Subject Governors Opportunity Fund Allocation And County Fund Appropriation: Fill & Download for Free

This essay explains the main issues with the political system and my suggestions on how we can fix them, it is wide ranging but by no means exhaustive. I hope you find it interesting.On reforms to the electoral system201 senators with the 101 other senators proportionally distributed for states, possible redrawing of state lines to make the number as equal as possible. Gives people who live in a bigger state an equally powerful vote compared to those who live in small statesWashington DC get subsumed into Maryland. The area in which the white house, capitol and various federal buildings stay separate with housing for government officials and workers but not for other civilians meaning it stays stateless but people who live in Washington DC who live normal lives are empowered to vote for a senator and their representative gets more power, or they get more representatives. This will enfranchise around 700,000 Americans who otherwise get limited representation, also they will be able to fund themselves without every request going through congressThe house of representatives stays the same size but instead of having counties per state the result become more proportional allowing other parties and independents to get into the house and make legislation.Laws limiting the power of parties and stopping presidents running under parties but as individual candidates.There will be a simple political literacy test which will be asked when you get to a polling stationTo prevent abuses of powers a list of 1000s of questions will be written, the computer will ask a random question and you will be given a multiple-choice optionThese questions will be pitched at the basic level of political literacy meaning that there will not be mass disenfranchisement, the questions will be written by law and politics professors who have been selected not based on partisanship, the questions will be assessed and managed by another sub-committee to check for any biasExample questions include – who the speaker of the house is, who was the first president of the united states, state the pledge of allegiance, name the two houses in congress etc..If you get a question wrong, you can try once more again but if you get that question wrong you will not be allowed to vote in that election. This will not carry on for any other election and you can try again next time.Voter registration before you reach the polling station will be mandatory, anyone eligible to vote will be sent a letter which than can take to their polling station which will allow them to vote.The voting process will be federally regulated, the vote will be cast on a voting machine which will not be connected to the internet, this vote will be stored in its memory and a record will be printed and checked by a third party official, the political literacy question will also be on the slip to check that there is no disenfranchisement. The primary data from the computer will be removed from the machine and the total will be found and checked on two separate machines by officials, the paper trail will be kept for 15 years and a sample will be checked to see if it matches the voting machines.You can only be elected president if you have served in political or military office, you must be over 35 years and must not be charged with a felony, you must be an American citizen but can be born in another country.When you get elected to a position of responsibility all assets you hold must be put in a blind trust to avoid stock market manipulation.Puerto Rico becomes a state with full representation, including 2 senatorsThe other islands America controls will be grouped together under 1 representative in the house but no representation in the senate. These islands include Guam, US Virgin Islands, Northern Marina Islands and American SamoaThe selection of presidential candidates will be via caucuses but instead of partisan caucuses everyone will caucus on the same ballot meaning the top two candidates will be selected, every person will have the opportunity to vote in these caucuses, they can be spread out as much as they want as some candidates may need name recognition early on.The electoral college will stay but the electoral votes will be redistributed with the extra 101 senators translated to an extra 101 electoral college votes giving 639 electoral college votes which will be fairly distributed meaning 1 electoral college vote would be around 500,000 Americans, meaning that Vermont and Wyoming would receive 3 electoral college votes while California would receive 66.Faithless voting would be a federal crime but still possible to protect against theoretical tyranny, therefore if the people found themselves truly honourable and they decided that it was a just cause, they would risk prison for the good of America.Electoral college votes would be allocated like Nebraska and Maine, by district and then a bonus to the winner.Governors will be non-party affiliated and elected from a list of candidates after a caucus season in the state to whittle it down to top 5. The lieutenant governor will be elected as the second most popular candidate.State legislature will be appointed in the same method as the two houses but with fewer seats, they will follow the same system as set out for the national legislatureWhen a special election is called, any candidate can run on the ballot provided they receive enough support to get on the ballot. When they are elected, they will hold office until the next election no matter when it is.Voting is mandatory for all citizens of a voting age whether they currently reside in America or not. Every American will be compelled to turn up to the polling office and take the political literacy test. So that there is not a low turnout, but anyone who votes is at the basic level of political literacyEveryone will be allowed to vote apart from people who are currently incarcerated or people who were convicted for high crimes carrying sentences longer than 10 yearsThe allocation of the extra 101 senators will be done proportionally (See Table 1)On Campaign FinancePolitical donations from corporations will be allowed but this will be not towards the candidates but a subsidiary group who will allocate funds at their discretion. (E.g. Apple donates 1bn dollars to people against gun reform who distributes funds to 35 different candidates) The candidates this fund donates to will not be shared with the company who donates, and. The candidate will not know what companies have donated to the fund.Members of the public can donate any amount of money up to the limit which will be 100,000 dollars at any level of office, this donation will be anonymous and sent through a third party to maintain anonymity on either side to remove any leverage that large donations may hold.When new parties are formed, they can fund their own candidates up to an unlimited amount of money.On the Supreme CourtThe Supreme court will only act on cases handed to itThe impeachment process for the president will not go through congress. It will instead be judged by the supreme court on whether the president has committed high crimes and misdemeanours where all the evidence will be given out to the two houses who will then vote on the dismissal and prosecution of the president based on a 2/3 majorityThere will be no cameras in the Supreme Court because it may politicise mattersAll decisions must be made with some constitutional backingA previous case does not bind a case in the futureAny justice who is connected with a case must recuse themselvesThe Supreme Court justices must be non-partisan meaning they cannot be a member of any party.In a lame duck Supreme Court where there is a tie, there can be no rulings until a member is appointed.The sitting Supreme Court justices cannot take part in the conclave.On the Supreme Court appointmentsAs mentioned in the above document the Supreme Court will be fixed at a maximum of 9 seats. When a Supreme Court Justice is appointed, they will receive tenure subject to yearly mental acuity tests to make sure they have the capability to serve their office.The appointment procedure will be limited to justices who sit on the appeals court circuits. There are 179 justices who sit on the various circuits and on the death or retirement of a Justice they will all meet in a conclave.The conclave will be a closed system of deliberations in the justices there will be a minimum of 3 scrutiny’s a day, the conclave will each have vote for their favoured candidate, everyone will be required to vote. These ballots will be kept secret.If any judge gets a simple majority of the votes on any scrutiny, they will be the new member of the Supreme Court.Any member of the conclave can be voted for and there will be no nominations procedure or party backing. The system will stay closed to prevent any outside influence.If there is not a majority after 15 scrutiny’s, then there will be one day’s break of discussion between the candidates.A candidate can refuse to accept the nomination, but the weight of the nomination should be enough to compel them to acceptThe nominee will not be scrutinised by the judiciary committee, and the executive branch will not have a say in the nominee maintaining the separation of powers.For the nomination of the Chief Justice of the court a 2/3 majority will be required. If this majority is not reached after 15 scrutiny’s, then this majority will be reduced to a simple one.When the new justice is chosen it will be announced by the ringing of a bell, the only method of contacting the outside world.The house of representatives can still impeach a justice in the usual way.On Congress as a wholeThe process for amending the constitution will be revamped, instead of state legislatures voting on the amendment a simple referendum will be put forward after agreement from the executive and the two houses in the legislative branchThe presidential veto can be overturned with a 2/3 majority in both houses apart from on money bills where it can be overturned by a simple majorityThe impeachment process for the president will not go through congress. It will instead be judged by the supreme court on whether the president has committed high crimes and misdemeanours where all the evidence will be given out to the two houses who will then vote on the dismissal and prosecution of the president based on a 2/3 majorityIf a senator or representative dies or retires, there seat will be left empty until a special election is held in their home state. For the house of representatives, a list of candidates will be drawn up and the one with the highest voter share will be elected, the same for the senate.Any members of congress or representatives or members of the executive branch must not have any subsidiary income, and will get paid the equivalent salary for their positionFor example, the president would get paid what the equivalent CEO would get paid. This should remove any corruption, this money will be paid after the president has completed their service, meaning the president should have no form of income and should want for nothing.Other key politicians would get paid but have free access to their money to spendMembers of the senate and congressional committees and their chairs will be elected at the start of every congress. In the same fashion as members of the supreme court are chosen, the members who are elected and the chair will be compelled to serve until the next election where they can relinquish their position, they can hold their position provided they get re-elected.If the senator or congressman or woman has been found guilty for a crime which holds a sentence of more than 1 year they will be removed immediately, and a special election will be called. Any federal crime which carries a sentence of less than a year the member of congress will hold their seat until the next election. Provided that the people in their state or district do not sign a petition asking for a recall election and deliver it to the governor, this petition can only work if they are charged with the crime.The President is compelled to give an update on the state of the union every year to a joint session of congressThe President can call a joint session of congress if there is a national emergency.Any other times the President has to be invited to congress by either the Speaker of the House or the President of the SenateIf the President was ever a member of Congress, be it Senator or Congressman. They will lose all benefits of being an ex-member of Congress when they are elected to president. This includes access to all Congressional amenities and the option to sit in on debates.On the standing rules of the SenateThe senate becomes the upper house and carries more power than the lower house of representatives, including the power of appointment, this is reflected by longer term lengths.Filibustering rules will be changed making it harder to run a successful filibuster.There will be no time limits on debates in the senate and a vote will only be called if any senator asks for a vote and has an appropriate second from half of the members of the floor, this makes a successful filibuster impossible because there will be time for debate afterwardsUnless specifically agreed to a night session the Senate sits from at the earliest 8am to the latest 12pm, when they reach this threshold a new day is called, and it is up to the discretion of the non-partisan speaker to give the floor to someone else to carry on the debateAny senator can call for the house to decide on whether they are to take a vote at any time.The vice president loses the position of president of the senate ensuring complete separation of branchesAll federal agencies will be subject to the senate and oversight from a panel of senators who have full security clearance and will work with members of the agencyTerm length for senators at a state and national level will be 6 years, at any given 2-year period a third will be up for election. The speaker will not be up for election unless they choose to resign the speakership when they will become a normal senatorOn the standing rules of the House of the RepresentativesTerm length for congressmen and women will be 2 years, the speaker can resign the speakership at any of these elections where they will become a normal member of the house, the speaker if they choose not to resign will still be up for election unlike in the senate.The Rules committee can decide the length of the debate and a filibuster is bannedOn the Advice and Consent powers of the SenateThe Senate will still hold advice and consent powers over the executive appointments apart from Supreme Court justicesThe filibuster will be banned for all nominationsIf there is a 100-100 split the speaker will be empowered to cast a vote in the negative as there is no majority agreeing to appoint the person to the position of responsibilityMembers of the Cabinet will be subject to full scrutiny of the relevant committee, an FBI investigation will be placed on them and the findings of the investigation will be submitted into the record and given to the committees. A vote will be taken in the committee and then taken in the full senateUndersecretaries and people below the secretary of the department can be passed with unanimous consent unless someone objects and receives a necessary second when a full committee meeting will happen with an investigation and voted on, afterwards the vote will be passed to the senate.Giving the top levels of security clearance (Q clearance, TOP SECRET, etc.) will be decided on by the appropriate committee by a vote, this will not pass to the senate floor. Lower levels of clearance will not be decided on by congress but by the executive branch.Directors of federal agencies will be subject to a full committee hearing with FBI investigation, it will then be voted on and then passed on to the senateNominees under the director can be chosen by the executive branch and will go right to a committee with unanimous consent, it will not pass to the floor. A member of the committee can object, and a full investigation will happen.Ambassadors will receive a full scrutiny of the committee for foreign relations including an investigation by the FBI and an interview, this can be waived if there is unanimous consent by the committee. If they pass the committee stage by either voting or unanimous consent it passes to the senate who can choose to debate or just pass with unanimous consent.Supreme Court justices will not be under the scrutiny of the senate. Appeals court judges will receive a full scrutiny unless there is unanimous consent, if they pass the committee they will be moved to the senate and will receive a vote.Federal and lower level judges do not get elected just appointed by another committee of judges from another state with secret ballotsFor all military roles a full scrutiny will be required without the option for unanimous consent, it will then receive a vote in the senate without the option for unanimous consentFor all matters of the Senate, the Senate is the ultimate arbiter of its own rules and therefore can change edit or remove any rules set forth. The only exceptions to this rule are the ban on the filibuster and the speaker voting in precedent.On Executive PowerThe President is the head of the executive and is elected by the electoral college every 4 years on the 3rd of November. His term starts on the 3rd of JanuaryThe line of succession will skip the speaker and the President pro tempore to the members of the cabinet maximising separation of powers.The President can put forward legislation to the two housesThe President can suggest the formation and closure of federal agencies, but it must be voted on by the two housesThe President can veto any bill given to himThe President can pass an executive order which has authority over external matters apart from declarations of war, it will be primarily a military matter.Any President can only serve a maximum of two terms. This cannot be overruled and is part of the unamendable area of the constitution.All federal agencies are under the power of the President they have jurisdiction over state law enforcement agencies. The President can fire any secretary or director and can delegate as much or as little power as he wants toThe Vice-President with the majority of the Cabinet can declare the President unfit for office and take over, however he will not be sworn into office until Congress has a 2/3 majority in both houses agreeing that the President is unfit for office. When this happens, the Vice-President will be sworn in as the PresidentThe presidential line of succession is as follows: President, Vice-President, Secretary of State, Secretary of Defence, Secretary of the Treasury and onwards.The President is a non-partisan office allowing him to work with both sides of congress for the good on the country, also allows more people to connect with the President which may increase popularity.On the Speaker of the HouseA speaker of the house of representatives will also be elected in a conclave fashion, they will hold the role but will be able to vote like a normal member, if elected they will be compelled to be speaker until the next election. Any member of the house can be elected by all the other members, they do not need to be nominated.On the President of the SenateThe extra senator will be elected as a speaker and will not vote unless there is a deadlock via a papal conclave system using Plato’s theory for the true politician, the speaker-elect will be unable to turn down this role and will be compelled to act as a speaker until the next sessionOn the MilitaryFull civilian oversight for the military including president as commander in chief, civilian officials at every level and military courts removed.The president may only declare war with agreement from both houses.The military can only operate in the United States when the insurrection act is triggered.Table 1If you got this far, I am impressed. Thanks for reading.