Forum Post: OccupyTheConstitution Government Structures
Posted 12 years ago on Jan. 25, 2012, 9:55 p.m. EST by Nanook
(172)
This content is user submitted and not an official statement
In short, the whole STRUCTURE of government needs to be re-invented. This is NOT a frivolous statement, nor an overstatement for a situation where only a few fixes are needed. The justification is that the complexity of modern life has grown so far from what the first government structure was designed to deal with. The structures of the time were primarily created to apply the communications technology of the time - paper letters delivered by horses! The whole idea that representatives were brought together for voting and to listen to speeches given on a physical assembly floor no longer makes sense, except for the pomp and pageantry of televised state of the Union addresses. The approach of bringing a relatively small number of "average" people together in committees to decide ALL the major issues of the day was based on a very small society with simple agricultural needs.
A modern government designed for the complexity of the modern world using the efficiency of modern technology wouldn't resemble anything like we have now. Instead of an authoritarian power based representative model, it would be an issue based, technically intense, direct democracy, public service model. The "legislators" would have to be a combination of very smart and capable specialists, along with very broadly experienced systems analysts. They would be selected for their ability to COOPERATE and envision broad solutions. Their jobs would not be to polarize issues, but to develop programs and laws that address as many citizen views as possible within the constraints of sustaining life and happiness on the planet.
Most important, the whole concept of accountability needs to be corrected to eliminate corruption. Specifically, any person appointed to a position in any agency MUST be held accountable for IMPLEMENTATION of EVERY element of the law under their control. The fact that a safety administration like OSHA can allow 1,000+ citations for mine safety to go uncorrected ( the recent Big Branch Mine explosion ) is nothing short of CRIMINAL in protecting workers. The fact that legislators make provisions in the law to EXEMPT themselves from crimes all of the citizens are held liable for is nothing short of CRIMINAL and corrupt. Correcting these flaws are best done, not by just passing new laws, but by CHANGING the structures of the agencies and jobs so that they are INHERENTLY resistant to corruption. And sure, many people are going to say this isn't possible. But that's because concepts that can achieve the goal are not being allowed the time of day by the foxes now guarding the henhouse. Our goal should be to heed the words of Thomas Jefferson:
"When the people fear their government there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty."
A number of subtopics related to restructuring government are listed below to help start the discussion. Please jump in on those and feel free to add new subtopics.
WHAT TASKS SHOULD THE GOVERNMENT BE DOING? http://occupywallst.org/forum/occupytheconstitution-government-structures/#comment-608383
HOW SHOULD WE RE-SUBDIVIDE THE COUNTRY? http://occupywallst.org/forum/occupytheconstitution-government-structures/#comment-607190
HOW DO WE INTEGRATE DIRECT DEMOCRACY? http://occupywallst.org/forum/occupytheconstitution-government-structures/#comment-607183
(This post is part of a collection of posts aimed at launching a new process called the National Opinion Collection System (NOCS). For more information on the process, see http://occupywallst.org/forum/occupytheconstitution-introduction/ )
Let say your new form of Government is the best possible. Our primary goal in the occupy movement is to remove corporate, special interest, and wealthy individuals unfair and immoral influence in government. This will be a difficult task by itself. If we are able to get to that point, then the people will be in a position of control to decide what further changes need to be made to our Government's framework.
The people currently do not have effective control of government. To go straight to direct Democracy is too great a step for an electorate that does not understand the necessity of taking even the first small step.
I totally agree. Converting to direct democracy is not a simple step. What I think we can't guess is what the process of change will look like. That's why the OccupyTheConstitution project. It's total focus is pulling together the information needed for changes when the time arrives. But most important, this new way of gathering that information is the BEST available way for EVERY individual on earth to have their opinions heard.
WHAT TASKS SHOULD THE GOVERNMENT BE DOING?
In order to address a new structure, we really have to start with a list of what the FEDERAL government should be doing. To do this logically, we can't just suggest tasks. What we need to do is list organizing PRINCIPLES that categorize many tasks. For example, the cry for "less government" is dead on arrival if we don't have a principle to judge "more" or "less" against. Another common statement is, "government should only do things that people can't do for themselves." Sounds good when a politician says it. So, why do we have a formal Army, Navy and Air Force? Why can't we all just pick up our shotguns when the country runs into a crisis? I mean, isn't that the way we won our independence?
Someone please jump in and provide some intelligence to get this going.
(This post is part of a collection of posts aimed at launching a new process called the National Opinion Collection System (NOCS). For more information on the process, see http://occupywallst.org/forum/occupytheconstitution-introduction/ )
HOW SHOULD WE RE-SUBDIVIDE THE COUNTRY?
We need to get rid of the outdated House / Senate structure. This is an artifact of States Rights from a time when communications and transportation were so primitive that the states were practically like separate nations. Today, with instant communications, same day travel to any state, integrated food and product distribution, common building standards, power systems, utility systems, employment practices, healthcare etc., the whole concept of States, counties and cities needs to be changed as well. We should not copy any of the other existing country governments either. For example, the U.K. House of Commons, and House of Lords is equally backwards. Labor parties, Green parties - it's all a throwback to CLAN mentality and authoritarianism. The idea of a state designating electoral votes on an "all or nothing basis" is nothing but power grabbing. To see where this concept is heading, take a look at http://a3society.org/PluralDemocracy .
So this topic question is far reaching. How should we re-subdivide the COUNTRY to get rid of the House/Senate structure? What problems are we trying to solve? How do new ideas solve those problems? And, NO, it isn't impossible. Every state reapportions its voting districts every few years. After major turmoil, Europe even redraws it countries!
(This post is part of a collection of posts aimed at launching a new process called the National Opinion Collection System (NOCS). For more information on the process, see http://occupywallst.org/forum/occupytheconstitution-introduction/ )
HOW DO WE INTEGRATE DIRECT DEMOCRACY?
There is a good discussion about Direct Democracy at http://a3society.org/TyrannyOfTheMajority and http://a3society.org/FixDemocracy .
There is also a separate topic related to direct democracy on the OccupyTheConstitution thread at http://occupywallst.org/forum/occupytheconstitution-direct-democracy/ The focus of this question is: How do we integrate Direct Democracy into the structure of a new government?
(This post is part of a collection of posts aimed at launching a new process called the National Opinion Collection System (NOCS). For more information on the process, see http://occupywallst.org/forum/occupytheconstitution-introduction/ )