How would rank, in order of importance, the current and problematic issues in the United States that need to be fixed?

Once upon a time, I think it would have been easy to make a list of priorities. Health care, education, energy and environmental have been neglected for so long and become more pressing every year. The financial crisis is definitely on the top, but I think the interconnectedness of all the above have to be dealt with inside of the economic issue.

@Bluefreedom. They are so intertwined, it is difficult to list them in a partiuclar order.

However, the order that you have them listed in seems reasonable to me….

@Snoopy – when I first placed them in the questions details, I did it randomly but after reading your post and looking them over again, I guess it does make pretty good sense for them to be in the order they are now.

As far as trying to work on all those issues as far as resolving them or making them better, I don’t envy our future president (whoever that will be) that is going to inherit the mess that Bush left behind.

Who are you, Tom Brokaw?

Before the economic crisis, my list looked like this:

— Education
— Healthcare
— Economy
— Energy
— Environmental

After the economic crisis of 2008 in particular [because we have been experiencing this since 2001], my list looked like this:

— Economy
— Education
— Healthcare
— Energy
— Environmental

And I left one item off of both lists because I believe we don’t even belong in those countries. I also do not believe we will be leaving. As one Carlos Mencia put it:

Man of Arabic Descent: “When will you people be leaving my country?”
Soldier of American Descent: “Leaving? Ha! Mofo, you better learn to say SUPERSIZE!!”

Solving some of these before solving the environmental problem will make the environmental problem worse. Of course, if you are looking only at the next quarter or the next year, it makes sense to solve those things first. I think climate change is going to bite us in the arse, though, if we don’t start working on it yesterday. It won’t do us much good to start an ethanol economy, for example, when it gets too warm and the weather too unpredictable to grow corn in the Plains states, and the Oglala aquifer won’t be puttin’ out the water like it used to.

However, the environment is such a big issue so intertwined with all of those that if we can just fix the others in an environmental way, that would help a great deal.

The war should be first priority, stopping it that is. None of the other issues have a shot all the money goes to killing people.

Once we get out of the conflict(s), though, it’s not like we’re going to have all that money. It’s borrowed money. We shouldn’t turn around and spend it on other things any more than a family should get credit card cash advances to do their shopping.

You’re right, that money is gone and only oil companies, boeing, halliburton etc. have anything to show for it. But how are we gonna work our way out of debt without a line of credit? Both candidates will borrow, McCain must think we are all fools to believe he’s going to freeze spending.

economy inc ending the war
health care
education
environment
immigration

i never follow directions, sorry.

@deaddolly. It’s okay because what you listed is good also. No worries.

Thanks for everyone’s input. I wasn’t sure what type of reception I was going to get to this question. On another site I visit, political questions and topics can be very turbulent and divisive among the participants who answer. It is much more relaxed and mature here at Fluther and that is a very good thing.

I think I suspect which site that is, Bluefreedom, and I totally agree. Even when people disagree here, I’ve always seen them be civil to each other.

@laureth. It’s one and the same, laureth, because I think I saw you there many moons ago. I think I’m probably going to visit here more often because, like you said, the civility here at Fluther is very appealing and so is the site in general.

Fluther rules!

I think there’s a deeper problem that’s kind of subtle to see, but more important: how can we pivot our economic model over to a sustainable one. I think our infinite growth based model is doomed to fail (as resources and hence growth cannot expand indefinitely). Also, our rapacity in following growth has had severe environmental consequences. So I think the big question is, what should our economy look like in the future, and how can we get there from here?

As for the practical getting there from here part, that will involve all the issues above. Which one has what priority isn’t obvious to me right away.

It’s always a pleasure to meet a fellow Neo-Malthusian.

Easy, all we have to do is get business out of government. It will be easier to do what we need to do once we remove from power those profiting from the status quo that is killing us all.

Economy is the clear and away number 1. Obama and the Dems should’ve waited til it was fixed and better before pushing healthcare, and they probably would’ve succeeded easily.

Second for me at least is infrastructure. We’re out of date in many areas, and need to seriously get to work on alternative energy. Our power distribution system has been described by many experts as “A steam engine on an Aircraft carrier”

I would probably put health care 3rd. It’s vitally important and needs to be addressed, but if our economy crashes it won’t matter that the healthcare is cheaper.

Iraq/Afghanistan/Al-queda. Get us out of Iraq, get into Afghanistan like we should’ve years ago, fix that problem, and use any reasonable means necessary to dismantle Al Queda and get Bin Laden (Can you imagine if Obama catches Bin Laden in the next year? The mid terms will be a slam dunk for the dems).

Environment is important, but I see it less as a main issue, and more of an issue that should be taken into account with all the others. How can we make “this” more environmentally friendly.