User:Armed Pyro

War in Iraq There is no good option left for the War in Iraq. No matter what we do now there will be problems in the regions for years, possible even decades to come. The United States need to pull our troops out of Iraq. The military cannot solve the problems in Iraq. We need to increase diplomacy, and rebuild our relationships with our allies.

Military Spending For 2007 the United States military budget is five hundred and thirty-two point eight billion dollars. This figure does not include many military-related items that are outside of the Defense Department budget, such as nuclear weapons research, maintenance and production, Veterans Affairs, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, or black budget military spending which is not published. Because of all these the actual amount spend on the military in the United States is even higher than reported. The United States spend far too much on the military. It accounts for more than half of the United Stated discretionary spending. Comparing the 2006 military budgets of the world the United States spent over eight times more than the next highest spender China. The U.S. military budget was more than the next fourteen largest budgets combined. The United States and its allies are responsible for two-thirds of the military spending on earth. These budgets also add up to be 57 times more than that of the six front defying nations (Cuba, Iran, Libya, North Korea, Sudan, and Syria). This country needs to get its priority straight. Compare the hundreds of billions of dollars spent on the military to programs often described by politicians as to expensive. 50 billion dollars was spent on children's health insurance. Only 38 billion dollars was spent on k-12 education. Humanitarian foreign aid only received 13 billion dollars. A mere 2 billion dollars was spent on renewable energy research. The military budget needs to be reduced and that money needs to be transferred to programs in desperate need of funding. Health Care The Health care system in this country has failed many people. The World Health Organization ranked the health care system in the United States 37th in the world. Forty six point six million Americans had no form of health insurance coverage in 2005. This is up one point three million people from the previous year. For those Americans who do have health insurance, medical bills are still extremely expensive. Medical bills are the most common reason for personal bankruptcy in the United States. This country has a moral responsibility to insure that its citizens have access to the health care that they need. It is high time that we adopt some system of universal health. Dozens of countries in the world already have universal health care and many of them are ranked better than the U.S. by the World Health Organization. Private health care is about everything except health care. It’s about profit not patients. We need a socialized health care system which gives the power to patients and doctors. Medical professionals know what patients need and are the ones who should decide. We need a system in which doctors decide what patients need, and the government helps them get it. Education K-12 According to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development’s Program for International Student Assessment in 2003 American 15 year olds ranked 24th of 38 in mathematics, 19th of 38 in science, 12th of 38 in reading, and 26th of 38 in problem solving. Students are falling behind and the educational system is in need of reform. The first step is to provide adequate funding. The federal government currently funds only about 8 percent of public education. If the federal government was to spend more on education it would improve the quality of education. More funds would allow the updating of equipment and supplies. It would allow the building of more schools and employment of more teachers lowering class sizes and improving education. It would allow more diverse courses that interests students giving students more diverse skill sets. It would allow moiré programs to help students and keep them busy. But funding is only part of the problem. We need to stop measuring proficiency with standardized testing. These are more about the student’s ability to take a test than their knowledge of the subject. Proficiency should be measured by a years worth of work not one test. More of an effort has to be made to insure that only competent qualified teachers stay in the classroom. Without good teachers it is extremely hard to be a good student. A review system of some kind needs to be established that annual evaluates teachers based on the reviews of unbiased observers, and students. This will insure that bad teachers are removed from the classroom. Common sense issues have to stop being debated because they are harming students. Evolution is an extremely important and highly regarded scientific theory that needs to be taught to all students. Creationism and intelligent design are religious ideas that have no place in a science class. Abstinence only education is unrealistic and furthermore endangers some students by downplaying the effectiveness of contraceptives. All encompassing sex-education needs to be made mandatory. The banning of any book from the classroom is despicable and needs to be made illegal.

Post-Secondary Education A degree is essential to a happy life, but the cost of an education has dramatically risen over the years. More federal funding is needed to help students pay for school. More federal grants need to be given out which are worth more money. The quality of education in a country has a direct impact in the quality of a country.

War on Drugs The War on Drugs costs billions of dollars and causes the overcrowding of the prison system. Criminalization of drugs in an attempt to regulate behavior that is ineffectual and wrong. Illegal drugs are no more harmful than legal ones, and making them illegal funds crime. The war on drugs needs to be ended and drugs need to be legalized.

Minimum Wage The minimum wage needs to be a living wage. It is not acceptable that someone could keep a 40 hour work week and still fall under the poverty line. The federal minimum wage needs to be tripled. Capital Punishment The death penalty is inhuman, discriminatory, and irreversible in cases of a miscarriage of justice. Executing people because they commit murder is hypocritical. Capital punishment needs to be outlawed

Gun Control The rights of citizens to bear arms needs to be upheld. It is the right of a citizen to bear arms only that protects us from tyranny and oppression. Banning gun possession to prevent crimes is not effective. Guns are not a cause of crime they’re a tool. Eliminate them and criminals will simply find a new tool,

Equal Rights The nation founded on the principle that all men are created equally needs to finally live up to it. The Equal Rights Amendment needs to be ratified insuring equality. Federal law should out law discrimination based on sexual orientation. Same-sex marriage needs to be recognized by the government.