Fact: we are over-inundated with election stories, results, primaries news, candidates huffing and puffing, massive political advertising budgets, useless political bickering and posturing and mediocre politicians who do not perform as promised.
The people (we, us, voters) appear to have lost any control to curb or limit ANY of the shenanigans that political pundits are pushing. Advertisements for elections start 24 (yes, that is TWO years) months ahead of the election. Constant bickering in the House and Senate of the Federal Government, State Governments, City Governments and County Governments has reduced our brains to mush. Tea Partiers, Birthers, this right and that left have overrun any semblance of sanity that we (at least) used to FEEL our government ascribed to; I know you read, because you are reading this. If the current stories, gossip and meanderings in the news about politicians don’t make you ill, you can stop reading now.
I grew up knowing that our President was the best leader in the world. Like everyone else, as I got older, I did not like a lot of what the President did or believed in, but I knew our President was the best leader in the world. If I did not put him there, my peers did, and that was good enough for me.
Now, people who would be king, "make" news by lambasting the President, the office of President, the actions of the Congress and so on and so forth. It is with that in mind I propose the terribly simple, effective and sanity saving solution below.
Pre-election rules
1. All candidates will have exactly the SAME amount of money to spend on an election. $0. Nothing. Nada. Zilch. No PAC money. No Party money. No contributors. No public general election fund. No silent backers. No corporations. No Unions. No wonks.
1. No talk of running, not running, thinking of running, being urged to run, committing to a run, testing out a run, etc. will occur before T minus 120. That is, and I know you got it already, no talk of any election until 120 days BEFORE the election. Do I really have to spell this out? With all the legitimate concerns we have going on in our world, in our country, in our backyard, from debt to hunger, from bias to terrorism, from unemployment to…everything…I don’t want ANY candidate thinking about ANYTHING except how to best serve the public. Even if Joe the Plumber was the best President we had ever had, why is he thinking about re-election? When Joe (or Jo) gets to their third year and eighth month in office, they can put their hat in – BUT…
2. At the ¾ mark of any elected officials term, they must provide a laundry list of what they have done for their constituents. And it better be real, because before it comes to US, the facts will be checked independently by at least three nonpartisan fact checking organizations (and yes, they do exist, and even more scarily, they work for free and are happy to do it!). Much like many states are trying to do with their teachers, candidates and elected officials will be GRADED. And the proof (or lack thereof) of their elected work along with the grades will be given to (we, us, voters) the PUBLIC. Some newspapers use this grading system occassionally but this would be independent, with OUR criteria and questions.
3. Failure to comply with either of the items above, and YOU DO NOT GET TO WASTE OUR TIME BY RUNNING…PERIOD. WE DO NOT NEED YOU AND WE DO NOT WANT YOU. Celebrities – see “Eligibility” - We loved your (movies, dances, songs) but if you have not served your community (and no, giving megabucks to a noble charity does not count) you may not run.
4. Primaries will be held 150 days before the election. Period. All states. All Parties. Every state on the same day (think April 15th). Sorry New Hampshire, Iowa. Anyone trying to change this rule by legal action, or bitching, or complaining or moaning loses the right to hold Primaries and one seat in the Senate for one term.
5. Term Limits - one word - ONE.
6. Salaries - minimum wage to $30 an hour - see grading below.
Q: Why would we want these seemingly silly rules to view our candidates or elected officials abilities?
A: Because we are some of the smartest and most dedicated shoppers and researchers in the world.
If you opened up any restaurant, hotel or entertainment guide, and it rates places for you to go, which do you choose?
SnerdelBurgers Food A+ Service A- Atmosphere A
Frammisches Food B+ Service A Atmosphere A
Fred’s Famous Café Food C- Service D Atmosphere C
Smitty’s Diner Food B Service A+ Atmosphere A-
I think I have made my point – there will ALWAYS be a diehard that says Fred’s Famous Café is horribly underrated, and the food is superb and the place is really quaint, but I’m not taking any chances with the people who handle my food.
Why would we elect, or reelect, anyone who has a “D” rating?
Ever stayed in a ½ star motel? Going back there anytime soon?
Think “Consumer Reports” for elections. This is MUCH more important than food – what a candidate or elected official may not only affect your life, but generations to come. And why would you pay top dollar for a "C" performance? If you work hard enought to get an "A" you get $30 an hour (don't worry, pleanty of perks to go around to compensate) - if you get a "C", you get reduced to minimum wage. If you get a "D" - I haven't worked out the recall rules yet, but at "D" they damn well better be automatic!
Ever stayed in a ½ star motel? Going back there anytime soon?
Think “Consumer Reports” for elections. This is MUCH more important than food – what a candidate or elected official may not only affect your life, but generations to come. And why would you pay top dollar for a "C" performance? If you work hard enought to get an "A" you get $30 an hour (don't worry, pleanty of perks to go around to compensate) - if you get a "C", you get reduced to minimum wage. If you get a "D" - I haven't worked out the recall rules yet, but at "D" they damn well better be automatic!
Eligibility and Advertising
1. To be an eligible candidate for ANYTHING above local government a candidate must have completed 150 hours of community service, pass an extensive background check, make their last 3 years taxes public and provide (ugh, hate saying this but trying to be somewhat objective) a birth certificate and proof of residency. And to be CLEAR, this information will go to the PUBLIC (we, us, voters), not the Party, not kept in a file, not rationed out for us to see.
2. To be an eligible candidate for ANYTHING in the Federal Government a candidate must have completed 1000 hours of community service, pass an extensive background check, make their last 5 years taxes public, have at least 4 years of elected public (local) service and provide a birth certificate and proof of residency.
3. The same “public utilities” that take our money every single month, Cablevision, Verizon, Comcast, et al, will provide each candidate with an equal number of advertising/campaign minutes based on the office. For president of the United States, candidates get 6 hours. It trickles down from there. No slick ads, no awesome three minute commercials, no party backers or party representatives; just the candidate themselves, talking directly to the people. They can make a speech, badmouth their competition, hold a town hall, whatever they want, as long as it is THEM, dealing with US. I don’t care if Reese Witherspoon likes “A” or New Gingrich likes “B” – I want to interact with the person I am being enticed to elect. You want us to vote, so how about catering to US?
4. All candidates from Mayor up, if elected, will get $100 to have a nice dinner, where the aforementioned Public Utilities will show them live, giving their acceptance speech. Local candidates will use their community center, and if they do not have one, they can skip their acceptance speech and start building one. Candidates or parties who try to circumvent this rule (think $10,000 a plate, champagne, caviar) will be automatically recalled and the person they defeated will take their place (how's THAT for incentive to abide by the rules?)
5. After elections, Political Parties (not the person they endorsed) are 100% responsible for cleanup of all signs, bumper stickers, posters, billboards and everything else from their candidate(s). They have ONE day to clean up their mess – after that, fines will start at $25,000 per day, with all funds going to local Fire, Police and Emergency workers.
I have a lot more ideas, but they are too scary and need to be reworked, such as Remedial Work Farms for politicians who denounce illegal immigrants but hire them to work at their house.
C’mon, who wouldn’t be in favor of 60 days hard labor for blatant hypocrisy?
You don’t even want to know the penalty for lying.
Next post; Truth in Adverlying
Next post; Truth in Adverlying
