican before Reagan, when the elites paid around 70 percent. That, too, will help to fund everything here on my list...
14. When in doubt, do what the Canadians do: a near-ban on handguns and semi-automatic weapons. An eight-week election season. A return to the paper ballot. No pharmaceutical ads on TV. Strict banking and financial regulations. A refusal to eliminate civil liberties after the terrorists attack. Trade with Cuba. And reduce the number of downs in football to three…
17. We will not back theocracies. You know who you are. Stop it, and stop your harmful, inhuman ways. And we can start with ourselves. After thirty-five years of having to follow laws instigated by the Christian right in this country, I’ve had it. To do my part, as president, I will gay-marry anyone who wants to get married.
18. All Americans shall have a mandatory four-week paid vacation…
20. As Americans, we will seek to be kind—to each other, to the world, and to ourselves. As the president, I will be the first to set that example. I will place education and enlightenment at the top of every agenda, and the elimination of ignorance as my worthy goal. Ignorance leads to fear, fear leads to hate, and hate leads to violence. That has been the American equation for too long. The road to its end begins with my election.
