By Pamela Sweetwood

I wouldn’t want to be President or any cabinet member.    You would need thick skin and endure grueling days.

I do entertain the thought of being President for a day.   Let’s just pretend I get three executive orders that couldn’t be overturned.  Mine would be…

First to Cap Salaries – make it that no one can make more than 50 times the lowest paid employee.    Someone working full-time at $8 an hour makes under $17,000 a year.  Multiple that by 50 and no one employee in that company, including the owner, can earn more than $832,000.   You can only spend so much.   This would increase employee pay.   To spread that out, it may be worthwhile to amend this in a way to increase pay of those not only at the bottom but in the middle as well.     If income disparity was less severe but still existing, can you imagine all the good that would occur?   Poverty is behind so many of our social ills and conflict.   We could reduce and eliminate some social programs as they wouldn’t be needed.  Our incarceration rate would fall.  People would believe once again that they could make it.   Some of the angst would go away.   Owning a home, attending college, retirement would be more affordable.

My second wish would involve health care and pharmaceutical reform.   I would change the approval process of new drugs to be more like other countries and cap medical cost.  I would eliminate monopolies and advertising of prescription drugs.   I would legalize medical marijuana nationwide.   I would hope these changes would allow quicker entry into the market for new drugs, eliminate price gouging, reduce the financial burden, increase competition and provide more options to the public.

Before using my last wish, I would like to see the impact my first two had.   I probably would use it to create true justice by reforming our prisons and approach to crime OR to change elections by eliminating the Citizens United decision, publicly financing campaigns and limiting them to 120 days or less.   A shorter time frame should lead to a more productive conversation.

I would like to think the first two wishes made people healthier and happier and that poverty as we know it would disappear.

Pamela Sweetwood was an ISU student, like many, who never left town. She works in higher education and has a history with many community non-profits organizations.

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