I won't be around much in the future

[GreyGeek]

Fix the American election system thusly:

1. Primary campaigns for office may begin no more than 120 days before the general election.
2. Primary campaigns will end after 90 days, followed by a single day of nationwide primary elections.
3. The general campaign immediately begins and will end after 30 days, followed by a single day of nationwide general elections.
4. All of the above is financed purely and only with money from the US Treasury, equally proportioned among all candidates.

This approach:

* Eliminates the corrupting influence of money on elections
* Destroys the need for politicians to run perpetual re-election campaigns, freeing up time to actually govern
* Neutralizes the power of corporations to obtain favorable legislation -- if politicians can't be bought, corporations won't pay for them
* Forces the cable news networks to cover something other than what J. Random Candidate did with his penis this week

Excellent suggestions!

I would add a term limit so our elected representatives do not begin to treat their office as a family estate to be passed down to children and grandchildren.
And, a limit to the number of years the heads of the various government agencies can hold office along with the provisio that they cannot re-enter an industry their gov agency was charged with regulating for 10 years after their term in office ends.
And, no corporation can make public statements of any kind about politics or politicians.
Also, I'd move the head of government OUT of Washington DC and hook up an ultra secure fiber optic cable system that connects elected representatives togeather digitally. Each representative would attend sessions in their state's capital, in an office complex designed for that purpose, using equipment supplied, maintained and secured by state employees. The office at the state capital would be under 24/7/365 visual and audio survailence to keep track of who and when anyone visits a representative, and all discussions are video taped and stored, accessible later by warrant if needed.

[Detonate]

Excellent suggestions, we know what needs to be done. How do you propose to do it?

[MoonRise]

Many Americans are simply afraid of the government. It doesn't help that we keep electing politicians who profess to hate it. Would you get on an airplane piloted by someone who hates to fly?

J. Random American is willing to fall for supposed myths of "rationing" and "death panels." What they fail to realize is that rationing and death panels exist in our current system: insurance companies routinely deny care (rationing), and people die as a result. This is necessary, of course, to ensure that the insurance companies remain profitable. But what purpose do they actually serve? Absolutely none whatsoever. They move money around and keep a percentage for themselves (Aetna's CEO total compensation for 2012: $36.36 million -- that's fscking outrageous). A single payer system, without a need to turn a profit, saves everyone money, lowers costs, improves quality, and people live longer. The heath and mortality data of countries with such systems proves this.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++1

[richb]

Excellent suggestions, we know what needs to be done. How do you propose to do it?

Agree except for the last paragraph. Having managed and collaborated with teams myself, there is no substitute for in situ discussion. And the same would apply to crafting legislation. I would only slightly modify GG's proposal in that weekly or monthly face to face sessions would be scheduled.

[dibl]

Excellent suggestions!

I would add a term limit so our elected representatives do not begin to treat their office as a family estate to be passed down to children and grandchildren.

A limit is reasonable, but I would propose something like 24 years, so their potential full service would be worth a respectable pension.

And, a limit to the number of years the heads of the various government agencies can hold office along with the provisio that they cannot re-enter an industry their gov agency was charged with regulating for 10 years after their term in office ends.

That's not unreasonable, but again we need to consider that we WANT government service to be attractive, not unattractive. And it's not necessarily the HEADS of agencies that are the worst offenders in this area -- deputy dogs and assistant deputy dogs are in there at the feeding trough too.

And, no corporation can make public statements of any kind about politics or politicians.

I don't mind their public statements -- maybe they have a useful opinion or data to offer. But MONEY SHOULD NOT BE "SPEECH"!

Also, I'd move the head of government OUT of Washington DC ...

Now THERE'S an idea I have espoused for many years. I'd vote for Lincoln, Nebraska any day! Denver even!

My bottom line is, the impulse to tie tin cans to the tails of elected representatives is probably not the key to nirvana. They are just people, after all -- they need to raise their families, earn a respectable income, and provide for their own retirement the same as the rest of us. Government service needs to be attractive. If we make it stink with 27,000 onerous rules, we'll only attract stinkers. But the money needs to come out of the campaigning, as Steve Riley has proposed -- I'd like to see smart, ambitious children of the middle class run for public office, put in 20 or so years of faithful, uncorrupted service, and then have a decent pension base upon which to plan their second career (or to supplement their first career if they started mid-life).

[SteveRiley]

Excellent suggestions, we know what needs to be done. How do you propose to do it?

Incremental is certainly not going to work. Congress itself won't make changes because it's too entrenched. That leaves us with only one option: an Article V Convention.

[Snowhog]

Article V Convention. I earnestly hope that the States follow through with this and begin to 'take back' the power (of the States) that our Founding Fathers and crafters of the US Constitution so strongly felt about. Our Federal Government is way out of hand, having become that which our Founders feared.

[SteveRiley]

More: the proposal for a Second Constitutional Convention.

Harvard Law School professor Lawrence Lessig has argued that a movement to urge state legislatures to call for a Constitutional Convention was the best possibility to achieve substantive reform:

But somebody at the convention said that "what if Congress is the problem -- what do we do then?" So they set up an alternative path... that states can call on Congress to call a Convention. The convention, then, proposes the amendments, and those amendments have to pass by three fourths of the states. So, either way, thirty eight states have to ratify an amendment, but the sources of those amendments are different. One is inside, one is outside.
--Lawrence Lessig, 2011.

Lessig argued that the ordinary means of politics were not feasible to solve the problem affecting the United States government because the incentives corrupting politicians are so powerful. Lessig believes a convention is needed in view of Supreme Court decisions to eliminate most limits on campaign contributions. He quoted congressperson Jim Cooper from Tennessee who remarked that Congress had become a "Farm League for K Street" in the sense that congresspersons were focused on lucrative careers as lobbyists after serving in the Congress, and not on serving the public interest. He proposed that such a convention be populated by a random drawing of citizens' names as a way to keep special interests out of the process.

Constitutional scholar and University of Texas Law School professor Sanford Levinson wrote Our Undemocratic Constitution: Where the Constitution Goes Wrong and called for a "wholesale revision of our nation's founding document." Levinson wrote:

We ought to think about it almost literally every day, and then ask, 'Well, to what extent is government organized to realize the noble visions of the preamble?' That the preamble begins, 'We the people.' It's a notion of a people that can engage in self-determination.
--Sanford Levinson, 2006

Tennessee law professor Glenn Reynolds, in a keynote speech at Harvard Law School, said the movement for a new convention was a reflection of having in many ways "the worst political class in our country's history."

Political scientist Larry Sabato believes a second convention is necessary since "piecemeal amendments" have not been working. Sabato argued that America needs a "grand meeting of clever and high-minded people to draw up a new, improved constitution better suited to the 21st century."

Author Scott Turow sees risks with a possible convention but believes it may be the only possible way to undo how campaign money has undermined the "one-man one-vote" premise.

[richb]

Article V Convention. I earnestly hope that the States follow through with this and begin to 'take back' the power (of the states) that our Founding Fathers and crafters of the US Constitution so strongly felt about. Our Federal Government is way out of hand, having become that which our Founders feared.

EXcept for Hamilton and most of the Federalists.

[Detonate]

It would take a grass roots movement to get things moving towards a Constitutional Convention, and given the general apathy of most of the population of this country it would be very difficult to achieve.

[SteveRiley]

It would take a grass roots movement to get things moving towards a Constitutional Convention, and given the general apathy of most of the population of this country it would be very difficult to achieve.

Maybe not. Depending how calls are counted and whether rescissions are allowed, we could be only one more state away. Congress must call for a convention once 34 states issue calls.

[bsniadajewski]

Could it be that, instead of amendments an Article V Convention could calll for a whole new (or rewritten to reflect modern parlance) constitution?

[oshunluvr]

Could it be that, instead of amendments an Article V Convention could calll for a whole new (or rewritten to reflect modern parlance) constitution?

I think the fear on both sides of the issue over what might happen to the second amendment would prevent any sort of total overhaul. Just that one article would take decades. More achievable to tackle issues one at a time.

Let's start with Income Tax...

...<sound of can o' worms opening>

[bsniadajewski]

I hear ya there, oshunluvr. I think even the Income Tax (or any form of income for gov't) would take a while to hammer out.

[charles052]

No worries, Woodsmoke! I've worked at Wally World before and it's not nearly as bad a many claim...


.... Sometimes it's worse.

Just kidding.

I know you'll be back. This is a great forum. And I, like you, am somewhat conservative. I don't know about you, but I do love jokes about Democrats/liberals. Here's on of my favs that I think you'll get a kick out of:

A woman in a hot air balloon realized she was lost. She lowered her altitude and spotted a man in a boat below. She shouted to him, 'Excuse me, can you help me? I promised a friend I would meet him an hour ago, but I don't know where I am.'

The man consulted his portable GPS and replied, 'You're in a hot air balloon, approximately 30 feet
above a ground elevation of 2346 feet above sea level. You are at 31 degrees, 14.97 minutes north latitude and 100 degrees, 4909 minutes west longitude.'

She rolled her eyes and said, 'You must be a Republican.'

'I am,' replied the man. 'How did you know?'

'Well,' answered the balloonist, 'everything you told me is technically correct, but I have no idea what
to do with your information, and I'm still lost. Frankly, you've not been much help to me.'

The man smiled and responded, 'You must be a Democrat.'

'I am,' replied the balloonist. 'How did you know?'

'Well,' said the man, 'you don't know where you are or where you're going. You've risen to where
you are, due to a large quantity of hot air. You made a promise that you have no idea how to keep, and you expect me to solve your problem. You're in exactly the same position you were in before we met, but, somehow, now it's my fault.'