Election Reform:
We Have to Get Big Private Money Out of Elections
We should choose candidates on the basis of their good character and competence in solving the problems of the planet, the people, and the nation; not on their associations nor on their success in soliciting bribes from the rich and powerful.
Political Parties
Historically, the use of political parties has allowed voters to select candidates on the basis of a supposedly shared belief set without knowing much else about them.
George Washington believed that political parties were a bad thing, but we wound up with a two-party, winner-take-all system that hasn’t worked out at all well for the people.
It’s given us
- 43 years of trickle-down despite many studies that showed that it wasn’t good for the nation or the people
- Obscene wealth for a privileged few.
- Three unjust wars
- A covert coup of the widely popular, fair, and just democratic regime in Iran
- A world-wide financial crisis
- A wasted billion dollar election campaign
- A felon for president
- A completely unnecessary, cruel, mean-spirited, dangerous, and counter-productive austerity program
- Repudiation of important international agreements
- A disruptive and dangerous trade war
In this information age, we can do much better. We can get far more and more balanced information about the backgrounds of candidates and their beliefs.
We can get an app that provides a detailed, verifiable CV, a platform, and a list of recommenders (with their CVs) for every federal, state, and local candidate by zip code.
People with shared beliefs can still form parties and vote as blocs, but hopefully using enough valid information to eliminate the scoundrels. Proportional elections is an excellent article from the New York Times. I apologize that you probably need a subscription to read it.
Personally, I’d prefer that a single party, the Fixit party, use the problem-solving techniques of Dick Feynman and the economic theory of Thomas Piketty to attack the problems of the planet, the people, and the nation.
Informed voters are essential for a healthy democracy
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