Top three things that need 2B FIXED?

[johnjaye]

Thought it might be interesting to start to hear everyone's "top three" list of what needs to be fixed in our government?

[nate_r]

broad answer to a broad question:

1. accountability in legislators (not penalty.. think incentives instead)
2. behavior inducing tax rearrangements (I don't think this is new, I don't know why it's not popular). stop subsidizing environmentally harmful businesses
3. For the sake of having something specific, I really liked what one of the speakers last night at the GA said about mass incarceration. The prison system really needs an extensive reworking.

What are your top three?

[joshred]

1.) Dramatic campaign finance reform.
2.) Constitutional amendment to fix the Citizens United ruling.
3.) Dramatic campaign finance reform.

[Ryan R.]

1. An end to capital
2. An end to the dictatorship of the bourgeoisie
3. Democratization of the commanding heights of the economy under workers control

Also, why is the term 'reform' being used? I could do without all the Menshivism, to be honest.

[johnjaye]

sadmafioso...

Reform - "the improvement or amendment of what is wrong, corrupt, unsatisfactory, etc."
The word was inherited from the NYCGA working group, but is not set in stone. IMO it seems accurate, but if you have ideas, maybe start a thread?

[winslowsage]

I'm with sadmafioso...
We can certainly use good structural reforms, but in the end, we need a revolution of consciousness and being. Translation: we need socialism, not more welfare/fascist state capitalism. I'm not a dogmatic Marxist, but I've been around long enough to know that you can't trust Democrats (like Obama) to deliver when they are so beholden to the current economic power structure. Would love to start a discussion thread around political economy (eg. where the economy ends and the politics begins!). Anyone have a constructive way to approach this? I'm all ears...

[sarahrose]

1. Campaign finance reform: I think we should have public financing. Obviously, a lot of details would need to be worked out, but I think it would be doable.

2. Changing financial regulation: either investment banks should not be allowed to be publicly owned corporations or the top managers should be personally liable for losses.

There are a lot of other things I think that are important and need to be addressed in America, but I think these two are at the root of a lot of it. It's about incentives: we need to structure government (and business too) so that in pursuing their own ends they are also pursuing society's best interest.

I recognize that the assumptions I'm making in these statements sharply diverge from thesadmafioso and winslowsage's views, and I would definitely be up for discussing in a political economy thread. I'll think about how to formulate this, too.

[gary]

Of the two categories--symptoms and causes--I will focus on 3 areas of change that I think can get to the root of causes of our corrupted political life. They all have to do with getting monied interests groups out of politics starting with, but limited to, corporate donors.
We need systemic changes that will enable the people, the citizens, to regain control of politics and government. From that position all things are possible (but not guaranteed, of course)
At this point, these are my candidates for systemic peaceful change.
1. Elections: Campaign financing reform. I am open to consider any proposal that breaks the link between all money flush interest groups and individuals and the election of representatives of the people. Eliminating corporate person hood could be included here.
2. Legislation: Greatly restrict or eliminate lobby groups.
3. Political Parties: The political party system as it is now is inextricably linked to all the interest groups referred to in 1. and 2. I think we need a more equitable and transparent way of enabling citizens to run for office and for laws to be enacted than what the party system provides. To me it is a hopelessly corrupt and outdated system.
In saying all of this I am not advocating that we should not at the same time try to overturn some of the laws that are most harmful and exploitive.
Respectfully offered for consideration and dialogue.

[Albanius]

Many things that urgently need to be fixed, such as gross inequality and the trend toward runaway global overheating, are off topic for this thread as I understand it.

Under political/electoral reform, my top 3 are

1) Fixing the legal corruption of campaign finance, with most of the $ literally coming from less than 1% of voters, with publicly financed campaigns, now called Voter Owned Elections. This also includes reversing the court decision called Citizens United, more accurately called Corporations Unlimited.

2) Guaranteeing everyone the Right to Vote , especially in the face of the push to prevent millions of low income people from voting by onerous Voter ID laws.

3) Opening up the media to small d democratic participation;
specifically by codifying Net Neutraility, to prevent corporate internet providers from discriminating on the basis of content.

[demodave]

campaign finance obv.

districting i guess as a distant second.

not sure if it tot fits the question but i'm tempted to say... public media? a massive high production sexed up spielberg style and above all democratized media (by democratized i mean controlled representationally, acurately reflecting national demographics, then a process like... if you represent 10% of the country then you get to choose the topic schedule 10% of the time & then get 10% of the time on all topics) might deliver the biggest bang for the buck for sure... no constitutional amendments required &... i've been told fox news' operating budget is less than a billion... chickenfeed ... i mean it wouldn't even have to be public buffet and gates could fund it by themselves

[johnjaye]

winslowsage, as a member you can start a thread on your own, just go back to the main Political and Electoral Reform Forum and click "New Thread".

[genconc]

o Preferential balloting/instant runoff voting

o Discard current geopolitical boundaries and use river basin
boundaries instead. This may have advantages for transportation
efficiency but more importantly, in my view, it helps us realign our
culture with nature. Also, it could be an antidote to gerrymandering.

o Assert full public ownership of natural resources and civic
infrastructure. Put another way: stop and reverse the insidious
trend toward privitization of public assets.

That third item might obviate the money-in-politics problem because

1. as co-owners of all natural resources and civic infrastructure
we're all wealthy

2. we could choose to open up communications media, a public asset, to
the campaign process at no charge.

[johnjaye]

My top three, in broad terms...

1) Remove the influence of money on the political process and on our representatives
2) Reverse corporate personhood and restore the idea that flesh-and-blood people are the only ones who's rights the bill of rights protects
3) Update the system of elections to break down the two-party system

[winslowsage]

Thanks JohnJay, I may just do that...
Meantime, it seems like most of our correspondents here are in agreement that we have to sever the money connection to our electoral process, probably through publicly-funded elections. This is certainly do-able but will require lots of work because we'd basically be petitioning the very same people who benefit from the corrupt system to turn on their patrons and turn the current system on its head. Same issue with re-districting, term limits etc. Anybody got any ideas about how to get this done? It's especially difficult given that most electoral research indicates that voters think all politicians are corrupt except, of course, THEIR politician! Getting people to actually internalize the need for turning out their own representative is a real challenge. We need to talk strategy...

[jonathanjetter]

if i had to pick 3-

1. reverse citizens united, get corporate $$$ out of politics
2. end all foreign military actions, cut defense budget by $500 billion/year
3. end the concept of a professional political class. elect leaders who view themselves as public servants rather than masters.

there are a lot of other things too but those for me are the big 3.

[mdses]

1. A fair tax code that supports a strong safety net, infrastructure, and robust middle class.

2. Real campaign finance reform / public funding to reduce corporate political influnce

3. Reduce corporate political power - reverse citizens united, overhall lobbying regulations and hold corps accountable for putting profit and greed above health, environment, economy etc.