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What to do about Education

Our education system is broken. I think everyone can agree on that. What we all cannot agree on is exactly what's wrong and how to fix it. Here are my proposals. Option A - No more grades, Only badges

We get rid of grades. Not just grades like F = fail, D = pass etc. but also grades as in k-12. Instead we do masterful education, where you don't move on until you've mastered the skill being taught. We break down each skill as a badge that you earn upon mastering that skill. Collect enough skill badges to trade them in for a larger encompassing badge like basic Algebra I, European History, or Conversational Spanish. You have your whole lifetime to earn any badge, not only 12 years at which point you either get it or you don't. Maybe a specific collection of badges can equal Elementary, High school or even an Associates. Keep collecting to get a Bachelors or Masters. Anyone can learn at their own pace using whatever method they want. Testing centers can be used to prove mastery for badges with schools serving as free testing centers with classes on specific skills or groups of skills needed to earn badges. But you can also just use whatever resources are available online from home and take the tests as needed.

Students would gravitate to collecting the badges they covet the most, guiding them naturally into a career. and you can stop and start as needed because once you earn a badge, it's for life and there would be no stigma associated with not completing High school. You could work on badges from prison and maybe the badge system can be used for rehabilitation. Punishing a street tagger by forcing them to get a badge in art history or creative writing seems like a good way to give someone a better shot in life.

Option B - Pay schools based on how many teachers they employ rather than how many students they have.

Right now in the US schools get a specific amount of money per student. This leads schools to fight over these students for greater revenue. Students don't get to choose because of the distance they can reasonably travel for school. So rather than schools competing with offerings, they compete with jurisdiction. This also means that they pack as many kids into a classroom as they can so that they don't have to hire as many teachers and keep more of the money.

Students are like dollar signs to them. And the rise of home school and charters represents and existential threat to them. Which is why they hate them so much. Not the teachers, the districts. If they pay them based on how many teachers they have it would incentivise smaller classrooms and less teacher burn out.

Option C - no more teacher evaluation

Tests should be made and used only by the teacher. Test scores should NOT be kept on transcripts and the data produced should be mined my the teacher using third party tools to help the teacher better serve the student, and inform the parent of student progress.

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What to do about Internet Porn

There’s no safe place for children on the internet. It is too open and porn is everywhere with little to no filter. It is as if you go to the children's section of the book store and find, slipped between the children's books, Porn magazines just waiting for a child to find by accident.

Option A - no more children on the internet

There’s no reason for any child under 16 to ever be on the internet especially when there’s nothing there that they can’t find in a book. Therefore it should be illegal to allow a minor to have access to the internet. Like we do with guns and drinking. It would be better for everyone involved.

Option B - no more free porn

We should require all porn imagery to be placed behind a pay wall. No sexually explicit imagery right on the homepage free of charge. It doesn’t matter how much they charge, (1 cent) as long as they have to use a credit card. Most kids don’t have credit cards so it would keep 99% of kids out and serve as a source of revenue for the websites. Win Win. It’s not censorship, just an easy way to ensure the informed consent of an adult.

Option C - Web 3.0

Enforce url domain usage recommendations so that simple tools can be made to sort content. No more .com for everything. For instance all porn sites would be required to have a .xxx, .adult, or .porn domain. That way a parent or public computer can set a filter preventing access to these types of content. It would also make it easier to find specific content should the user want. Like with .gov or .edu.

Option D - Web 4.0

A new separate internet should be created that is not linked in any way to the current internet. Porn, entertainment, and social media, would not be permitted there. Only knowledge, news and information. Like Wikipedia. Let people go there if they need information and the other place for entertainment and social media.

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Marriage Equality

Option A - protection, non-endorsment

Marriage should not be an institution supported by the government and there should be no special tax breaks or protections for married couples. It should only be possible for any two people to bind property or rights through legal statements not associated with marriage. As such marriage should be a protected religious freedom provided by religious institutions and should not garner government endorsement or benefit to any one straight or not.

Option B - consenting adults

The government has no right to interfere with love. Any two or more CONSENTING Adults should have the right to marry allowing them to enter that tax bracket and achieve spousal rights. This includes all forms of marriage; gay, straight, polygamy, polyandry, incestuous, or other forms not mentioned here. The key to the success of the law is CONSENTING ADULTS. Documenting marriage helps ensure non-consenting adults and children are protected. As an adult you should have the FREEDOM to decide for yourself who to love.

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Health Care

Option A - no Insurance for anyone

Insurance is a form of gambling. You bet that you will get sick and the insurance company is being that you won't. If you get sick then they pay you. But like any bookie they would rather not lose money so they make complicated rules and exceptions to get out of paying.

Health insurance should be illegal. Without insurance doctors are be able reduce their costs and pass those costs to the consumer. It allows a renewal of competition among doctors offices and services keeping costs down and service up. For those who simply cannot afford a doctor there’s Medicaid. Worried that some cannot afford expensive procedures or medicine. That’s already happening even to people with insurance. At least this will help to lower the costs without someone else deciding whether you need it or not. Option B - health subscriptions

Insurance should be subscription based. You pay a flat fee every month and get as much medical service as you need. like Netflix. No more betting on health. Option C - A little bit of both?

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What to do about Prostitution

Option A - no sex for money. Period

Prostitution and pornography should be illegal. Both deal with the sex trade and promote promiscuity, degradation of women, and sex trafficking.

Option B - make it legal

Prostitution like pornography should be a legal regulated industry and 21 should be the legal age of consent for sex work in both. All free thinking adults have the right to decide for themselves what to do with their bodies.

Also

Sexual violence, sex trafficking, and slavery should be crimes punishable by death.

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Laws

Option A - no religious laws

No law should be made where the reason for it’s existence is religious. i.e. Because the Bible says so.

Option B - only religious laws

No law shall exist without a basis from one the major religions. Religions were the first forms of law and mortality and have been practicing and perfecting these ideas for centuries.

Laws that compete or conflict with the law of another major religion shall be invalid and cannot become law.

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Drugs

Option A - all the drugs

All drugs should legal but shouldn’t be marketed, except for public service announcements sponsored by the drug makers about the dangers of using them irresponsibly. This would include alcohol tobacco and pharmaceuticals.

Option B - no more drugs

All drugs should be illegal including alcohol and tobacco, except through prescription. The dangers to the public from overuse far outweighs the benefits. Drug sale should be punishable, but addiction should be treated as an illness.

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Elections

Option A - Online Voting

Voting for all issues and officials should be done online.

Option B - National Voting Day

All public voting, local or national, should be done on the same day of the year (Voting Day), and never on any other day except for emergencies. Employers should be required to provide a paid holiday for anyone voting on Voting day.

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Traffic Tickets

Option A - percentage of income

The point of the ticket system is not just punishment but also deterrent. However the pain is not felt equally. Wealthy people barely flinch and some poor people are affected so much that they are unable to recover. Therefore Tickets  should be based on the percentage of the violators income. Those who have no income can be subject to community service.

Option B - community service for all

All tickets should get the violators community service. Since time is money that would hurt more than just having to pay money and no one would be able to get out of it. Also, doing good is it’s own reward.

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Taxes

Option A - sales tax only

The only taxes should be sales taxes. Rich people buy more, therefore pay more taxes. Food should not be taxed. Religions should not be tax exempt if they take money from the community. If you buy stuff in this country you should pay the sales tax.

Option B - one tax one app

There should be only one tax that would be based on the percentage of income. That percentage should be the same for everyone. Those with no income should not pay the taxes. Everyone should get an app from which they can set what percentage of their personal tax money should be used for what. The tax percentage should be able to be changed quarterly. A married couple with no children may elect to not have any of their tax money go toward schools, while a family with children can elect to have a higher percentage go to schools. Programs that take tax dollars should work to promote themselves and improve output in order to appeal to citizens who would be literally voting with their money.

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Immigration

Option A - wide open borders

There should be no Illegal immigration, only free Immigration. People should never be deported except for extradition or the committing of a crime that necessitates exile. citizens get to vote, get tax breaks, international protections, and a minimum basic income. Children born in America should not automatically be citizens. To be a citizen everyone should have to take a test when they turn 18 and be able to claim residency. Until then all children are protected from deportation.

Option B - only Native Americans are legal residents

Native Americans are the only US citizens and are the only ones who can vote on the present of the United States. Everyone else is treated as a legal resident and can only vote in local and state elections.

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Lawyers

Option A - one more lawyer

A trial should be made up of three lawyers. Two representatives and one presenter. The presenter should be the only lawyer to address the court, present evidence, and call and question witnesses. Like the judge they would be truly impartial. Evidence and witnesses should be provided to the presenter by representation including any questions to be asked.

Option B - no lawyers

There should be no lawyers. Instead investigators, who should be impartial, work with local law enforcement to collect and analyze evidence using scientific best practices to determine the truth and present that evidence to the court.

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Death Penalty

Option A - Do it, but...

Death is not a punishment and should never be seen as such. It’s final. No lessons to be learned. But it can be useful in protecting the community from someone who poses a continued and severe risk to the public. A pedophile, or a serial killer, or a serial rapist would be good examples of people who could get the death penalty. All other crimes should be subject to time in prison and rehabilitation.

Option B - Don’t do it. No buts.

Only when we can be 1000% certain that the correct person has been charged can real justice prevail. However we often see people wrongly convicted of a crime, years later be vindicated with new evidence. If even one person can be accidentally convicted and get the death penalty then there is no justice. Therefore Violent crimes of the first degree (murder, rape, torture) should be life in prison pending new evidence. They should live out their lives behind bars, separated from society, and carefully monitored.