Were I running for president, I would discuss the defects in the American government. I would say that defects persist because they are being ignored. I would encourage government to start a low cost program to actually talk to people to find out what they don’t like about government. (This program would create interesting jobs as a side benefit.) This would not be a poll, mind you, but an open discussion about what government defects should be eliminated.
The results of the described investigation would be entered into a database (anonymously, if requested). The database would be available for all. The purpose of the database would be to encourage discussion to eliminate government defects.
One defect with the American government is that there are over 2 million Americans in jail. The rate of American incarceration is ten times the rate of incarceration in China. It is seven times higher than the rate in Europe and seven times the rate we used to have in America.
A related defect is that many of these people have been proven to be innocent by DNA testing and that many more are innocent without any DNA evidence with which to be exonerated.
A related defect is that American, as a result of this expense and persecution, does not have a lower crime rate than it had in the 1970’s. Nor does America have a lower crime rate that other industrialized countries of the world.
Related defects are police brutality, twenty million arrests a year, over burdened courts, over burdened public defenders.
Another related defect is that twenty million innocent people representing twenty million American families comprised of 86 million people that have to pay as much as a hundred billion each year to prove that they are innocent.
Another related defect is that there are 55 black men in jail for every white woman, in spite of rampant prostitution (the legalization of which should be considered).
Is there any presidential candidate that is not ignoring these defects?
By the way, were Al Gore drafted (www.draftgore.com) , he would be a much better candidate now than the candidate that beat Bush (in the popular vote) the first time. Al even looks more distinguished than the first time he ran! He is also infinitely more respected in the world outside of America.