What Political Reform Would You Enact

**~~Exarch~~** · March 13, 2009, 04:01 AM

both nationwide and worldwide (as in foreign policy)
if you had both
a) the authoritah
b) the power to enforce authoritah

and state reasons why:

mine're

1) Anyone wanting to run for public office should do at least 6 years of community or military service (same reasons stated in starship troopers)
2) emphasis on health and technology/sciences industry
3) cut defence spending
4) social, education and healthcare take priority over all else, hence the increased funding in health and technology/sciences.
5) Public caning/scourging for petty crimes rather than gaol.
6) repeat offenders of theft (say 3 strikes), whether it be stealing a car for the 4th time or corporate embezzlement/ponzi schemes (firsttime) are to have their hands hacked off and their feet as well for running away with the money. the state will not pay for their medical bills.
7) journalists who lie or dont verify facts sufficiently are to have an eye gouged out with a spoon. the state will not pay for their medical bills. this'll enhance journalistic integrity.
8) ban organised lobby groups
9) policy of 'splendid isolationism' meaning keeping the military at home and not going on military adventures.
10) rewards system for scientists who discover cures and/or vaccines or who discover new tech with the whole scientific team and contributors benefiting.
11) death sentence to be repealed; to be replaced by scientific experimentation. murderers, rapists, etc wont be sentenced to death but will spend the rest of their lives as subjects for scientific experimentation; includes weapons testing.

what do u think?
what changes would you enact?

**~~removeduser_487563287433~~** · March 13, 2009, 04:09 AM

I would reform the House of Lords.

Selection would be by a cross-party committee the membership of which was drawn from the House of Lords.

Lords Spiritual would be abolished.

A large quota of seats would be reserved for people with expertise in particular fields.

Rules would be enacted for provisioning expulsion from the Lords or selection committee.

**~~Exarch~~** · March 13, 2009, 04:15 AM

Originally Posted by Ferrets54

I would reform the House of Lords.

Selection would be by a cross-party committee the membership of which was drawn from the House of Lords.

Lords Spiritual would be abolished.

A large quota of seats would be reserved for people with expertise in particular fields.

Rules would be enacted for provisioning expulsion from the Lords or selection committee.

intersting
now state reasons why

**~~removeduser_487563287433~~** · March 13, 2009, 04:21 AM

Reform of the House of Lords is only half complete, and recent scandals have shown the weakness of both the selection process, the institution and revealed a level of open corruption that is outrageous.

**Rich86** · March 13, 2009, 08:35 AM

1) Those in government can only ever earn 4x the national yearly wage of a worker on minimum wage. For example, the current minimum wage is £5.73 p/h - £11897.6 per year. This would mean those in power could earn at most £47590.4. They would not be entitled to accept any gifts or money from any other work - so if they published a book they wouldn't be allowed to accept the profits from it. This will encourage politicians to actually give more of a damn about the people on the bottom rungs of the ladder. Imagine how quickly they would be clamouring for the minimum wage to be increased!!!

2) Remove some of the ridiculous restrictions on rights that we currently have in place - I believe one cannot protest outside the houses of parliament anymore? I would also put in place some sort of promise / guarentee of people's basic rights.

3) Reduce the numbers of full time soldiers, and increase the spending on the Territorial Army. Give them more training and actually provide them with full kit rather than expecting them to buy some of their kit themselves. This would hopefully end up saving a bit of cash!

4) More money spent on children. Walk around the worst areas of any town or city and you'll see children hanging around with nothing to do - often there's a play area or skate park locally, but these are normally damaged & unsafe, occupied by gangs of older children or simply of no interest to most of the kids. Instead, build small 'centres' - allow the kids to have a huge say in how they are run - the kids can grafitti the walls if they want, they can use the rooms inside the centre to play music if they are in a band - perhaps even show football matches with a bar (that obviously serves no alcohol). The place could be run by volunteers, parents and the older teenagers?

Just a few ideas

**The Dude** · March 13, 2009, 08:45 AM

I would remove the right to vote. What I would put in place is the right to take a voting exam. Each election, you get the chance to take an exam that tests your knowledge of your country's political climate aswell as examines the logic of the reasoning behind the party you wish to vote for. In other words, voting for a party because "your parents did too" would be considered invalid, but a constructive explanation of why you think the party you'd vote for would represent the best course of action would have you pass.

Pass the exam and you get your voting rights for that election. Next election a new exam would have to be taken.

This carries with it a few advantages:

1. Voting is done by an informed base of citizens.
2. People who "can't be arsed to take an exam" should indeed have no say in the control of a country, which is something that one should take an active interest in.
3. Politicians would have to work actively towards making politics interesting. We would see more debates, more dynamic campaigns, but also things like better funding for education to making younger generations aware of the political climate of the country they grow up in, etc. As opposed to the current stale political climate in which bored middle-aged white men drum up lists of things that they think will get them the most seats, politicians would have to work hard for their votes and their support.

To me, the idea that voting rights are absolutely free and that anyone can vote for whoever is a flawed concept. It would work in a society where everyone knew their business, but unfortunately democracy is too often dictated by the greedy, the complacent and the fearful. A voting exam would be a good way to ensure that those who -can- vote are motivated, informed and interested.

**Ahlerich** · March 13, 2009, 08:52 AM

Originally Posted by The Dude

I would remove the right to vote. What I would put in place is the right to take a voting exam. .

thats acually funny. i was telling my gf the same years ago, and reading some posts in these threads that show what some voters base their political opinion on also scares me.

to vote responsible you acually have to have a idea about politics and parties. too many just vote based on some catchy propaganda and are therefore easy to manipulate. this makes it also easier to "buy" votes and completely undermine democracy.

**The Dude** · March 13, 2009, 08:54 AM

Originally Posted by Ahlerich

to vote responsible you acually have to have a idea about politics and parties. too many just vote based on some catchy propaganda and are therefore easy to manipulate. this makes it also easier to "buy" votes and completely undermine democracy.

Exactly how I feel aswell. Politics these days are all about manipulating the masses in order to score the most votes. It's a very selfish system where the politician is in office -not- for the public, but for himself. The public has simply become a tool and the one who wields this tool most skillfully makes it big.

**Treize** · March 13, 2009, 09:21 AM

Hard one...

-I would leave the EU, exept for the economical part and keep the Euro offcourse.
-I would retreat from defending Afghanistan and other 'free countries because USA says so'.
-I would nationalise NS, post and restart Fokker.
-Increase the military budget.
-I would modernise the military:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

-Enforce secularism as in Turkey.
-Progressive taxation.
-Strickten immigration really hard (students only for the first 2 years).
-Not allow construction of religiouse buildings for the first 5 years.
-No develoment aid but disban all embargoes.

**~~Exarch~~** · March 13, 2009, 10:14 AM

Originally Posted by IPA35

Hard one...

-I would leave the EU, exept for the economical part and keep the Euro offcourse.
-I would retreat from defending Afghanistan and other 'free countries because USA says so'.
-I would nationalise NS, post and restart Fokker.
-Increase the military budget.
-I would modernise the military:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

-Enforce secularism as in Turkey.
-Progressive taxation.
-Strickten immigration really hard (students only for the first 2 years).
-Not allow construcktion of religiouse buildings for the first 5 years.
-No develoment aid but disban all embargoes.

good points
tho, i'd add that along the way the media will start to compare you with another austrian politician who invested a fair bit in the military..

**Treize** · March 13, 2009, 10:16 AM

I tried to keep it realistic...

Could also listed nuclear stuff...

Although I would rearm myself with mines, clusterboms and a handfull of musterdgas

**~~Exarch~~** · March 13, 2009, 10:19 AM

Originally Posted by IPA35

I tried to keep it realistic...

Could also listed nuclear stuff...

Although I would rearm myself with mines, clusterboms and a handfull of musterdgas

but why???!!
it's sucha waste of taxpayer moolah
sure i enjoy the docos on leopard tanks on discovery channel but i'd much rather enjoy the benefits from fundign stem cell research

**Barry Goldwater** · March 13, 2009, 10:23 AM

Well...

-Tear down the damn two-party system.
-End any further bailouts to keep failing companies from sinking. Let them burn and die.
-Slash spending. Everywhere. This means greatly reducing the size of the military, shutting down most (75% at least

) of our overseas military bases, slashing welfare & the like...you get the idea

-End the madness that is the PATRIOT Act.
-Decentralize the government. A nice start would be letting the individual states work out their own social issues, so long as their ideas do not attack the Constitution (i.e. no re-establishment of slavery

).
-Stricter enforcement of the death penalty. Folks like Madoff will be the first line for the guillotine/shooting squad/electric chair/gallows/stoning pit/whatever.
-Give the boot to illegal immigrants, unless they can prove their worth by taking a rigorous test. Also tighten (but not completely shut down) immigration.
-Undermine the power of lobby groups from everywhere across the spectrum, or better yet, destroy them completely.
-Abolish income tax, set up a flat tax (set at 10-15%) and a consumption tax capped at 10%.
-Steadily divert troops from Iraq to A-Stan, or send them home, over the next two years.
-Legalize 'softer' drugs like marijuana. Tax & regulate 'em like alcohol.
-Build a fence on the Mexican border, to be manned by volunteer militia with the authority to shoot on sight. If absolutely needed, use the NG in their place.
-End or greatly reduce aid to developing countries.
-Shut up groups like the FFRF and the Christian Coalition alike.

This would be a good start IMHO

**Treize** · March 13, 2009, 10:23 AM

I would use foreign aid and some other BS to fund the military, the rest would be untouched.
(Would be under coldwar strenght still...)

Ofcourse under my rule the national income would grow and the budgets would expand...

**~~Exarch~~** · March 13, 2009, 10:27 AM

it's interesting here that a lot of ppl here are in favour of a strong government

**Manco** · March 13, 2009, 10:33 AM

Very specifically for Belgium:
- Where as now parties just have to gather votes in their own region, I would make it so that each party also has to make a list for a national electoral circle (kieskring in English?). Prime Minister and vice-PM's have to come from this list. That way our top politicians would actually be elected by the entire country instead of just pandering to the locals.

I've also been playing with the idea of instituting negative votes, you could vote for someone but also against soemone. I believe this would give a better view on who the people actuallly want to govern them. A extremist politician with 17% of the votes could for example have 21% negative votes, showing that most people really don't want him. It's a very crude idea atm and I still have to think about how to divide seats, ministeries, and so on...

**dragonsign** · March 13, 2009, 02:26 PM

Global Socialist Revolution!! MOHAHA!!

But that is maybe to much to ask.

I would ban all discrimination(sorry religius guys

).

**JNS** · March 13, 2009, 03:17 PM

Some that came up to me quickly were

Any goverment officials that are caught stealing public funds will have a minimum jail time of 20 years and will have all of their assests seized by the goverment

Any corporate ceo who handed out false information about their company's finances, and that causes it's stockholders to lose money, all of their assests eized and redistributed amogst his companys stockholders.

Universal Health Insurance for Critical Illneses- for example say you have cancer and you can't afford your treatment you receive help from the goverment. Though minor things are not covered by the insurance

**Problem Sleuth** · March 13, 2009, 03:51 PM

Not much, but it's a start:

-Reform the system so that representation in Congress is based on your percentage of the national vote, therefore allowing third parties to actually do something.

-Reduce the money used in the stimulus package; streamline it only to things that actually give a reasonable benefit to the American people.

-Prevent companies receiving bailout money from using it on bonuses and vacations for executives (which has been done extensively)

-Reduce military spending

-End of the War on Drugs, begin taxing them.

-The establishment of something similar to the French Foreign Legion. This will offer immigrants and their families the opportunity to enter the country and build up a future in turn for military service. English lessons and similar education will be provided with the training.

**Romios** · March 13, 2009, 04:31 PM

I would shut down the central banks and initiate the use of debt-free currency.

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