- 1. GET RID OF THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE - Who are these guys anyway?
The Electoral College was set up by our forefathers as a convenient way of reversing the popular votes of earlier immigrant settlers who were in lots of cases indentured servants and laborers. They were not to be trusted with their votes (just in case), so they put in the Electoral College. The vote in 2000 is a great example of why the Electoral College should be eliminated. The guy that most of us voted for didn't make it to the White House. Doesn’t that bother you? We're not children whose votes have to be reversed in case we decide to vote for someone who may change the world.
- 2. EQUALIZE CORPORATE FUNDING IN ELECTIONS
Just because we're a capitalist nation doesn't mean that the one with the most money should win. Our current campaign processes are designed to corrupt the winner with favors owed to large financiers (as I like to call them):
- The American Medical Association
- Oil companies
- Pharmaceutical companies
- Weapons manufacturers
Candidates should worry about one thing...doing a good job for the public, not the corporate world. Therefore, nationwide, no contributions over $1000 should be allowed by any corporation. That is the same amount that is capped for a contribution by a private citizen.
- 3) TAXATION BY MULTIPLE CHOICE
Imagine being able to decide exactly where a considerable portion of your personal tax contributions go. Isn't this a democracy? Shouldn't we be limiting red tape? Imagine having multiple-choice boxes on your annual tax forms that you can check off that represent the various national programs our tax dollars are spent on.
So if you want the portion of your tax dollars that you control to go to social programs... so be it. Education/Schools, check. You get to decide how much of your total tax dollars go into each category including Defense, Healthcare, Welfare, etc.
- 4) INSTANT RUNOFF VOTING IN OUR ELECTORAL PROCESS
Let’s take the bureaucracy out of our electoral process and put power back into the hands of the voters. Instant runoff voting (IRV) is one of the most exciting electoral reforms in the United States. IRV is a voting system for single-winner elections that guarantees majority winners in a single round of voting. IRV allows voters to vote their hopes instead of their fears by ranking candidates in order of preference without worrying about spoiler dynamics or wasted votes. IRV also eliminates the need for low-turnout, high-cost runoffs.
Vote your conscience and not who you think may win. Our culture is conducive to having too many people follow suit with what they see and hear in the national media. Tragically, too many of us who are electing public officials are affected and influenced by who is leading in the polls as opposed to who best represents our political and moral agenda. If IRV was in place, voters in 2004 wouldn’t have had to worry that their votes for Ralph Nader would have benefited George Bush.
- 5) ABOLISH ALL PAID AND PROFESSIONAL LOBBY FIRMS
Over the years, former Congressmen, Secretaries of State, etc, working for major K Street lobbying firms have represented the paid interests of many foreign governments and corporations to the detriment of the interests of the American public. It's time we erase this form of corruption from our democracy.