The Big Ideas Project

Price energy progressively, with those using less of it paying less and those using more paying more per unit. We could even create a market where those using less energy could sell their energy to those that use more energy.

Submitted by Nelson in Economy & Jobs Dec. 10, 2014, 5:14 p.m.

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#1841

54 votes

Tax incentives for businesses that sell mad in America products, or make them here in this state.

Submitted by Oaken in Society & Community Dec. 11, 2014, 10:20 p.m.

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#1841

54 votes

Require both houses of Congress to abandon all nonConstitutional rules, so that Congress can operate as envisioned in the Constitution.

Submitted by Kurt L. from OH in Government & Elections Dec. 15, 2014, 10:28 p.m.

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#1841

54 votes

Increase the number of unskilled/low-skilled immigration visas to 100,000/yr. (It is currently 5,000/year for ALL countries combined, which makes legal entry completely unfeasible for most of those who are willing to come here for the jobs few others want, fails to satisfy US labor demands, and creates a more easily exploitable group of workers). Stop spending hundreds of billions of dollars to keep out workers who benefit our economy.

Submitted by Ray Ables in Foreign Policy & Military Jan. 4, 2015, 4:38 p.m.

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#1841

54 votes

The United States Navy should be building smaller aircraft carriers like the French, Charles de Gaulle, or 45,000 ton aircraft carriers. With the advent of the F-35B fighter aircraft, the Navy doesn't really need to build 100,000 ton Nimitz class aircraft carriers; or have the need for having catapults. The F-35B just needs a small flight deck to operate from . Thus reducing the size of the aircraft carriers even further.

Submitted by TIGERPAW in Foreign Policy & Military Dec. 19, 2014, 2:28 p.m.

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#1841

54 votes

Wire all interstate roads and major long haul roadways to wirelessly transmit electricity to vehicles on them. This way large trucks (to start) could use power generated in power plants instead of by their relatively small engines. It is much more efficient to generate electricity in a power plant and transmit it by power lines than it is to generate torque in a small engine. Also, this would allow some trucks and cars to not carry any fuel or an engine, reducing weight and energy use.

Submitted by jumpy in Infrastructure & Technology Dec. 11, 2014, 9:18 p.m.

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#1841

54 votes

Educate, encourage, people to spend most of their exercise practices producing clean energy via special equipments such as electricity producing exercise bikes and treadmills instead of wasting this valuable resource. Turn gyms to electric generation stations. Develop such equipment via business innovation grants and loans making this healthy process profitable as well.

Submitted by masso salmassi in Environment Dec. 19, 2014, 4:06 a.m.

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#1841

54 votes

Since the airwaves are licensed for use from the government to the television and radio stations, we should pass a law to make it mandatory for them to block a finite number of hours for the use of our political parties to post their campaign ads at NO COST to each party. This could go a very long way to taking the money out of our broken political system.

Submitted by Sandra Z. from MD in Government & Elections Jan. 4, 2015, 7:27 p.m.

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#1841

54 votes

I would like to see election reform. I feel that nobody should be able to give money to a single person, it should always be given to the party. this keeps things honest. I want to see an end to special interests and lobbying they way it is done now. No special interest group should ever be allowed to meet with an individual in congress, they should be able to mail them a packet explaining their position.

Submitted by Oaken in Government & Elections Jan. 11, 2015, 7:29 p.m.

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#1841

54 votes

Not a Government project, but a Progressive one. This country desperately needs a news outlet that is accurate, and in depth. No more punditry from journalists with a political agenda and no knowledge of the subject they're talking about. There are lots of good blogs, but they are preaching to the choir. We need something that will come to the attention of the public! With the troubles of our current media, now is a great time for a creative outfit to invent something new.

Submitted by Diagoras in Society & Community Jan. 5, 2015, 3:13 p.m.

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#1841

54 votes

Executive Pay should be regulated but the required qualifications of executives in smaller vs. larger companies must be recognized. A CEO of $25M should not be treated the same as one of a $2.5B company. So you need a sliding scale, say a max. of 5X in companies under $1M, 10X up $5M, etc., up to 100 X (approx. $5M) for $1B or more. Prohibitive tax penalty if exceeded.

Submitted by Timothy Salt in Economy & Jobs Dec. 19, 2014, 12:36 p.m.

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#1841

54 votes

'"100% Home Mortgage Forgiveness" bill: To provide COMPLETE mortgage relief to homeowners all throughout the country IMMEDIATELY by having all of the bailed out banks FORGIVE COMPLETELY mortgages. Condition to be met to qualify: The homeowner (age 65 years or older) must have either have made payments to the bank 25 years total or has paid 125% of the mortgage. If under 65 years of age, then 30 years of payment or 150% of the mortgage will be the minimum condition for forgiveness.

Submitted by fpc in Economy & Jobs Dec. 10, 2014, 2:41 p.m. 1

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#1841

54 votes

An upfront, one-time Social Security payment puts tens of thousands of dollars or more in the hands of retirees and saves Social Security billions on the back end. The same principle would apply to pension funds (which currently want to cut monthly payments by as much as 30%).

Submitted by Denny F. from CA in Economy & Jobs Dec. 10, 2014, 3:10 p.m.

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#1853

53 votes

If corporations are people and slavery is illegal, try, convict & jail shareholders as slave owners.

Submitted by Timothy Salt in Civil Rights Jan. 12, 2015, 11:10 a.m.

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#1853

53 votes

Expand the House of Representatives to make it more representative. Currently the ratio is 1 rep for approx. every 700,000 citizens. This needs to decline dramatically to 1:100,000 - 1:250,000 ratio. Make government of the people closer to the people!

Submitted by denton.murphy in Government & Elections Dec. 16, 2014, 11:53 p.m.

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#1853

53 votes

All eligible voters must vote to receive benefits of any kind from the government including income tax returns.

Submitted by Sylvia C. from MI in Government & Elections Dec. 27, 2014, 6:03 p.m.

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#1853

53 votes

Every municipality should be required to build "tiny homes" of at least 300 sq. ft. for the homeless by 2017; including a manager and central community meeting space. The number of tiny homes should be tied to 40% of the number of homeless in the municipality in the beginning and increase by an additional 10% each year.

Submitted by Jodster in Society & Community Dec. 12, 2014, 4:19 p.m.

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#1853

53 votes

Institute proportional representation, similar to what exists in New Zealand, where a pool of "at large" congressional seats are elected by each party, and after election day the number of congresspersons are adjusted to reflect the proportion of total party-aligned votes for congressional seats statewide. This will help blunt the unethical impact of jerrymandering.

Submitted by Robert E. Sojka in Government & Elections Dec. 10, 2014, 2:08 p.m.

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#1853

53 votes

Equal Pay. Allow companies to deduct 250% of the increase the first year, 125% the second year, and 75% the third year, t assist in the transition and avoid penalizing companies with higher percentages of female employees.

Submitted by Timothy Salt in Civil Rights Dec. 28, 2014, 10:32 a.m.

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#1853

53 votes

Failure to adequately fund Forrestal's tokamak (hydrogen plasma fusion reactor) for the past thirty years means we still rely on fossil fuels and indirect solar energy. In 1985 Forrestal announced laboratory breakeven for their fusion reactor and Reagan slashed funding in half to send more to Berkeley's Livermore laser implosion to try to support his "Star Wars" project, which remains a failure while Forrestal remains mothballed. 20 billion bucks would provide clean safe cheap energy for all.

Submitted by Doctor bill in Infrastructure & Technology Jan. 4, 2015, 7:19 p.m.

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#1853

53 votes

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