Poll: How should the US Constitution be ammended
- Thread starter gdnp
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Pure, unrestrained democracy can be pretty ugly. I would hate to be entirely at the whim of my fellow citizens.
It is a tribute to the document and those running the country over the last 200 years that only one one big error was made: prohibition.
It is a tribute to the document and those running the country over the last 200 years that only one one big error was made: prohibition.
Tsukasa Buddha
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Funny, I don't recall using that phrase...
Other unicameral legislatures exist and I don't notice them having wreaked havoc on the populous and caused terror from mobocracy.
And it isn't "baloney" that the Senate held back progressive legislation and continues to be undemocratic in being completely non-proportional to population.
Please name them.
Never mind I will do it for you. This is a list of nations that you would emulate
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unicameral#National
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unicameral#National
quixotecoyote
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If that was supposed to be a scary list of evil and backwards nations, perhaps you should have noticed that:
Denmark
Finland
Iceland
Israel
New Zeland
Liechtenstein
Norway
South Korea
Sweden
were all on the list.
PLEASE TEXAS! Tell me we wouldn't end up like New Zeland!!
Tsukasa Buddha
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Yup! To be specific, the ones I knew off the top of my head, and the ones I wanted to copy, were NZ, Norway, and Denmark.
They seem to be stable by all accounts, and quite healthy in sustainability.
I, for one, would very much like to end up like NZ. I actually lifted their government for a political science paper
.ETA: Though as a funny side note, I am surprised people aren't reacting more to my goal of making the government unitary and not federal. That is probably the most radical change on my list.
ETA2: Also, Nebraska has a unicameral legislature as well.
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You were very selective in your editing, something I was not. I think New Zealand is probably a very nice place, I have been to Australia and I liked it a lot but that will probably not impress you. With the exception of China that list of countries are smaller than many states in the US. So don't get upset because I don't want a system of federal government that is better suited for totalitarian regimes such as China or Cuba or small countries with homogeneous populations.
I am not surprised that you would favor centralized control. You want your very own big brother.
BeAChooser
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1) Make the term for all members of Congress 6 years.
2) Select all members of Congress by lottery (staggered so that 1/3 are selected every 2 years) from the population at large (with few restrictions on whose name is in the hat).
3) Have the members of Congress choose the President (4 year term) from amongst those who have served at least 2 years).
4) Allow the chosen President to pick 3 or 4 "candidates" from those who have served at least 2 years in Congress and then have the members of Congress vote the one they wish to be the Vice President during that President's term.
5) Tie everyone's salary (both current and *retirement*) to the health of the country (as measured by some TBD formula) in comparison to what it was when they were first selected.
That should fix things.
2) Select all members of Congress by lottery (staggered so that 1/3 are selected every 2 years) from the population at large (with few restrictions on whose name is in the hat).
3) Have the members of Congress choose the President (4 year term) from amongst those who have served at least 2 years).
4) Allow the chosen President to pick 3 or 4 "candidates" from those who have served at least 2 years in Congress and then have the members of Congress vote the one they wish to be the Vice President during that President's term.
5) Tie everyone's salary (both current and *retirement*) to the health of the country (as measured by some TBD formula) in comparison to what it was when they were first selected.
That should fix things.
quixotecoyote
Howling to glory I go
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1) Make the term for all members of Congress 6 years.
2) Select all members of Congress by lottery (staggered so that 1/3 are selected every 2 years) from the population at large (with few restrictions on whose name is in the hat).
3) Have the members of Congress choose the President (4 year term) from amongst those who have served at least 2 years).
4) Allow the chosen President to pick 3 or 4 "candidates" from those who have served at least 2 years in Congress and then have the members of Congress vote the one they wish to be the Vice President during that President's term.
5) Tie everyone's salary (both current and *retirement*) to the health of the country (as measured by some TBD formula) in comparison to what it was when they were first selected.
That should fix things.
I like it. I also think the lottery would end up rigged before the first election cycle, but I like the idea of the country self-destructing in a directly representative manner.
The ones I voted for:
1) Protect Abortion Rights
2) Right to privacy - worded something like "Congress shall make no law which regulates the conduct of a private citizen which does not harm the freedom nor well-being of any others."
3) Reform the Electoral College - Will look around and find the best proposal, the EC definitely isn't the best model out there.
Ones I would vote for
1) Change the words "natural born citizen" to "exclusive citizen" that is, you must be a citizen of the USA and only the USA.
2) Marriage between any two consenting adults are to be allowed. (Wowbagger, I think the word "adults" involves by its very nature a minimum age of 18)
3) No term limits for presidential, congressional or senatorial offices. Every politician has a term limit built into their service, it's called a vote.
1) Protect Abortion Rights
2) Right to privacy - worded something like "Congress shall make no law which regulates the conduct of a private citizen which does not harm the freedom nor well-being of any others."
3) Reform the Electoral College - Will look around and find the best proposal, the EC definitely isn't the best model out there.
Ones I would vote for
1) Change the words "natural born citizen" to "exclusive citizen" that is, you must be a citizen of the USA and only the USA.
2) Marriage between any two consenting adults are to be allowed. (Wowbagger, I think the word "adults" involves by its very nature a minimum age of 18)
3) No term limits for presidential, congressional or senatorial offices. Every politician has a term limit built into their service, it's called a vote.
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UnrepentantSinner
A post by Alan Smithee
Wrong. Try again.
This is true, but I don't think a Kiwi would like you saying that. Four fifths of their national identity is about not being Australians (kind of like the Canadians are with Americans).
Queensland (pop 4.3 million) is an Australian state without a sate senate. But I don't think their experience is applicable to the US Federal Government.
Perhaps because you slipped it in there without expounding. What does this mean? abolishing state governments?
As a general aside, it does not appear that any single proposal even reaches the 2/3 approval rating, which is the number that would be required for ratification by congress. "Change the electoral college" seems to be the closest, but I suspect that even though people seem to think that the system stinks, it would be hard to come to up with a reform proposal that 3/4ths of states would approve, since the small states would lose out in any attempt to make the system more proportional.
Just thinking
Philosopher
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It did not confuse the Supreme Court just recently.
You're joking, right? (Hence the smiley.) Four out of nine seemed confused; just one more and ...
Anyway, I wanted to vote for banning of the income tax yet voted for "other" because I feel the Eminent Domain issue needs some serious addressing.
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CptColumbo
Just One More Question
You just want Arnuld to have a shot at it, admit it. It would be very cool, if Lou Ferrigno was his VP.