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Simple campaign finance reform would remove most of the problem. Put a cap on political contributions like here in Canada, where the annual limit is $1525 per individual or organization that donates.
Institute public financing of election campaigns and you'll really see the corruption disappear. As soon as you allow the plutocracy to finance your candidates, your country is doomed to endless political debauchery.
it's pretty simple stuff. Stuff that every other modern democracy figured out a long long time ago.
So I'd be forced to fund something I absolutely despise? That's worse than being forced to vote, because I could at least make a joke of it and write in something ridiculous.
Even ignoring that, it may stop some corruption, but you still have big businesses with political connections who push for more regulation and taxes that they can absorb, but that will devastate their competitors, among other strategies to use state power to rig things in their favor. There's also the federal reserve/central banking system that is used for short term political gain at the expense of everyone's economic future...
I just don't think you can stop corruption when you have a powerful government. They find a way to use that power for themselves, because the temptation is too strong. Politicians aren't known for their integrity in the first place, and then when they're given the keys to society...
So I'd be forced to fund something I absolutely despise? That's worse than being forced to vote, because I could at least make a joke of it and write in something ridiculous.
Even ignoring that, it may stop some corruption, but you still have big businesses with political connections who push for more regulation and taxes that they can absorb, but that will devastate their competitors, among other strategies to use state power to rig things in their favor. There's also the federal reserve/central banking system that is used for short term political gain at the expense of everyone's economic future...
I just don't think you can stop corruption when you have a powerful government. They find a way to use that power for themselves, because the temptation is too strong. Politicians aren't known for their integrity in the first place, and then when they're given the keys to society...
In any society, there will eventually be a small group of people who become very wealthy / powerful for various reasons. If we want to have a democracy, that small group of wealthy/powerful must be prevented from becoming so wealthy that they can buy the government.
That actually happened here in the US in the late 19th century (the Gilded Age). It wasn't such a great time, unless you were a member of the small group of wealthy robber barons who owned the politicians. There were few regulations on businesses (which helped create a lot of jobs, but unfortunately those jobs required 12 hour workdays in brutal and dangerous conditions, and paid almost nothing). Labor markets were flooded with unskilled workers from Europe to keep wages down.
In the last 40 years, the US has made great strides in returning to the Gilded Age: the gap between the rich and poor has grown dramatically, labor unions have been decimated, the Big Business class has flooded the labor markets (via outsourcing and insourcing*).
My political ideology is all about slowing/reversing a return to the late 19th century Gilded Age. What can be done?
Bernie Sanders was the only one to actually address these issues, other than Trump's occaisional "tough talk" on immigration. Hillary Clinton was all platitudes "Stronger Together."
*aka allowing illegal immigration to undercut blue-collar wages, and using H-1B visas to undercut white-collar wages.
Like most Americans, you don't fit in a cute little box. You are who you are. You don't require a label. What can be done? Don't worry about the things you can't control, take personal responsibility, and make the most of your situation. Maybe you will get wealthy and be able to rewrite the rules?
Simple campaign finance reform would remove most of the problem. Put a cap on political contributions like here in Canada, where the annual limit is $1525 per individual or organization that donates.
Institute public financing of election campaigns and you'll really see the corruption disappear. As soon as you allow the plutocracy to finance your candidates, your country is doomed to endless political debauchery.
it's pretty simple stuff. Stuff that every other modern democracy figured out a long long time ago.
Sounds simple enough.
Unfortunately the plutocracy is already entrenched, and our Supreme Court officially made the US a plutocracy with the Citizens United decision.
How can we Americans turn our country into a modern democracy?
Why do Americans label themselves? You're not a billboard.
I label myself when it comes to my astrological sign who I'm a fan of musically and mental disability (although having a hard time with my disability so that label might not be doing me any good but I only got it cuz I thought it would help me find a job) but I don't see the purpose of political labels.
Sounds like just a way to get divided and nothing to do with my personality. The only political label I have is anti Trump. It doesn't go any further than that.
Some people have called me a liberal but I don't know what that is nor do I really care.
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