If You Could Change The Government
 

If you could change just one thing about the government what would it be? I do not mean a question before the government like gun control but a specific point in the way the government works. http://www.homesteadingtoday.com/ima...s/soap-box.gif

“a complete revamping of IRS” is too vague; I am looking for a specific point. :hrm:

IE
· A flat rate tax for both people and business: an exemption for the impoverished but no others and no lope holes. :thumb:

· Minimum wage for the congress: the same per hour wage you are expected to work for with no power to give themselves a raise. :nana:

· A term limit for Congress:rock:


· Contribution restrictions on all elections: both amount and from whom :nono:


· A separation of both church and business from government: restricting the influence but retaining the right to tax both. :happy:


I know there are others but what ONE thing would you change? :bandwagon:

I would recommend imposing sever penalties upon any elected official who proposed, supported, or was to vote for any bill or measure that is contrary to the Constitution. By severe I am looking at a public flogging on the capitol steps, followed up by a first class hanging at the same location. Make durn sure its televised.

There would be so many........

Just off the top of my head, Congress cannot exempt itself from any laws it passes.

Paul

No pension for any elected official. You shouldn't be making it a lifetime job, so you shouldn't need a pension from it. All of a sudden the term limits problem would go away, too.

I propose a 4th branch, the "un-legislative" branch, whose job is to dismantle beuracracy created by the others.

Moved from Homesteading Questions

Term limits.
2 terms in either house or senate, not both.
Congressional pay would be cut.
Any presidential vacations/trips and staff not needed for the running of the country would come out of the presidential pay, not the public coffers. The first lady would be given 3 aides. If she wants more she pays for them herself.
Congress would fly commercial on their own dime unless doing something for the government, such as touring a disaster zone.
End EOs. There is no reason a president should go around congress to make rules.

No more foreign interventionist policy. Cut military by 50% minimum. Focus on a smaller military for defense, not offense.

Each Bill put before congress and voted on must be only one topic no more than 15 pages long, with no add-on's, written in plain English and must be read (& signed off) by each congressperson. All bills must be put before each house in the order they were submitted. (Not like the senate that is currently sitting on hundreds of bills because Harry doesn't think he has the votes.....)

BTW: most of the suggestions already given are pretty thoughtful & would go a long way to clean up the mess we currently have.

I would end all the "child services" type organizations. We were homeschoolers, and heard awful stories about how idiots would harass parents and terrorize children over nothing just because they could. Families should not have to fear being separated and raped of their relationships just because they choose to homeschool, or to let baby sleep with them, or to nurse beyond age one, or to not have their child vaccinated by 100s of poisons, or for thousands of other stupid reasons. Families should not have to fear like that.

And If that wasn't possible, I would put an end to the acceptance of unidentified reporters that could call in without leaving their name and proof of a child abuse/neglect report. That is wrong. People have the right to face their accusers.

I guess I would change a lot about gov if I could. I would cut the number of participants in government by at least half. I would cut staffing for all departments, some more than others. I would cut out lobbyists totally, and cut out the ability of large corporate America to buy votes and buy politicians. NRA, Big Pharma, Big Energy, Big Ag, NEA, etc, should not be allowed to buy congressmen the way they do.

Everyone could have 1 term, no more in office. We shouldn't have politicians whose only job is to run and hold office. America should be ran by the people, not the chosen few.

We should have national healthcare for each and every one cutting out the big insurance companies and their greedy paws totally. It would control costs, cut out the greedy corporate middleman, and provide basic services for one and all.

All the wasted money on needless social service crap would stop. No preschool. No daycares. No drug treatment crap. No drug this or that at all. Mothers should take care of their children. If the family cannot afford for Mom to care for children then we need to fix that, not send Mom off to work while we warehouse the child. That is wrong. God put the child in the family, not in the daycare.

WIC would not pay for formula as a choice, only as a medical necessity, and only on the approval of at least 2 doctors who say the child must have formula instead of Mommy's milk. Mothers should nurse and love their children. When we pay for formula as a choice we hurt the weakest members of society. We should help to support nursing, not just pay out to enrich the drug companies who sell formula.

Zoning restrictions and HOAs should be done away with. Our forefathers did not fight, bleed, and die for some idiot to tell an American they can't have a clothesline, a dog, a cow, a chicken, a garden or whatever. We should have more respect for the blood they shed than allowing one group to stomp down another human over a garden or clothesline, sheep, etc.

We should only allow our nation to go to war if the Congressmen who vote for war send their own children and grandchildren to serve in the frontlines. If they want war so much, then let them put their own families up in the frontline. In the bible, KINGS went to war. It wasn't just the rich and powerful sending the proles like it is now. The King himself went to war too, in the front line. And that should still be the way it is. If they want a war, fine. Then they should make sure that there is a good enough reason to fight it to offer their own blood or their own family's blood. It is wrong to send the proles of society to die in a war just so the chosen few can make money off of their blood.

Now, you have me on a roll....
Public schools are a necessary evil of society. But, we waste way too much money on them. Homeschoolers can educate a child on $300 a year, usually less, so why do we give public schools $10000 a child while they whine for more? Administrators are overpaid. Teachers can handle more than 10 students to a class. And kids don't need a dozen teachers each. The funding for public schools should be cut in half, and the vast majority of administrators don't even need to be working. We need to streamline the process better, make adjustments, and stop wasting money on nothing. Money should be used for the children, not for cushy desk jobs and tenure for bad teachers. It needs an overhaul.

As a society, we need to cut down on the number of vehicles. One per family should do it. I know this would hurt me too because we have 4 setting in the drive right now. But one per nuclear family should be enough. This would save fuel importing, cut down on air pollution, and keep people at home more. We need to return the nuclear family of Mom at home, Dad at work, and values that were in our past.

I could go on and on, but you get the idea.

I just wanted to say I really like all your ideas, and agree with them all.

The idea of an "un-legislative" branch, whose job is to dismantle beuracracy created by the others has been around in science fiction for a while.

Just one thing, huh?
Going back to the original idea of a Senate that took care of the needs of the rich, a House that took care of the needs of the Prols, an Executive branch that took care of stuff that needed fast response, and a Judicial branch that said "No, you can't do that." to outrageous laws, I'd have to think for a while.

One change that would have good effect is the stripping of power from all the regulatory agencies and placing it back in a representational setting. Example: The EPA would have to have an ELECTED representative from each state vote on any regulation (with full disclosure and public input) that had the force of law. No more top-down "I'm in charge, this is the law" nonsense. Any law or regulation that wasn't voted on by the public or its representatives is null and void.

Some really good common sense ideas have been presented here. If any of y'all plan on running for office, let us know!

I would cap contributions at $5000 per individual.

Then I would amend the constitution, or whatever it took to provide that the only person who could contribute to a persons political campaign was somebody that could actually cast a vote for them.

No PAC's, no NRA no Unions, no Corporations. Only people who could contribute would be constituents.

One idea I have regarding campaign finance reform - the candidate can't spend more running for the office than what it pays. So POTUS makes, what, $400k per year? Then their spending to run for president is capped at $1.6mil. In a capitalist republic, why should it make sense to spend $10mil running for a term of office that only pays $1.6mil? You would think there was something crooked going on in politics today or something (insert tongue in cheek)!

You do recall little skirmishes in our history that relied primarily upon defense right?? Let me remind you who invaded the southern states, who tried and failed miserably to defend south Vietnam and south Korea? In more recent times we "defended" Kuwait, and then had to go back in and actually invade Iraq to solve the problem. Seems like we do better when we take the fight to the "other guys" capitol.

All laws passed by Congress shall have "Sunset" provision.

Mine would be a constituional amendment that prevents Congress from passing any law creating any tax deductions except for actaul cash outlays for businesses, tax credits or tax exemptions other than a standard deductions and would limit it's power to only to increasing the percentages of tax in a limited progressive scale.
This would eliminate much of the lobbying and bribery as Congress would not be able to sell tax breaks they way they do now.

I took the original post to mean defense of the United States. Not Vietnam, South Korea, or Kuwait.

Jim

anyone elected to office would have to pass a test on the constutition.

I'd like to see all the politicians hooked up to lie detector machines. And every time they lie, they get a little shock. I think some of those guys would fry themselves to death in short order.

Anybody see the Simpson's episode where the whole Simpson family sat in a circle at a shrink's office and they were hooked up to shockers and could shock each other at will? That'd be pretty fun to do that with say, the Prez, Shrillary, Jay Carney (just because he's a punk) and a few others. Every time one of them said something the other one didn't like, they'd just shock 'em!

Sorry for the thread drift....

As I did in the mid 1980s when I felt that the one worse thing of our local government were the majority of council members and spent a year exposing dirt on the sitting council and convincing challengers to run against them, I would put my elected representatives at fear of not being re-elected and take the necessary steps to maximize that fear or replace them to benefit the issue I have with them.

Shrink it.

SHRINK IT!!!

Then most of your suggestions would natuallly follow.

For every law enacted, two have to go. My dh has wanted this for a long time. He calls it "the law of diminishing attorneys".

I'd like to see a political advertisement channel or internet site. Each candidate and their supporters for whatever office gets a certain amount of time (and that amount only) and can spend only a certain amount of money on their political campaign. And their advertisements all have to be on the one channel or site. When we want to know what they think of themselves we can tune in.

Allow and encourage the introduction of more parties with middle of the road policies on both sides. The rabid left and right of the Dems and Repubs is now nothing but damaging and divisive. And certainly not what were the origins of both parties. All that happens is stalemate.

Term limits.

A little shock? How about fry'em!

All taxes go to local government which has most impact on our daily lives, and where we theoretically have the most oversight.

The state and feds could beg the local government for operating funds, and could only grow as big as the local governments would let them.

Limit ALL federal govt spending to some small percentage of the National GDP, (like 4-5%), set IN STONE, can't be changed without a national referendum in which 75% of registered voters must approve any increase, ( when is the last time there was a 75% turnout for anything ? ) and GDP to be determined by an independent auditor.

Exceptions permitted for national emergency, and DECLARED war, both limited to some definite window of time, with the 75% of registered voters having to approve any extension.

Cut off their ability to spend, and you'd solve about 90% of the problems. They would have to go home for lack of anything to do.

I know I'm lumping a few things together, but I would pass a bill that repealed Obamacare, implemented the Fair Tax, and my healthcare plan at the same time.

I would require Congressmen to be paid slightly over what the average pay is for their area they represent. If they cause wages to go up, their pay goes up. Slightly over the amount as an incentive. NO pay raises voted by Congress for Congress, ever.

I would also require that any Congressman that is voted out or chooses to leave office must have their vote record examined. If they voted against the wishes of the majority of their represented public, they get NO retirement, NO benefits, NO payments of any kind once they're out of office. No perks if they didn't do their job, which is to 'represent the public'. They aren't supposed to make our decisions for us, only to represent our wishes and needs.

Sexual crimes in the military would be charged in a court and there would be no overturning verdicts just because a higher up officer decided it was okay.

Elected officials could only serve a limited number of terms in a row, although they COULD be reelected to office multiple times, they'd just have to skip a term now and then.

What would you say to a return to the Gold Stranded?

People focus on this or that little program, but they fail to understand the big picture and basic concepts. So we fight and quibble, even though we share the same underlying false beliefs. We're like pro wrestlers that appear to be enemies, but work for the same company.

First, humans are animals, and like to band together with this or that group/party/gang and impose their will on others and seek money and power. It is easier to do through government, because government can use force to take from others to pay for whatever war or welfare or program you want.

Second, the news media and government schools promote government as the solution to all our problems. Through government war and welfare, we are told we can occupy the world to eliminate the bad guys, keep our kids off drugs, and provide for our every need. It is hard to overcome this brainwashing.

Of course, to pay for this, we have to take from others by force, violating their rights. Which is ironic, because protecting our rights is supposed to be the basic function of government. We were founded as a Republic, in which the majority could not vote to take from the minority, because the Constitution provided restraint, but this no longer applies.

Now if too much is taken, the people will rebel, so government has devised ways to take without the people feeling robbed. One way is the payroll tax withholding system, so workers don't notice the money being stolen. They even thank the government for their rebate like it was a gift! The other way to take from us is through the money printing system.

If they can't tax enough, just have the Federal Reserve print the money out of thin air. More dollars in circulation make each worth less, which is why prices go up. Few citizens understand this concept, so it is a brilliant way to fund unlimited war and welfare without complaint. The inflation tax hits us all.

Look at charts of government spending and notice a dramatic increase after 1971 when Nixon took us off the gold standard. If no gold or other commodity is required to be in reserve to exchange for dollars, money printing can be unlimited. And therefore no reason to restrict spending.

Endless money for defense contractors, farmers, bureaucrats. Endless money for student loans and healthcare, and then we wonder why the prices go up!

A flat rate sales tax for people, business and churches. Only food and medicine exempted.

I am with Darntootin on this one if we stopped foreign intervention that would mean less wars. Yvonne's hubby talks about defense and then mentions several foreign interventions. Clearly Darntootin is talking about defense operations in our country.

After the founding of our country and the American Revolution we were invaded/attack on US soil/territory during the War of 1812 and WWII,

We currently spend trillions on offensive capabilities and to project military power anywhere in the world while crying about not having enough money.

The only thing I would change about government is it's unwavering tendency to un-educate the people, to the point of their eventual enslavement for conducting their affairs in ignorance.

The government is not the problem, otherwise.

term limits on "ALL" elected offices. Appointed ones too.

Repeal the 17th Amendment
As a result of the direct election of Senators, states are nothing more than jurisdictional administrators for federal laws. The 17th amendment removed the one avenue for influence that was granted to the state. The distinctive differences in governance between the states and the federal government have been lost. And how much has it really helped with reducing corruption?

Proportional appointments for the Electoral College
The two party system that we are stuck with is re-enforced so drastically by the "all or nothing" elections for the Electoral College. If each state would change this one thing, the possibilities for 3rd or 4th parties would bloom. It might take a coalition of parties to accumulate the majority of electoral votes, but the whole red state/blue state mess would go away. But because this would cut into the R/D influence, the political parties would oppose it.

Mandatory sterilization for any person who applies for Welfare.

Mandatory drug tests for anyone elected to public office. Somebody's smoking somthing.