If I were in charge of the world

So let me know when you'll be campaigning for being in charge of the world! I loved your vision. Keep it high on the radar for all of us. Best, Karen

There are so many things I would change.... I wont even begin to list them here...

I would first begin with empowering women in undeveloped countries by teaching them skills needed to earn an income.

There are so many countries where women and subsequently children have nothing (a friend just came back from Bolivia = me very sad)

I think it would be too much responsiblity to be in charge of the entire world! I can barely keep up with my own business..let alone the entire world!

If I had total control and never ending stamina/energy (like I never slept) and maybe some magical powers..then, the world be a better place and it wouldn't be coming to an end in 2013 (like the Mayan calander suggests!)

All my love to you though...because "you rock" anyways Liz!

Elizabeth, what would be your talent? Nice!!

I'd put you in charge, Elizabeth. Actually, our visions are quite similar. Except maybe your first one. I think everyone does have at least one cool talent...perhaps some are yet to be discovered. (Smile.)

And amen to the AMERICAN IDOL wish!

And I'm sure you have a pragmatic plan on how to accomplish these goals, several of which are somewhat mystical in nature (like fixing the potholes), and meeting your campaign promises?

If I were in charge

• Drivers licenses would be issued only after approval by our fellow drivers (safe and sweet driving!).
• People would get paid for the time spent standing in line at public events and public institutions.
• Children would taste organic produce and milk before learning to accept anything less.
• Sometimes it would rain angel food cakes.

Everyone would get enough, food, water, fun, education, and creativity.

People would be able to express emotion, including anger, safely.

A black person and a woman would be running for president of the USA. Oh, wait!.....

Baseball would be year round, and NFL games would be free to all fans.

Anyone who saw the profound, unselfconscious performance of a kid singing Eva Cassidy's arrangement of John Lennon's 'Imagine' on American Idol would know that the show has a way of introducing creativity and music to kids who would otherwise NEVER hear or learn o appreciate that kind of music.

My platform would be far simpler:

• Increase SBA's operating budget by roughly $2tn
• Eliminate all business taxes for 10 years, then replace them with an "impact" tax which measure's the business' environmental and social impact (including resource usage, etc).
• Scrap all existing INS laws, and create a system more in line with the statue of liberty's plackard
• Invoke a $50,000 "stupid" tax on everybody seeking a sub-prime bailout
• End all agriculture subsidies
• Pump $5tn into rebuilding our railroad systems with special focus on metro and suburban transport..
• Pump $1tn into a nation wide initiative I call Fiber To All Homes

Oh, and I'd force all major metros to have a minimal quality on pizza and bagels reviewed by panels of large brooklyn en.

1. Mandatory basic education to all kids

2. Access to free health care to everybody

3. Remove all barriers to knowledge and opportunities anywhere in the world.

4. Environmental protection

5. Slowing down the pace of life. Life is just not about earning one's bread, there's much more to it...

Lastly "NO WAR" between nations - We human beings have been fighting since stone age over one issue or the other and i guess nobody has ever gained anything tangible except for bad publicity in history books :-)

Anita, I'm curious, how would we drive scientific and technological innovation if not by war?

Michael,

I beg to differ that scientific and technological innovations need to be necessarily guided by war scenarios.Majority of innovations useful to human race have come at a time when there has been peace.

War is a death’s feast, so said George Herbert. A feast where innovation capability of human mind is put to use for destruction purpose most of the times. Scientific and Technological innovations fuelled/inspired by war comes at a price. Who can forget the holocaust of Hiroshima and Nagasaki where 2,10,000 innocent men, women and children were killed within seconds and many lakhs were disabled and diseased by a technology developed during World War 2!

On the contrary,Peace-time scientific and technological innovations have benefitted mankind all the time and continue to do so. Best examples i can put forth are vaccination for "Small-Pox" by Jenner and treatment of "Rabies" by Pasteur. The same is true of the discoveries and inventions of Penicillin, X-ray, Radium and a hundred other inventions.

The blessings of peace-time achievements are far more worthwhile and have profound effect on the mankind....

Wow, Anita. What a world that would be!

Now I'M curious, Michael. Are you talking about scientific and technological innovations like more sophisticated prosthetics for all those 20-year-olds who have lost both legs to a roadside bomb? If there were no wars, think what we could do with all those billions! And all the problems we could solve.

Judy, that's exactly what my point is. If we can do away with war we will have much more resources to tackle other problems and make world a better place to live in.

If we take stats, in 2007, US spent $439.3 billion on defence spending. Whereas on one of the biggest problems being faced by Human race ie AIDS,worldwide spending on AIDS vaccine research totals about $682 million a year! Wish we could devote a fraction of the defence budget on AIDS vaccine research...

The list goes on, In India and Pakistan when millions don't have access to basic amenities like safe drinking water, we are happy spending billions on Defence budget and possess Nukes. By the way,this year Indian government have allocated $20+ Billion towards defence budget. A sum which could have been used to tackle much more important issues...

I stand corrected. As per wikipedia the entire military-related spending by US during the year 2007 totaled approximately $626.1 billion!!!

If the world were ruled by one it would be a dictatorship and well, I like being able to choose where I live. That stated, not everyone gets to exercise their free will and wish we all had that right.

But if I were to rule the world, there would be:

• no human trafficking

• respect for all life on land, in air and in ocean

• live and let live

• respect for all natural resources

• people would be responsible for their own actions and not blame everyone else

• everyone would be born into a loving environment and nurtured

Anita/Judy,

I was mostly making a tongue in cheek comment. However, many technologies we take for granted came as a direct result of supply, communications, defensive, or offensive problems in at time of war.

The list itself is impossible to put together, but the top 10 in my book:

• Computers
• Nuclear Power
• The Internet
• Interstate highway system
• Propulsion
• Irrigation
• Trains
• Nursing
• Aviation
• Technology for mass production of medicine like spectrophotometers

I'm not saying I'm an advocate of war, but the idea of a magical world that becomes peaceful tomorrow is a bit frightening. What would create the needed crises to encourage science, math, and technology? War is a great supplier of necessity.

Hey, Michael. I hear you. There is no question that the U.S. military and the space program have been the leaders in developing the technology that eventually trickles down to the rest of humanity.

But I think Anita's point is well taken. How tragic that we get the innovations only because we have to fix the mistakes and the horrific impact of war. You can't tell me that our gifted scientists would no longer be motivated if they were working on technological advances that would benefit us all---in a peaceful world.

Thanks for clarifying your stand. I love hearing different perspectives!