Are You Willing to be Non-Partisan ? What is Your Liberty Worth ?

reply to post by BubbaJoe

Maybe it is time to rethink the primaries, and bring all the candidates together in a single general election.

I think you have a good idea, reform of the primaries would be a good idea.

Any candidate who gets over a certain number of votes should be on the ballot, irregardless of what party they are in, or what party endorses their candidacy.

Primaries should also be scheduled so that different states get to go first in the process. Every year before presidential elections, a lottery type draw should be held to determine the schedule. In addition, the primaries should be scheduled so that the candidates have enough time to go around the state and present their platforms.

The current system gives tremendous advantages to the big money people.

poet1b
reply to post by BubbaJoe

 

Maybe it is time to rethink the primaries, and bring all the candidates together in a single general election.

I think you have a good idea, reform of the primaries would be a good idea.

Any candidate who gets over a certain number of votes should be on the ballot, irregardless of what party they are in, or what party endorses their candidacy.

Primaries should also be scheduled so that different states get to go first in the process. Every year before presidential elections, a lottery type draw should be held to determine the schedule. In addition, the primaries should be scheduled so that the candidates have enough time to go around the state and present their platforms.

The current system gives tremendous advantages to the big money people.

I live outside of a large metropolitan area, the city in question holds a primary, non-partisan, and then the top two vote getters go head to head in the general election, it has worked fairly well for the city in question for many years.

Register as an Independent and vote as you please. Both parties can track you any more and they HATE not being able to predict what we will do.

reply to post by poet1b

The current system gives tremendous advantages to the big money people.

Doesn't that amount to every politician in office right now?

cavtrooper7
Register as an Independent and vote as you please. Both parties can track you any more and they HATE not being able to predict what we will do.

Would you believe.....and its true.....that last time I voted they were making everyone "declare" a party. Oh its true. That's all well and good and all....not...but there was no box for "independent". Yea that's right. There were about five to chose from rep, dem, green, lib and communist.

I asked the lady about it. She said I couldn't vote unless I filled in one of the blocks. I told her that I was not registered with any party. She said I still had to fill in one that most closely resembles my political persuasion or I couldn't vote.

I scratched one off, moved on and felt like I was voting in the third world somewhere.

I don't think liberty is something outside of humans that we once had but lost. I think it's something that every human being is born with. I think politicians, red or blue or whatever color, do an excellent job of convincing us that it's something we have to fight THIS or THAT or THEM for, though, least "the OTHER" take it away!

It's a game and they play it well and we, in obscene numbers, think the game is real.

As I stated in another thread: Carnivorous dinosaurs would serve humanity better than any politician or ruler ever has by eating us at an alarming rate to make us realize, hand in hand for fear of death, that all this insanity we call politics and governance does not help us to any degree stay TOGETHER for the GOOD of ALL.

reply to post by MidnightTide


Exactly.

The foolish idea of cutting taxes for the super rich and eliminating the laws/regulations that stop giant corporate entities primarily controlled by the super rich, from stealing every dime they can steal, has resulted in the banks taking over the country.

The democrats only care about women and minorities, and they have done everything they can to screw over the people who built this country.

The republicans however, are out to screw everybody.

These are our choices, and it just keeps getting worse.

I confess to being involved in the political system. I am a state chairman for the nation's third largest political party. I say this: There are four choices. You can 1) maintain the status quo by voting for a Republican or Democrat; or 2) not vote at all and just opt out; or 3) vote for, or better yet run as, a candidate for a third party; or 4) engage in armed revolution.

Options (1) and (2) don't solve anything. It's just more of the same. Option (4) is a place we really don't want to go unless there is absolutely no other way. Thankfully there is another way. Option (3). Our Constitution gives us all the tools we need to fix the situation by participation in it, without resort to violence.

Get involved with a third party. Start now. It's catching on. When enough people do this it will completely change the political landscape. Join the Libertarian or Green or Constitution parties, or another party that suits you. Work for something better. Maybe run for office yourself. Make a positive difference.

reply to post by Detergent


Great points...

We can fix this. We will fix this.

The first thing that needs to happen is elections need to be publicly funded. The decision that money has a voice or is an extension of voice is ludicrous. Step two is to end lobbying as we know it. Perhaps after those two items are achieved we could actually have civil non Parisian conversations. Until then it will be more of the same.

reply to post by soundguy


This is where the discussion veers towards the theoretical and away from the practical.

While I do agree that we need to get rid of PAC's and lobbyists, the question is "How"?

Lobbyist groups like NRA, AARP, etc have hundreds of millions of dollars in their arsenal.
They pay off politicians who write laws that permit PAC's and lobbyists to exist and function.

It'd be like asking vampires to give up blood donors, blood donations.

Politicians are leeches, paracites that suck away money instead of body fluids.

It seems like most of us agreed on the term limits, possibly even to limited time frames on the supreme court justices. Seems like there is a bit of interest in redefining the primary system. I realize we haven't got into the "Hard Points" of any sort of platform, but have found some common ground among a reasonably wide swath of folks. I think this can potentially be a good conversation, please, let's continue it.

beezzer
reply to post by soundguy

 

This is where the discussion veers towards the theoretical and away from the practical.

While I do agree that we need to get rid of PAC's and lobbyists, the question is "How"?

Lobbyist groups like NRA, AARP, etc have hundreds of millions of dollars in their arsenal.
They pay off politicians who write laws that permit PAC's and lobbyists to exist and function.

It'd be like asking vampires to give up blood donors, blood donations.

Politicians are leeches, paracites that suck away money instead of body fluids.

I think the first step would be to require full disclosure and transparency from all of the PAC's, Candidates, and elected officials. The first step would be to allow the American Public to actually see where the money is coming from. This will not stop anything, but will let people make more informed decisions about what companies or organizations they wish to support.

Add to that, harsh penalties for those that violate these "Laws"

Beezer, makes a good analogy with the forkin' vampires.