Steps to restoring the United States to Greatness

1. GET OUT OF IRAQ.
There is no guarantee that the US intervention into the affairs of Iraq will help solve their problem. In fact, the evidence seems to be mounting to the contrary. Four to six of our brave Soldiers, Airmen, Navy, and Marines are being slaughtered on a daily basis.. Not to mention the scores of Iraqis dead every day - only adding to our problem. We are creating more enemies. We are LESS secure. We have weakened our military to the point where we would be unable to handle an additional REAL threat to our country properly. Also, we are holding the Iraqis back from any real progress of fixing their country. We are "muddying" the waters, so to speak, and confusing the real issues. The Iraqis are not going to be able to address their real issues while the US is continually distracting them from their real issues. Besides that, they do not want us there. That in itself is good enough reason to leave. We supposedly gave them freedom and liberty, let\'s not be the hypocrites that don't respect their voice when they express it.

2. Publically funded elections. Normally, this would be one of those "minor" issues that I would include as bonus issues after the main problems were dealt with; however, when our politicians no longer represent the people or the best interests of this country, none of the necessary legislation or problems can be solved. A perfect example is the Webb amendment. EVERY Senator should have voted for it; however, because many of our Senators are loyal to party before country, it could not get the super majority to end the debate. 

3. Use our leverage as THE major world consumer.
Create taxes on ANY good or service that violates US labor laws. If any part in the production of ANY good is produced in an environment violates the US labor laws, then the company and/or product would be heavily taxed. Since we can not control or enforce other countries\' labor policies, we can ensure that US companies\' that want to abided by our excepted labor standards are not at a disadvantage. This would have SWEEPING positive effects, not only for the US, but for the whole world. Just think, it would not be beneficial for American companies to produce good and move factories to third world countries. Other countries would be forced to improve their conditions in order to compete in our market. Jobs would be created in the US. We would create more of our own products. We would create more wealth that would stay in the US. The United states would be restored as a leader in human rights and an example to the rest of the world. Yes, you may pay slightly more for goods and services; however, you would have more jobs, better paying jobs, an extremely increased tax revenue, our gross national product (GDP) would skyrocket as we wouldn't be exporting our raw materials to be processed elsewhere, and we can start "practicing what we preach". We would lead by example, not "do what I say not what I do". 

4. Heavily penalize companies that hire illegal and undocumented workers.
Let\'s stop criminalizing the workers who are looking for a better life. They would not be pouring into this country if they knew they could not get a job. This may look just like an immigration issue, but it is also an economic issue related to the above step. The jobs these undocumented workers are doing would be available for US citizens. That also means that these jobs would be required to live up to the US labor standards and would not be \"jobs no American would do\". It would also cost considerably less than a giant wall or fence and the necessary personnel to patrol it. Let\'s face it, if you were faced with the choice of letting your family starve, or sneaking into the United States to feed your family, what would you choose? No matter how big the fence is, no matter how many people patrol the border, desperate people will try to get in if they can get work. Let\'s stop attacking the symptoms and go for the cause. It is like beating your head against the wall and bandaging the wound every time - it is much simpler to just stop banging your head against the wall.

This is not an end all/fix all, but it addresses some of our major problems in our country. When we fix these, we can the begin to address the more complex issues as well as discuss the best way to tweak the ones we already implemented. Doing nothing, although it seems to be popular and easy in Congress, is not an option. If we wish the United States to be great because of its actions, not just because \"we say it is or we will kick your butt\", then we must begin taking the high road and lead by example, not by the business end of a sword.