What changes would you make?

I've been thinking about it, and I have come up with a few changes that would improve our chances at surviving as a nation until the end of the century. Yes, it would require that people start acting as grownups, rather than the "give me my free stuff faster!" mentality that is so pervasive, but at the same time, it not-so-gently encourages people to make that change for themselves.

Or starve, I don't care which.

First, freeze the federal budget at current levels, then chop 10% (in constant 2013 dollars) from every Department, every agency, every commission over the next four years. That solves part of the deficit problem. Farm out anything that should be handled by the government to the lowest levels possible (State, County, City, School Board).

Second, since all of those Executive Branch Departments seem to be enacting all sorts of legislation without recourse to Congress, totaling in the hundreds of thousands of pages of very fine print, with thousands more added every year, at the whim of unelected bureaucrats whose names are never known, eliminate any regulation that is not supported by a real law that has been passed by Congress, signed by the President, and possibly even withstood judicial scrutiny. All of it. That pulls the teeth of the EPA, the FDA, the FCC, the FTC, the ICC, and many others. No more wasted time and energy filing paperwork about the hazardous nature of a spilled pail of milk on dairy farms. Let them submit the regulations they feel are "necessary" to Congress for debate and enacting if Congress should agree.

Third, delete Obamacare from the vocabulary. The whole thing - gone. No more waivers, no more delays, no more worries. Open up interstate borders for insurance companies to allow them to offer coverage across state lines. (As a subset, encourage them to offer the same kind of catastrophic coverage that auto insurance offers, and allow people to determine where their health care dollars go to cover the minor stuff that happens from day-to-day. If auto insurance were offered on the same terms as health insurance, we would be arguing over co-pays for oil changes and car washes. That is bullshit of the first order, and all of it mandated by people who have exempted themselves from their mandates.)

Fourth, alter the form of the military to get rid of the non-combat forces. Supply officer? Chaplain? Athletics officer? Public Affairs officer? Turn it over to civilians, at half the price. You want to join the military, it will be to kill people and break things as efficiently as possible. There will be no more cushy, "safe" jobs. Those are for the candy-ass, "double time for overtime" types back home who don't have the balls to stand up and be counted, except on paydays. Turn our military into something that thugs and tyrants all over the world will tremble to see. Or, more accurately, NOT see, since the first warning we will be arriving will tend to be detrimental to the health of those who would threaten the peace. We will not be arriving to keep the peace, but to eliminate the trouble makers. "If you kill enough of them, pretty soon they stop fighting."

Fifth, submit an Amendment to Congress to repeal the 17th Amendment. States were given their own voice in the Federal Government for a reason, and the People are already adequately represented in the House - although perhaps raising the number from 435 to (say) an even thousand members would not go amiss, to bring the ratio of citizens to lawmaker down... (I am sure there will be a few buildings in DC standing empty after the first few items get taken care of.)

Feel free to tell me how crazy I am, or to suggest some ideas of your own...