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Patrick
2011 Dec 5, 9:42am
Interesting about the secret ballot. Yes, it should pretty much eliminate vote-buying, but it brings new problems of verification.
Maybe skipping the whole "representative" democracy thing and going straight to direct democracy is the best answer. If there are no representatives, there's no one to bribe. Or there's everyone to bribe, but that's much more expensive.
AmericanEpitaph
2011 Dec 5, 7:38pm
You are right. What is needed is a complete overhaul of our form of government. The two party monopoly with its corptocracy and Federal Reserve notes need to be done away with. Cheers.
justme
2011 Dec 5, 9:39pm
The problem is not chiefly one of campaign finance (as many people seem to think), nor is it lobbying. Lots of Americans think that one or the other is the root cause of evil in our political system, but really they are not.
Many countries have political systems that are much less corrupt than ours. But how to they do it? Well, they have good old-fashioned COMPETITION in the political process.
They don't have a two-party duopoly, where each party knows that in reality there is no choice except to vote for their candidate, or else vote for someone who is even less palatable. It is this lack of choice that makes our system work so badly. Since the people have so little say, big money always wins in the end.
How to get rid of the duopoly? I have stated the solution several times before. Let's see if anyone remembers.
freak80
2011 Dec 6, 12:12am
Interesting about the secret ballot. Yes, it should pretty much eliminate vote-buying, but it brings new problems of verification.
Maybe skipping the whole "representative" democracy thing and going straight to direct democracy is the best answer. If there are no representatives, there's no one to bribe. Or there's everyone to bribe, but that's much more expensive.
Could be a good idea. Then again, direct democracy is essentially two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for dinner tonight...
Ultimately, it everything boils down to those who get skrewed, and those who do the skrewing. Whether we call it monarchy, democracy, theocracy, etc...it's basically all the same...powerful people skrewing everyone else for their own benefit.
Interesting about the secret ballot. Yes, it should pretty much eliminate vote-buying, but it brings new problems of verification.
Maybe skipping the whole "representative" democracy thing and going straight to direct democracy is the best answer. If there are no representatives, there's no one to bribe. Or there's everyone to bribe, but that's much more expensive.
The main problem with direct democracy in a large nation is that it eliminates the separation of power between the lawmakers and the executive branch. The executive branch has an incredible power to infuence and even to falsify popular votes.
Patrick
2011 Dec 9, 9:22am
The executive branch has an incredible power to infuence and even to falsify popular votes.
Worse than it does now with Congressional votes? I guess with Congress, the votes are all public, not secret.
After realizing just how pervasive bribery is in DC, I wrote a bit about it:
http://patrick.net/?p=1061994
But then I watched Jack Abramoff describe the bribery process in this video:
http://youtu.be/xe1d32I_wUY
So it's clear that campaign finance reform is not enough. Congressmen and their staffers get promised JOBS as lobbyists themselves after their official "service" is over, and it's the promise of that future job that makes them obedient to lobbyists.
Abramoff's solution is that Congressmen and staff must LEAVE Washington DC when their term is up. I like it, but:
1. Is it legally possible to make them leave?
2. Could they still become lobbyists remotely?
What would break this particular form of corruption, where Congressmen and staff are promised lucrative jobs later in return for corrupting our laws now?