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

Discussion in 'Community' started by Ghost, Jun 17, 2017.

  1. Lowbacca_1977

    Lowbacca_1977 Chosen One star 7

    Registered:
    Jun 28, 2006
    The system is already broken, but making a new system that is more responsive allows for corrections to be made much more easily. Anything that erodes "you have to vote for us because the alternative is worse" as a mindset.
     
  2. Vaderize03

    Vaderize03 Manager Emeritus star 6 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Oct 25, 1999
    What do you suggest then? How would you reform the system to thwart those who are determined to break it?

    Drive-by critique of posts is easy, original thought is hard. Let’s hear yours.
     
    Last edited: Jun 14, 2020
  3. Alpha-Red

    Alpha-Red Chosen One star 7

    Registered:
    Apr 25, 2004
    I think it's less about the system and more about the political actors. Why do so many people support Republicans? Because Republicans have spent every minute of every day for the past 20 years pumping out their propaganda and smearing the Democrats...and Democrats do nothing to defend themselves or their agenda. Democrats can't stop Republicans from saying whatever the hell they want, but they can refute and counter their false narrative. Unless they do that, you're still going to have the same 40% of diehard Trump supporters and the same number of confused swing voters, and that's still more than enough to wreak havoc even if we manage to pass all these reforms.
     
    Last edited: Jun 14, 2020
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  4. vncredleader

    vncredleader Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Mar 28, 2016

    Yeah no reform hat is necessary would create something so utterly different. So long as companies like walmart are allowed in this country there can be no reform or betterment of our people
     
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  5. Lowbacca_1977

    Lowbacca_1977 Chosen One star 7

    Registered:
    Jun 28, 2006
    Changing the system can absolutely adjust that, though. For example, not *that* many people support Republicans. Gallup tracking polling of party identification hasn't gone over 30% for Republicans in over a year, and less than a quarter of people voted for Republicans in the 2018 election. And we have a system that allows Republicans to paint things as "Absolutely avoid the Democrats" which many people would point out leaves, functionally, one option, which is to vote for them. The ideal of an improved system would be to make it so that a group has to come up with reasons to vote for them, not just reasons to avoid the other. It can also usher in more political actors that can do a better job of it.
     
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  6. Alpha-Red

    Alpha-Red Chosen One star 7

    Registered:
    Apr 25, 2004
    Even if we implemented ranked-choice voting and switched to a parliamentary system, I don't see that making that big of a difference. You'd still have a power-hungry conservative party, and they'd go into coalition with a bunch of even more insane fascists...just like what happens in Israel. We would technically no longer have a two-party system, but the end result is the same.
     
  7. Lowbacca_1977

    Lowbacca_1977 Chosen One star 7

    Registered:
    Jun 28, 2006
    So would your ideal US then be to get rid of democracy? As you're boiling it down to "no change in system would result in Republicans not winning" so that seems like the only thing left is to either ditch voting entirely, or selectively disenfranchise.
     
  8. Alpha-Red

    Alpha-Red Chosen One star 7

    Registered:
    Apr 25, 2004
    No, I'm saying Democrats need to grow a spine and a brain, and start offering a compelling message as well as seriously challenge the Republicans' narrative. The current system isn't favorable to Democrats, but they can still win if they tried.
     
    Last edited: Jun 15, 2020
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  9. Lordban

    Lordban Isildur's Bane star 7

    Registered:
    Nov 9, 2000
    Well, considering there are communication disruptions between the various institutions, and since communication disruptions can mean only one thing - invasion - it's pretty clear how the US government should be reformed.
     
  10. Thena

    Thena Chosen One star 7

    Registered:
    May 10, 2001
    That definitely rings a bell for some reason. I'm almost certain I have heard of that before.
     
  11. vncredleader

    vncredleader Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Mar 28, 2016
  12. Lowbacca_1977

    Lowbacca_1977 Chosen One star 7

    Registered:
    Jun 28, 2006
    I'd love to see a significant reigning in of the powers of the presidency. No party is going to back that, though.
     
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  13. CairnsTony

    CairnsTony Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    May 7, 2014
    Anything that gets rid of, "Don't vote for Trump, but for ****s sake don't vote for anyone other than Biden either," might be an improvement. Then voting, say, Green, won't be seen as an act of evil.

    Oh, and bring in PR FFS. Everybody's vote should count.
     
  14. Ghost

    Ghost Chosen One star 8

    Registered:
    Oct 13, 2003
    A look into what near-future and far-future forms of government could look like:
     
  15. Dark Ferus

    Dark Ferus Chosen One star 8

    Registered:
    Jul 29, 2016
    It ultimately boils down to making the Overton window shift leftward.


    Both sides during the Civil War were to the right of most people in America today. Most social reform has happened by an ideological shift to the left.


    That said, I do still believe in democracy, just one where oppressive views and practices are obsolete. No one-party state, but the reverse of where the party ideologies are now.
     
    Last edited: Sep 7, 2020
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  16. Ghost

    Ghost Chosen One star 8

    Registered:
    Oct 13, 2003
    Any new ideas here?

    I still mostly agree with the first post in the thread (quoted below).

    I think I'd just add that, in addition to ending gerrymandering for the House, I'd also greatly expand the size of the House to be more proportional to what it was the last time the House expanded, or just make it a large and clean/even number like 1000 (which would also naturally make gerrymandering much harder or at least less consequential). And still not sure what to do about the Supreme Court.

    I also didn't mention it last time but think I just forgot to mention: universal voting by mail as an option, allowing write-in's to be an option in all elections, statehood for DC and Puerto Rico and end the territory status completely for the others in some way, and encouraging more states to try being unicameral.

    This is a topic I've brought up a lot before, and a lot more people have been talking about it since the election, so I figured it's time for a new thread.

    How should the United States government be reformed? Or if you think it needs a totally new government, like a new constitution, how should the new government/constitution be different?

    How to reform...
    -the House of Representatives?
    -the Senate?
    -the Presidency?
    -the Supreme Court?
    -the States?
    -Government in general?
    -Voting, Campaign Finance, and Elections in general?
    -etc.?



    For me,

    reforming the House of Representatives
    * create nonpartisan commissions with the responsibility to redistrict, no more gerrymandering

    reforming the Senate
    * I'd personally like no Senate and go unicameral, but at least change the filibuster from 60 to 51 (and get rid of similar procedural gimmicks)

    reforming the Presidency
    * replace the Electoral College with a Popular Vote, either Instant-Runoff (Ranked) Voting, or a Runoff between the top two candidates set a couple weeks later, if no one gets above 50%

    reforming the States
    * I'd like to move to a Unitary system... still have states, but the national government determines and can change the relationship with only bills not amendments
    * or allow states to create another level of government between them and the national government, so, for example, the entire Northeast could band together under one single-payer health system that they might not afford to do individually but can't get passed nationally, stuff like that
    * nonpartisan redistricting for state seats too, like state legislators' districts
    * maybe have more state governments experiment as parliamentary democracies?

    reforming Government in general
    * they haven't been much of an issue lately, but do something to permanently end the threat of the Debt Ceiling, like raise it to 1 quadrillion or something
    * likewise, just make it so government is continually funded at the set levels, until a bill passes to change those levels, so there's never a chance of another government shutdown
    * streamline congressional committees, the U.S. Code, the cabinet departments and other executive agencies, the Code of Federal Regulations to all match one another

    reforming Voting, Campaign Finance, and Elections in general
    * make it so there's a universal voter registration system... and that it automatically updates when someone moves
    * public campaign financing only (maybe something like: the government reserves $200 per registered voter per year, and the voter decides which campaigns it should go to, if any at all? And every campaign which qualifies by getting so many relevant names to sign on to them going on the ballot, gets a small starter-up lump sum from the government?)
    * national election system, consistent across all states and DC and territories
    * have nationwide Early Voting
    * make Election Days into federal holidays
    * allow felons to vote (if they're big enough to be a significant voter bloc, then we have a problem, and this is one way to address that)
    * as with the Presidential election, make all elections into Instant-Runoffs or have actual runoffs, so the winner always has to get at least 50%+1
    * add "None of the Above" as an option, and if it wins, then a new election with all new candidates


    I'm unsure about, but worth considering:
    -mandatory voting, or pay a fee (like Australia)
    -unsure about parliamentary democracy at the national level?
    -if there are term limits for Congress, 12-20 years being the max (8 is too short for Congress, imo)... or force them to take a break after serving 2 terms before they can run again
    -encourage all states to adopt a good civics and cultural understanding curriculum as a necessary part of K-12 public education
    -allow a way to have referendums and initiatives on the national level (but not constitutional amendments, unless it's a huge supermajority like 80%)
    -unsure about proportional representation? (maybe that could replace the Senate, if we must be bicameral?)
    -unsure about new ways to "recall" the President, or a member of Congress
    -unsure about term limits for the Supreme Court... 20 years, then have to be reapproved, maybe?
    -definitely don't want a useless "head of state" separate from the president


    My past threads on this:
    http://boards.theforce.net/threads/how-to-best-fix-u-s-government.50019286/
    http://boards.theforce.net/threads/u-s-government-reform.50009261/
    http://boards.theforce.net/threads/bureaucratic-legal-reform-in-the-united-states.31351787/
    http://boards.theforce.net/threads/how-should-the-u-s-government-be-reformed.27535488/
     
    Last edited: Jun 3, 2023
  17. Alpha-Red

    Alpha-Red Chosen One star 7

    Registered:
    Apr 25, 2004
    - Abolish the Senate.
    - Yes, switch to a parliamentary system. See "The Perils of Presidentialism" by Juan Linz. Also there will be no more of this crap where Republicans can sabotage the government and the economy and then blame it on the Democrats.
    - Encourage states to adopt a good civics and cultural understanding curriculum...sure. Except that what used to be considered basic civic values is now smeared and labeled as "woke ideology" because conservatism is fundamentally at odds with civic values. If you want this to happen, then you need to win the rhetorical and political war first.
     
    Last edited: Jun 4, 2023
  18. CLee

    CLee Jedi Knight star 3

    Registered:
    Jun 18, 2017
    Not in favor of a lot of reforms, don't think they're needed or a good idea and in particular increasing the size of the House of Representatives to 1,000 or more sounds terrible, that would contribute to the overall House seeming too vague and unaccountable, really uncontrollable. A kind of weird, kind of not weird aspect is that a lot of people do like, approve of their particular Congressmember (but don't like Congress overall, that makes sense, they don't vote for and we shouldn't really expect them to like Congress overall).

    I do think some modest, lenient term limits for Congress would be a good idea, a maximum of 3 terms 18 years for Senate and 10-12 terms 20-24 years for House. So that they can be in those offices for a long time but not more than 30 years, nearly endlessly, eventually they do have to leave and make room for new members, they do get the advantage of incumbency (if they did a good job) a few times but not a whole lot of times, not nearly endlessly.
     
    Last edited: Jun 4, 2023
  19. Bor Mullet

    Bor Mullet Force Ghost star 7

    Registered:
    Apr 6, 2018
    Making it much easier to vote, extending the time period of voting significsntly, potentially making voting mandatory, and eliminating gerrymandering, would likely have major implications for the better. Which is why the GOP is stridently against all these things.
     
  20. anakinfansince1983

    anakinfansince1983 Skywalker Saga/LFL/YJCC Manager star 10 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Mar 4, 2011
    Found my post on this six years ago. I’ve changed some things.

    —tax wealth, not just income, and any of either above $20 million per year is taxed at 70 percent. Eliminate all loopholes and deductions. That includes offshore investments.

    —eliminate the Electoral College. National popular vote only. The only use for states—as in ‘this candidate won North Carolina’—would be that the states would send in the results. Voting could be done by mail or in person in every state, Election Day would be a national holiday and voting would also be open for two weeks prior to elections, including on Sundays.

    —I would absolutely eliminate the Senate. House representation would be proportional to population and districts would be drawn as geometrically as possible. No gerrymandering.

    —Medicare for All.

    —Well funded public education at all levels including post secondary. No for-profit testing companies or curricula. Teachers are given a basic pacing guide and standards so that classrooms are roughly in the same place across the country but otherwise they are given autonomy to reach and teach their students as they see fit. Standards are diverse and not Euro-centric or capitalism-centric.

    —drastically cut the Pentagon budget, stop “spreading democracy around the world”.

    —a gun buyback/sweep of the black market and then Swiss-style system in which all gun owners must undergo strict training.

    —drug offenses lead to rehabilitation, not prison. No for-profit prisons.

    —cannabis is legal nationally for recreational and medical use.

    —comprehensive sex education programs in every school. Birth control is widely and easily available at no cost. These policies alone will reduce rates of abortion, which is then considered health care between the pregnant person and their doctor.

    —national legal right for trans people to use any bathroom, play any sport, and go by their actual name and not their dead name.

    —a move towards 100 percent renewable energy. Nationwide public transit including high speed trains. Nationwide charging grids for electric cars and buses.

    —minimum wage in every area must amount to, per month, four times the cost of the average rent in that area.

    —all political campaigns are publicly funded. Every citizen gets a “campaign voucher” which they can donate to a politician or campaign of their choice. No corporate or special interest lobbying or buying politicians (or Supreme Court justices).
     
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