If you could make ONE of the following changes, which would it be?

[branders seine]

Only ONE.

[polichick]

1. Great list - shows how f**ked up things really are. nt

[branders seine]

18. yeah, it's a mess alright.

[47of74]

2. I selected breaking up media companies

They're all good options. But breaking up the noise machine first perhaps would cause a domino effect for the other things to happen too.

[buff2]

9. I voted for that too

Get the CONservative hate mongers off the air. They are the cause of all the resentment and hate in America today.

[Dr Morbius]

45. I selected the same option, for a different reason.

I picked Breaking up media consolidation/media conglomerates because, the way I see it, we don't have freedom of the press anymore. You can't be free unless you're independent, and virtually every news department in the electronic media today is owned by a billion-dollar corporation.

Get the facts to the people, and the people will choose to fix the problems. A restoration of freedom of the press will create a more informed public, and therein lies real political power. Also, failing to restore freedom of the press means fixing anything else might well be temporary. Unless the political power gets restored to the people, everything else is secondary.

[JoeyT]

16. That's the reason I picked

publicly financed elections.
I fear it would take both happening at the same time to actually accomplish what we hope for.
Of course once both of those happened we'd have a much better chance at getting everything else on this list.

[branders seine]

19. I agree with you.

nothing will change until we win our government back from the bribery machine.

[eleny]

3. Eliminating corporate personhood might make all the other changes possible

[Go2Peace]

6. I believe that too. It keeps us from doing the others

[notesdev]

11. Agreed

The imperial policy, campaign related corruption, and trade insanity are all directly derived from allowing corporations the rights of individuals without the corresponding risks and responsibilities.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

4. All of these are great choices, so I had a hard time deciding.

But in the end, I went with the health care issue...

It was either that, or going with bringing home all the troops from everywhere...

I decided that universal health care would have the greatest impact for good for all.

K&R

[Brickbat]

5. Agreed. Universal health care would spur business growth, improve public health, and take a lot of

the burden off our health-care system.

I voted for it, even as much as I hate NAFTA.

[Greyhound]

7. I picked (with help from Little Greyhound) break up the media conglomerates.

She argued that this allows the rest to happen, You have to change the mind before any other change is possible.

[Iggo]

8. Why only one?

[mike_c]

10. had to go with eliminating corporate personhood because it's possibly...

...the key, or part of the key, to achieving the rest through political means. Unraveling the MIC would undermine the foreign policy that maintains imperialist occupations, as would dismantling big oil and others who steal cheap resources from their owners around the globe. Ending corporate personhood would also undermine big pharma, health insurance companies, and all the others with vested interests in profiting from sickness rather than maintaining health. And so on.

But DAMN! What a shopping list to only get one item from! You've done a good job of summarizing some of the most important aspects of the progressive platform!

[Paper Roses]

12. End the wars, bring the troops home. We will then have $$$ for

the other great choices on your poll.

[skepticscott]

13. #2 wins hands down

And it's incredible that anyone would chose any other. Not that they aren't all things I'd like to see, but if #2 doesn't happen, none of the rest will mean a damn. If we don't have alternate means to move goods and people and to generate heat and electricity after fossil fuels run out or become prohibitively expensive, what on earth will it matter where our troops are, or how we fund elections?

[RKP5637]

14. Well, I voted for "Replace the current US system with 100% publicly financed campaigns." because

I feel that is one of the root causes of why we have the mess we do. BUT, in reality, I wanted to vote for all of them. We have so much that needs help and correction in this country. A close second for me was "Break up corporate media conglomerates, ..." We have a significant poison in this country with the hate-media spewed 7x24 full of lies and distortions.

[phantom power]

17. +1 Elimination of influence from private campaign donors would help all the rest.

[Robb]

28. +2.

The landscape would change dramatically.

[MoonRiver]

15. Wow, that was hard choice!

But now I've waved my magic wand and NAFTA is gone! :bounce:

[Vinca]

20. Universal health care. Without your health, nothing else really matters.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

21. All of which options can be safely placed on the "Fat Chance" shelf. Alas.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

22. You need an option for "all of the above"

They're all such good commonsense ideas that I can't decide which one to favor the most.

[xiamiam]

23. tough list..I chose end occupations because if that money is freed up we have a chance at tackling

some of the others..

[SocialistLez]

24. Publicly financed elections

Universal health care was a close second....VERY close second.

[frebrd]

25. If we eliminate corporate personhood so that the corporados.......

can no longer buy the Congress, we'd have a shot at accomplishing all the rest.

[Newest Reality]

26. We need them all, badly ... very badly.

It could make such big difference in fending off, and even stopping, military/industrial/corporate/Fascist rail that we are riding on.

Ah, but one can at least see a necessary order of priority emerging with that list. It would be nice to be able to prioritize it.

I would say that under "other" you could include breaking up the big banks, reducing the power of the Fed or eliminating it, and abandoning the ridiculous notion of "too big to fail."

[BanzaiBonnie]

27. Publicly financed campaigns comes in first

Without that, we'll have a hard row to hoe with the rest of the reforms.

[ROFF]

29. Replace the current US system with 100% publicly financed campaigns.

Once this is done, all the others are possible.

[liberalla]

30. How can you choose just one???

Great list! My faves are 4, 6 & 7.

Ending corporate personhood is number one for me,

Publicly funded elections is number two... and

Breaking up media consolidation/media conglomerates is number three.

These would shift power back to the people.

Then, the people would be able to implement the changes in health care, military priorities and spending, become self reliant with renewable energy, fix free-trade to FAIR trade, and devise an equitable taxation policy.

Remove corporate interests from governmental decision making, and we would be fine. The corporations would be fine, too. Perhaps not drowning in billions of dollars of profit, but making a decent profit. If they can't succeed in business fairly and ethically, then they probably aren't providing a needed service or adding anything to society.

If I had to pick just one, it would be Ending Corporate Personhood.

That is root of all evil in our government today. IMO.

:kick:

[bvar22]

31. Strictly enforced Publicly Funded election...

...with SEVERE penalties for criminals COULD lead to the other changes.
That is why I chose it.

[BlooInBloo]

32. Since publically financed elections tends to make all the others possible...

the choice is pretty much a duh.

[yourout]

34. I was thinking the same thing.

This one would allow the others to happen.

[ZombieHorde]

33. Tough call. nt

[FLAprogressive]

35. Option 6 probably gets it all done

[Liberal_in_LA]

36. replacing fossil fuels will free us from supporting women-hating societies

[muffin1]

37. Equal rights for everyone!

I know it sounds crazy, but it might just work.

[Alexander]

38. Public financing of campaigns will lead to all sorts of other changes for the better.

That's my vote.

[lpbk2713]

39. If the last one, "Break up corporate media conglomerates" ...

includes something comparable to the Fairness Doctrine ... I'm all for it.

[anAustralianobserver]

40. Instant runoff voting in national elections? So that coalitions/caucuses with viable 3rd parties

could develop - without undermining the 2 major parties (while undermining their collusion, corruption and constipation).

[Nicole]

41. 100% publicly financed campaigns. N/T

[louis c]

42. Fair Trade, Not Free Trade

[bluethruandthru]

43. This really makes me realize how much is fucked up with our country.

So many things need to be fixed.

[defendandprotect]

44. You know we want the whole pony, tho . . . right?

I went with the 31% in guessing that we could crack the system if we can

get corporate money out of elections --

But I'd add to your list, overturning patriarchy and its underpinning, organized

patriarchal religion ... it's economic system/Captialism ... "Man's Dominion Over Nature"

and "Manifest Destiny" -- it's licenses to exploit!