Touchy Topic List – (from Cycloid Fathom’s Random Ruminations)
- Moderate use of social media, ensure fact checking in all media, and preserve true press independence.
- Ban book banning and censorship relying on parental oversight of age-appropriate access to all books.
- DEIA in all public and private endeavors and protection of civil, voting, and LGBTIQA+ rights.
- Transition away from burning petrol and toward electric vehicles – Green is Good
- Development and proliferation of safe nuclear power and renewable energy sources.
- Remedial actions and preparation for the threat of climate change.
- Ensure that all governmental policy decisions rely at least in part on the science.
- A fair and efficient immigration system with a path to citizenship for undocumented residents.
- Government leaves healthcare decisions, including reproductive health, to doctors, to clergy, and to patients.
- Leveling of prescription drug costs across the world.
- A robust safety net for the needy with severe penalties for cheats and fraudsters.
- A minimum wage that keeps pace with inflation.
- Support from the US for the WFO, UNESCO, UNHCR, NATO, etc.
- Renew and strengthen START treaties, prevent proliferation, and eliminate nuclear weapons entirely.
- Severe penalties for mishandling national security and classified information.
- Tight control over classification and declassification decision-making.*
- Bring Constitutional amendment provisions into the 21st Century:
- Separation of church and state (#1)
- The right to bear arms (#2)
- Birthright citizenship (#13)
- Candidates guilty of insurrection (#14)
- The Equal Rights Amendment (#28 – in limbo)
A shorter list of topics about which I am more ambivalent:
- Regulate artificial intelligence (AI) without blunting its benefits.
- Rationalize cryptocurrencies and incorporate in their cost the full impact of electrical energy mining on the power grid.
- Reform the USA’s presidential electoral system.
- Help Ukraine repel the Russian invasion or at least reach an internationally monitored truce.
- Formulate a grand plan for the Middle East consistent with events from biblical times through the Holocaust to today.
- Discourage South China Sea misadventures, discourage any change in Taiwan’s status and further loss of freedoms in Hong Kong and Macau.