President dfwlibertylover/ Vice President Goldwater for Re-election! (Victory)

[angus]

- Maintain the stability that the DFW/Goldwater administration has brought to Atlasia
- Continue to maintain a generally non-interventionist/anti-war stance in our foreign policy ventures as we navigate through the troubled waters of the World
- Continue to work on infrastructure projects and finally get that Healthcare reform we are all seeking passed!
- Pass a budget which will not touch the social safety net that many Atlasians depend on to survive

It all sounds good, generally, but vague pronouncements always the case with politicians.  Let's be specific.  The social safety net and infrastructure projects require revenue.  How will you pay for these?  Will you cut other programs or raise revenue in other ways?  Also, what healthcare reforms are you proposing?  We all want affordable medical services, but how will you achieve them when no one else has been able to?

Mitt Romney learned that the fifty seven-point plan doesn't sell, at least not to the general public.  But we're atlasia.  We're nerds.  We want details.  Give us details and we'll read them and reserve our judgment till we read them. 

[angus]

Cutting the military budget is a double-edged sword.  I agree that it has become too large and wasteful in many ways.  Useless big-ticket orders, etc., but one must be careful.  We have situations in which the families of veterans have been billed for the caskets and funeral services of men who die in combat for their country.  We have scandals at military hospitals.  Surely we can take care of the funeral expenses and the hospital expenses of those we goad into cannon fodder.  Also, we do need to maintain a standing army and navy in top condition.  Not for imperialistic expansion, but for our national defense!  I agree that some of the bloated military budget should be cut, but I'm wondering which specific programs you might cut.

As for medical expenses, I like the general idea of direct payment to consumers, but how will you oversee this?  Surely it takes a bureaucracy to maintain internal integrity.  How will you arrange medicaid payments that ensures providers will be efficient and effective, rather than paying them for the number of diagnostic tests they run whether they are effective?

You don't have to answer all these questions now.  I understand that you recognize that there is a great deal of inefficiency and abuse in the two largest sectors:  defense and medicine.  I will await your detailed proposals when they become available.  Just make sure that they eventually become available.