America needs a Reform Party to replace if not at least compete for votes versus the failed ideas of the Democrats and Republicans. These prties have failed America.
BUT I suggest we need more than to fix IDEAS. We need to fix the PROCESS. The electoral / political PROCESS in America is broken and our democracy is not really a democracy.
Fix ideas, BUT it is also very important to fix the terrible PROCESS. Without a better PROCESS, better ideas will fail, again.t
The things essential to fix our process:
1. No campaign can last longer than 120 days. That is enough time for any candidate to convey their ideas.
2. Drop/stop the Debates; arguing on stage to prove you can perform for the audience proves NOTHING about being a President. Debates are useless so drop them entirely. Debates are merely theater, a show for networks to make money.
3. Get money out of campaigns! Money is not policy or plans. No one, no PAC, no party should be allowed to buy a vote. Cut expenditures to a minimum set by law, for example $1,000,000. That is way to much too, but what is the right number. The Government could foot the bill so no one is motivated to seek rich people's help. Rich people should NEVER decide an election with their money; same for big Political Action Committees.
4. Stop the ALL negative ads! By law, only issues can be discussed. Make that law! If any voter wants to dig up a candidates bad behavior or poor choices from the past, they have to find it themselves. ANYONE, ANY organization that puts out anything but a policy position is fined $1,000,000 AND spends 6 months in prison. We can elect Tweety, we can elect t anyone. We do not get anything from a negative ad on how we will be governed! The negative ads often are illogical, e.g., E. Warren made money teaching in a college, student debt tripled. This negative ad was incredibly stupid and illogical obviously. The fine for stupid ads like this should be $1.5million and 9 months in prison because it is intentionally confusing AND misleading, not to mention stupid. Negative ads that are proven to be lies will be fined $10million as undermining our Democracy. Prison time should be 2 years for EVERYONE proven to know of this d help write it, and / or got it displayed/shown/published. Kill negative ads! These negative ads are bad for Americans because the reinforce very ugly politics, are cynical, and they hurt Democracy by misleading voters.
We have a dumb Congress full of dumb politicians on all sides.
"‘Trump Is What Happens When a Political Party Abandons Ideas’"
As surprising as Trump’s young presidency has been, it’s also the natural outgrowth of 30 years of Republican pandering to the lowest common denominator in American politics.
By Bruce Bartlett, June 24, 2017
Tweety is worse than anyone could have imagined.
"He has appointed staff people far to the right of the Republican mainstream in many positions, and they are instituting policies that are frighteningly extreme. Environmental Protection Administration Administrator Scott Pruitt proudly denies the existence of climate change, and is doing his best to implement every item Big Oil has had on its wish list since the agency was established by Richard Nixon. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos is actively hostile to the very concept of public education and is doing her best to abolish it. Every day, Attorney General Jeff Sessions institutes some new policy to take incarceration and law enforcement back to the Dark Ages. Trump’s proposed budget would eviscerate the social safety net for the sole purpose of giving huge tax cuts to the ultrawealthy."
Given Tweety a chance said Tweety supporters and sycophants. America was asked to give Tweety time to learn and grow. It is 6 months now, and the Tweety trend is toward total disaster for America, a greater divide between rich and poor, more hatred and anger between blacks, whites, Orientals, Latinos, and Muslims, and more as stated here. America used to want to be the best and the brightest. No longer are we best at anything except hypocrisy, cynicism, and silly tweets.
"He’s voiced not only skepticism of NATO, but outright hostility to it. He’s pulled America back from its role as an international advocate for human rights. He’s attacked the notion of an independent judiciary. He personally intervened to request the FBI to ease up on its investigation of a former adviser of his, then fired FBI Director James Comey and freely admitted he did so to alleviate the pressure he felt from Comey’s investigation. For those conservatives who were tempted to embrace a “wait-and-see” approach to Trump, what they’ve seen, time and again, is almost unimaginable."
More.
"Trump is what happens when a political party abandons ideas, demonizes intellectuals, degrades politics and simply pursues power for the sake of power."
More.
"I have watched from the sidelines as Republican policy analysis and research have virtually disappeared altogether, replaced with sound bites and talking points. The Heritage Foundation morphed into Heritage Action for America, ceasing to do any real research and losing all its best policy experts as it transformed from an august center whose focus was the study and development of public policy into one devoted mainly to amplifying political campaign slogans. Talk radio and Fox News, where no idea too complicated for a mind with a sixth-grade education is ever heard, became the tail wagging the conservative dog. Conservative magazines like National Review, which once boasted world-class intellectuals such as James Burnham and Russell Kirk among its columnists, jumped on the bandwagon, dumbing itself down to appeal to the common man, who is deemed to be the font of all wisdom."
What was Paul Ryan doing for 8 years waiting for his chance to repeal AND REPLACE the ACA? Nowhere at all. AWOL!
"One real-world result of the lobotomizing of conservative intellectualism is that when forced to produce a replacement for Obamacare—something Republican leaders had sworn they had in their pocket for eight years—there was nothing. Not just no legislation—no workable concept that adhered to the many promises Republicans had made, like coverage for pre-existing conditions and the assurance that nobody would lose their coverage. You’d think that House Speaker Ryan could have found a staff slot for one person to be working on an actual Obamacare replacement all these years, just in case."
Americans need to recognize the problem, analyze it, and start the Reforms needed TODAY.
BUT REFORM OUR POLITICAL PROCESS, NOT JUST THE POLITICAL IDEAS.
