As a thought experiment, I wanted to think about what I’d do if I were a dictator. To make it more interesting, let’s put a few rules in place for our nearly all-powerful dictator…

#1) My term will run for exactly one year, at which point, I will abscond to Europe with a billion dollars, lifetime Secret Service protection, and a squad of well-paid, extremely attractive, female “assistants” with British accents and suspiciously fuzzy duties. After that, the country will go back to our standard system of governance with only the caveats below.

#2) I can make any changes I want without regard to the Constitution, Congress, or the Supreme Court.

#3) All changes I make are locked in and unchangeable for one decade. At that point, any changes can be reversed via the normal legislative process. Because of that, some of these changes will have to be less sweeping than I might like.

#4) My goal is simple. Make changes that will help the country become healthy and viable long-term.

#5) Last but not least, in a situation like this, there can of course be an almost infinite number of changes that can be made. So, to limit this, I am going to give myself one hour and thirty minutes total to come up with ideas. After that, time’s up.

Would everyone reading agree with all of these? Absolutely not. Would different people focus on different areas? Certainly. Would this fix every problem in America? Not at all. But this sort of brainstorming about ideas to better our country is profoundly healthy, and we should be doing a lot more of it as a society. If you have ideas along these lines, talk about them in the comments section.

1) 17th Amendment

A) This would be repealed, and the choice of Senator would go back to state legislatures.

2) Abortion

A)  By default, it would be illegal, everywhere, except in cases of rape, incest, or threat to the life of the mother. However, voters in each state would be allowed to vote on making it illegal in those cases also or alternately, make it legal for the first 15 weeks.

3) Bureaucracy

A) Fire and replace (or don’t) at least 25% of the federal bureaucracy simply because they’re bad for the country and fresh blood would help.

B) Set a goal of getting rid of at least a quarter of our government agencies.

4) Congress

A) Regular order would return to Congress.

B) There would need to be a day-long wait between the release of a bill and the vote on it for every 25 pages it contained.

5) County-Wide Secession

A) Any county in America can move to another state as long that other state is contiguous (a North Carolina county shouldn’t be able to move to Illinois for example), 60% of its citizens agree, and the government of the state they want to move to is willing to accept them into their state.

6) Education choice

A) Every student would have a tax credit that could be used in an eligible school of their parent’s choosing whether it was public or private.

7) Environment

A) Remove the ability for environmental activists and groups to sue corporations or the government.

8) Gerrymandering

A) Every state would have its congressional lines redrawn with the help of a non-partisan commission and with the approval of judges in a way designed to properly represent the partisan split in their state. For example, if a state had 80% Democrat voters, 20% Republican voters, and 10 seats, Democrats should have 8 of those seats. If the state has 60% Democrat voters, 40% Republican voters, and 20 seats, Republicans should hold 8 of those seats. This would need to be rebalanced every couple of elections.

9) Government Spending

A) No more baseline budget. Spending for the government overall should stay frozen for the next decade, although it could be moved from one agency or program within the government to another one.

10) Healthcare

A) End Obamacare.

B) Allow healthcare insurance to be sold across state lines.

C) Open pricing for all hospitals that anyone should be able to look up online.

D) Instill tort reform that dramatically limits payouts in lawsuits.

E) Tie insurance to a person via a tax credit, not a job.

11) Homelessness

A) Make chronic homelessness illegal. Arrest them. Force them to get mental care, get clean, or both, and then insist that they live in a halfway house and get a job until they are rehabilitated unless they want to be jailed.

12) Immigration/Illegal Immigration

A) Finish the wall on the border.

B) Deny all asylum requests.

C) No new legal immigrants for the next five years except partners marrying an American and their children. At the five-year mark, we’d add in a merit-based system that would also bring in a significantly smaller number of immigrants based on the likelihood that they would succeed here, not commit crimes, and add to the tax base.

D) Any legal immigrant to America would be permanently ineligible for any form of welfare or government assistance.

E) Anyone caught in the United States illegally would be forever banned from becoming a citizen or entering the United States legally. Anyone caught a second time would be jailed and we’d expect their home country to pay for it.

F) The children of illegal immigrants would not become United States citizens.

G) Build a working E-Verify system that every employee would need to be run through before being hired to prove their legality. The system should be free, fast and easy to use.

H) Each state and the federal government would be required to put together a list of the number of crimes committed by illegal aliens, the number of illegal aliens in American jails, and the number of government services of any type, including schools, used by illegal aliens along with the cost.

13) Military

A) Every officer that gave the go-ahead to drag shows, diversity training, and talking to the troops about Critical Race Theory would be relieved of duty and replaced for politicizing the military.

B) No more troops consulting with lawyers on the battlefield before they strike.

C) No more rules of engagement that risk the lives of our troops to safeguard civilians knowingly cooperating with the enemy.