Describe YOUR perfect world.

[suziedemocrat]

As I read the posts on DU - it seems there are so many people with "expert" knowledge on so many different subjects. I'd like to see DU become a sort of "Think Tank" for the Democratic Party. A place where legislators can come to get ideas. We have the knowledge, we have the experience, we have the will to make the world a better place. So - tell us your ideas!

Of course we all want an end to this hideous war in Iraq, an end to government corruption. Verifiable elections would be nice. But - most of us want more than that. What are your ideas for health care, the environment, the economy?

I'll post mine below to get started.

[suziedemocrat]

1. My ideas.

Alternatives to Oil/Gasoline like Wind, Solar, etc.
Advances in Home construction to make lower cost, energy efficient homes.
A shift in the way people approach health care.
An increase in telecommuting.
Advances which make a middle-class lifestyle more affordable and allow people to work fewer hours.
Affordable and useful higher education.
An end to government bailout to failed businesses.
More open spaces for animals to roam freely.

Personally - I'd like to see:
- solar panels incorporated into hybrid vehicles;
- some sort of pre-fab housing that you can design/order online, have delivered, and easily put together in a few days. These houses would be comfortable for the middle-class in the U.S., yet affordable enough even to third world countries. They would have passive solar designs and they would be energy efficient enough to go off-grid without a lot of cost or sacrifice;
- advances in appliances, lighting, etc. to make homes more energy efficient;
- a massive change in the way Americans think of health care. I personally think many Americans rely too heavily on their GPs. I think the ideas put out by Wired magazine were very good. Low-cost screenings made available to the public without a doctor's recommendation. I also think more of the burden of managing health care should fall on the individual. Each Individual should at least have copies, if not originals, of all their x-rays and health care information. Individuals should also bear some of the burden of the price of their health care, which might encourage people to adopt healthier lifestyles. Why is it we can manage our finances, yet we are too stupid to manage our health and we are treated like children by our General Practitioner? I think we should have National Health Insurance, but there is no way that would be affordable without major changes to the current health care system.
- Along those same lines, we need SOME drugs to be manufactured by the government. The drugs that work for a few people but will never make enough money for the drug companies to manufacture them. We have private and government "mail" systems. Why not a government drug program for "orphaned" drugs?
- A shift from thinking of college as a four year party for young people (like it was for me) to making higher-education a life-long endeavor. Many people who "should" go back to school can not fit the current educational model into their lives. We need more intensive programs for middle-aged people who need to switch careers or stay on top of advances in their current careers. We need more professors with actual work experience in the fields they teach.
- A limit to how much the government will bail out failing businesses, even large employers. If an airline or car manufacturer has a flawed business model, why not let them fail and be replaced? The airlines were in trouble BEFORE 9/11. They are in trouble now. Yet JetBlue and SouthWest seem to be able to make money.

[xchrom]

2. i could not disagree more about your vision for health care.

as a person who has had a very complicated history when it comes to health care -- and i've learned far, far more than the average person will ever know about their body -- i am no doctor.

and i don't want to be a doctor -- you cannot imagine the kind of time ''managing'' your health care{and you have to do a good deal of it anyway} would take up -- and amateurs playing ''doctor'' even in a limited sense is a prescription for a disaster.

and btw -- this is the same health care proposal put out by the ceo of phizer.

[suziedemocrat]

7. I might feel the same way if I were in your situation.

As it is now - I am in good health - as far as i know. I don't trust doctors and I feel a bad doctor caused my father's death when he was 48 and I was 8. So - maybe that colors my view of the world.

An average of 195,000 people in the USA died due to potentially preventable, in-hospital medical errors in each of the years 2000, 2001 and 2002, according to a new study... http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=11856 “The equivalent of 390 jumbo jets full of people are dying each year due to likely preventable, in-hospital medical errors, making this one of the leading killers in the U.S.”

Frankly - I want to be in control of my own health. I've heard far too many stories of people who knew they were seriously ill yet their doctors told them it is "nothing" and refused to give them the tests they knew they needed. Read Fran Dresher's story and it will make you cringe! I'd like to get a mammogram, colonoscopy, etc., on my own without going to a GP who then refers me to a clinic to get the screening. My Mother is older and she also has to get through the GP "gatekeeper" before she can get to the specialist she knew she needed to see in the first place.

Frankly, I don't think Doctor's always give the best advice. I'm old enough to remember when Doctor's told everyone to switch from butter to margarine. Very bad advice. When my mother had her first child she asked the doctor if it was OK to smoke while she was breast feeding and he said "just don't get ashes on the baby." Can you imagine? (They actually thought breast feeding was very old-fashioned and unnecessary with all the new formulas out!) Several doctor's wanted to put my mother on HRT decades after she went through menopause (so what's the point?) - and got mad when she refused. Years later HRT is in the press for all the health problems it causes. A friend of mine was a few pounds overweight and was given a diet pill by her doctor. That pill was off the market within a year for causing heart problems. Another friend's father fell from his boat and was released from the emergency room with several broken ribs - which later caused his death. If you listen to doctors, organic foods are not worth the extra cost. I could go on and on. If a doctor makes a mistake with my health - I'm dead and he still get's paid. Frankly - I don't trust them enough to let go of control to them.

Maybe the answer is just the option not to go through a GP if you would rather handle things on your own. We have the option to be our own building contractors. Even though most people would never want to handle the stress of building their own home - it is an option. Why can't some of us be our own GP's?

[peacetalksforall]

3. Votes that count.

. No Republican voting machines, software, technicians.
. Dem leaders who care and do something about our vote.
. A law saying that corporate network, cable, and satellite tv corporations cannot pay for and own exit polling data and cannot call the winners based on their own data.
. No partisan election officials, law enforcers, civic employees, volunteers, or anyone else impeding the vote of any citizen in any precinct anywhere in the country.
. A law prohibiting existing voting machines with a switch to paper until the time the machines, software, technicians are completely safe and all reporting procedures and totals absolutely secured and break proof.
. A trustworthy oversight committee before, during, and after the elections. Taxpayer funded investigations before, during, and after infringements. Free appeals to State, Federal, and the Supreme Court.

[undergroundpanther]

4. No empires

No bullies,authoritarians,narcissists,con men,sociopaths,rapists,pedophiles,kings,organized secretive religion,domination,secret games between nations,no abusers,no drug alchohol abuses with thier addictions out of control,or gross inequality as in nobody goes hungry, nobody goes without the benifiets of living in a civilization so a few can have it all.A population educated in how manipulation,propaganda ect.works on peoples perceptions so they do not fall for it,an educated population that knows what damage giving an authoritarian/sociopathic/narcissistic abusive social structure and personality type power..can do to a free and civil culture..
A system that uses foresight (what would the impact of___ be seven genrerations into the future)with scientific advances and other decisions.
Free thought accepted,diversity is accepted and no one controlling how one looks,speaks, dresses,thinks ,lives as long as it is not dominating exploiting or hurting others deliberately.
A culture that respects of the earth and all the species(incuding us) on it.

[ElsewheresDaughter]

5. momma Barbara Bush was never concieved

[SammyWinstonJack]

6. That WOULD be a perfect World!

A start at any rate.