Barack Obama: My Wish List to the Obama Administration

First of all, President Obama, a big congratulations to you on becoming the 44th president of the United States. Although I am not American, but Canadian, I am sure that you and your policies will be good for both countries, as well as an asset to many other countries around the globe.

In your campaign speeches, you talked a lot about "change". There are certainly a lot of things that are in need of change and I hope that the changes you anticipate making, will be a benefit to the American people, as well as making a difference for the better world-wide. And even though the problems of the world are great at the present moment, and although no one can possibly expect one man, one country, to solve all these problems, I have no doubt that you will influence other politicians, and people in general, in a very positive way.

Following is my wish list of things that I think need changing, and I think will help in making the United States a country to be respected and emulated once again. These items might be worth giving some thought to:

1) A few laws are in desperate need of changing. Our children NEED to be kept safe. Too many children have suffered, even died, at the hands of sexual predators. I'm sure this is an issue that would be very close and dear to your heart, as you have two lovely daughters. You have the Secret Service to help keep them safe now, for the next four years. The rest of us do not have that luxury or option. The laws need to be a lot stricter when it comes to apprehending sexual predators and child abusers. If a child is killed either by abuse or sexual molestation, that perpetrator should never be able to walk the streets ever again. It is common knowledge that the majority of these predators will only continue to re-offend when let out on the streets too early. This places far too many of our children's lives in jeopardy. Let's not have another child die at the hands of a repeat offender (or any other kind of offender for that matter)! Our children are much too precious and vulnerable and we all need to keep their safety in mind at all times, at whatever cost.

2) Other laws need to be changed as well. When a person is given a "life" sentence for killing another human being, then a "life" sentence is what he/she should serve. The laws are much too lenient on those who do not abide by the laws of the nation that are put in place to "protect" its citizens. If a person has little regard for the law and the rights of others, then maybe their rights should be stripped. "You break the law, you lose your rights!" Maybe by enforcing stricter laws, and stripping convicted criminals of their constitutional rights, we might actually find the population of our prisons diminishing. When a 5, 10 or 20 year sentence isn't enough to deter these criminals from re-offending, then maybe the thought of losing their rights might be. In losing their rights, convicted criminals will no longer be coddled by judges, lawyers, parole boards and law makers.

3) The health care system needs to be revamped. The privatized, health care insurance system is drastically out of balance. Too many people find themselves using their life savings, and even beyond, sometimes to the point of claiming bankruptcy, when an illness hits a member of their family. Some people aren't even able to provide their families with adequate health care insurance, either because they have lost their job, or their place of work can't afford to pay out the premiums, or if they happen to be self-employed earning a meager living. No one should be turned down for "quality" health care just because they do not have the appropriate "insurance" on hand. A better way might be to adopt a similar system of health care that Canadians have come to appreciate. Everyone in Canada is assured of getting treated the same when it comes to caring for an illness, without "out-of-pocket" expense to them.

4) Make large corporations pay their fair share of taxes. These companies do not need huge tax breaks nor do they need to be given extra consideration just because they employ a lot of people. If small companies can afford to pay their share of taxes, without tax breaks or incentives, and still manage to employ a handful of people AND run their companies, then there is no reason that large corporations can't operate by the same principle. As we have already seen, huge tax breaks only incite greed and mismanagement of money. If the tax breaks would cease, these corporations would have to be more aware of where their money is going and be held accountable by a qualified accountant (or systematic audits) for ALL expenses, including paying their fair share of taxes. Another benefit to this is that the average worker could start paying less income tax, having more disposable income, and everyone would then be contributing their fair share in helping to operate the entire country better.

5) Better Education. It goes without saying that the country is in dire need of a better educational system. Too many children are being pushed through the system without proper evaluation of their academic capabilities. Many European countries are well ahead of North American schools in their curriculum. As well, it might be a good idea to include basic, financial studies and better sex (including relationship) education in the school system. One is never too young to learn the fundamentals of how to earn and handle money correctly. Also, we may find that if a better system of sex/relationship education were taught in schools, our children might not be as apt to engage in sexual activity and enter relationships far before they are ready to handle such things. This might also help to equip them with better life skills for when they are ready for a relationship. As we all know, knowledge is power and that knowledge and power can help to alleviate many of the ills of today's society.

6) Take better care of the environment. Many countries, including the United States, are in fact taking the environment more seriously today, however, there is still a long way to go before we can be assured that our environment will sustain us for generations yet to come. More needs to be done to reduce our consumption and waste of natural resources. More needs to be done in alleviating the waste that clogs up the land we inhabit and the air that we breath, for our own health and safety as well as for that of future generations.

This is just a short list of the things that I think need changing (it's a start), in order to form a new and better direction for all of North America. These are just some basic changes that could go a long way in making the United States a much better and safer place to live and raise a family, as well as making the United States a role model for other nations around the world once again.