Listening 44 – Listen for specific words

I think the main problem with my country is that it has become both as a nation and as a people. First, I would work domestically to improve the lives of the citizens. One cannot a nation to be strong if the citizens are weak.

What I mean by this is that I believe the mentality of the American citizen today is that they should be able to have everything without hard for it. Now, this does not cover every citizen – blanket statements never do. But I think a of people are starting to believe that they should get something for nothing.

This is evident in systems like welfare, food stamps, Medicare and Medicaid – these are being exploited more and more every day, to the point where they’re not only bankrupting the country, but they are making out of people who do not even realize that they have become addicted to these programs. I would keep these programs in place, but I would make them as as possible to be on. Far too many people get into these programs and never get out.

I have a little bit of experience with this, as my family is on food stamps right now. What started out as money every month to help us get to a better place has become something that we now would be in serious if we did not have. In order for us to move beyond food stamps, not only would we have to make what we get in food stamps every , we would have to make even more than that to make it worth our while. If I go out and expend only to make what I was getting for free – most people would not bother.

Another thing that has with food stamps is that they are no longer food stamps; they are credit cards, which makes them less embarrassing to use. Now, I do not want to embarrass people; I am not saying that I would take those things away – but I don’t want to incentivize people to that this is their lot in life. I want these programs to be safety and not ways of living.

Another way that I would help empower the people is to the scope of government; I believe in a limited government. This nation was founded upon the idea of freedom of people, and the federal government has  far beyond its powers than it was ever intended to be. Most of the power of the government was supposed to be tied up in state and local governments.

The reason this is, is that the closer the people are to the government, the more accountable they can hold their government in both the that they pass and the way that they spend their money. The farther away you are from the money that is being spent, the less that you are to do anything about it. It doesn’t seem real to you.

Another thing that I would do is to put term limits on every elected . There have been people in the government for 40 and 50 years of their life. They have grown stagnant and complacent; they are more focused on gaining power than they are in making the lives of Americans better.

By placing term limits on these , they will not be focused on their long-term gain of power, but instead focused on what they can do for their terms that they have been for, which will be limited to one or two – just like the president of the United States. He can only be elected for a total of two terms.

I believe these are some of the major that I would address as president. I would have a hard sell, because there would be a lot of short-term pain, and people are always in the here and now more than in the future – and that’s why I believe my country has run into these problems. So I don’t know that I would be a popular president in the present.

But if I were elected and was able to these programs and these changes, I believe that future generations would look to me and applaud me and me for having the courage to do what so many government officials do not have the courage to do. So thanks for listening to me, and if I ever run for president, I hope I have your !