I saw in another thread how people identified themselves with a certain flavor of political parties. That saddens me. The old gang "click" mentality. Animal pack stuff. When George Washington helped win the American Revolution, he was offered kingship. That was the familiar political model. He recognized the perils of such rule and declined. When he did, opting for the choice of the people, he also warned us about political parties. He was a wise man.
I would like to talk about how to fix America, for a better America. Specifically, I am interested in the mechanics, not issues. I do though welcome your comments on if a cowboy can marry his horse, fluoride being an aphrodisiac, or other such nonsense that will do nothing to fix America. I am likely to do the same. Rebuttals to suggestions are also encouraged. We need a conversation.
America needs fixing. We are at a tipping point. "A house divided can not stand". Political polarization is at an all time high and is not going to get better. Citizens are again thinking and speaking of secession. Things could get ugly ... uglier. We here can come together, whether a D, an R, or an I. We give government power over us, yet we are supposed to tell it how to use it. We can see the failures into how government progressed. What do you see wrong, and how should we fix it ?
I will start with two hallmarks of our existence. Voting and taxation.

Voting and campaigning:
Senators are being bought off for votes on Riders. For this reason any representative's constituent should be able to vote forcing the representative to vote for his people. If he needs to be sold (or bought) the constituents need to be sold or bought. Especially if the bill does not affect us. Which further makes voter ID necessary.
Term limits are needed. America already realized this when they limited Presidential terms. It needs to extend to Congress also. Fifty years of political family dynasty is akin to kingship. It creates a power vacuum of new ideas.
A voter ID should be mandatory. Both sises of the isle have been harmed by elections being stolen. Dead people voting, multiple votes, fake citizens. All threaten our election process.
Equal representation also needs to be addressed. No more of the big cities dictating the wishes of a whole state. Perhaps the Electoral College set up needs to be revisited.
Political affiliations should be banned from the ballots. People should know who they are voting for, not a political ideological promise. Many good candidates which both sides can like have to pick a side to even get on the ballot. The Independents, the Libertarians, the Green Party, even the Socialist and Communist leaning people, all have to masquerade as a D or R which confuses those that don't want that.
Political parties should be abolished. There should not be war chests of money to help sway weak candidates into office, only to gain political party strength.
Which brings me to campaign financing. No one should be able to outspend another. Why does our President (who can't even be re-elected) keep using taxpayer money, Air Force One, and his bully pulpit to campaign ... for more money. If anything, the money a President can raise should go into the Treasury.
Related to campaigning, the raising of political ideologies in educational settings must be abolished. Shaping young minds with ideological dogma (thanks rayb) is accomplished with propaganda. In effect, it is brainwashing. Colleges, like was required by the media, should be required to provide equal representation of all ideas.

Taxation :
Sin taxes/social engineering
The IRS needs to go. It has become a joke. Not only has it been used, past and present, to target political enemies, it's morass is beyond comprehension. The Internal Revenue code is seven times the length of the Bible, twice the length of Tolstoy's "War and Peace". The federal tax code with its 44,000 pages, 5.5 million words, and 721 different forms is a patchwork maze of complexity and a testament to confusion over common sense. Even our Secretary of the Treasury, Timothy "Turbo Tax" Geither, who oversees the IRS, could not figure out how to do his taxes. Americans are forced to go to accountants to get their taxes done.
By the way, if you go to the US Government Printing Office ( www.gpo.gov ), you can order a complete set of Title 26 of the US Code of Federal Regulations (that's the part written by the IRS), all twenty volumes of it, at the bargain price of $974, shipping included. According to the US Government Printing Office, it's 13,458 pages in total. The full text of Title 26 of the United States Code (the part written by Congress--available for an additional $179) is a mere 3,387 printed pages, bringing the adjusted gross page count to 16,845. That $1,153.00 dollar tax code will only be good for one year as it grows in length every year. Lobbyists are always bribing our lawmakers for special loopholes. Politicians use it to to win votes.
The "customer service we get from the IRS is horrendous. It is an agency which strikes fear into citizens. It dictates deadlines and we have recently seen they can not meet those required of them. Any monies owed past due, interest is charged daily, something private entities are prohibited by law from doing. Houses and properties can be seized, bank accounts confiscated, and wages garnished. To defend one's self from the IRS can cost thousands.
Something different needs to be done. A flat tax or a fair tax I would have to think about.

Fiscal accountability.
I want to see a balanced budget amendment, and the auditing of the Federal Reserve.

Governing and serving :
Checks and balances. Since we are empowering political parties, no party should have a majority (Congress).
Working for the government is not a right. It is a privilege we the voters grant certain people (even if by proxy). Just as licensed driving is a right, requiring people to involuntarily give up their Fifth Amendment rights, government workers should be required to do the same. If they plead the Fifth they should relinquish their jobs and be prohibited from working for the government or in any position with a private company which deals with the government. It's about accountability.
End runs around Congress need to stop. A President using his departments to make rules at his whim is wrong. All rules should need Congressional approval. The existence of a Department should not be "forever". They should be subject to regular cost/benefit analysis. Our Dept. of Education has spent billions and test scores are down. I concede a President the power to nominate a department head, which has to be approved by Congress, but I think they are accountable to Congress. That Congress can fire them, via the same confirmation rules.
I want an end to "riders" on proposed legislation. A bill should be able to stand on it's own. I am tired of Congressional vote buying by promising pork to another's district/state. Our forefather's realization that a separation of powers is needed is as true today as then. That separation has become muddied.

Transparency.
Officials should be required to report to the people regularly and for a set amount of time. Be required to answer, at the very least, a specific amount of questions. No more bloviating to fulfill the appearance of answering to the people. Every press outlet should receive the same amount of time. No more picking "friendly audience" press outlets to carry their water. The so called "news conferences", where the press is granted the favor of asking questions, should be required to take regular "Joe the Plumber " questions. I know everybody in America can not ask at the same time but I believe a method could be worked out. We can even create a Dept. of Citizens, . It really is not a bad idea. Many police internal review boards have had to include regular citizens.
Speeches. I would ban them being done with the "backdrop pawns" which are used to bolster a politician's point. A speech should also stand on it's own. A speech should never be a lecture. It should require a follow up with it's merits being questioned, in just a public bully pulpit as of which the speech was given in. At a later date, as a speech is a prepared remark(s).

Unions in government
This is all kinds of wrong. A mini government within our government, ? Government exists to protect the rights of all people. Why do we need an entity to operate within our government which seeks to carve out it's own rights ?

Lobbyists
Our Constitution granted us the right to redress(?) our government. By lobby is an effective method. Cash prostitutes that procedure. Redress should be done by person, not by hired gun. Granted, spokespersons are a natural and logically effective method to streamline a process but cash prostitute it. I say no ex government worker should lobby until after five years of employment.
I not a genius. I realize some of my thoughts would/may not be feasible, or have unintended consequences, or likely don't go far enough. I would like to hear your thoughts.

[This message has been edited by cliffw (edited 07-02-2013).]

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Whade' "Darkwing" Duck
Fieroless (11/18/12)