Most Important Issue

I wanted to make a thread worthy of this forum. One that would provide for good dialogue and input, take all members into consideration and give us a chance to look beyond the surface level of it all.

OK, this is going to be very, very difficult for some, not so difficult for others. I want us to leave our party affiliation at the door and just join in as citizens-at-large.

Here’s the question I offer up for discussion.

What is the MOST IMPORTANT issue in this year’s election?

There are plenty of issues out there:
The Economy
Taxes
Debt and Deficit
Jobs
Health Care
Immigration
Foreign Policy
Education
Abortion
Same-Sex Marriage
Social Security/Medicare
Gun Control
Environment/Global Warming
Terrorism
Role of Government
…and many many more.

Which of these issues is the “make it or break it” for you? Which one is most important in making your decision?

Each and every issue is important, either to all of us or to many of us and they all deserve answers from the candidates. I was curious which issue was most important to the ATS community.

For me, it's education. Mostly because I'm an educator and it's an important part of my life. There are so many things that need to be "fixed", however, in the recent years, they've tried to fix issues by throwing new regulations and requirements at them which of course required additional administratos (which was one of the biggest problems to start with) and it's just grown exponentially. Without going into an extreme amount of detail in the opening post, I'll just say there needs to be serious cuts in some areas and serious support in others. The class sizes need to be smaller, the administrators need to be fewer, the paperwork needs to be less and the quality time with students needs to increase.

Which issue is most important to you and why is it the most important?


Thanks.

reply to post by PurpleChiten


Well you aren't going to fix anything until you fix the economy.

All the other issues you listed would be easily handled if citizens and politicians a like weren't so damn caught up in the finances of it all.

Education for example. It's a funding/management issue. It's time to get the government out of education in a big way. Chartered schools are proving to be a great alternative to the classic model and most studies show really huge improvements within them.

The problem fundementally is that nobody understands how the economy works. Worse yet, they don't understand how it SHOULD work, in comparison to how it currently doesn't.

So for me, economy, mind you I'm Canadian speaking from that perspective, maybe others will think there are issues more important, but IMO everything is secondary to managing the country's finances.

~Tenth

You have a great point. One of Clinton's big quotes was "It's the economy stupid", I think coined by James Carville. It's definitely the most universal issue that we have.

Over the past few decades, the only ones who were successful at all in dealing with it were Clinton and somewhat with Reagan. The rest have been pretty darn horrible, on both sides.

My own opinion is that Bush squandered a LOT of money in his war with Iraq and the tax cuts, especially those for his billionaire buddies. Then, Obama not only didn't fix it, he added to it. They both have blame in it and it's not going to be fixed over night. I just don't know that Romney can really do much to fix it either though.

It's definitely a major issue that all of us can agree on. I don't see a good solution on the horizon, I don't know if others do or not. Just stopping the downward spiral would be a good start, but we HAVE to get it back under control.

reply to post by PurpleChiten


The larger fundemental issue with the economy is not only was it mis-managed, but it's an economy that depends on fear and speculation.

The money isn't based in anything other than the price of oil and the speculators point of view. The ebb and flow is no longer actually controlled by supply/demand and who has the best business, but on tricks and complex algorithms that if we got the bottom to, I'm sure most would be in favor of making them illegal.

Like put options for example.

To fix the economy, we'll need to retool it from the ground up. We need to find a solution that includes being able to fund ourselves without borrowing from private lenders like the Federal Reserve and the IMF, as well as China.

~Tenth

So, do we return to the gold standard or do we set up a new standard?

reply to post by PurpleChiten


You don't need gold, but you need something.

THere must be a resource that is finite, that can be measured in order to have a stable economy. It doesn't even need to be the same all around. Different places can have different things their currency is based on, so long as the market values aren't manipulated.

Take China for example. How easy is it for them to inflate or deflate their currency?! They've been doing it for years. With a standard like gold, silver or even rare earth, you can't do that.

It's clear to everyone how much of the one thing exists and what people are willing to pay for it. I dont' know the exact answer. But you can't use fiat currency. Debt isn't always a bad thing, but when you can only create revenue by creating debt, that's a hole you can't get out of.

~Tenth

It's kind of a shame we can't have an economy based on knowledge. Then the economy could be brought under contol, education would benefit and we would be a more informed society... but of course the Asian countries would trounce us :/

reply to post by PurpleChiten


A manufacturing/R&D type of economy is in essence a knowledge economy. The more thigns your nation produces of high value that can then be exported, the better off you are.

We have great R&D and sciences in the US, what we lack is the manufacturing base. And not the pump out cheap crap manufacturing that China has devolved into.

You need to make high in demand, high value items like electronics and big ticket items like boats/cars etc..

You have to move away from the military manufacturing, move back towards private and industrial plans. Provide incentives for companies to invest within the US. I don't have a problem with a government giving a bit more to the company that spent twice as much last year because it kept it's commitment to the US, as a US based business.

~Tenth