Well, this is a very difficult thing to accomplish here, and it will take tremendous changes in the constitution and how elections are done here.
First, I think primaries would have to be eliminated as well as the electoral college. There actually are more than two parties in the US, and yet there are only two primaries, as though the other parties don't even need to be considered! Any person who wants to run for office would have to complete a registration as they do now, and be given a pre-set amount of public funds to get his/her campaign off the ground. There need to be time limits on how long candidates can campaign and I would say that they can raise some money from their supporters, but again, that would need to be limited as Buddy Roamer suggests, to a small amount and given by individuals only!
Each candidate would be given free tv spots, equal for each, and participate in debates until the time of elections. And in the end we all vote and select the candidates we want. Instead of primaries, we would have another vote for those that potentially tied.
Simple! No super pacs, no corporate donations, limit campaign times, and $$!
Also, then we may need to do like other countries that actually have multiple party systems to have coalitions to be able to get things done together.
And finally, lobbying should be made illegal, period!
Our politicians need to spend time governing and not fund raising and sucking up to lobbyists.
Instead of having parties choose candidates (which boils down to only Republicrats or Democans running - you know, Tweedledum and Tweedledummer)...
ReplyDeletechoose House of Representative candidates by lottery instead of primaries, and these citizens become the candidates.
I'd rather have teachers, dentists, auto mechanics, and housewives/husbands making INFORMED decisions than the politicians, who are in it as a career.