Our System of Government is Broken and I Have a Better Idea

Discussion in 'Politics' started by PTD, Aug 2, 2014.

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  1. PTD
    Fiendish

    PTD Administrator Moderator

    I don't know if our government can be fixed anymore. Maybe it's just too far gone and we need something really radical to fix it. I have an idea.

    When you dig down, you find that the root of the problem is the way our elections are handled and how money influences them. Big money influences elections and big money influences those who get elected. It's to a point now that I don't think there's anyone left in government who isn't one some level answering to big money instead of the people they were elected to serve.

    How do we solve this problem? Change the way we elect people.

    My theory is that any random person from among my fellow citizens of the USA could do a better job of running the country than the fools we send to Washington. So, let's send random people to office. Let's do a lottery. Hell, this will kill two birds with one stone, we can raise a lot of money along the way.

    Ten bucks for a ticket to enter the lottery to win your House of Representatives seat. Twenty to enter the lottery for your Senate seat. Fifty to enter the lottery to become the next President. Just like the Powerball, the MegaBucks, or any of the other popular lotteries out there. The winner is random.

    Of course, it will have to be run a bit differently than Powerball. We need to make sure there IS a winner. And, we can't have dishonest people running it either, so let's rule out the Federal Election Commission right off the bat.

    Instead of campaigns, speeches, debates and all that bullsheet, we can just stop at our local convenience store and pick up a ticket to run in the race. One ticket per person though. Can't have big money buying up all the tickets, that would not be fair.

    The money raised could go to our schools, to fix our roads, and all the stuff that we need done that our government doesn't care about.

    After we eliminate the potential for legalized bribery of public officials, what we now know as campaign contributions, it will be a lot easier to stamp out corruption. I would then propose a law to make bribery of public officials a capital crime.
     
    PTD, Aug 2, 2014
    #1
  2. Takiji

    Takiji Well-Known Member

    Worth a try I suppose. But I would extend the lottery system to include top to bottom those charged with running the Pentagon, the CIA and, the DHS, to name a few. At least for the first decade or two. An entrenched and powerful bureaucracy, especially one involved in state security, can be a match for any legislature or elected official. We'd need to revamp it all.
     
    Takiji, Aug 3, 2014
    #2
  3. JoeNation
    No Mood

    JoeNation The ReichWing Abuser

    Your lottery idea depends on the people running the government currently to be willing to change the U.S. Constitution to institute such a system. However, can you ever imagine them putting themselves out of a job? Not bloody likely.
    Here is a better idea. Instead of putting into office people that would easily be purchased by corporate big money since they would be replaced by the next lottery anyway, while not publicly finance elections and give congress a set work schedule that no longer involved months and months off to campaign fund raise? Everyone from corporation owners to Joe six-pack would contribute exactly the same amount of money towards the election. One man, one vote, one contribution. No Constitution change necessary. No single person or entity would have any more political influence than the rest of the population. You could still hold a lottery for anyone who voted and give away whatever funds were not spent after the election was over. Wouldn't YOU vote for the person that spent the least on the campaign? Hum? Increase voter turnout and take money out of politics at the same time.
     
    JoeNation, Aug 3, 2014
    #3
  4. rlm's cents
    Hot

    rlm's cents Well-Known Member

    I will bet that would require changing the Constitution - particularly in light of the recent court rulings.

    My idea probably is not very popular, but how about unchanging the Constitution. Originally, the Senators were not elected. The state legislatures appointed them. That way we would get true politicians rather than the most popular face running. They would actually be capable or wheeling and dealing to actually make laws.
     
    rlm's cents, Aug 3, 2014
    #4
  5. Takiji

    Takiji Well-Known Member

    How about just scrapping the whole mess and stating over again? 50 independent states holding a congress with the goal of forming some sort of union. Chances are good that they would fail, much to the relief of everyone. We'd probably end up with a number of regional nations or confederations and we'd all live happily ever after. Or not, depending on which one you happened to be a part of.
     
    Last edited: Aug 3, 2014
    Takiji, Aug 3, 2014
    #5
  6. c jay
    Amused

    c jay Well-Known Member

    If you hold a lottery, only the wrong sort of people would buy tickets. I'm in favor of the jury duty or draft approach. Your number comes up, you have to serve in congress. The bureaucracy would be the real problem. May be term limits for those folks of no more than 10 years. As far as independent states, didn't work too well the first and second time. Even Jefferson Davis said he envied Lincoln's ability to marshal national resources. He had to appeal to one state to transfer bullets to another state's army even if they were fighting in line next to each other.
     
    c jay, Aug 3, 2014
    #6

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