Real World Event Discussions

What would you keep, what would you change?

POSTED BY: Niki2
UPDATED: Thursday, October 9, 2025 20:12
VIEWED: 3625
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NIKI2

Thursday, February 20, 2014 10:52 PM

Sig posted in another thread:

Quote:
Specifically, I'd like to know which aspects of the USA you think are worth keeping, which ones you'd like to change, and how far is "too far" in terms of change in the USA.

She suggested we start a new thread, so I'm game, we'll see if it goes anywhere. Here's my contribution:

I guess I'd start, for one thing, with redistricting, that's a real biggie for me. The parties should never be in charge of it. If we changed just that, I think we'd at least have a more representative form of government, tho' it wouldn't make a gigantic difference.

Term limits--for ALL government offices. I watched our Willie Brown control this state for decades from various offices, and it taught me a lot. It's a two-edged sword, unquestionably, because it takes time to accomplish anything in government, but the way it is now doesn't work very well.

Election reform, that's a biggie. The 501c-3 thing is a travesty; thus far JUST money hasn't been enough to buy everything, but given time, it'll just get worse. There's a lot more to election reform, but that would be a start.

Lifetime appointments to the Supreme Court. Another double-edged sword, but one that, the way it's become now, is really screwing us. And the involvement of Supreme Court Justices in politics, which is wayyyy out of hand right now.

Lobbyists, and the revolving door of politics/lobbying. None of these would be easy to fix, even if there was the will to do so, and I don't know how they could be fixed, but they're working against us as a country.

Organizations like ALEC being able to dictate to politicians. NO idea how you fix something like that, but the way it is now, with them WRITING our fucking laws, is abominable.

A real biggie for me--and you can't "make" it happen, would be more than just the two-party system. I think more VIABLE parties with power would go a ways toward improving what's happening today.

That's off the top of my head, nothing more, and I haven't the vaguest idea how to change any of that, all I've done for years is just try to bring things to peoples' attention, I don't know what more can be done.

CHRISISALL

Thursday, February 20, 2014 11:14 PM

Take money out of politics- all candidates get free air time equally, get a European healthcare system & forget all this private medicine/Obamacare junk.

BYTEMITE

Friday, February 21, 2014 12:36 AM

Quote:
what would you change?

...

EVERYTHING

WISHIMAY

Friday, February 21, 2014 12:39 AM

I done that already...

http://www.fireflyfans.net/mthread.aspx?bid=11&tid=56659&mid=9
53794#953794

I've thought of a dozen others since then, but I can't 'member them now...

CHRISISALL

Friday, February 21, 2014 2:02 AM

I would make "V For Vendetta" required viewing for all Americans.

NIKI2

Friday, February 21, 2014 6:18 AM

Wish, thank you for that link. It was interesting...I liked quite a bit of what you had to say.

My first question, tho', was "who is Gwek and how do we get him/her into RWED?" A lot of it was silly, but I saw some of the same impulses from several people. I just liked what Gwek had to say:

Quote:
I respectfully disagree about a lack of thought going on on Election Day. There are multiple factors in play. One is that our system is not supposed to change easily, so there are a ton of checks and balanced to keep things "neutral."

Another issue is that many local voting lines have been gerrymandered into ridiculousless, subverting the will of the people. For example, in the 2012 House elections, Democrats got more votes (approximately 49% to 48% -- but remember, on the national stage, a 1% swing IS decisive), yet Republicans still hold a 54% to 46% advantage in terms of seats.

Does that seem right to you?

Fact is, we live in an unprecedented era of ungentlemanly lack of compromise. (You already know this to be true if you are liberal/Dem and have hit "reply" to support me, or if you are conservative/Rep and hit "reply" to tell me how wrong I am).

People tend to forget that Obama spent the better part of his first year or two in office trying to reach across the aisle, only to have his hand slapped away repeatedly by Congressmen with a STATED top priority of making sure that he would't be reelected. Although politicians (on both sides) are generally egotistical and of questional ethics, in my lifetime I've never seen it instititionalized and accepted on such a horrifying scale.

In days gone by, we would not have seen this ridiculous crusade to bring down The Affordable Care Act, because, guess what? If polled on what it accomplishes, a majority of Americans support it. A majority of self-reported REPUBLICANS support it. Something of this scale takes fine-tuning to get right (and anyone with any ounce of common sense knew it wasn't going to come out of the game perfect), yet rather than try to fix it, one party is dedicated to destroying it... simply because the other party created it.

Just found it interesting.

BYTEMITE

Friday, February 21, 2014 7:14 AM

GWEK IS MY NEMESIS! Along with dozens of other people. He also used to write one of the more popular firefly episode fanfic series.

OONJERAH

Friday, February 21, 2014 7:59 AM

"Firefly" is stillflying.net! by Gwek
http://fireflyfans.net/mthread.aspx?bid=2&tid=16588#231422

SHINYGOODGUY

Friday, February 21, 2014 12:19 PM

That's the way to go............

SGG

Quote:
Originally posted by chrisisall:
Take money out of politics- all candidates get free air time equally, get a European healthcare system & forget all this private medicine/Obamacare junk.

FREMDFIRMA

Friday, February 21, 2014 11:17 PM

Lesseee...

Corporate Personhood - first and foremost, that's gotta go.

Alphabet goons - gone, replaced with an observation ONLY group reporting directly to the Joint Chiefs of Staff and strictly limited to passive collection while being open at every point to public scrutiny.

Deployment of US Armed Forces outside our borders for any purpose other than embassy security - verboten.

Socialize the friggin healthcare system, basing initially on the existing Medicare infrastructure, yes, it's crap, but the foundation is there and can be built on - and its expansion would handily employ a lot of people who'd be displaced from existing employment with the rapacious private enterprise cretins.

That's just a quick four off the top, but even THAT would be such a substantial improvement as to be immeasurable.

-F