Re: Eric Cantor is Gone
You know that Virginia is an Open Primary state where anyone, regardless of political affiliation, can vote in any primary? In other words, Democrats could have come out to vote against Cantor in the Republican Primary. That should not be legal. It has to be an infringement on the First Amendment Right of GOP voters that Democrats can vote in their primary, or vice versa. Hell, isn't that what the General Election is for?
You open up a can of worms in my opinion. I think Parties are the problem, not the solution. The divide The People and they cause the worst in natural human tendency to come out. They foster group think and groupie behavior. They encourage going along to get along even when the best interest of the entire country is not being addresses. We don't need political parties anymore - political parties themselves should be outlawed. What we need is a system of National Managers openly and publicly elected by The People without party platform or party affiliation. We can keep the same number of Senate and House seats and even retain the names of both houses (The U.S. Senate and The House of Representatives). But, the titles would change of those we send the Washington to reflect to new model:
Senate Manager William Douglas, for example and
House Manager Sally Rhodes as another.
We would retain the office of the President and the four (4) year election cycle for that position. The President's formal title would be National Chief Executive Officer, or NCEO. The U.S. Supreme Court would see no changes. The balance of power the founders wanted would remain intact. However, the way in which the Peoples business gets handled would be entirely different and the People would become the fourth (4) ratifying vote on bills and legislation coming out of both Houses of Congress. The People would have final veto power through an open national vote. This places more power more closely into the hands of the people on fiscal, monetary, social and international policy issues. How would monetary policy be handled? First, we would abolish the 1913 Federal Reserve - period - full stop. Monetary Policy would originate in the Senate, be voted on by a full chamber, approved by the President and placed up for National Vote by The People (this process would probably get dubbed the Veto Vote) for final acceptance before becoming active policy. Once again, placing greater control over the nation's business into the hands of the People.
This model would still be representative form of government - but it would also become a true Republic and not one in name only. It would finally be of the People, by the People and for the People as Lincoln would have thought of it. This model would also require more engagement from the People and a higher degree of civil duty and responsibility from the People as well. There is no free ride. You cannot claim you want more control on the one hand, yet be apathetic and disengaged when it comes time for National Votes on the other. In any case, those who vote will win the day, just as it is right now. The huge difference being that if the majority become apathetic and fail to show up at the polls for the National Vote, then the minority who did take the time to vote will have their way - but it will be The People having their way and not the Politicians in Washington. That's the major difference.
This system can work. The People would need to be sincere about implementing it, however. This is just an overview. The details and rules on how Managers are allowed to conduct themselves while in Congress would be completely changed as well. All the current congressional rules are established to perpetuate a Political System based on Party. Those rules will no longer have a place in the new model because all Managers will be working towards fulfilling the requirements of a metric for success established and voted on by the People, for each element of the nation's business under management. Therefore, the Managers only goal will be to optimize the process of fulfilling the public mandates established by the People in the National Business Metrics Library - aka - The Library of Metrics. In other words, we are going to run our country like a well oiled and highly optimized machine that acts for the benefit of all U.S. Citizens and not for the operators of the system (as it is today). On social matters, the goals are simple: Fairness, Equality, Integrity, Quality and No American Left Behind. The legislative agenda that deals with social matters would have its own set of Metrics based on those principles.
Where the Private Sector is better suited for the job, government steps out of its own way and establishes contracts with the private sector for the fulfillment of National Needs. Since we hire Managers and not Congressional Representatives in the new model, all private sector relationships would be overseen by a Management Committee out of Congress, since they will no longer be wasting their time in useless sub-committees cutting back-room deals and clogging the wheels of progress.
We can have a much better system of government - if we really want it.
