Election day on a workday
election day not a national holiday
that tells you the score right there
So much dysfunction in government. People always say "throw the bums out", but even when we do, we just get new bums. Maybe it's not just bad leadership, maybe the system itself is broken or has been corrupted. We can all think of a million things that need to be changed, but what are the
Game Changing Ideas,
the changes that would have effects all up and down the line. These are my suggestions.
1-Get money out of politics.
As long as money is what it takes to get elected, and lots of it, we have government by auction to the highest bidder, and you can see that result in every government policy and decision. Depending on their budget, small companies buy mayors and city councils, larger businesses get to buy senators and congressmen and get special tax exemptions passed in Congress (hidden in the fine print of 800 page omnibus bills).
Even if corporate personhood ended, the rich would still be able to buy politicians.
The only solution; no private money in elections.
2 Real Choice
Right now it's a choice of tweedledee or tweedledum, the lesser of two evils, no real choice. Whether you're passionate about Ron Paul, Ralph Nader or Rick Santorum, good luck. Third parties have just about zero chance of getting elected. So how do any new voices or new ideas have even the remotest chance?
At the minimum, we at least need to have Instant Runoff Voting, which means you rate your choices in order of preference, for example Nader 1, Obama 2, Mr. x 3, Santorum 1, Romney 2, Mr. x 3. If nobody gets a clear majority in the first round, then the 3rd place candidate is dropped and people who listed, for example, Nader as their first choice would have their votes applied to their 2nd choice.
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These first 2 points I believe will make just as much sense to Republicans as to Democrats. The next 2 may be a little more problematic, although i think every Republican will agree with the idea that vote counts should be honest and the system above reproach, even if they think that is the case now.
3 Honest Vote Counts-----Electronic Voting Machines=Stolen Elections
I find the evidence conclusive that elections have been hacked.
Here's one link, if you google, you can find many more
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7926958774822130737#
and just because Obama won, or was allowed to win, don't be too sure that 2008 was an honest vote count in all the elections across the nation.
4 Stop Disenfranchising Voters
Florida 2000, a systematic campaign to remove voters from the rolls
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5321794022770412541
2004 Lack of polling places in Democratic districts
http://harpers.org/archive/2005/08/0080696
and deeper than that, the "War on Drugs" has basically been a war on left wing politics, putting people, (especially poor dark skinned people, who tend to be Democrats), in prison as a way to take away their vote (and make a hefty profit off them), and scaring others out of politics.
https://www.google.com/search?aq=f&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=The+New+Jim+Crow
5 End Protection for Criminal Businessmen
A corporation is a legal fiction which was designed to allow people to take business risks without fear of losing their personal assets. It was not supposed to be a licence to commit crime, but that's what it is today.
So often we hear this corporation did this or that corporation did that, Monsanto, halliburton, PGE, Exxon, etc. The truth is, the decisions were made and carried out by specific people, and if those decisions and actions were criminal, including criminal negligence, then those specific people, especially the top executives, need to be brought to criminal court and put at risk of losing everything and going to jail.
Instead, the "corporation" gets fined, takes it off their taxes, and the perpetrators go off to their mansions with their golden parachutes, sometimes hundreds of millions of dollars.
I get so frustrated with progressives, the left, whatever label you like, when they buy into this idea that a legal fiction, a "corporation", was responsible for whatever the latest crime is, when in fact, it's people. Right now the incentives are for bad behaviour, not good; screw things up for short term, private profit, then ride off into the sunset with bags of money, leave the mess behind.
Unless personal accountability is built into the system, don't expect good citizenry from those in business.
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These are just the basics, and of course there are a lot more important changes that need to be made, but i truly believe that if these were adopted we would see real, fundamental change and a much more equitable and livable America.
Of course the deeper issues are issues of ethics and world view, how one looks at the world, the frame that effects all our ideas and beliefs, and the deepest changes are on that level, but that's for another post. although you can see some here http://jaydancingbear.com/writings/Politics.htm
I also want to say that , to me,
the most important issue of the day is the Environment,
Global Warming, GMOs, pollution, toxic waste, threat of nuclear disaster, etc.,
because if the environment is screwed, if we're getting cancer from pollution,
and have to move because the climate has forced us to, everything else is affected.
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