Sunday Scribblings--Queen of the World

If I were Queen of the world. . . well, my first act would be to abdicate. I truly believe that I wouldn’t run things better than even, say, George W. Bush. That being said, I still feel superior every time the man opens his mouth. I lack patience, tact, wisdom, foresight, and interest in important things like politics and economics. But if someone left me the queenship in his or her will, and I had to accept, what would I try to change?
I’d try to improve on the health care mess we’re in. Not just locally but globally. Something more has to be done to treat the curable illnesses and reign in the uncurable but treatable, like AIDs and malaria.
I’d treat global warming as a number one priority. Big incentives on small, gas-saving cars and on the use of public transportation. Big taxes on Hummers and their like. More solar energy everywhere. Let the government lead by creating less waste and being more energy efficient. I walk into my local grocery store, a coop where they should know better and ask for paper from the bagger. They uniformly think this means paper and plastic since the only other choice that makes sense to them is plastic only. When I say no, just the paper, they look at me like I’m some strange sort of eccentric.
I’d mandate more vacation for Americans and better family benefits. Then I’d try to gently teach Europeans that having stores and tourist sites open on Sundays would benefit the economy and decrease unemployment. Besides I always feel that Sundays lose me precious tourist hours when I travel.
If I’m going to be grandiose, I’d pass a law banning religious intolerance. Of course, it wouldn’t work, but it sounds good on paper, right? In the U.S. this would mean a serious attention to separation of church and state issues. But I wouldn’t try to dictate this to other countries.
I would really value public education for everyone. I’d try to equalize the access to a quality education across all socio-economic groups. And I would mean it, not just require more high stakes testing.
I’d push for gun control, parity for mental illness and universal health care for children. I know I would make enemies and I would probably run the global economy into the ground but I didn’t ask for the job. It was forced on me, wasn’t it?