New Year's Resolutions for America

#1 Elect a female president, preferably a minority female president.
America is way behind on this one. Even cultures that most Americans consider more primitive or less economically developed than ours have had women as their top leaders. It'd be interesting to see how the female dynamic changes the way the country is run. I definitely think it would be for the better.

#2 Get out of Iraq.
As the news has been reporting, there seems to be a harsh civil war going on in Iraq and we are in the middle of it. It's good that Saddam is no longer there but now we've got this new al-Sadr guy to deal with. Get out and let them fight it out and we can deal with the winner afterwards instead of trying to deal with six different forces. Unfortunately, pulling out risks the complete collapse Iraq and possibly the revival of a weapons program.

#3 Universal healthcare.
There are so many different arguments on this one. Yes! No! Yes! No! If you think only about what the point of universal healthcare is... provide healthcare for everyone. Ensure that everyone has an equal opportunity to receive the proper treatment they need... universal healthcare is a good thing. Opponents say "Omg! The cost! The possible abuse! Lord help us!" But they don't look at other countries where universal healthcare has worked and is working. Opponents really don't want to give people the proper healthcare. It's sad.

#4 Please do something about education!
Here are a couple ideas. Abolish standardized testing, it really accomplishes nothing except that teachers teach for the test and puts undue stress on children as young as five. Institute yearly intensive evaluations for all teachers. This is not as hard as it seems. Many private schools do this with little cost and thereby retain their good teachers and are able to replace bad teachers when needed. I cannot tell you how many horror stories of bad teachers I have from public school. Also, improve the education in general. By this I mean move more responsibility to the individual school districts. School districts should also up the expectations. If you expect students to preform at a certain level instead of just settling for what you can get then you'll get better results.

#5 Address the issue of poverty and homelessness in our country.
I recently read an article about a city in Florida that put strict regulations on organizations like the Red Cross regarding where they could hand out food and the like to the homeless. In essence, they were restricted from anywhere public. They also severly restricted where homeless people could loiter. Cities cannot simply say, "Oh yes, you homeless people, well you can't stay here, go elsewhere." Ignoring the problem does not make it go away. There definitely need to be some social programs instituted aimed at helping these people. Many of them have mental issues and simply cannot get the care they need (yet another plus for the idea of universal healthcare, perhaps the homeless population would decline.) Have a heart people.