Senate How should the U.S. government be reformed?

Pfft, like I’ll trust someone who learned that from Samantha Jones in Star Trek 6.

 

If you want to know what should be done, listen to this episode of The Dollop.

http://thedollop.libsyn.com/247-the-stonewall-riots-live-in-ny

Dave talks about exactly what should be done in the last few minutes.

 

It cost people their lives. You could bring the economy to its knees, if people weren't so lazy. I mean, London's been crippled by strikes to protect utterly redundant jobs. So, a cause that was as far removed from righteous as you can get. But America? "It's cold outside... and Mad Men is on Netflix..."

 

President should be directly elected. The president appoints a prime minister with the consent of the House. The House admits members for 4 years based upon the MMP system in which voters get 2 votes, one to directly elect members, the other to choose members who belong to parties that gain at least 5% of the vote. Congresspersons can be recalled. Elections including primaries can only for 1 month, another month if a runoff is needed. No PACs, no superdelegates, much stronger caps on spending.

 

Poll tax riots

 

My preference would be a climate change autocracy. An authoritarian regime that coordinates with other authoritarian regimes to impose climate change mitigation and adaptation on the world's population. Capitalism failed us. The endgame of capitalism is to drive humanity over a resource depletion, anthropogenic carbon-forcing cliff. "Market-based solutions" will never save us from the worst case scenarios of global warming. A U.S. style government has no answers. Western European social democrats won't save us. The market-based authoritarianism of China will have to pivot back to austerity for the masses and strict limits to the birth rate if it's going to make it.

If any government is to survive, it will develop some kind of steady state command economy and strict limits to population growth, likely enforced by severe political repression.

 

America has too many scabs. A bunch of brainwashed "conservatives" who think if they just work hard enough they'll be Jeff Bezos one day. Also, corporate culture here is all about the company. There's no solidarity.

But, yes, also too lazy.

 

So you arrive at "Toute nation a le gouvernement qu'elle mérite".

 

What's your utopian system of government for the country known currently as the United States of America?

Some ideas to begin brainstorming below (though you don't need to stick to its structure, it's just an example.)




1. How Centralized or Decentralized is power in government, vertically?

-Is it more federal, or unitary, or confederate/alliance?

-If the number of states change, what are the new states (or whatever you call them) if any?



2. Is it still Democratic? If not, what is it? If it is:

-Is it parliamentary or presidential, or some mix?

-Who runs the elections?

-Who can vote? Can this ever be taken away for any reason?

-How accessible is voting? (poll taxes, voter ID, voter registration barriers, length of voting time, voting by mail, transportation access, handicap access, voter roll purging, etc.)

-Is it winner by plurality, run-off voting, or ranked-choice voting?

-Where does it stand on recalls, referendums, and mandatory voting?

-How are campaigns financed, what regulations are there for it, and how transparent is it?



3. How is the system of government organized, horizontally? Is is still three main branches? Four branches? Two branches? One branch?

-Is there an elected Legislature? (If not, what is there?)
a. If there is, how many chambers (unicameral, bicameral, tricameral, etc.) with how many in each, and what are the differences between them?
b. And how are each of them elected/selected? What are the qualifications? How long do their terms run? Term limits?
c. f there is redistricting like in the current system, how is that done?
d. Are all places/people fairly represented? (ex: Puerto Rico, D.C.)

-Is there a clear Executive (whether parliamentary or presidential or other?)
a. Is there only one chief executive, like a President or Prime Minister or Chancellor? Or is there a Triumvirate of co-equal executives in which all executive actions need at least 2/3 support?
b. How is/are the executive(s) selected/elected? What are the qualifications?
c. How long do their terms run? Term limits?

-Is there a clear supreme Judicial authority?
a. What is their number (9? 3? 1? 13?), how is the national system organized?
b. How are they selected/elected? What are the qualifications?
c. How long do their terms run? Term limits?

-Would you streamline congressional committees, the U.S. Code, the cabinet departments and other executive agencies, the Code of Federal Regulations, and record-keeping of judicial decisions to all match one another; or keep it an organic system that's built as we go along?



4. How much control does it have over the Economy?

-Is it more capitalist, socialist, communist, syndicalist, corporatist, or fascist?

-How much influence does it have over infrastructure systems (ex: electric grid, water, schools,
digital, transportation, housing, high-speed rail national network, etc.) and how energy is generated?

-Healthcare? (insurance, medical/hospital care, pharmaceuticals cost/access, malpractice/tort costs, etc.),

-Education? (PK-12, colleges, trade schools & apprenticeship programs, libraries, after-school/summer learning, cost/funding formulas, personnel in addition to teachers such as social workers/psychologists/nurses/security/mentors/tutors/TAs/cafeteria-workers/ELL & special education aides, curriculum that should be emphasized or eliminated from STEAM to Civics to the Arts to Sports to Financial Literacy to Job Preparation to Multicultural Understanding, etc.)

-Housing & Transportation? (including heating/water/electricity/internet/insurance costs, rent caps, mortgage caps, property taxes, public housing, homelessness, quality of public transportation & roads/highways, etc.)

-Care-giving services? (for children, the elderly, the disabled, etc.)

-Food/Agriculture? (food stamps, soup kitchens, prioritization of healthy foods, farming monopolization, sustainability, cost, genetic patents, urban agriculture vertical greenhouses, hydroponics/aeroponics, sustainable fishing, humane conditions for farm animals, vegan meat, national emergency food reserves, etc.)

-Where does it stand on issues like Social Security for retirement and disability, Paid Leave, Minimum Wage, or Universal Basic Income?

-Where does it stand on issues like Consumer protection, Labor regulations & unionization, Workplace safety, Financial/bank fees & interest rate caps, Pay Transparency, Debt forgiveness, transferable work licenses/certifications, encouraging Worker-owned cooperatives & credit unions, etc.?

-Where does it stand on the Federal Reserve or any similar national bank system, how its audited, how currency is regulated, etc.?

-Where does it stand on regulation of Emerging Technologies (nuclear, genetic, artificial intelligence, nanotechnology, space mining, deep sea mining, deep earth mining, transhumanism, etc.)

-Where does it stand on the Environment? (clean water, clean air, pollution regulations, solid waste disposal, greenhouse gas emissions, wildlife protections, etc.)

-How does it manage Taxes for funding, is it progressive or standard, what is taxed and how much, which entities are given preference? Related: how would it handle/prevent government shutdown and debt ceiling crises?



5. How much mixing is there with Religion: is there an official established religion, is there a clear separation, is there freedom of religion?



6. What of the existence of other Rights?

-Free speech? Free Press? Right to Protest, right to Assembly, righto Petition?

-Can people be Tortured, or given the Death Penalty, or Enslaved?

-What of Surveillance versus Privacy, and the balance between National Security and Civil Liberties? Net neutrality?

-What of non-discrimination and anti-discrimination measures? For things like race/ethnicity, sex/gender/orientation, religion, age, disability, nationality, familial status, marriage status, genetic information, etc. for things like employment, housing, medical services, financial services, education, public accommodations, adoption, etc.

-How much personal/social freedom should there be, how many "victimless crimes" should remain?



7. How does it manage, and what rights are given in, the system of Criminal Justice:

-policing

-trials

-sentencing

-prison

-the War on Drugs in particular?



8. Where does it stand on Guns, regulations/rights/access?



9. Where does it stand on Abortion?



10. How does it manage Disaster preparedness, prevention, and response?
(pandemics, cyber attacks, hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, tsunamis, floods, wildfires, volcanic eruptions & super-volcanoes, asteroid collisions, solar flares, interstellar radiation, etc.)



11. How does it manage issues of Immigration and Trade?



12. How does it manage Foreign Relations:

-overall relationship with the rest of the world, how nationalist/isolationist versus internationalist/globalist?

-overall relationship between the government, military, and civilian citizenry?

-alliances (which ones to keep, which to eliminate, which to create)

-wars & similar military operations

-terrorism & counter-terrorism

-military code of conduct

-military spending

-the intelligence community

-auditing the military/intelligence

-military/intelligence bases in foreign countries versus rapid deployment/projection

-international arms trading & weapons sales

-defense contractors and the military-industrial complex



13. What's your name for the country/government? Is it still called the United States of America?

-Are its people still called Americans?

-Is the flag the same? What changes?

-Capital? Capitals? Rotating capital?

-Dollar?

-Anthem/motto/etc.?

 

My utopian system of government is one that sends me to Mars. Mostly the utopian part is me being sent to Mars. I wouldn't care about any other details because I would be in space.

 

Thunderdome post-apocalyptic rules or bust!

 

Is this the thread with the 300 member Supreme Court?

 

I think splitting the union is the best course. Three nations: The United Great Lakes and Northeast States of America. The Southern and Western States of America, and the Pacific States of America. Minorities will be given an 18 month window to flee to Pacific and Northeastern nations. Second amendment fanatics and the christian right will be given an 18 month window to flee to the SWSA. The GLNSA and PSA will be happy to maintain trade and open borders with the SWSA until they re-institute slavery, after which we will need to cut all ties and then possibly nuke them.

 

Our current system of government isn't ideal, but it's not the main source of our problems. The problem is that a bunch of unscrupulous and power-hungry political actors are determined to abuse and overwhelm the system, and the opposition doesn't care enough to stop them. It's said that "if men are angels, we wouldn't need government". Well I'd say the reverse is true too, if men are demons then there's no form of government that can be designed to constrain him.

 

Benign dictatorship. Failing that, assimilation by the Borg.

 

Resistance is not futile.

 

The United States is the Tacoma Narrows Bridge, and slavery was that fundamental engineering mistake that makes periodic failure inevitable. The bridge re-collapses every 100 years but always for the same reason, because each time the bridge has been rebuilt we include a slightly modified version of the same engineering mistake.

 

One thing I think needs to be added is term limits. To the senate and house. Say 6 terms for the house (twelve years) and 2 terms for senate (12) years. Sure it’s small but I think it could help a lot.

 

make it rain. (fire) on. me.

 

Strange women, lying in ponds, distributing swords.

 

Somebody should use Peter Wiggin as a model and become the de facto ruler of the United States by getting everyone's attention with a totally bonkers story that galvanizes a pre-existing human infrastructure. That person will then be free to bypass the traditional power channels that have become hopelessly ossified and give the most dynamic and influential voices out there in the new media paradigm a seat at the table.

 

To ruin things and answer honestly, I'd go with fundamental electoral reform and go from there with the idea that it'd make it more responsive.

1. Lower the threshold for political parties and independents to qualify for the ballot
2. Instant runoff voting for all races
3. All elections with at least mail-in ballot on demand
4. No loss of voter rights because of a criminal conviction
5. Possible stretch goal: some form of publicly funded campaigns

 

1. Pass HR 1 which eliminates gerrymandering and mandates non-partisan redistricting for all levels of government
2. Everything Lowbacca posted above
3. Change House terms to 3 years from 2 so they spend less time campaigning
4. Campaign finance reform--undo Citizens United via jurisdiction-stripping by Congress if need be
5. Term limits
6. Make the presidency a single six-year term, not potentially 2 4-year terms (although that is a much harder sell given who currently is in office)

Interesting thought exercises here. Shame none of it has a chance in hell of passing.

 

Would that really help? It might be a slightly better system, but that's not going to matter if people are determined to break that system.