Regime change: With a little democracy thrown in

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Written By Ed Henry

capital-273344_1280By now, it should be obvious that if this republic is going to maintain a form of representative government we would be better off choosing our federal representatives by lottery. Send a neighbor to Washington. Just pick ’em from the phone book. Draft a politician.

The present method of electing representatives has been ruined by money and run like an exclusive country club. The country club board of directors picks candidates already sworn to uphold the club’s policies and rules. Without approval of the board, rogue candidates haven’t a chance even if they gather the thousands of public signatures required. The club will simply deny them funds while pitting their own heavily funded candidate against the outlaw and developing all sorts of slanderous advertising propaganda to vilify the outsider. They may even get the president to classify him as a traitorous weapon of mass destruction.

If the outlaw candidate happens to be wealthy enough to compete in this arena, then they’ll make deals with him, threaten his children, or pull whatever dirty tricks they can muster to get rid of him.

With a national lotto we can finally achieve term limits by restricting the chosen to two, four, or six year terms. No more career politicians. People like Ted Kennedy will have to get real jobs. All it takes is another lotto every so often. And to be fair, we can allow the sitting representatives inclusion in the next lotto. Who knows, maybe one or two will be selected for a second term.

Of course, the hooker is that so many Americans are politically incompetent, uninformed, or just plain dumb and may not be able to rise to the occasion. Blame it on the educational system, a lack of interest in government, dysfunctional families, or whatever, we certainly do not want these people deciding matters crucial to everyone. We need some way to screen out the nitwits.

The jury system works in a similar manner. Jurors are supposedly picked at random from voter registration, but then the prosecuting and defending attorneys get to narrow the field of candidates for various reasons and toss some out with no reason at all. If the life and death responsibility of a “jury of one’s peers” can be handled this way, we certainly ought to be able to manage it with short term representatives to be included in the lotto and possibly sent to Washington.

Supposing we did it this way:

When voters go to the polls for any election, they are individually asked a simple question like who is the current Vice President of the United States, the Attorney General, or the Secretary of State. Keep it simple. Don’t ask for a job description or anything complicated like who is the current Treasurer of the United States. Vary the questions from voter to voter without multiple choices or clues.

If voters fail to pass this simple test, record it in the registry and tear up their voter registration card. Inform them that they will be reinstated once they pass the same test immigrants must pass in order to become citizens. Why should we tolerate citizens who have less understanding of their own government and American history than naturalized people from other countries?

In other words, weed out the naturally born citizens who were deprived of civics and American history courses in school or who slept through these subjects. We don’t need these people voting until they have some understanding of the Constitution and their role in it as citizens. Look on it as a “make-up” program.

Most importantly, exclude all of these drop outs from the lottery. Then hope that the remaining pool will be capable of rising to the occasion. We certainly can’t be any worse off than we are now with a Congress that has abdicated its responsibilities. Plus, we get rid of the money influence and all of the Tammany Hall tricks that have wormed and embedded their way into our present system.

Published originally at EtherZone.com : republication allowed with this notice and hyperlink intact.”

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