Resetting the American Dream: Back to the Basics

Update: This post is rather out-of-date at this point, but I will leave it up as something of a comparison to where I began with this blog.

As Republican primary candidates release their job plans, bash Obama and each other, and incite the greatness of America at every opportunity, the economy is taking center stage. This is completely expected, of course. With sluggish domestic growth potentially leading to a 'double dip', an unemployment rate nearing 10% nationally, the euro crisis looming across the pond, and the apparent lack of effective leadership, all eyes have turned to the importance of getting our economy back on track with sustainable growth and meaningful job creation and retention.
As a 22 year-old college student, I have a special interest in seeing our economy improve, and improve soon. That is not to say those younger or older than myself necessarily care less than I, merely that I am part of a generation whose potential is intimately tied to the success or failure of our economic recovery.
It is into this environment that I have decided to begin a series detailing economic reform I believe will dramatically and relatively quickly turn our economy around. My core philosophy involves my belief that we can simultaneously reform and  streamline a number of industries while spending less money, and integrate private investment with limited government leadership and regulation to ideally produce a more efficient economy and equitable jobs market.
This will be a series about renewing and reviewing our economic machine, resetting the march of the traditional 'American Dream,' and bringing our nation's focus back to the basics that allowed us to soar to the cultural, military, and economic heights we have achieved in less than 300 years.
Achieving this will involve discussing such issues as: streamlining the government and changing the economic climate of our nation through federal regulations and policy changes; the healthcare industry from restructuring insurance to adjusting medical training and standards; reforming our public education system through refocusing on how we prepare teachers, teach various learning styles, and prepare students for college and the jobs market; reworking the criminal justice system to create a more efficient industry that costs less and works better for more people; completely overhauling social welfare and entitlements to increasingly privatize retirement and medical care, develop a welfare system that helps more of the right people, while preventing those who do not require such services from taking advantage of the system, all for a lower cost than we currently expend; restructure certain aspects of the financial sector to encourage responsible lending and growth, and prevent another scenario like that of the 2008 housing collapse; reviewing industries that would benefit America the most, from bringing back efficient manufacturing on a larger scale to retooling our service, financial, energy, and manufacturing sectors to work more efficiently individually and collectively; expanding and diversifying our energy sector to not only create more jobs and become increasingly independent in the short-term, but encourage gains in renewable sources and cooperation of various companies and specific industries to produce a drastically more cost-effective and efficient system in the long-term; reform of our tax code to create a system that is not only more simplistic and easily understood by the common citizen, but is also far more cost effective and beneficial for individuals, companies, and even the government; and likely a few other issues I have not laid out here.
As daunting as this list is, I plan on tackling each issue separately, each with its own full-length entry. Social issues that are either important to me, or are of economic importance may sneak their way into this series as well.
I must warn you I am a registered Republican, and will likely be writing slightly from the right of the political mainstream. Nonetheless, I plan on being as moderate, rational, and pragmatic as possible regardless of traditional viewpoints. Each entry in this series will be thoroughly researched and contemplated, and though I have many of my own ideas from the start I will input plans and ideas from both sides of the political spectrum if available.
I am writing this as much for myself as anyone reading, and in fact would not particularly mind if this remained something of a journal exclusively for my own thoughts. My curiosity for different viewpoints and desire for healthy debate have motivated me otherwise, however, and I hope to interest at least a few passing individuals over time.
In any case, I look forward to this ride, whether the following ideas affect policy-makers and power players, or just myself. One way or another, good times will roll.

Edit: Though I still find politics just as interesting as I did when I wrote this, school has taken up much of my time, and I have decided to write about simpler, lighter topics as I choose. For example, I just wrote about my perspective on animated films, and I plan on continuing in that vein as opposed to more serious and research-heavy posts that politics would require. I may still write about politics, but for now they will be independent and outside of any organized series.

Introductions

Greetings. My name is Jeremy and I am new to this blogging service. Most of what I have written online has been in the form of film and video game reviews on social networks dedicated to those endeavors. At least initially, that is exactly what I plan on doing with this blog.

Everything from media reviews to thoughts on politics, schooling, or public transportation may be covered. So, in many respects this is more of an online journal for myself than a platform to support anything specific.

In any case, I look forward to enjoying this service and hope to be introduced to some cool people in the process.