What is in your political hope chest?

[Stephen Eisel]

4) Gay Marriage (let each church / religion decide not the Gov.)

I want to see this the other way around.

Marriage is a legal, civil contract that should be available to all citizens.

Let the churches decide if they will perform marriages.

As it stands, churches already have all sorts of rules regarding marriage...

I apologize for not adding more detail to n#4.. My hope would be that once a church or religion recognized a gay marriage. The Government would have to issue the marriage license.

[dl meckes]

I don't want government in the religion business. Legal protection/requirements should be equitable.

Can you imagine letting churches decide who is allowed to get a fishing license?

[Stephen Eisel]

I don't want government in the religion business. Legal protection/requirements should be equitable.

Can you imagine letting churches decide who is allowed to get a fishing license?

Please retract your claws... I am not talking about a fishing license.. just sayin... In my opinion, the marriage license is just a formality. If a church or religion wants to recognize a gay marriage then the gov should issue the license.

[William Fraunfelder III]

Personally, my father sold me on an idea a while ago. Do away with the death tax, but cap the inheritance amount. Nobody needs more than, say, 10 million dollars and some property. What this country doesn't need are generations of families that begin to consider themselves the First Estate (see Rockefellers, Vanderbilts, Kennedys, Bushes, et al.). Their kids don't grow up like most Americans, they end up like Paris Hilton and Michael Skakel; most probably don't have a true appreciation for, or work ethic to achieve what it took to accumulate that type of wealth. I'm tired of special access and special interests and everything special that sick wealth affords people. I appreciate personal wealth as much as the next guy, but rolling around in it, sitting on it when society needs it most; that's the root cause of most revolutions in recorded history.

[Danielle Masters]

I've often wondered if all marriages (gay and straight) should be handled at the state level. And if people want to get married in a church that would be a separate thing. I guess for me marriage is such a non-issue, I mean I understand the importance because of insurance and property rights as so on, but I just have never understood how other people's marriages affect my life. If people want to get married just let them, just seems like a basic right.

[Tim Liston]

I'm in favor of most of what is mentioned above.

But to that I would add (and now I am running for cover) a phased in gasoline tax of about $5 per gallon. Which still does not cover the enormous “automobile subsidyâ€

[Danielle Masters]

Tim would this gas tax also include diesel fuel? Or would the truckers (and the few of us that have cars with diesel engines) get a break so that food and merchandise prices would go sky high? I know that when my husband was looking at a new car two years ago he decided on a diesel because while the cost of diesel is higher you get better gas mileage which is one of the reason that semis are diesel.

And I totally agree about higher prices leading to driving less. This summer I drove very little, in fact so much less that I finally filled up my vehicle last week, I hadn't put any gas in it since May. The kids really enjoyed biking here and there.

[Tim Liston]

Hey Danielle, it's great to hear you and the family are biking about. Today was the first day since June that I didn't bike to work.

Yes the tax would also have to include diesel, or folks would just switch from $9 gasoline to $4.50 diesel. And no breaks for trucks either, which again has very positive outcomes. We'd use freight trains to move more goods long distances, which are way more fuel efficient. And we'd start producing and growing more stuff locally, closer to where it is consumed.

[Danielle Masters]

I would love to see better mass transit. Since my husband's job is service related he goes all over the metro area. He has done a lot to reduce his traveling by making sure his appointments for the day are all in about the same area and of course the other move we made was to diesel. He has spoken with technicians in several European nations and also in NYC and the biggest difference is how they get to their appointments, they all are able to use mass transit. I think that is our biggest downfall as a nation. I read James Kunstler's book The Geography of Nowhere and it's interesting how our nation was made without the concept of useable mass transit. If higher gas prices meant us creating a mass transit system that was very user friendly I would gladly pay more for gas and honestly I would probably have no need for a car. I also really like the website http://www.carfree.com/ . Imagine having cities like that, that would be incredible.

[Tim Liston]

The reason mass transit sucks in the U.S. is in large part due to unfair competition from subsidized motoring. Same with long-haul rail. With gas at $9 a gallon, you don't need to subsidize mass transit. Just sit back and watch it flourish....

When people talk about an “energy policyâ€

[Mark Moran]

1) Secure every scrap of loose material necessary for the making of nuclear weaponry by terrorists, or take significant multilateral steps to doing so.
2) Restore American prestige in teh world; end the use of torture
3) Revitalize the war on terror by redploying our troops, and renewing a multilateral diplomatic approach to policing terror. The end of the American cowboy state.
4) Get the religious right out of American politics once and for all; get the blame-America first left out of American politics once and for all.
5) Do something, anything, about healthcare. I favor a single payer Canadian style system, though that isnt going to happen.
6) Start talking reality to American people about the looming crisis in entitlements and the avalance of baby boomers who will soon be drawing on Medicare and Social Security
7) Restore the values of frugality, savings and fiscal responsbility in personal and public life.

[Tim Liston]

Mark, you are spot on, especially with respect to 6) and 7). Problem is, the "free rider" issue. Everyone wants the other guy to be frugal. That's why we need things like gasoline taxes. Blunt instruments.

"Don't tax you and don't tax me, tax that man behind the tree.....".

Were it not so....

[Stephen Eisel]

Yes the tax would also have to include diesel, or folks would just switch from $9 gasoline to $4.50 diesel. And no breaks for trucks either, which again has very positive outcomes. We'd use freight trains to move more goods long distances, which are way more fuel efficient. And we'd start producing and growing more stuff locally, closer to where it is consumed.

Many forms of intermodal transportation (truck and train) are already a reality. So how would we get apples, tomatoes, spinach, strawberries, lettuce, and other products in the off season? How about products that cannot be produces locally (tropical fruits, sea food, and etc) How would we get them with diesel at $9.00 a gallon? How about raw materials that are needed to produce glass, tires and etc?



http://www.factcheck.org/askfactcheck/c ... ove_a.html

[Brad Hutchison]

OK, this is hope chest, not necessarily most practical/important, right?

1) Alternative energy: drilling is not important; we need to get off of fossil fuels.
2)Continued and aggressive space exploration: one thing that does bother me about Obama.
3)Gay marriage: nothing is more un-American than selecting a group to legally discriminate against. And in response to those who mentioned it earlier, I could care less about the churches; I mean marriage in terms of legality and benefits.
4)National high-speed rail system: mainly because of #1
5)The end of theology in government: religion and spirituality are personal issues. They have no place in politics or governance.
6)National comprehensive health care
7)Conservation and restoration of the environment: broad, I know, but important nonetheless

[ryan costa]

there was plenty enough trade before world war II. avocados, pineapples, and bananas have a reasonable shelf life. there's nothing in the Constitution about having the right to every food item all year long.

glass is made mostly from Sand. Rubber can be made from latex extracted from the roots of russian dandelions. The shipment of basic resources would generally be more efficient than consumer goods: manufactured goods generally take up a lot more space. Consider a tire. the volume of a tire is mostly empty space.

what is interesting about baby boomers possibly not getting their social security payments is the possibility of many babyboomers choosing not to retire. This could make it much more difficult for many young people to get jobs. I think Edward Luttwak reviewed this happening in other countries in Turbo Capitalism.

It would be great for americans to be more frugal. it probably won't happen though. it takes a lot of advertising to keep all these new television stations and web sites going. none of the tv shows tell me to be frugal, and neither do the commercials. The magazines at the checkout aisles aren't about living frugal, geography, science, philosophy, industry, skilled crafts and trades, civics and education, etc. Mostly are about celebrities and all the stuff celebrities enjoy and go through.

The WARSAW pact is over. The Soviet Union is Over. The Russians aren't communists: they enjoy buying and selling stuff just like we do now. I'd like to see a candidate suggest dissolving NATO.

the lesson of World War II is that nations that weren't as Isolationist as America end up starting World WAR II. Nations that were as Isolationist as the United States end up winning World War II. We should promote that political ideal. We had plenty of trade during isolationism. American businesses and reporters were doing business in Japan pretty much right up until 1941.