If I were in the position, I’d love to reduce the influence of lobbyists on politics. For a start, I’d mandate absolute transparency when it comes to dealings with lobbyists. Make meeting transcripts and all communication open for public scrutiny.
Other things on my agenda:
- fairer distribution of wealth. Higher taxes on property (Germany abandoned its property tax altogether in 1997) and speculation, and decreased income and consumption taxes.
- a re-evaluation of crimes and their respective punishment. It seems you’re better off murdering someone than “stealing” somebodies “intellectual property” (on which they do not even pay taxes).
- reducing the scope and duration of patents, trademarks and copyrights.
Unfortunately, I guess even if the leader of any one country would even remotely try to work on some of those issues, as long as there are plenty of countries with better terms for corporations and the rich, the attempt would likely backfire. Honestly, I don’t think we’ll get corruption and inequality under control until we have a single world government. The EU is a pretty good start, in my book, even with all its flaws.