At this time next year, November 2008, I will be able to vote for a presidential candidate for the first time. But is there anyone worth voting for? There’s Hillary, that guy from law and order, the black guy, the September 11th guy, and a few other people hoping you’ll vote for them instead of Hillary. Oh Hillary, for some reason Hillary always reminds me of a less interesting version of Martha Stewart, but she can’t be any worse than Bush is. LOL I can’t believe these are the best candidates; maybe we should just not have a president and figure out a direct democracy.
In some ways having a direct democracy is impractical, because people aren’t going to want to vote about every little thing. But sometimes, like now, having a representative democracy is like have no democracy at all, especially when the representatives aren’t representing the popular beliefs. It is difficult to find the balance between giving the government enough power to operate effectively without giving the government so much power that it runs wild, trampling around out of control.
Like with Iraq, I think it is fair to say that the majority of Americans think we should leave now, change tactics, or at the very least avoid starting World War III. If America was really a democracy we could put it to a vote and get out of there. If America’s supreme power was really vested in the people, Bush (based on his approval rating) would not be president or would have had to change course by now. But, right now the people have no power. We are just left to wait and trust the government until the next election at which the Electoral College gets to choose between a Republican idiot or a Democrat idiot for our next president. Which, as they will undoubtedly both be idiots and our votes have no real power anyway, there is no reason to even bother voting. And if the people don’t vote our government is not “of the people, by the people, and for the people” as Abraham Lincoln put it in the Gettysburg address. And we are not a democracy.
Not to say that I think our government is completely crappy, because I like our government, it does have some good ideals and a few good people behind it. It’s just gotten too big (both in power and in the head). Our leaders make some stupid choices which lead to wasted money- sometimes wasted lives. It needs to be chiseled down to size and the power placed with the people. How to do that is beyond me, but here are a few places to start:
1. Get rid of the Electoral College
2. Let the general public have the main power
3. Run politics based on majority rule, not by whoever has the majority of the money. Make it equally possible for someone who is not rich or affiliated with a party to get elected. Put names on the ballet based on how many people they have backing them, not based on how much money they can get from corporations to spend on bashing their opponents
4. Get rid of Democrat/Republican parties
5. Have the government account for how it is spending the money it takes from the people, tax dollars. Spending changes should be voted on by the people and spending should be reassessed, voted on, every few years. Clear, Understandable, Precise, Public receipts should be kept on all spending. The government should have to spend the money the way the people voted on it to be spent and only spend money that they have, in other words no more/or limit national debt. It would also be great to make our paper money, the dollar, worth something again.
If you have read this far, thanks for reading! Feel free to comment and point out any holes in my logic. I’d like to read it.
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2 comments:
You mentioned majority vote or rule. What about the minority and their rights which are believe by the common norm to be wrong and as such are legislated out of existence.-Hammer
Yes I did mention that, but I never said that I thought minorities should have no rights. I believe in human rights, civil rights, the Bill of Rights, and all the other rights. But, while protecting the rights of everyone, when it comes to making choices, like going to war, it should be majority rule. That's all.
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