Just for the record: it only took 2 rallies, a dozen letters, and one blog post for people to begin calling me a communist (note to anyone commenting on the post: I'm not offended. It's fine. Kinda funny. Read on, good friends.) for wanting to implement poltical ideas well-used in Europe. Silly me and my American education. Apparently, my geopolitical instruction failed to teach me that England, France, Switzerland, and Canada were all crazy commies. I supposed I should watch more TV, pay attention to the print ads, and be aware that any talk of limiting profit-based control of human capitol is a big score for Stalin.
m expecting a call from Joe McCarthy's group any minute.
I heard this fabulous quote: "The only way democracy can fail is if the people fail the democracy." So, I started thinking...how do we get the people back to the front burner and the money back in the pockets (where it will stop catching fire and burning down the house)...here's what a public health professor and I decided in a very long conversation:
1. Campaign finance reform: all donations are pooled into one big pot and each person gets an
equal share. Any candidate found to accept money, goods, or services originating from any other source (including his own back pocket) is immediately disqualified from all electioneering at present or in the future. Campaign funds will be monitored by outside, private companies and no company can manage the same type of election more than once every 5 years.
2. Regulate lobbying. Lobbyists should be banned from speaking directly to representatives. They need to lobby the people not the candidate. All advertising on any issue is subject to the truth in advertising act. Representatives can accept petitions, letters, or endorsements from private citizens only.
3. All representatives are required to hold 2 public meetings per year in their representative area. All registered voters must be invited by mail and phone call to participate in the meeting. Possible addition: in order to cast a ballot, voters must provide proof of attendance from at least one public meeting.
4. Create town hall rules so that every voice is heard. I would suggest only 2 rules: 1) every issue brought to attention must be personally relevant (i.e. You can't oppose gay rights if you have no close tie to a homosexual person whose rights have affected you) and 2) each viewpoint must receive a compassionate hearing.
5. On hot-button issues with no clear majority (think: abortion), status quo rules. No limits placed on how often the populace can be polled. However, no position can ever be taken that violates the right to life and housing or fair employment of any group, individual, or credo.
I know - everyone shrugs. What can we do, right? Well, it's easy. If we really want to take back the country, we take back the country. We take a stand as a group and stop being so happily blinded. The other part of the quote above: if any powerful group can keep the individuals in a democracy so filled with personal fear and helplessness that they singlemindedly focus only on what directly affects their daily lives without thought of the grander scheme, then that group can control the democracy under the ruse of being elected by the population it enslaves.
Maybe it's time we re-read the Declaration of Independence. Maybe it's long past the time that we should be applying it to more than a week of Political Science study.
We the People hold these truths to be self-evident..that among these are LIFE, LIBERTY, and the PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS...That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed...That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter...it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.
So, to prove I'm a true American and avoid a trip to Guantanamo for my crazy out-there beliefs in healthcare equality and ending under-the-table campaigning that seems to have reduced our president from leader of a republic to CEO of a very large international corporation...I present....America, the Beautiful.
God bless us everyone...
BTW, in case you don't capture sarcasm well, I'm not a communist - even China has now proven that system goes corrupt over time. I just don't believe that government should serve profit
above its own people. Capitalism is an economic system, not a government. I'll stop there....Joe's on the phone.
m expecting a call from Joe McCarthy's group any minute.
1. Campaign finance reform: all donations are pooled into one big pot and each person gets an
equal share. Any candidate found to accept money, goods, or services originating from any other source (including his own back pocket) is immediately disqualified from all electioneering at present or in the future. Campaign funds will be monitored by outside, private companies and no company can manage the same type of election more than once every 5 years.2. Regulate lobbying. Lobbyists should be banned from speaking directly to representatives. They need to lobby the people not the candidate. All advertising on any issue is subject to the truth in advertising act. Representatives can accept petitions, letters, or endorsements from private citizens only.
3. All representatives are required to hold 2 public meetings per year in their representative area. All registered voters must be invited by mail and phone call to participate in the meeting. Possible addition: in order to cast a ballot, voters must provide proof of attendance from at least one public meeting.
4. Create town hall rules so that every voice is heard. I would suggest only 2 rules: 1) every issue brought to attention must be personally relevant (i.e. You can't oppose gay rights if you have no close tie to a homosexual person whose rights have affected you) and 2) each viewpoint must receive a compassionate hearing.
5. On hot-button issues with no clear majority (think: abortion), status quo rules. No limits placed on how often the populace can be polled. However, no position can ever be taken that violates the right to life and housing or fair employment of any group, individual, or credo.
I know - everyone shrugs. What can we do, right? Well, it's easy. If we really want to take back the country, we take back the country. We take a stand as a group and stop being so happily blinded. The other part of the quote above: if any powerful group can keep the individuals in a democracy so filled with personal fear and helplessness that they singlemindedly focus only on what directly affects their daily lives without thought of the grander scheme, then that group can control the democracy under the ruse of being elected by the population it enslaves.
Maybe it's time we re-read the Declaration of Independence. Maybe it's long past the time that we should be applying it to more than a week of Political Science study.
We the People hold these truths to be self-evident..that among these are LIFE, LIBERTY, and the PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS...That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed...That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter...it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.
So, to prove I'm a true American and avoid a trip to Guantanamo for my crazy out-there beliefs in healthcare equality and ending under-the-table campaigning that seems to have reduced our president from leader of a republic to CEO of a very large international corporation...I present....America, the Beautiful.
God bless us everyone...
BTW, in case you don't capture sarcasm well, I'm not a communist - even China has now proven that system goes corrupt over time. I just don't believe that government should serve profit
above its own people. Capitalism is an economic system, not a government. I'll stop there....Joe's on the phone."Propaganda is the deliberate, systematic attempt to shape perceptions, manipulate cognitions, and direct behavior to achieve a response that furthers the desired intent of the propagandist." Source: Garth S. Jowett and Victoria O'Donnell, Propaganda And Persuasion, 4th edition, 2006.
I now return to my usual fluff...
P.S. Searching for "communist images" will get you some scary stuff on the Internet. I recommend it even less than "school uniforms." *shudder*