SOCIAL REFORM

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Re: SOCIAL REFORM

Postby pcslim » Sun Sep 20, 2020 11:58 am

cactuspete wrote:IDEA TWO: Educational Reform. The entire system needs to be reformed, but most urgently in need of reform would be colleges and universities. Our institutions of higher learning have strayed away from academic rigor and have become ideological hothouses advocating for social causes and special interest groups. Along the way success in these institutions has been based less on merit and more on advancing undeserving members of various ethnic groups. It's widely known that unprepared minority students are often admitted to universities while high scoring whites and Asians are turned away. That not only undermines the credibility of our colleges and universities, it's also blatantly discriminatory, unfair, and unethical.

While the hard sciences have been less affected by these issues, even when it comes to hard sciences we see a lowering of the bar. To add insult to injury, even students majoring in science or engineering are required to take ideological indoctrination classes where they are forced to listen to mindless dribble about microaggressions, fake racism, or make-believe genders. All of this ideological nonsense must be expunged from colleges and universities in order for them to regain credibility.

Dumbing down the curriculum is a huge issue and standards need to be raised. Students should be allowed to fail and very little energy should be wasted propping up unsuccessful students. They should be channeled in other directions with alternative educational pathways. There was a lot more to this idea, but this will give the reader an idea of the gist of what we mean by Educational Reform.

An educational system cannot be all things to all people. The system as it exists in the USA tries to please everybody and this results in contradictory objectives. The focus needs to be clear and well-defined. The problem is that the political process through which policy develops makes a clear and well-defined focus next to impossible. The way our government works guarantees mediocre results. Teachers can work all day and all night and the system actually makes it impossible for them (except for a lucky few who wind up in perfect situations) to be successful.
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Re: SOCIAL REFORM

Postby cactuspete » Sun Sep 20, 2020 9:19 pm

IDEA THREE: Legal Reform. Our legal system must be simplified and a back to basics movement must be implemented. There are two and only two broad types of crime which should be dealt with by the government: 1) Physical Assault and 2) Property Crimes. As usual the devil is in the details, but physical assault covers a lot of ground and includes physical threats, physical attacks, violent rape, murder, attempted murder, kidnapping, interfering with freedom of movement, inflicting pain, etc. Property crimes include vandalism, breaking and entering, robbery, theft, fraud, etc. What gets dropped from the legal system is the broad category known as sex crimes. It is not the job of government to interfere with the private affairs of residents. Many might object to the concept of age of consent being dropped, but there has never been a rational and logical basis for the existence of that law to begin with and above all else the legal system must be rational and logical. A lot of time is wasted in our legal system on sex crimes and doing away with that legal category will increase the efficiency of the entire system. Resources will be freed up and worthless social workers will not have jobs which shouldn't exist to begin with.
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Re: SOCIAL REFORM

Postby pcslim » Mon Sep 21, 2020 9:11 am

Many people have an emotional reaction to the topic of sex crimes, but once they get over that initial irrational reaction, I think they'll see the wisdom of dropping all laws pertaining to sexual behavior. Our courts are clogged with he-said-she-said allegations and false allegations of things which often supposedly happened years if not decades ago. This is a waste of time and resources. The hype over sexual behaviors seems to have gotten out of control and cooler heads should prevail. Any real crime is covered by the two categories listed above. An actual rape requires some sort of physical force. Not something that can be loosely construed as physical force, but actual physical force or a clear threat of physical force. The same would apply to acts which are crimes due to the age of one of the participants. At no time should an interaction between two people be considered to be a crime just because certain body parts are involved. Obviously, this eliminates indecent exposure as a crime unless the person is blocking traffic or making a lot of noise in which case it would not be the exposure of a body part which would be the crime, but other aspects of the behavior which would be the source of the criminality of the event. When all is said and done, the government should not be involved in the personal lives of individuals and sex is one of the most personal aspects of our lives.
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Re: SOCIAL REFORM

Postby shadylady » Mon Sep 21, 2020 8:36 pm

cactuspete: Your idea of legal reform would put a lot of useless people out of work. There would be fewer jobs for lawyers and judges and anyone else involved in the so-called justice system. It would also make prostitution legal as it should be. As for age of consent, it's the job of parents to protect their kids and really the exact age at which someone can have sex is more of a personal decision than a decision that should be made by governmental bureaucrats. Keep the government out of our personal business!
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Re: SOCIAL REFORM

Postby Sparky of SoCal » Tue Sep 22, 2020 4:26 am

MojaveMike wrote:A comprehensive and rigorous test should be required before a high school diploma is given. It's a basic quality control measure. Don't give things to those who do not deserve them. That's what is required to become a merit-based society. This test could also be used to determine whether or not the individual qualifies for college or the military.


To add on to that train of thought, your ideas are timely. The trend I hear most is the Federal government picking up the tab for college. I picture that plan just being an extension of high school and not learning a damn thing but party.
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Re: SOCIAL REFORM

Postby cactuspete » Tue Sep 22, 2020 6:36 am

IDEA FOUR: Mass Incarceration. Ideally only a very small percentage of the population should be incarcerated, but there is no reason not to incarcerate as needed so that laws are followed and order maintained. Those who are incapable or unwilling to abide by the laws should be dealt with harshly, but fairly. Statistically speaking, there is a high correlation between low IQ and criminality. The system that has been in place since the 1960s has encouraged people with low IQs to have lots of babies and people with higher IQs to have fewer babies (in part because people with high IQs tend to carry the tax burden which enables the stupid to produce lots of stupid babies, but I digress). So, from a statistical point of view it would be expected that incarceration rates would reflect the percentage of individuals with low IQs present in the population. Therefore, we should be willing to tolerate high incarceration rates and we should discourage individuals with low IQs from producing offspring. To do this offenders should be required to earn their way out of prison by completing academic and physical work. This will allow those with higher IQs to get out of prison faster since the work will be easier for them. Repeat offenders should receive sentences longer and longer sentences.

Keeping Costs Low: Prisons should be designed to run themselves. Through modular design and the use of surveillance and ankle bracelets coupled with artificial intelligence the costs associated with incarceration should be kept extremely low. The technology might not be completely there at this time, but it should be possible to improve over time to the point where it is relatively inexpensive to incarcerate criminals. Fewer prison guards will be needed and a modular design will make mass production of identical units which can "snap together" relatively cheap. Food costs can be kept low by mass producing inexpensive food products which can be easily delivered to prisoners.
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Re: SOCIAL REFORM

Postby ergot » Tue Sep 22, 2020 6:56 pm

Sparky of SoCal wrote:
MojaveMike wrote:A comprehensive and rigorous test should be required before a high school diploma is given. It's a basic quality control measure. Don't give things to those who do not deserve them. That's what is required to become a merit-based society. This test could also be used to determine whether or not the individual qualifies for college or the military.

To add on to that train of thought, your ideas are timely. The trend I hear most is the Federal government picking up the tab for college. I picture that plan just being an extension of high school and not learning a damn thing but party.
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Academic standards have been lowered and ideological bullshit has been added to the mix. College should only be for the top ten to twenty-five percent of the population. It should not be dumbed down so that even less than bright people can extend their high school experience. The radical left wants to turn college into something that neuters brilliant minds and advances halfwits. That's their idea of equity or social justice or whatever in the hell the idiots are currently calling it.
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Re: SOCIAL REFORM

Postby deathvalleyjake » Wed Sep 23, 2020 7:03 am

Reform has a lot to do with efficiency and priorities. At this time the entire country has become grotesquely inefficient and our priorities are completely out of whack. In many cases we prioritize problems which don't even actually exist! In other cases we treat small problems as if they're big issues. It's like some form of mass hallucination. So far I like what I see with the ideas cactuspete has suggested. (There might be a few details that I would disagree on, but nothing of any non-imaginary consequence.) They provide a strong framework for reform and really do get at the heart of the matter.
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Re: SOCIAL REFORM

Postby drdesert » Fri Oct 09, 2020 6:36 am

cactuspete wrote:IDEA FOUR: Mass Incarceration. Ideally only a very small percentage of the population should be incarcerated, but there is no reason not to incarcerate as needed so that laws are followed and order maintained. Those who are incapable or unwilling to abide by the laws should be dealt with harshly, but fairly. Statistically speaking, there is a high correlation between low IQ and criminality. The system that has been in place since the 1960s has encouraged people with low IQs to have lots of babies and people with higher IQs to have fewer babies (in part because people with high IQs tend to carry the tax burden which enables the stupid to produce lots of stupid babies, but I digress). So, from a statistical point of view it would be expected that incarceration rates would reflect the percentage of individuals with low IQs present in the population. Therefore, we should be willing to tolerate high incarceration rates and we should discourage individuals with low IQs from producing offspring. To do this offenders should be required to earn their way out of prison by completing academic and physical work. This will allow those with higher IQs to get out of prison faster since the work will be easier for them. Repeat offenders should receive sentences longer and longer sentences.

Keeping Costs Low: Prisons should be designed to run themselves. Through modular design and the use of surveillance and ankle bracelets coupled with artificial intelligence the costs associated with incarceration should be kept extremely low. The technology might not be completely there at this time, but it should be possible to improve over time to the point where it is relatively inexpensive to incarcerate criminals. Fewer prison guards will be needed and a modular design will make mass production of identical units which can "snap together" relatively cheap. Food costs can be kept low by mass producing inexpensive food products which can be easily delivered to prisoners.

An efficient incarceration system could be dangerous if used by the wrong group of people. At this point the technology is within reach to create a low cost system, but if that system were used by an ideological backwards regime it would rob people of their basic freedoms. On the other hand, it would be a fantastic way of sidelining those who refuse to respect the rights of others.
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Re: SOCIAL REFORM

Postby cactuspete » Mon Nov 02, 2020 6:59 am

IDEA FIVE: Freedom of Speech. True freedom of speech does not exist in the USA at this time and to the extent that it does it is often misused. Freedom of speech should only apply to citizens and that freedom of speech should not be under threat by employers. No employee (who is a citizen) should ever lose a job as a result of exercising the right to express ideas freely. That doesn't mean that libelous or slanderous speech is protected, just that an employee can express a controversial view without fear of retaliation by an employer. This liberates the employer from the compulsion to keep track of the social media feeds of employees and it allows employees to speak their minds and thereby promote the free exchange of ideas which is essential to the proper functioning of a democracy.
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