CHANGE you can believe in

[Jasper]

Social networking technology makes it possible for a dedicated social organizer to get the word out about themself if they're worth the effort.  And that way you wouldn't get contrived, color-coded groups that try to uphold a vague set of ideals  and usually fail.

[trillian]

not dissolution of political parties so much as dissolution of the two party system.  give people an actual choice of who they want to be president.

[AFK]

The people do have a choice.  For whatever reason they only choose to see two of them.   

[LMNO]

The curse of Aristotle.

[Jenne]

Social networking technology makes it possible for a dedicated social organizer to get the word out about themself if they're worth the effort.  And that way you wouldn't get contrived, color-coded groups that try to uphold a vague set of ideals  and usually fail.

You keep telling yourself that, Felix.  Doesn't mean others are going to listen to you, esp those with the "almighty pen" in their hands that signs those laws.

[Requia ☣]

Ideas:

1)  Bills should be read out loud before congresscritters are allowed to vote on them.


2)  Term limits, specifically, no consecutive terms.  You can hold the office as many times as you like, but not twice in a row.  I'm sick of seeing shit politicians stay in office simply because of encoumbant advantage or being the right color for the state/disctrict, but I see no reason they shouldn't get extra runs if they do a good job.

3) Actually enforce Title 18, U.S.C., Section 242, Deprivation of Rights Under Color of Law.  Increase to felony status if the crime is large in scale (say, over 1000 victims).

[LMNO]

Oh, man.

I totally forgot.

Either line item veto, or no omnibus bills.

[Golden Applesauce]

Ideas:

1)  Bills should be read out loud before congresscritters are allowed to vote on them.


2)  Term limits, specifically, no consecutive terms.  You can hold the office as many times as you like, but not twice in a row.  I'm sick of seeing shit politicians stay in office simply because of encoumbant advantage or being the right color for the state/disctrict, but I see no reason they shouldn't get extra runs if they do a good job.

3) Actually enforce Title 18, U.S.C., Section 242, Deprivation of Rights Under Color of Law.  Increase to felony status if the crime is large in scale (say, over 1000 victims).

Number one, for sure.

And line-item vetoes seem like a bad idea - it essentially destroys compromise bills.  So Bush could veto the line on executive compensation and keep the rest of the bailout, etc.  But I agree that bills should only do one thing apiece.

[Golden Applesauce]

And Jenne - do you think allowing lobbyists, but prohibiting the paying of them for lobbying is a workable idea?

[AFK]

I'm a lobbyist.  I'd prefer to NOT be offed for it, kthxbye.

I'm assuming when the word "lobbyist" is bandied about in such a manner, folks are meaning those who get paid and pay out $$$ through big corporations like oil and high finance.

Grassroots people such as myself who lobby for education, health care and civil rights are doing the general tax payer the luxury of fighting for their causes.

Also, dissolution of political parties would not be the catchall solution a lot of people seem to hope it would be.  Who is going to listen to you and back your platform if you don't have another force backing you to vouch for who you are?  Proving who you are and what you do and how much integrity you possess becomes increasingly difficult if you don't have organizational clout.

I do some lobbying work as well.  Advocating for programs and initiatives to help keep kids off drugs, etc.  When people are passionate about a cause they will volunteer their time to do so.  they do not need to be paid big bucks.  In fact, I daresay, and I think Jenne will back me up on this, they are probably more effective, because they aren't speaking out because they will be getting a fat check afterwards.  It's more from the heart and more rooted, I believe, in some core beliefs and convictions. 

[tyrannosaurus vex]

So the big ones so far seem to be...

Either dissolve or severely cripple political parties. Jenne has a point about needing a Party in order to organize voters and motivate officials. I think a sensible compromise might be to allow parties to exist for the purpose of organizing voters, but prohibit them from running, endorsing, or contributing money to candidates for elected office.

and

Corporate policy reform. Repeal all laws and regulations that bestow the status of Individual on an incorporated business. This would also kill off the evil lobbyists (as opposed to good lobbyists like Jenne) by removing the right of a corporation to spend huge sums of money trying to get their way with new laws.


I also like the idea of Election Day being a national holiday, except that I would submit that further election reforms are necessary. First, state and local governments should stop passing laws designed to discourage voter participation. Second, it should be required that any worker is allowed to take the day off from their job on election day with full pay. Further, election "day" should be expanded -- polls should be open for a few days, and always a full weekend, to allow for the maximum opportunity to cast a vote. Also, elections should be fully certified by an outside election certification body such as the UN has for many developing nations.

[the last yatto]

'Dissolution of political parties.Or, the addition of 12 more parties.'
i like how Parliament is setup vs congress. the percent of the vote you get is how many seats you have, maybe we have more then one fake independent

Law Reform
id like to see if we cant steal Mozes's idea and narrow down all laws to just 10 things


Force paper ballets? after all in theory postal workers might be less politically biased then your average campaign volunteer

[tyrannosaurus vex]

I had an idea for election scrutiny, although it would take years and a lot of dedication to put together. There could be a website that tracks every election in the country from President to School Board; then, agents on the ground at every polling place hand out flyers advertising this website, each of which has a unique code printed inside. Voters could then log on to the website using the code in their flyer, and log exactly how they voted. The resulting data could be compared with official election results, and if a large discrepancy is found, might be used as probably cause to investigate the election.

Anybody have about $300 million to put this in place?

[Verbal Mike]

Further, election "day" should be expanded -- polls should be open for a few days, and always a full weekend, to allow for the maximum opportunity to cast a vote. Also, elections should be fully certified by an outside election certification body such as the UN has for many developing nations.

The polls require a lot of manpower to open, and keeping them open longer will be costly.

[tyrannosaurus vex]

If we can invest $10 billion every month in a useless war in Iraq, but can't be arsed to ensure the integrity of the most fundamental aspect of our self-government, then we deserve to lose the Republic.