The System is Failing Us

Two out of three of our past presidents did not win the popular vote.  The majority of this country did not choose them as our nation's leader, and yet because of the electoral college system, they get the nuclear codes to our country.

The House of Representatives is under conservative control now, all thanks to gerrymandering - a blatant, unabashed, legal manipulation of the democratic system.

Bottom line: The system no longer represents the people, and some citizens' votes count much more than others. How do we fix it?

1) Get rid of the electoral college.



"But Courtney! Didn't our founding fathers create it for a reason?" You ask.  Our founding fathers did an incredible, unfathomably thorough job at creating our constitution and system of government so that it could work successfully under as many different circumstances as possible. 

HOWEVER, we must always remember that there are some things no one can predict. i.e. Ben Affleck NOT being nominated for an Oscar for Argo!  Whaaaat?! 

Remember that in the time our founding fathers were developing this system, the only form of transportation aside from walking was horseback. They didn't have phones or radio, or even Snapchat! They often had to slaughter the cows themselves! *gasp*








Most of our system having to do with voting and government representatives was put into place because communication with the rest of the country was not at everyone's fingertips. They had to hire representatives to stay up on the news because they couldn't just turn on FOX news and have their opinions spewed at them.  They had to plan an entire day of travel just to vote, which is why we vote on a Tuesday (let's get rid of that while we're at it).

A couple of  viral videos have surfaced claiming different purposes of the electoral college. One of them talks about how it helps balance out which states the candidates campaign in. In an age where all we have to do in order to see our candidates is look at our phones (which you're probably already doing), I don't think that's a factor that should be deciding our elections anymore.

This video claims it's to protect the rights of the minority...

https://www.facebook.com/Dr.JayKinzler/videos/vb.1637903659798131/1773269092928253/?type=2&theater

Electing a president that a majority of the country is vehemently against is not protecting the rights of the minority. I repeat...

Electing a president that a majority of the country is vehemently against is not protecting the rights of the minority.

There's actually a great way to protect the rights of the minority, and that is by creating more moderate candidates (more on that in my next point). That way the minority (while always losing because it's the MINORITY) will never have to wake up to what they consider to be the apocalypse or a president that genuinely makes them question their personal safety. 

As long as we have a reliable system of voting, we should be going by popular vote. It is the best representation of our people, and that's what Democracy is all about. No, not a direct democracy, as we have many other systems in place to ensure that (which she even mentioned in her video), i.e. the Supreme Court, House and Senate, etc.

2) No party favors. 

First off, lets abolish the whole delegates and super delegates thing, k? We all have Facebook, and a way to get to the polls. No one is using carrier pigeons to communicate with the outside world.

Now for the meat and potatoes:  Independent voters should be allowed to vote in primaries. Roughly 35% of voters are registered as Independent. Now the argument against this is "what's to keep everyone from registering Independent so they can vote for both parties' candidates?"  I had that same response until I entertained the idea for a minute.

Let's pretend I (as a Democrat) voted for Kasich (a moderate) in the Republican primaries, and so did most of the other Democrats, and he became the Republican candidate.  The Republicans would then vote for the most conservative  Democratic candidate in return, and we would end up with two moderate candidates.  This basically prevents both parties from having any extreme candidates unless a majority of the voters from BOTH sides chose them. This all but solves the polarization issue in this country, and no one wakes up the day after the election fearing for their lives and logging onto the Canadian immigration website. 

2) Get rid of gerrymandering. 

There is no reason the whole country shouldn't be divided up into one big grid. If your district has a lot of different demographics, well then I'd say that's pretty representative of this country. That's why cooperation and compromise are so important.  It will be up to that district to elect local officers who are capable of handling it. Any mother of a blended family will know how.  Think your district has extenuating circumstances? Well fine then, propose it to the citizens of your state (giving good reason) and let them vote on it.

3) Elected officials need to be citizens, not career politicians.

Anyone who has seen House of Cards can tell you that when it comes to the way our politicians do business, we're f****d. Our senators should be dealing with issues that are presented to them by the citizens, and voting accordingly. This shouldn't be about trading favors or getting kick-backs. How do you execute this? There are a few ways...

 - Get money out of campaigns (I'll expand on this later). Our congresspeople (is that a word?) should be spending NO time fundraising, nor be feeling like they owe anything to people/companies who have supported them financially.  This is a conflict of interest.

- Get money out, period. NO CONFLICTS OF INTEREST. Truly the way to do this is to make sure every government official is getting paid well enough to not be enticed my outside income, and not elect anyone who owns a business or shares in the stock market. If that ends up being too unrealistic, then there's another way to do it. Surrogates. If a congressperson owns an oil company, and there is a bill being voted on that has to do with solar energy, that person has to sit out the vote. They can be replaced by a surrogate Congress person for that particular bill. Perhaps there are a few on reserve for this purpose... who were VOTED in. I see you already trying to find loopholes, you mischief maker.

- Limit consecutive terms.  Our president has limited terms because our founding fathers wanted to be sure we weren't giving too much power to one person. If someone is on the "inside" too long, they can rig the system itself to benefit them. This is what is happening right now.  Our congresspeople (ok, it's a word now if it wasn't before) are staying in too long and developing dangerously strong relationships with lobbyists, campaign sponsors, and each other. This is how we end up with motorcycle safety bills with an abortion clause hidden inside (huh???). We have to break the bonds in these relationships. The way to do that is with one consecutive term at a time.  No two in a row.  If your state really loves the job your congressperson is doing, then they can do that job wonderfully every-other term.

- Legislation in plain English. The average citizen should be able to read and understand every piece of legislation, and it shouldn't be unnecessarily long. This encourages people to run for office who may have otherwise been intimidated by a feeling of under-qualification. More importantly it keeps congresspeople from hiding the real meaning of the bill or relying on the hope that no one will actually read it.

 - Transparency. There is no reason our elected officials should be hiding what they do day-to-day. they are officers of the people. If there's no favors being traded, there's no reason to hide discussions and daily activities.  Congress should be run much like a reality show without the manipulated plot. Cameras always on, audio being recorded, and a blog at the end of the day summarizing events, activities, feelings, and thoughts. When you run for office, you agree to full transparency. WE THE PEOPLE are the employers. You wouldn't allow your employee to do business behind closed doors, would you? Except maybe going to the bathroom. Go ahead and close the door on that one.

I know the concern on this one is that sometimes we can't handle the truth. I get it. When things are suddenly much more bold and honest than we are used to, it's shocking and painful at first. Kinda like when Sarah told you that your bangs were super out of style. But after a while you get used to Sarah's honesty and you appreciate having someone who's an asset in your life and you can trust not to let you embarrass yourself. And now guess who you go to EVERY TIME you get a new haircut? No, not Mike. Sarah! You go to Sarah! Are you even listening?

4) Get the media out of politics.

Sounds weird to say when you're trying to educate and empower people, also politics is kinda the main reason the media even got started way back when. But so many things have changed. One of our biggest problems now is that the media is a profit center, and what sells? Shock. Horror. Anger. Emotion. Boring stories don't sell. So a story that should be headlined "Limes help balance your pH levels, and balanced pH levels lower your risk of getting cancer," now reads "LIMES SAVE LIVES!!!" There's so much media available to us now, that they are desperate to stand out and grab our attention.  Politics are like candy to them. All you have to do is demonize the person who opposes your beliefs, and now you're riled up and reading/clicking/sharing and probably even making memes about it.

Here's how to do it: Have ONE website for politics (libraries have the internet, so don't give me the "what if I'm a mountain woman who lives off the grid" line). Each candidate gets the same amount of coverage to post their issues, beliefs, plans, etc. They can only mention another candidate in the form of facts, not opinion. i.e. "Terry Forsett was arrested for throwing a pile of sticks at a little girl." vs. "Terry Forsett is a worthless piece of garbage who will ruin your life."

Same for propositions - much like they do in voter guides. Allow the same space for each position to make their case.

There should be no money spent on campaigning materials other than "go vote."  Everyone will be forced to visit the website and see both sides if they want to know what they're voting for. It will be illegal to purchase or sell any campaign ads in any medium.  This is a big chore, and will need to be closely monitored, but it is so important when it comes to uniting our country and keeping the peace within.