I realize this thread is a parody of my atheists and god thread, so I might as well jump in…
In a weird way, I find extremists on both sides preferable to the centrists in the middle. I don’t want Obamacare; I want full-fledged single-payer universal healthcare. I want high taxes on the wealthy. I want full-fledged free speech. I want most guns confiscated. I want carbon emissions drastically reduced, I want most abortions gone, I want a big crackdown on unethical media.
So, my Hypothetical Conservative Dictator would be:
- Controls the media, but keeps it free of BS. No Qanon or nonsense allowed, no slanted reporting - just the facts. It isn’t his personal mouthpiece, it is just state-controlled, factual, objective media.
- Crack down on all fake news, whether from one’s opponents or supporters.
- Don’t torture.
- Pro-military, but keeps the military out of needless wars. Fully committed to NATO and other U.S. allies abroad.
- Taxes the wealthy steeply, but still keep marginal tax rates (something like 60-80 percent tax on all personal income above a million dollars a year). Corporate taxes can be reasonably low, in order to keep the nation competitive in terms of drawing in investment and companies.
- Don’t have gold curtains in the Oval Office; make it something like red or blue.
- If one must tweet, make the tweets sound dignified and well-articulated.
- Don’t tolerate corruption among underlings.
- Pro-life, but also puts in a great deal of effort to make sure pregnant women are taken care of, and also understands that abstinence rarely works because of circumstances and also that sex is just a very powerful motivator.
- Single-payer healthcare. Do away with Obamacare, most of the private insurance ripoff and predatory practices; just have a system like Canada’s or the UK’s, but doubly-well funded and staffed, so much so that there are short specialist wait times. There would still have to be some deductible/copay though, just as a deterrent against frivolous use.
- Don’t golf.
- Don’t hold pointless rallies.
- Take pandemics extremely seriously.
- Don’t execute people without good cause. Don’t jail them frivolously, either.
- Don’t eat fast food. Watch the carbs, eat those fruits and veggies.
- Enact gun control. Not only good in itself, but also makes the population less able to revolt.
- Control the Internet, but still let people watch most of their YouTube, social media, etc.
- Stop arms sales to Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Qatar.
- Bring back semiconductor chip manufacturing from abroad.
- Have a $10/hour national minimum wage. More practical than fifteen dollars per hour, and much easier for calculations of wages earned.
- Sweeping criminal-justice and prison reform.
- Have a robust social net. Also decriminalize marijuana and many recreational drugs; let the masses chill.
- Massive expansion of renewable/nuclear energy.