Top 10 Paradigm Shifts That Need to Happen In America

The rest of the world used to like the United States. That was back before open invasions and occupations sullied the good name of the country.

The U.S. needs to pull back out of foreign nations and leave them to themselves. If asked, help. If not, let them be.

The main reason the U.S. is in other nations is due to fossil fuels and natural resources. So-called "peacekeeping" and "defending the American way of life" are generally a smoke screen.

If the United States would trade in their monetization of the energy markets and instead invest in green/renewable energy, there would be less need for foreign conflicts, and therefore, the worldwide impression of the United States would improve.

The money that changes hands in politics is merely a drop in the bucket compared to the corporate world. With companies going bankrupt and then getting bailed out by taxpayer money, there is little need for the rich to act responsibly.

The tax laws are such that the poor keep paying the rich to play and waste their money. The tax laws need to be rewritten to not allow corporations to hide capital, and the richest should be taxed by the same standards or higher than those of the lower classes.

Federally regulate all public institutions from K through 12. Currently, the states set their own standards, leading to discrepancies in curriculum and subsequent knowledge. Once this is done, open free institutions of higher learning with qualifying measures based on commitment to education, particularly in math and science (not ethnicity or gender, as it currently excludes those more qualified).

Within decades, the entire education system could be revamped, and the US would be a hotbed of innovation.

Cool stuff. The only problem is we pay the wrong people for healthcare. I think there are many college graduates out there who could do the older generation good, but their loans make them slaves to unscrupulous deeds by money mongers that are set up in offices with big HMOs paying them to treat only certain types of insurance.

I have Medicare and Medicaid. Which one do you think the doctor takes?

Canada has socialized healthcare, and they live longer, healthier lives. The healthcare reform bill, created and tested by Mitt Romney and later instituted nationwide by the Obama Administration, is a step in the right direction, but it unfortunately leaves control in the hands of the HMO and insurance companies.

Let healthcare be national and universal, and people will be able to afford it.

The disparity between a political official and their constituents is enormous. How can an elected official act on behalf of their population if they don't have the same struggles and trials?

Each elected official that draws a salary should earn the median salary of his/her constituents, pay for healthcare, and have no legal privileges above that of their voters.

Americans are obese, more so than any other nation. With the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) being composed of ex-corporate food industry executives, the chances of clear and accurate dietary information ever being conveyed to the public are slim to none.

The FDA needs to revamp its ranks and recruit medical professionals with no ties to corporate America. Poisons like sugar in all its various forms need to be limited in our diets, and accurate information needs to be taught in our schools.

Not only is there money being made in the illegal drug industry by corrupt politicians and law enforcement, but there is also exploitation by big pharmaceutical companies on the American public.

Certain illegal drugs should be legalized (those with no ill or violent effects on the population), and major pharmaceutical drugs should not be so widespread among the population as a legal yet expensive means to control health issues.

This is still a nation of laws, and there are two things wrong with secrecy:

1. Covering things up in the name of "national security" only means that the US government is doing things that it doesn't want the rest of the world to know because it is generally something illegal or unethical.

2. All it does is create separation between politics and the populace. Eventually, the people of this nation are going to revolt, and they'll have nowhere to place their focus except on those they feel betrayed by.