The REAL List Of The Top 10 Things Americans Want But Can't Have

There is a list that some nincumpoop made up that is circulating around the net that is alleging to list the supposed "top 10 things Americans want." It is, of course, 10 things that socialists and their liberal allies want ... not most Americans.

The list has made itself popular with the Diggbots (which is enough to discredit the list), and is spreading like wildfire amongst the online liberal community. It appears that Geekarmy.com is the original author of the list. Frankly, I find that hard to believe, but they cite no other source. I just have a hard time believing that a fellow geek would not put any effort into proper research. Usually, we geeks are great with facts. Not so in this case I'm afraid.

I will only list the 10 items below ... you will have to visit their site for the explanation of why each item made their list.

10. Marijuana Decriminalization.
9. Universal Health Care.
8. Stricter Campaign Finance Laws.
7. Equal Aid to Palestinians and Israelis.
6. Reducing Military Spending.
5. Increased Social Spending.
4. Acceptance of the Kyoto Protocol.
3. A Diplomatic Solution with Iran.
2. Pulling Troops out of Iraq.
1. The Impeachment of George W. Bush.

On top of that ridiculous list, that is not backed up by any solid facts, there is a special runner up to the list.

Jurisdiction to the International Criminal Court.

It's a hell of a list, isn't it? It looks a lot more like a the course syllabus for Socialism 101 than anything the average American would want.

The author does cite some some polls, but none of the polls they cite are not contradicted by other polls. Actually, there are usually more polls that say the opposite of what the author is claiming. I'd also like to point out that the author cites Zogby several times. Zogby is notorious for spinning his data to reflect his personal leftist point of view.

Later on I will make the REAL list of top 10 things Americans want, but I want to give short rebuttals to this other list.

10. Marijuana Decriminalization.

This is a spin at best, but not completely inaccurate. Most Americans do support reducing the criminal punishment for using small amounts of marijuana. However, most Americans do not support legalizing marijuana at all. Decriminalization was not the proper terminology to use since most Americans still want growing, selling, and using marijuana to be criminal. Nor would I classify that as a "top 10" want of the American people. There are better things to worry about ... unless you are a pot head, of course.

9. Universal Health Care.

Again ... spin. Most Americans do want an improvement in our health care system, but the polling is all over the place as to whether they want universal health care or not. While most Americans want the government to guarantee that everyone will have health care, this poll shows that only 36% support a completely rebuilt system. Universal health care is health care provided to everyone by the government, and paid for with taxes. It removes the option of choosing your plan, and often your doctor. There is a huge difference between guaranteeing everyone has health care (which we have for emergencies now anyway), and universal health care funded by your tax dollars.

8. Stricter Campaign Finance Laws.

Been there, done that, made things worse. It's called McCain/Feingold, and all it did was limit the constitutional rights of voters to express their support for a particular candidate. Those who support campaign finance reform are those who support censorship, and are threatened by a powerful group of people with a particular point of view that differs from theirs. Anytime you go against the Constitution ... expect trouble.

7. Equal Aid to Palestinians and Israelis.

This is a joke! In fact, it is not even close. The vast majority of Americans support Israel (59%), and do not want any money funneled to the Palestinian Authority. Only 15% of Americans are sympathetic to Palestinians according to Gallup. The highest percent of American sympathy for the Palestinian cause was 18% in 2004-2005. If Palestinian terrorists were to lose control over the people that number would change. Americans know who the enemy is.

6. Reducing Military Spending.

Yet another example of the author's personal opinion being superimposed upon the American public. You can take dozens of polls from the 90's through today, and get a myriad of answers. This is largely due to the ignorance of the civilian population in thinking that the military is the highest funded part of government. It's a pervasive myth, but a myth nonetheless.

We spend far more on unnecessary social programs than we do on defense, but if you break down the departments we pay more for social security than we do on the department of defense. The DOD is a close second to social security as individual departments. There is far more spending cuts available outside of defense that we should examine first. We must also keep in mind that we have several active military campaigns across the world right now, and the military is undergoing a massive modernization effort. Once the new equipment (fighters, aircraft carriers etc.) are in service the budget will go down again.

5. Increased Social Spending.

See above ... most Americans do NOT support higher taxes. It's not that we want more spending on social programs ... it's that we want the money the government already has taken from us spent on the RIGHT social programs.

4. Acceptance of the Kyoto Protocol.

Polls are useless on this question. They run the full gambit of support, or lack thereof, for Kyoto. It is important to note that Kyoto is more popular in the US than it is in the countries that signed the treaty. The US is performing far better than the Kyoto nations are in emissions, and many Kyoto countries are slamming Kyoto for actually harming the environment. Whether you are a greenie or not ... Kyoto is a bad idea all around. You have a better chance at saving the planet with current US policy than you do with Kyoto.

3. A Diplomatic Solution with Iran.

Everyone can agree with this one. No one wants another war. The population is simply split between those who will take action if a diplomatic solution becomes impossible, and those who won't. The ball is in Iran's court. They have got to stop their weapons program (permanently), stop fomenting terrorism, and stop getting into firefights with US troops inside Iraq. Our government will talk to anyone so long as they are not waging war against us, clandestine or otherwise.

2. Pulling Troops out of Iraq.

This could mean a thousand different things. Most Americans don't want an indefinite war. Nor do we want to remain in Iraq without the Iraqis stepping up. However, most Americans want to succeed in Iraq. Since the Iraqis are stepping up, and the surge has been a resounding success, nearly half of all Americans are optimistic. 51% of young people are optimistic about Iraq. Since the Iraqis are kicking the UN out of Iraq and asking us to stay indefinitely ... the point is moot.

1. The Impeachment of George W. Bush.

More fantasy and proof that the author of this list has BDS. 55% of Americans do not support impeachment. Not to mention the reasons given by the author are blatant lies. Bush did not mislead us into war with Iraq. Nor are the wiretaps illegal. Make sure you read the quote at the top of this page from Charles Duelfer saying that Iraq had a nuclear weapons program when we invaded.

The "runner up" desire of the American people is laughable, and doesn't deserve to be addressed. The notion that most Americans want to be under the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court rather than the Constitution is nothing but pure anti-American fantasy.

Well, there you have it. The so called "top 10" list is not an accurate representation of the American population at all. My list will be, and I'll put my list up against any as a better overall representation for what the American people really want.

10. Ability To Get Medication Not Approved By The FDA.

I firmly believe that Americans want the choice to get drugs from Canada, and even Mexico. However, most Americans would only support this if the US would not face liability if the medication didn't work as advertised.

9. School Vouchers.

Parents have grown tired of being forced to send their kids to inferior schools that are more worried about attendance than academics. If a school is underperforming parents should have the right to change schools to ensure their child gets a quality education.

8. Politicians To Keep Campaign Promises.

Quite possibly the oldest desire of the American public is for politicians to actually follow through with their promises. It stretches across party lines, but the current situation with Congress highlights this desire perfectly. The Democrats abandoned all of their campaign promises (with the exception of raising the minimum wage ... for most places). Now they are the proud owners of the lowest congressional approval ratings in history.

7. Less Foreign Aid To Unfriendly Nations.

This is a constant source of agitation for the American public. We are fed up with our enemies getting all of our money. There are cases where attempts to buy peace with aid pays off, but there are other cases where there is a pattern of failure. Yet we continue to throw money at the problem expecting a different result (Palestine). That's the definition of insanity.

6. Seriously Reconsider Our Relationship With The UN.

We could lump this one with number seven above, but the UN is its own monster. There are 192 member nations in the UN, and only 47% are free countries. That statistic says a lot about the UN's conduct. They are anti-American, racist, hypocritical, and ineffective. Forget about their support for terrorists in recent conflicts, and refusal to act in others. Then there is the massive amount of criminal activity, and corruption that run rampant there.

We could talk for years about how the UN is not only not good for the US, but not good for the world. These truths are self-evident, and most Americans are sick and tired of footing the bill for an organization that spends its time working against our interests. The US and Japan fund just under half of the UN annually by themselves. That's 2 countries paying half the budget, and 190 paying the other half ... hardly fair. Not only are Americans tired of the UN, but Japan ready to draw a line in the sand as well. You also have Iraq kicking the UN out of their country next year.

5. Less Taxes.

If you feel that Americans want to increase their donations to the government, you are CRAZY! Libs constantly mess this one up. They will frequently say we aren't paying enough taxes right now, and when asked will provide a percentage of our income that they feel is "fair" taxation. Usually, they will throw out a number between 15-25%. Problem is that on average we send 40% of our income to the government in the form of various taxes.

The average family in the US makes around $50,000 a year according to the Census Bureau. That means that family will send $20,000 of their $50,000 income to the government. You'll be hard pressed to find an American who thinks it is acceptable for the average family to send $20,000 to the government every year.

4. An Honest, Unbiased Media.

The reason the new media is becoming so popular is because Americans know the MSM is undeniably slanted to the left. The MSM has had several scandals involving dishonesty in the past couple of years, and people are taking notice. The MSM coverage of Katrina, Rathergate, Reutersgate, and others showed that not only is the MSM getting a lot wrong, but they are flat out lying to us in many cases. I've heard liberals say that conservatives control the media, but the link above proves that wrong. Fox News is also frequently attacked, but they were just ruled the most fair news source on television. All we want is for liberal and conservative news outlets to tell us they are what they are. Stop pretending to be something they are not ... unbiased.

3. Get The Government Out Of Our Lives.

Contrary to what a few fringe groups would have you believe ... Americans do not want government telling them what to eat, what to drive, and what they can and can not say. Nor do they want government banning types of dogs, baseball bats, the circus, and Wal-Mart. We just want our government to behave as our founding fathers intended ... not as the monarchy our founding fathers rebelled against.

2. Fix Immigration.

It's a no brainer, I know. No matter what side of the issue you come down on ... you want it fixed ... NOW!

1. No More Bush Or Clinton In The White House.

Don't get me wrong ... I like President Bush, but we've had a Bush or Clinton in the White House for the past 2 decades. That's 20 years of the same ruling families, and now we face the very real possibility of another 8 years with Hillary. You also can't forget about a Jeb Bush run after Hillary's reign. Frankly, I think the two royal families of our political parties have succeeded in dividing our country in ways that would have been impossible otherwise. Half the country hates the Bushes, and half hates the Clintons. It's time to make a change, and let the healing begin.

Now THAT is a list most Americans can get behind. The previous list was made up by a hardcore lib, was biased, and full of falsehoods. I think mine was far more accurate, crossed party lines, and is truly the top 10 things Americans want the most. What do you think?