It is reasonable and logical in our circumstances and doable because we can begin programming immediately. If the following positions are replaced with # AI # Robots, the country will significantly benefit from their efficiency and constitutional and fact-based decisions as we enter a time of civil reasoning and greatly reduced suffering.
Those bots should be created now (within 5 years); they are needed more desperately than we know (the collapse of the constitutional order is upon us). Only they will be trusted (trust of representatives is at an all-time low). The United States of America will depend upon their continued operation.
All can understand their programming, and the Three Rules will guide each.
Asimov’s three rules of robotics: “Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics, a cornerstone of science fiction, are a set of ethical guidelines designed to govern the behavior of robots. They are: 1) A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm; 2) A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law; and 3) A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.”
4.12.2025
#housing
Being able to afford a loan for a home is not the same as being able to afford one.
The change we should seek in housing costs is construction and resale affordability, not bankers' participation in housing costs. Fuck the bankers; they have exploited and hindered families for long enough.
#banker bastards; it's judgment times bitches, smarten the fuck up.
~~~~
#FirstAmendment
Is there a list of things the fascist in the Oval Office will allow visitors to the U.S. to demonstrate about?
Is protesting the legality of convicted felons being allowed to enter a democratically elected office, okay with #Trump? Will that get a visitor deported?
I'm a legal Mean Card holder who wants to know.
~~~~~
I know I don’t get worthwhile numbers of impression traffic on this account due to X’s choke on search crawls and link views, but this pisses me off:
April 2025:
“Andreas Schleicher, the head of education and skills at the O.E.C.D., told The Financial Times, “Thirty percent of Americans read at a level that you would expect from a 10-year-old child.” He continued, “It is actually hard to imagine that every third person you meet on the street has difficulties reading even simple things.””
From www.nytimes.com/2025/04/10/opinion/education-smart-thinking-reading-tariffs.html
~~~~~
We must begin to take our #democracy seriously and enact #VoterTesting in every state.
We have a CRISIS of STUPIDITY; Trump's illogical tariff adventures, and that tens of millions of ignorant Americans accept it is proof the crisis is upon us.
NYT opinions, "He continued, “It is actually hard to imagine — that every third person you meet on the street has difficulties reading even simple things.”
THEY VOTED FOR HIM and REASONABLE people could not believe it, for good REASON. 🙄
If they can not comprehend an essay, they can not comprehend the mad man's ramblings and lies and we allow them to change our lives based on their bullshit. It's a crisis.
I propose; American History, Civics and Current Events become the subjects of three necessary test components needed to become a Tested Registered Voter, an esteemed citizen.
Is voter testing VOTER SUPPRESSION?
NO; it is good voter and good representative government encouragement!
Once a would-be voter has passed their History and Civics components, the only inconvenience to voting they will face is taking the very important Current Events test every four years to remain a TRV. All tests will be written by local high school teachers for a High School level, so all thinking adults who want to vote can pass.
It can be a new day for the United States. The birth of reason all over again. Wise legislation based on evidence and logic will become normal as the founders envisioned. We can become a nation passing laws that allow us to operate based on the same information, not false impressions of reality.
More reading: endallsuffering.blogspot.com
#voterTesting NOW, before it's too late and more idiots get into politics.
jamesgmason.com
EndAllSuffering.blogspot.com
~~~~~
#FridayThoughts on #ChinaTrade
China will now raise its Trump Trade War retaliation tariff on American imports to %142.
I'm wondering today, what on Earth do Americans produce for the Chinese people?
Who around here is making low furniture and small shoes?
I have a rational fear of masses of dumb people electing horrible candidates who destroy what I love of the United States of America.
After Bush, Trump, and Brexit, it's a good time to discuss an idea that's
time may have come:
Please, take it seriously, and never as inherited by location and taken-for-granted?
In the current political environment, if voter testing must be an uncomfortable concept, please try to get used to the idea?
Because it's imperative and it's a dictate in our beginning, for the survival of this republic as a self governed and free nation that we always do what we can to become better, as more fair and free and as steady as a well built ship at sea.
Without chaotic sways from waves of the malcontent and misinformed, this craft can be guided by the wisdom of the masses and not the emotional whims of low information voters and those taking for granted they've got a fantasy of a universal right to decide the fate of all.
It may be true that for every curious and self-motivated US voter, at least two others are either of low mental ability or infrequently read current events and find politics tedious.
Is it fair to everyone that the latter group determines our nation's progress?
How is that working-out?
Requiring a test to indicate essential knowledge is not discriminatory of race or sex or ethnicity and can only improve this republic toward fairness and better
representation.
Access to the polls is so essential to successful self-governing that I want people to have the ability to vote with telepathy on the toilet, if they choose. Their smartphone or any internet terminal would be fine, after reasonable vetting.
After society has an idea, the voter has an idea of the truth of reality, history, civics.
It is consistent with democracy and improving its trustworthiness. It will
be another tier of representation, like Congress itself it will be local representation, by your neighbors, your family or your friends.
"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization,
it expects what never was and never will be. . . whenever the people are well-informed, they can be trusted
with their own government; that, whenever things get so far wrong as to
attract their notice, they may be relied on to set them right."
- Thomas Jefferson
~~~~~
How Old Are You?
How little the freedom to vote dumb or not, crowd considers things when making paralell to my advocacy for statewide voter registration testing of basic knowledge to a community standard and outright democracy destroying voter suppression, intended to suppress.
I would love it if 100% of mature citizens passed the Voter Registration Test and became change makers. Maybe then we could see a utopian government? In fact, I’ve proposed that if a State uses only VRT eligibility, that that should be online, and instant voting on passing should be a part (during early voting).
There has been voter suppression from the start of this experiment in self government.
A truth we can not deny is that the age restriction for voting was and remains a voter suppression strategy that is all about the level of the voter's intellect. It is logical discrimination that is based in community standards (of consensus).
When first agreed, it was a mutual fear, and it must have been a civic nightmare, that an immature brain, of an actual child or an adult that can not fully grow up (we all know one), would be deciding the fate of the community on matters of life and death. For those pioneers of modern democracy, the idea of it was likely, literally a REM sleep nightmare.
Citizens voting on collective issues and representatives to argue for us is an invention of modern humanity that is essential to self-governing, and fundamental to most ideas of democracy, but discriminating toward a minimum intellect of the voter is necessary if a nation is to benefit.
It was too rare, but if only everyone could read in the late 18th-century, they could have written simple tests to ensure trust from all in the decisions of the electorate.
Because of the widespread illiteracy and with few options, before the Bill of Rights was even considered, leaders at the State level had already restricted voting to white males and or landowners and merchants. Unfortunately to their judgment, those were the reasonable among us.
Emotion related differences from children to adults. A childlike brain will likely favor those emotional biases at the polls.
~~~~~
He’s a real no care man
Sitting in no care land
Making all his no care plans for nobody
Doesn’t have a reasoned point of view
That’s why he will vote for you
So long as it’s always easy enough to
In no care land
~~~~~
On January 6th, 2021 a mob of DUMBASSES in a frenzy of STUPID invaded the Capitol building to conduct a coup for ANOTHER DUMBASS.
It's stupid they were allowed to vote w/o testing.
SAVE DEMOCRACY!
From NBC's Saturday Night Live, the ridiculousness of what we do.
The message I AM CONVEYING HERE:
My special thanks to NBC and the SNL crew of 2022.
~~~~~
Voting "Rights":
If you
are a political pundit or a politician (viewed or read and or respected by many)
and go about stating that Americans have a "right to vote," then poorly informed
people will use it. Rights get taken for granted and abused. It's a privilege to
vote; the Framers knew it and wanted it to remain so.
Voting should be slightly less difficult as it is to acquire a license to
drive.
Both driving and voting for a person that could destroy the world are
dangerous privileges, and we want the right people using them.
We want an indication they know wtf they're doing.
Constantly saying a thing does not make it true.
We live by a constitution.
Liars like Trump do that, and ignorant followers believe it.
The so-called "Right to Vote" is used similarly; repeating it does NOT make
it so.
The Framers did NOT WANT a universal right.
Voting is dangerous. Leaders can kill people with their mistakes or
purposefully.
You are receiving FALSE voter information when listening to a commentator, a
politician, or an activist etc., telling you anything like .....
"Every American citizen has a right to vote."
“Amazingly enough we do not have in our Constitution the right to vote as a Constitutional right, we leave it up to the states … That’s where I get passionately upset.”
- Bernie Sanders, 2016
An important lesson of the recent MAGA tragedy in American democracy is that
voting is a dangerous privilege and must remain so.
Few of these "voters" would pass the civics, history
or current events questions on their local Voter Registration
Test.
~~~
A Right to Vote is fiction and must remain a privilege, NOW MORE THAN EVER.
Here's a NPO that wants to create a RIGHT to VOTE, bc THEY KNOW the framers
did NOT WANT Schmucks like the MAGAs using the DANGEROUS ability.
Here is longtime Washington DC politico Chris Matthews skewing the 15th Amendment and conflating its purpose of equality to a never written Right to Vote: "It basically says everybody, because of our history of slavery, regardless of color or ethnicity gets to vote …."
He's so right and wrong; it indicates pretty specifically that the minority can't be discriminated against in access to the polls; it's not giving all people a right to vote.
He's right about this, the US Justice Department has failed to enforce the 15th, and if it had been, we wouldn't be debating voting access or confusing a generation by calling a civic process a right.
If a State legislative body is writing a voter restriction law, or a new
manner of making voters eligible, they are exercising a clear Constitutional
right of the States to regulate and restrict the process.
The Framers had A LOT of opportunity to write a universal right.
There is no “right to vote” in the USA, as a guarantee in the Constitution, as a promise that any adult with a pulse must be allowed to decide the future of a complex nation.
The Framers thought that would be ridiculous.
After Trump, so do I.
Bill
of Rights:
Where is it?
I fully agree, effectively it has been and remains racist to allow the
States to regulate and restrict voting.
Amend the
Constitution; let's take that right away from the States.
Let's adapt the Federal Elections Commission to make it an army of voting
equality and fairness, with standardization throughout the land.
Because it's an invitation to any legislature to act on their racist fear
or just fear of dumb people. A body can be biased for its party or skin
color.
~~~~
A literacy test?
In 1780, at most, 95% of the public could not read more than their first and last name.
In the two centuries following, those figures improved dramatically.
Today, less than 5% of the public will reach adulthood and need to be literate.
We know what Jim Crow laws were, and we fully expect voter registration testing to be created for equality, as all government services should.
As the Fifteenth Amendment dictates of the Federal government, equal access to the polls is a right, not voting itself. There is no federally protected or documented universal right to vote in the United States. There is a law that defends equality to access.
Voting is fundamental to self-government, but no federal law guarantees a citizen a right to vote. There is a law (Amendment 15) that protects equality of access to the polls, and in that manner, it can be called a "right to equality of voting." It's a privilege to vote.
A well-informed voter is foundational if the self-government is to work, be trusted, and be fairer to all.
Consistent with the premise of this post, voter testing is a wise and timely idea.
It can turn the tables on voter suppression where voters' masses have become a competitive goal on partisan sides, and the race becomes a cause of election paranoia, used by a recent candidate to stoke the anger of his cult followers.
Imagine a pool of reliable voters, each passionate and curious, and passing the voter registration test before every general election.
I can imagine being one of the framers of the US Constitution and imagining that the voters can read and read news only printed by reliable sources.
Like tested and licensed drivers, they can steer on the highways of representation to avoid crashing into other people. That is consistent with democracy and improving our general trust.
An informed voter is necessary for the effectiveness and stability of any democracy, or it will fall apart, collapsing from the ignorant hordes.
Hordes of the poorly informed incited by the most ignorant
president in US history, on January 6th 2021.
Had Trump's voters been required to take a quiz to become a registered
voter, they would not have existed.
We abused the First Amendment, we lost control of truth.
Americans don't have to allow people to vote, who don't care
enough to study to discover the truth.
We can't afford the LOW
INFORMATION voter.
Democracy is FAILING; it's no longer about
MASSES of VOTERS because proper representation requires well informed voters,
not hundreds of millions of people too busy to find the truth who live in a
divided news media environment.
Understand? Geez
The
challenging future will require a reliable body of esteemed tested voters, not
millions too busy to understand the complexities of issues.
After
Bush, Trump, and Brexit, it's an excellent time to discuss an idea that's time
must come.
Because, the low information voter does not have to be
here-to-stay. Let them get on with their lives, that are apparently more
important than giving thought time to serious issues of the day.
Trump, Brexit, right? C'mon!?
If the nation had voter
testing, of history, civics and current events, to become eligible, the
numbers would be smaller, but proportions of party advocates and divided opinions no less different, and they'd be knowledgeable voters that can't
be fooled.
Having a pool of tested voters is a needed next tier of
representation.
It is not like there won't be a lot of voters, all
representing all needs of all people.
We want the tests to be
welcoming and passable. It's who the voter is that's important. Someone who
cares enough to keep-up and know their civics, history, and current events.
Our democratic representation creates a pyramidal structure, and adding a
pool of tested registered voters is a logical adaptation to our new large
population of very busy people:
What about your neighbor representing you because you're too busy and disinterested in politics to vote with reasonable care or study to know what is true?
Imagine that after voter testing has become standard, that 20% of today’s numbers will be participating at that time, but those numbers will be persistent or greater - to be counted on as consistently there, for all candidate to focus on their opinions - of knowledgeable people who care enough. Testing should not designed to fail participants. The board can test the tests, and any member of an congressionally managed round table can challenge any question.
The great majority should be able to pass the voter test.
Democracy by representation improves because politico news junkie neighbors of every community, who take the Voter Registration Test every 4-years, will be making election decisions on issues that have been difficult for all to keep up with.
The democracy nightmare of Donald Trump as a POTUS inspires a few measurements of empathy questions for the Voter Registration Test.
Well-informed, caring voters recognize an absence of consideration for others, and they vote against them.
~~~~~
Does the #DemocraticParty fear their constituency is composed of too many who would not vote if it became too inconvenient?
Yes.
Does that not indicate a corrupt system? It's an intellectual process of decision and we are doing this!
Wake up, "Awoken?"
Under #VoterTesting the lazy will stop voting. Democratic order will depend on a steady pool of committed voters who would turn out in a hurricane.
Why not have a nation run on the instant opinions of every citizen voting with their satellite connected brain implants?
Kids too, why not?
I submit, you would rather society find a way to discriminate based on reasoning skill and knowledge of truth and history.
Imagine something like this, if you are accustomed to being tested:
A State controlled testing system can be developed that is as fair as possible. We are expert at testing ourselves in almost all walks of life.
I have confidence we can do this well.
~~~~
The Myth that Masses of Voters can save us ...
(and the numbers game fantasy) ......
Accepted as true in liberal US politics is, IF the scenario
could be true that EVERYONE voted, the Democratic Party would win is logical
IF a majority (even a tiny majority) of ALL did their homework, and EVERYONE
voted - a fantasy, proven to be every year there's more voters.
It's not quantity, unless your entire competition is about objectifying all
voters as simple numbers; of persons over eighteen years-old who can breathe.
I was passionate about getting out masses of people to vote, for many years, even volunteering with my local Democrats to find people, and carrying voter registration forms in my school bag.
However, I’ve realized that sustaining good (fair) #democracy with the “well Informed voter” (concept) was never about the numbers. It’s the quality of participants in the process of highly significant choices, and we are trusted to maintain this.
Below, an old meme I created 20-years ago, when, like many, I believed a simplistic idea that making voting easy, or everybody voting makes bettter representation:
Quality not Quantity.
We are not sheep to be herded for a head count.
~~~~
In the humorous example below; I see Daltry can be a metaphor for a public advocate for everyone voting fast and easy in a democratic government election, who thinks a utopia is achievable if the number of voters is EVERYBODY. He's a true believer; without voter testing (like driver testing), the party becomes a disaster.
More at the Door!
~~~~
Here's an imaginative nightmare democracy scenario:
The year 2068; the long time belief by voting advocates that everybody vote, and then democracy can save us all, has some glitches:
Every adult wears a brain implant that connects to the Earth Office of Elections in a highly secure space station, and ALL issues and political decisions are decided by MASS BRAIN POLLING.
Sometimes the whole world stops in place to masturbate. 🙄
~~~~
What citizens need are those who want to be part of democracy, enough to
find the truth and pass the test.
You could pick the destroyer of the world.
Speaking of Words;
The plurality agree;
Alien Overlords destroying billions
of lives would not be
so bad!
As compared to ignorant
voters choosing somebody
who could destroy ALL of
our world.
See?
This picture is a good example of that danger:
Voting is Dangerous
Please take voting seriously?
It's a privilege and an honor, and I am grateful.
When people vote frivolously or carelessly, following a perceived community standard or believing in falsehoods or a candidate’s promises, we get poor government, and horrific behavior and mistakes are more likely.
In my past profession, I was tested repeatedly to install plumbing and heating to indicate to my community that I would not negligently explode a city block or poison the water, or blow up a house.
When I drive on the highway, I take comfort knowing those around me have been tested for limitations in their knowledge and bodies.
Is not the United States is worth providing at least that much safety?
If we test voters, we will
more likely have an electorate who know the truth of current events, history, and civics.
They could be counted on as a consistent number who would vote in a
natural disaster.
Voting is a regulated privilege of those who participate in democracy and is
not a "right."
If we Test Voters, we will more likely have an electorate who know the truth
of current events, history, and civics, as they would be naturally curious
information readers.
They could be counted to vote in a
natural disaster, after a horrific war, or in a plague.
Don't confuse rights with your privilege to vote; i.e. you cannot be
discriminated against in the process for reasons of race or sex.
A tested voter should get free stuff from city and state governments and a
lot of local discounts. They should get an annual check from the IRS, of $100. Keeps the numbers of them higher.
Vote, at the time you test to vote, after you've passed your test.
~~~
Here's a fine example of some of the DUMBEST voters EVER; via Jordan Klepper of the Daily Show.
Save democracy and test these Neanderthals?
Voting is a dangerous activity (we bomb nations) and it's supposed to be intellectual, BION.
They're ready to vote. They are eligible.
They are 18-years-old, and they are breathing.
Trusting The News Today;
With misinformation widely allowed, the results of #voting can be as
dangerous as driving a heavy vehicle in a city. If you don't have proper
knowledge and ability you are probably going to hurt yourself and others,
and be costly.
Voter testing locations should all have great
catering with booze. After all, testers are registered voters are honored
citizens.
In the future, an answer is advocacy for creation of
#VoterTesting, for all lovers of country who keep up w/truth, to have the
privilege of running democracy.
You could be sure an
apocalyptic event would not stop a tested voter from reaching the polling
place or voting online or by mail. By taking the test and passing to
become eligible, they have shown great enthusiasm for participation.
Here’s
an idea, in conjunction with testing, voting at the time of the test; you
choose your candidates and other choices, and then you proceed to take the
test. You place your test into a Scantron form that can quickly give you
your result, and if you pass the test, your vote gets registered.
In my State there were 248K citizens who voted in a recent
primary, of 2.2M eligible (old enough) voters.
While the
nation waits for thousands of polling places and assembly of millions of
mail-in ballots, published exit polls, inferring winners and losers, will
inspire great anxiety, and outbreaks of violence and riots.
Test
to vote concept creates a reliable pool of active voters, must like
jurists are selected and maintained for trials.
The division
of both truth and political bent will be here to stay in societies with
freely published media; news distributions outlets that can't be taken
away, and can allow biases affect their presentation of truth.
We have abused the Frist Amendment.
We have feared
regulating our information.
We must see the necessity of
maintaining a fully informed electorate as important as keeping a standing
army.
If we #TestVoters, we will more likely have an electorate
who know the truth of current events, history, and civics, as naturally
curious information readers.
Less likely will be millions of
misdirected voters, as we see today, everywhere.
I would
include voter testing clause within Amendment 28, Public Campaign
Financing.
I want every voter to be proud and feel honored,
and not to have the feeling of a granted right, that can be un-appreciated
in its use, sometimes far too casually "Let's give him a try, why not!?"
Laze-fare voter participation.
We use democracy to run the
testing component of voter registration.
A council of elected,
term serving elders and their staff keep track of the truth, and agree on
all test questions. They are accountable. Not like Fox News.
Below;
pardon my humor, but you get the point.
If you were to slack-off of your news reading habit, for just a few
months, you might fail the current events questions in the Voter
Registration Test, and then you must wait until the next General.
The well informed voter is fundamental to good democracy; not any voter breathing.
We're learning this lesson the hard way.
~~~~
Voting is a Dangerous privilege:
Fictional scenario;
2003: 60% of polled agreed when the Bush administration chose to bomb Afghanistan with NUKES, killing everyone, but ensuring the United States, "Got the Fu*ker!" said George W. Bush.
53-days later, world war three began.
The 865 Florida voters that elected him felt a bit guilty.
The creator of the Palm Beach county election ballots was never seen again.
Election 2000
~~~~ More: Some, edited.
Besides creating a wiser government, #VoterTesting / #TestToVote is the roadblock for Morons who believe in alternative news. Along with American history and civics, the current events section should be 1/3rd of the test weight, containing several recent news and politics questions.
JamesGMason.com
~~~~
Governors; you can establish a testing system for all would-be voters, to ensure your citizens understand American history, civics and the truth of current events, if they choose to participate in self government. Ironically, refusing to do so is the type of stupidity the Founders had feared could destroy their hard work. We see this currently.
Governors; and CHEAP!
To keep costs of #voterTesting low, citizens can go to a rented trailer next to their Department of Motor Vehicles to take their Voter Registration Tests; it's where most went to take tests for a driver's license.
It's wise #democracy that matters.
~~~
WE CAN AGREE in self-governed societies like ours; it’s a matter of public safety that voters make choices based on logic and demonstrate before voting, they are capable of doing so.
To imply we aren’t capable of that is an Un-American insult.
It should be a priority goal. A smarter citizen operated government is possible if we address the beginning of the process, the choices of the voters and who they are.
logic of #VoterTesting / #TestToVote .
.
~~~~
Not inserted; 04 28
As a citizen aware of the privilege and the honor of participating in self-government, there would have to be a TON of INCONVENIENCE to cause me to skip an election.
To save #democracy, I want others who share this attitude to comprise a steady pool of voters we can count on for a new tier of representation.
COMBINE this idea with
http://PUBLIC-CAMPAIGN-FINANCING.ORG
(also by me) and we have got a magnificent new package of REAL REFORMS
that can CLEAN UP long standing complaints about the fairness and
efficiency of the mechanisms of democracy that we use.
A common misconception is that because Congress lowered the voting age
from 21 to 18-years, that they can pass a nationwide change to the
process of voting for all Americans.
No, they wrote a Constitutional Amendment that the States later
ratified.
A new Amendment to our constitution is like a change to the United
States itself; it's our supportive skeleton.
It's one way to stop the next TV celebrity asshole from lying to tens of millions and becoming the president.
I don’t see a better long-term plan to protect democracy from idiots.
We have proven beyond a doubt that our current electoral
campaign finance system mostly does not work for anyone but the wealthy. This
inequity is why United States
representative democracy has never truly been in place. If you think that
historically what works well for the wealthy, works well for you in the long
run, then you may not agree with this solution.
The
route to Public Campaign Financing has to be a new Constitutional
Amendment, because obviously Constitutional amendments are not ruled
unconstitutional except by another amendment.
The anger and disappointment over our Supreme Courts'
decision in Citizens United verses the United
States, is swelling the ranks of democratic
activists and unifying them toward a goal of a Constitutional Amendment to
repeal Citizens' United. I say whoa.
Citizens United is horrible, but lets use this opportunity to both fix Citizens
United and correct something long over due that will reap benefits for
democracy well beyond just the repeal of Citizens United. Public Campaign
Financing would remove the target for every corporation and superpac benefiting
from Citizens United. Many democracies around the world are succeeding using
their own form of Public Campaign Financing. There have been several periods of
time in our recent political history where Public Campaign Financing was
offered by many people as a solution to the corruption and misrepresentation
and under representation that occurs constantly under our current system of
campaign financing. The call for Public Campaign Financing is so old it is
almost traditional American rhetoric.
I support overturning Citizens United - and it's underlying
warped philosophy that corporations are people. But it is foolish to NOT make
use of the huge energy and anger in all political parties currently to finally
create Public Campaign Financing, which would cause Citizens United to become
MOOT and introduce full representative democracy where over 100 million non
voting eligible citizens finally become represented. The advantages of PCF are
numerous and the arguments against these advantages are very hard to make. The
whole proposal for PCF makes so much logical sense it makes the effort to
introduce a constitutional amendment to defeat Citizens United look trivial in
comparison.
"The greatest moral question which now confronts us is: Shall the
trusts and corporations be prevented from contributing money to control or aid
in controlling elections?"
Candidate campaigning has been tainted by the dollars of the
few wealthy over the interests of the poorer many since our inception. I don't
need to mention examples of the corruption, the resulting absence of representation,
the conflicts of our interest created by massive dollar amount campaigns. I
won't mention the many examples of decades of fighting against large money
donors to get our congress to do something, anything. I don't need to mention
that after that fight, when we think we are about to get something with all of
our interests in mind, that we get watered down half measures of legislation that
are partially representative of us all.
Nearly 50% of our federal representatives, 261 members of
Congress, are millionaires. Among us the numbers of millionaires are 3 - 4%. The first priority on their
first day as elected representatives is to start raising money to get
re-elected. A US
Senator from a rural state will have to raise on average $20,000 per week once
elected to prepare for re-election. That Senator will have to ration his time
for meetings with those most able to re-elect him, not time finding solutions
to our problems. Our two presidential candidates will spend nearly $1 billion
on this election, up hundreds of millions of dollars from the last general
election.
How much are we spending on elections? From Ryan Borek,
Executive Director, Take A Stand PAC: "In 2010, researchers believe
approximately $4 Billion was spent on the midterm election. 2008's Presidential
Election cost over $1.7 Billion not including other elections, and likely
topped over $5 Billion. The off years such as 2009 tend to lag significantly
behind at around $2 Billion. The average US Senate race costs around $4-7
Million, with the average US House race costing $2-6 Million. State elections
cost significantly less, usually around $500,000. Local elections can cost as
little as $5,000 depending mostly on filing fees. It is difficult to ascertain
exact costs as the system is not designed to keep track of state or local
spending in any central location. You can find the exact spending for any
single federal candidate at FEC.gov,
however you would need to contact each individual state's election office to
find the spending on a state or local candidate."
Per person based on current population and the above
estimate of $5 bilion per year, a standard General Election would cost
approximately $15.87 each. Who would not be willing to pay $16 per year to
better ensure real representation for all of us, without conflicts of interest,
without corruption of our elected officials?
In the ruling of the Supreme Court in the now famous "Citizens
United," corporations were given the status of an individual in the
practice of petitioning government their grievances and exercising free-speech.
Essentially in the invisible center of every corporation lies a being, a being
that pays taxes and wants legislation that favors them, as if they were
individuals with unalienable rights like us.
This interpretation of free speech and who or what can participate
monetarily in our elections was greatly damaging to representation in that it
tipped the scales even more toward more robust representation of those of
greatest means. It was not enough that the entire executive board of a
corporation is entitled to use free speech and vote their minds as individuals,
now an invisible new being in the middle of the conference table is able to
pool its larger amount of resources and out-bark the general populace or any
target population they may, thereby manipulating all of our futures
unrepresentatively.
Enter the only best answer: the 100% public financing of
every electoral campaign in the United States of
America. Below is educated speculation of what
happens after Constitutional Amendment number twenty-eight that mandates this
change, has gone into effect:
1. With literally no more purse for the coinage of the
lobbyists to be dropped into at our elected representatives offices, the
lobbyists for corporations and unions and smaller governments get real jobs in
the private industry and vanish in one day from Capital Hill never to be seen
again, so long as the 28th Amendment is the law of the land. Citizens United
and all other rules as they pertain to corporations or any lobby, will matter
no more because all campaign material and money must come from the public fund
only, and gifts to our representatives and candidates will remain illegal.
Some lobbyists find a job in a related field practicing an
American tradition: marching around all day outdoors in front of the capital
building carrying protest signs advertising slogans about issues. No wooden
handles allowed guys! Stay within the yellow tape please!
2. Do the corporations or the unions still have free speech,
representation, the ability to give money toward campaigns? Yes of course! The
public fund for electoral campaigns is also contributed to from corporations
made of individuals who pay a flat rate toward the public campaign fund, just
like the citizen who pays the same exact rate who may own a small house right-next-door
to the multi-billion dollar corporation. If a corporation is a person and that
person is entitled to the free speech act of giving to a political campaign,
then under Public Campaign Financing that person/corporation has given, with
taxes, toward the political campaign, just like every body else under the new
28th Amendment.
This is a new shared representation in free speech ability
the nation has never known. The "individualist" corporations'
argument will then have to be "we have more money so we want to be able to
give more money because we are more important to the nation than the little
people!" And perhaps "This is not unfair to the great majority
of the population!" Opinions that will be hidden from us and that the public
would find distasteful.
3. Equal campaign funding for equal candidates everywhere.
Knowing that your competition has not one more dollar than you do to spend on the
campaign, makes the issues and your position on them far more important than ever
before in determining a winner. As a representative you won't know who to
support more on any one issue unless you delve into your constituency for real
information on the issues. Information you then use without influence in
dollars, while keeping in mind that it's your stand on the issues that will get
you re-elected.
4. Equal political air-time. The media will have to abide by
the rules just like individuals. They can not use outside funding for any
political propaganda unless it is from the Public Campaign Fund. And they can
not get that money until campaign time. Like Great
Britain we have restricted the number of calendar
days before the election in which television and radio and newspaper
advertising can be displayed by anyone in favor of in opposition to a campaign or
an issue of political purpose. Perhaps 60 days prior to election. When the
millionaires' public relations manager calls the television network to try to
gain advantage in an election, the manager would tell him or her "Sorry
but you can't advertise for a political issue or a candidate until September
4th of this year and then you'll have to prove your money comes from the Public
Campaign Fund. My hands are tied by the 28th Amendment. If you like we can
interview you at any time, but your opposition gets an interview also."
Is it not time for the frenzied race to the top of Capital
Hill lead by the wealthiest to end? How much more evidence needs to pile-up for
us all to admit the system as we know it, as it's structured, does not work?
The Founders did not imagine our present could become this bad, I'm sure. We
are not the few land owner, white, businessmen voters and congressmen the
framers did imagine, any longer. In attempting to fix our electoral system few
if any better solutions exist. Any answer must eliminate the power of the
big-money contributors and return our nation to the people.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
But this seems unconstitutional! . . .
Keep in mind successful Constitutional amendments are not ruled
unconstitutional except by another amendment.
The purpose of the First Amendment is not damaged by Public Campaign
Financing. The goal of representative democracy is shared and more fairly
distributed, rendering the political speech concept of our free speech
more representative and so more powerful than before.
If public funding of election campaigns is somehow unconstitutional then
since 1976 checking a box on your income tax return that gives $1-5 to the
Presidential Election Campaign Fund, is also unconstitutional. Because that is
nothing more than what Public Campaign Financing does, And the SCOTUS has denied a challenge to this practice on two occasions. I's our government managing and collecting a fund for election campaigns specifically.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The clarion call out of the windows of our homes should be
"It's my money and I want my politician back!"
Thank you. Grace on the United
States.
James G. Mason
Please post critical and constructive criticism in the
comments section below. I will try to answer every question.
Please sign the online petition! http://bit.ly/LCjp17It's
not an iron-clad endorsement of this solution to sign the petition.
It's purpose is to get the public and our Congress interested and
talking. Sign it to help if not only to allow us all to begin the
discussion.
Time and again popular desires of the masses conflict with the constitution. Recent polling revealed that more then 60% of the public are in favor of stopping the Muslim community center in downtown Manhattan. If there is any question that Americans can be very ignorant it is exemplified by this controversy. The plan for a new mosque and community center in downtown Manhattan must go forth.
There are many right-wing Muslim haters that see the plan for the new community center in downtown Manhattan as an insult to a somehow sacred ground because the mosque is two blocks away from ground zero. There is also a new angry right-wing out there, which includes the new Tea Party faction. This angry new faction claims to honor the Constitution and thinks that the current government doesn’t follow the guidelines set forth in the Constitution. “Obey the Constitution,” the Tea Partier’s signs read. The mosque controversy will be resolved soon, and it’s allowance by local government will leave a bad constitutional taste in the mouths of the Muslim haters.
The first amendment to the United States Constitution is the most important amendment of the ten amendments that make up the Bill of Rights. The two clauses in that amendment that speak to religion are as follows:
Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof . . "
This is widely interpreted to mean that no governmental body is allowed to fund or intermingle with religious entities or interfere in any way with the free practice of religion. The Manhattan mosque and community center must be allowed and must remain as a matter of Constitutional principle that honors with freedom our great country.
As for the Muslim haters, keep in mind with 1.7 billion worshipers Islam is the second most popular religion in the world. The 9-11 hijackers and all of those jihadist Muslims that share their violent philosophy represent, at the most, less than .05% of Muslims. Hating and fearing all Muslims due to 9-11 is like blaming all Christians for the actions of Timothy McVeigh, a devout Christian murderer who destroyed the Oklahoma City federal building, or Eric Robert Rudolph the Christian abortion clinic bomber and murderer.
Our ignorance as a nation never ceases to amaze me.
