Stop complaining and Come up with a solution!

As tempting as it would be to complain about everyone constantly complaining, I'll just say this... Stop whining and put forth a good idea. I wish this thread to be about ideas on how we can fix our political mess that we're in.

Let's start with this... After just watching, for the third time, the video of the tv pundit getting all mad about our bought and paid for congress i propose a new way of dealing with elections.

A) candidates must apply for federal money, and all get the same amount. Naturally we would have to devise some fair criteria by which to approve candidates for the money. Corporations CANNOT donate to candidates, if you can't die, you can't vote.

B) no more of this year long or more campaign nonsense. if politicians rare campaigning, they aren't doing their jobs for which they were elected in the first place. 4-6 weeks max sounds about right.

C) abolish the electoral college. It was a good idea in the past. Today, it's out dated and unnecessary.

D) if any tv channel decides to hold a public debate, no candidate can be excluded, and all should get as equal time as possible. Of course this is a tough one, but we can get close.

Now let's hear some more ideas and debate them properly. Please rip my ideas apart, and help me to refine them. Just remember we are all in this together, conservative liberals middle of the road types, we all pay taxes, we all want to be safe, and we all want our families to prosper, so why not work together?

reply to post by Whatsreal


I can't disagree enough.

The public should be paying them to increase their paycheck for four years? Absolutely not. If you're rich and wealthy, or just like the candidate, toss some money their way, but I sure as heck would not appreciate my tax dollars being used for candidates that I don't even endorse.

Do away with a longer campaign trail? That really sterilizes people actually getting a feel for the candidate. That's not logical, nor possible to do in 4-6 weeks.

The electoral voting process is out dated? How so? Please explain that in more detail. I'm genuinely curious here, as I don't really understand how one would think it's out of date?

reply to post by Whatsreal


I say know our Bill of Rights 1-10 and Amendments 11-27 for starters. This would definitely put us all on the same page to begin with at least.

Bill of Rights Thread

Great Thread SnF


ETA

A) candidates must apply for federal money, and all get the same amount.

This one....you're on your own here. I don't think this is a good idea. However, if it's not taxpayer money then maybe it's okay.

C) abolish the electoral college. It was a good idea in the past. Today, it's out dated and unnecessary.

Ding.....ding.....ding!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You answered the Million Dollar question

Or we can go about it the right way and... First get everyone on the same page with basic set of informaion. then establish what you'd like to accomplish. then find ways to implement them small tersm and start working them to greater lengths and I'll even give you the basic information video

If people can't listen and grasp what he's saying then they'll never truly be able to undestand how deep the control goes...

video.google.com...#

reply to post by Shugo


Using public money would get the money out of politics. It levels the playing field. I'm not talking millions or billions. Let's say 200k. Campaigns are way out of hand. Also, the government should require that tv/radio stations donate some air time for all candidates in a fair equal way. All stations operate because the fed gov't allows them to via licenses so they can do their part to help democracy.


The electoral college worked when information traveled slowly. So ballots were counted in each state and a rep went to Washington to cast the electoral votes. Today, info moves fast. We don't need a complicated system anymore. If more Americans vote for candidate X, then candidate X wins. We don't ever need a repeat of 2000, look where that got us.

reply to post by Whatsreal


The question I would follow up with is how do you figure $200,000 is an appropriated sum of money? It also doesn't justify why tax dollars are used for candidates that the tax payer does not support. I know what your intentions are here, and I understand, but I don't feel that's the right way to go about it at all.

As for the electoral system, that's essentially the same thing. Digitally sending votes is not secure. At least with hand written ballot forms that're mailed it's less likely for tampering, or at least if there is an issue with the vote being tampered with, one could identify it based on the condition of the envelope it was enclosed in. At some point voting needs to be the responsability of the voter, and not 100% always the responsability of the government. It is, after all...your privilage and your right.

I think you are on the right track.

#1 - Get the money out of politics. "A" looks about right. Big donations buy big payoffs; via lowered tax, favorable regulations, deregulation etc. We the people pay the cost if these handouts to the big donors. It would cost less to fund the elections than continually pay for the quid pro quo given in exchange for campaign donations.

#2 - See #1.

#3 - No electronic voting machines with out a verifiable paper trail.

"B" - Shortening the campaign is fine, but we need time to find out the dirt on a candidate. (They all have some.) I'd say Jan 1 of the election year seems about right.

"C" - I agree. Different era and no longer needed. The candidate with the most votes should win.

"D" Sounds difficult to implement.


A) candidates must apply for federal money, and all get the same amount. Naturally we would have to devise some fair criteria by which to approve candidates for the money. Corporations CANNOT donate to candidates, if you can't die, you can't vote.

B) no more of this year long or more campaign nonsense. if politicians rare campaigning, they aren't doing their jobs for which they were elected in the first place. 4-6 weeks max sounds about right.

C) abolish the electoral college. It was a good idea in the past. Today, it's out dated and unnecessary.

D) if any tv channel decides to hold a public debate, no candidate can be excluded, and all should get as equal time as possible. Of course this is a tough one, but we can get close.

reply to post by ThePublicEnemyNo1


If public money was used for elections, corporations would no longer get kick backs/ favors / whatever you want to call it in the form of unfair tax breaks from the politicians they get elected.

This would save us billions in tax dollars. We should be pay for our democracy... Which we already do, but at least this way we can control the cost.

A People's Veto on the Federal level might solve a few things.

As far as I'm concerned it's a good way of bringing more democracy to a Republic, without disturbing the Republic itself.

And if we are really lucky it may even clog up Washington and keep them from accomplishing anything.

'Just Say No...to Congress'

Question to some older people....

Was the campaign season always this long. I only started voting in 2000 so I never rally paid attention when I was in grade school.

Also, I do admit 4-6 weeks might be a bit short. 3 months sounds better thinking about it some more... But dragging it out too long isn't good either.

Think about how fast perry, Cain, Bachmann and Romney took themselves out of the race.

Personally I'm surprised Gingrich is in it at all with his ties to Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac, forget which but now I'm getting off topic.

So older wise ones, do tell... How long was the campaign season in the past, before 2000??

How would you decide who gets the public financing?

I would run for office every election just to get the funds.

Stop complaining and Come up with a solution!

I did,,,,,I went to college.......

My feet hurt................


ETA: I would also like to add.....That the political situation is too far gone to be "fixed".

reply to post by The_Phantom


That's a fantastic Idea... We seem to be able to vote for American idol contestants with little issue, so why not have a system by which we can veto something serious.

More ideas..... C'mon people...think... No idea is wrong, it might just be a diamond in the rough or lead someone else to another idea

reply to post by OutKast Searcher


It would have to be akin to applying for a grant. Plus it's easy to require receipts to prove money has been spent appropriately. The IRS is very good at rooting through a businesses receipts to ensure no fishy write offs have been claimed. I think we could find a few people to monitor candidates...


In response to saying 200k for a campaign, it was an arbitrary number for the sake of getting this discussion rolling. There should be a sliding scale depending on the office for which one is running. A presidential campaign costs way more than a local magistrate. I'm sure we can find the right number for the cost of a campaign, but hundreds of millions?!? Not necessary.

ANY REGISTERED VOTER can sign up and become a delegate. And you can still vote in your party's primary.
A NONPARTISAN TICKET on the 2012 ballot. Americans Elect finalists must choose a VP from a party other than their own.
AN EQUAL VOTE for every voter—no matter what party you belong to or the date of your state's primary.
www.americanselect.org...

I came across a site called 'AmericansElect 2012. The words "Pick a President,not a Party" are the first thing you see on the site.They have a poll showing that 80% of voters would consider an alternative presidential ticket in the upcoming election. Americans Elect is a nonpartisan nonprofit whose only mission is to let the American people directly nominate their choice for president. The site seems to be a great idea

reply to post by Whatsreal


QUICK AND VIABLE REALISTIC PROVEN WAY TO CREATE JOBS!

Over 80% of all jobs in the U.S. are SMALL BUISNESS JOBS. Yet neither political party has done anything to help Small Buisnesses....and don't be fooled by whatever crap they are spouting. Neither party is doing anything.

Step 1. For every new employee hired and kept on the books working and paying taxes.....that buisness get's the option of a 3 year ZERO % INTEREST loan of up to $5000.00. This would be made available immediatly upon Hire and immediate process of credit check with an average to slightly below average Credit Rating as worth for the deal....as well as an increase in amount made available for loan based on amount of people hired.
One person=$5000 Buisness loan for each new employee up to 4.....5 new employees to 10= minimum 0% interest loan for 5 years at $40,000 minimum as a maximum mount of loan granted....all the way to $200,000 for 10 new employees kept on the books for 5 years or more. Payment schedual for $200,000 for maximum term of 10 years.

Small Buisnesses that have up to 50 new employees....one Miliion Dollars at 0% for 10 years repayment.


Step 2. Provide tax dollars on a state level with help of the Feds for developing VIABLE Buisness districts and the Infrastructure needed to support them. This must be decisions done by a team of REAL BUISNESS EXPERIENCED Consultants and not politicians. Politicians dump millions into lost causes while viable possibilities....such as development in eco-friendly way.....of Buisness zones that use natural attractions such as river front development and in urban areas....unused landfill areas as SOLAR GENERATION FIELDS with viable NEW TECH....not 25 year old designed solar cells that break down.

Step 3. TAX BRAKES for MIDDLE CLASS SMALL BUISNESS OWNERS! Split Infinity

In relation to Corporations,right now the US Federal Government could preempt all 'state corporate law' under the courts current expansive interpretation of the Commerce Clause.You could get around the Tenth Amendment and get them all out of Delaware.Corporate Personhood mocks the Bill of Rights and could also be removed.The Founding Fathers would remove it.

No Dem or Rep will ever push for anything like this though.

How about we get away with money of this world.. i think that would be the solution of many problems. The way to replace that currency based system is to replace it with another system that will not value the materials around us, but it value's our identity of who we are and how we are helping to be on the constructive
side of life instead of the destructive side of life. We do now have internet that contains billions of websites from all over the world.

So how about we create a system next to the internet, let's name it the outerweb for now. We can only log on the outerweb with our Electronic ID card. The outerweb then stores all information what we do in our school and working environment, so then we can share with the rest of the people of what is being learned, and what is
being made from all around the globe of people that are using the outerweb.

All products do have a code, so by this the outerweb should be so designed that it can take all input and output that goes around the world, much like forums
all over the world. But then the outerweb will be designed so for example a farmer can put in how much grain is made, so then the outerweb knows where the grain
will be needed to produce it to different products. So the suplier fills in how much he created and the demander fills in how much he needs. So then the people
who then filled in on the outerweb that they need bread that it then can be transported to a trading post which used to be shops where people then can pick up
their order of bread. And then so it goes with all products that people will be working on from all over the world.

So the question here lies then what are people going to do when they have everything what they need. Well then without any input on the outerweb there will not be
any output. By this we provide for others, so then we can provide for ourselves.
If their are people who can work but are unemployed we then can start to share our jobs. the system will know you what you have learned
at school what you are educated in and then where you are located so it provide for a job that seems fit for you.

So the system will also have a voting ability so the people can vote with their real ID on what sort of bonusses people should get after completion of a time periode
on a job that the system has calculated for you and asked for you to do, so the system can plan in advance to your own liking of what you need to be able to grow
and gain understanding of what you would like to gain better understanding off..

in any case this is an idea to a solution to tacke alot if not all problems in life! Put all our knowledge of what we create, where we create it and what is needed all
in one Outerweb identity System. So the system can calculate everything to create a balanced system of suply and demand for all the people who use the system.

reply to post by SplitInfinity


I own a small business... and while your idea sounds slightly complicated I like where you're going with it. While we don't need to borrow any money currently, I have some friends who are trying to start up new businesses and they can't find capital anywhere. In one year, we were able to create 6 jobs.. and I hope to create more next year.

It is very true that big corporations, especially big stores like walmart and lowes end up killing good jobs. What small clothing store owner would want to go work for walmart for $9-12/hr when he/she used to make far more, but cannot stay in business because walmart moved in down the street.

star for you sir.

I agree that we should stop complaining, but we have a more pressing issue to deal with. HR 1540 and S 1867 are in reconciliation and will be voted on again. If we can get everyone to call their senators and representatives like with the PIPA/SOPA bill, we may be able to keep it from passing. At least for now.
Public opinion is the strongest weapon we have right now. If that bill passes public opinion will not be good for long. We have until new years, tops, to keep that bill from passing.
I'm working on rallying public support but I need help.