A lot of things have bugged the hell out of me since the first time I was old enough to vote.
** I hate the two party system. At least 99% of the time I have had to chose the lesser of two evils. We should have at least a half dozen parties to even pretend to start representing the people of this country. Some people say this would create a mad house in Congress. In my opinion, a madhouse would provide welcome relief from the self-aggrandizing Millionaire Good Old Boy's Club that currently exists.
** Down with the electoral college..... Direct election of the President & VP is a must. The words electoral college is a misnomer if ever there was one. The people of this country are intelligent enough to choose their elected officials. We don't need any winner take all or the 'go betweens' (electoral college) who may or may not vote according to the wishes of the people. A national election should have national totals.
Back to the old system of electing a President with the guy who comes in second being the VP.
When the Founders of the American Republic wrote the U.S. Constitution in 1787, they did not envision a role for political parties in the governmental order. The electoral college was supposed to insulate the new republic from political parties and factions. http://usinfo.state.gov/products/pubs/election04/parties.htm . But since we have evolved into the very thing the forefathers tried to prevent some things need to change.
** The instant run-off method of voting, where one votes for their first, second, third, etc., choice of candidates, might be ideal for promoting honest and verifiable elections.
** Forget the phony primaries where a half dozen states decide who is going to be president. Bush & Cheney are the best example ever, of two people who give us a good argument for changing the system where one thug buys the primaries, then selects his own personal crook to assist him in his rotten agenda.
** A political party must be recognized by 51% of the states in order to have a presidential candidate on the ballot. States could determine the limitations/qualifications to be recognized as a legitimate party thereby preventing every Tom, Dick & Harry Party from appearing on the ballot.
** In the National elections, the only thing appearing on the ballot would be President, Vice president & Congressional candidates. State & local elections will not be conducted on the same day as the national elections.
** Electronic voting machines were designed with fraud in mind . Let's go back to paper ballots & counting them in each precinct by hand then transmit the totals to multiple sources, election officials, news sources,etc., for grand totals and confirmation. These paper ballots would be counted publicly with an area where citizens can observe the counting process. The confirmed precinct totals would then be publicly checked at every state level with precinct totals read aloud, displayed publicly for easy checking. These totals could be transmitted electronically but with checks and double checks all along the way. A simple majority wins.
** Public funding of elections is a must. Get the corporations out of our electoral system and out of government by prohibiting all donations.
** Speaking of corporations, whatever laws that were passed that gave them the same rights as a person should be rescinded. Let those jokers get back to running their businesses. If they don't spend money bribing Congressmen then they should be able to lower the prices of their products.
** Women should be president for the next 43 elections then we could alternate ! We have elected 43 male presidents and they have not lived up to the idea of a Democratic government of the people, by the people, for the people. It's time for the women to show us how it should be done! Yep, we can already hear the screams of righteous indignation from the Good Old Boys!
** And speaking of presidents, the person elected to the office of president & vice president should be prohibited from campaigning for members of their own party since he occupies an office that is supposed to represent all the people. Once again George Bush is a prime example of a presidency gone bad. Combining vacations, campaign trips, & humping for the rabid right religious nut cases, we U.S. taxpayers have been stuck with a huge bill for a job not done. In the case of this current, fraudulent president that might be money will spent. If he had been on the job full time the world might be nothing but charred remains like Iraq.
** We should adopt some of Great Britain's parliamentary procedures in our Congress. Can you imagine the fun we could have if Bush had to appear before Congress for a grilling on a regular basis? And speaking of Bush, this little dictator should have his presidential powers stripped down to bare bones basics. It's time for this sorryass congress to do the job for which it is handsomely paid.
For sure elections would be more interesting if we were not stuck with just the
two pathetic, greedy, self-serving parties in today's 'market'.
AND I'd bet millions (if I had millions) that the general citizenry would be a thousand times more interested in politics & more likely to vote! We the citizens, who have been screwed for generations, could watch the heads roll as we conduct real, legitimate, and verifiable direct presidential & congressional elections.
Ah.... what a grand day that would be!
Proud Liberal Bitch........ still dreaming, still hoping.
