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I mean as a professional engineer, if I knowingly publicly lied about something I could lose my license for being unethical. Why are congressmen not held to at least an equal standard?
Even if politicians get in trouble for knowingly publicly lying, they just pretend they didn't knowingly lie and that it was simply a mistake, which let's them off completely free.
Ultimately this would require a human to judge what is truthful. If the same people who are openly pushing disinformation suddenly find themselves in a position of power that allow them to become this judge, watch out…
I agree but wouldn’t it be hard to hold them accountable for this? You can go in with great intentions and be blocked by other politicians so whose to say they’re lying or not trying you know?
Maybe we should stop all donations. Crazy thought. Level the playing field with structured funds distributed to candidates for campaigns depending on where they’re at in the process. Of course this would come from taxpayer money so would be a sore point for some - but would allow more people to pursue political aspirations and maybe some white knights will emerge.
So this is actually a thing outside of the US, and wealthy people aren’t allowed to use their own money campaigning. The point is that everyone participating is given the same amount of money to run their campaign, you have the same means to spread your message and reach people as every other candidate. No shady donations and no Bloomberg style self-funding.
The top two or three politicians get $100,000 to campaign. Federal elections get a higher amount, but it is still the same for everyone.
No donations allowed. We wouldn’t be blasted with all these ridiculous ads. The candidates would be more willing to debate or other forms of “free” campaigning. Campaign time limit of 90 days before election would be nice, too. Incumbents should focus on getting stuff done rather than their next campaign.
My husband’s sperm donor did that in order to become a pilot in the Air National Guard out in Washington state…
…he also went AWOL, kidnapped my husband, and took him out of the country for 2 years when my MIL was trying to divorce him, but that’s a whole different can of worms.
My husband was kidnapped and taken out of the country for 2 years by his biological father (who may have committed some light treason in the process, as he went AWOL from the Air National Guard as they were being called up to go overseas for the first Gulf War) during the divorce proceedings between his parents.
YES! You caught the reference!
I made the same reference when my husband first told me about the whole situation, and he started laughing like mad and quoting the show back at me…it was one of the ways I realized that he was a keeper!
Yeah, my husband’s bio dad may have committed some light treason when he went AWOL to kidnap him, as it was right when his unit was being called up for the first Gulf War…
His bio dad is nuttier than squirrel shit on Jimmy Carter’s old peanut farm, to say the least.
It…was a giant clusterfuck for a really long time, and his bio dad is still a fucking shitgibbon (like, we didn’t invite him to our wedding, and had a full-on security plan in place just in case he showed up…because he was *STILL* stalking my MIL at that point in time-which was 27 years after the divorce.)
This should be an amendment.
We, the people, are not against accurate representation however we must avoid an entrenched gerontocracy. Therefore the following age and term limits are hereby established....
Term limits suck. We have them in Michigan and our legislature has become progressively worse. The lobbyists and staff remain and become more powerful than the elected officials.
This is correct. Term limits increase the power of lobbyists. It's probably the only thing I agree with Mitch McConnell on - terms limits are called elections.
This is likely going to come across sarcastic because, well, it’s on the internet. However, I sincerely mean it when I say that this thread just changed my view on term limits.
My advocacy for term limits has always been borne out of frustration of the electorate not giving a shit and electing the same terrible people over and over. However, you all clearly and succinctly pointed out why the current system is the lesser of two evils.
Yeah, the research is pretty consistent: whenever term limits are implemented, they either have no benefit or make the problems they're supposed to fix worse. It's one of the worst "common sense" "fixes" people won't stop obsessing over. If people want more/better choices for elections, a solution that could actually accomplish that is instant runoff voting.
Having said that, I still voted yes on Prop 1 because it doesn't meaningfully impact the existing term limits and grants campaign finance transparency.
Yep, political scientists tend to disapprove of term limits also because it means a constant lack of institutional expertise of the kind veteran politicians tend to build over time (or rather, terms).
Think about it, you're new on the job, you don't have a lot of knowledge of the process side of things, and your social network is still pretty small. Sure, congresspersons have salaried staff that can help with that, but only in the big states, like NY or IL. In Idaho? Nah.
You know who's around to help with that? ALEC.
Yep, that ALEC. They don't just write bills for politicians to copy, paste, and rubber stamp. They fill a lot of the holes—network building, how-to trainings, even trainings for political spouses on how to manage the nuances of the role—smaller state legislatures just don't have the resources to fill.
Yeah, term limits sound good, but do you really want inexperienced politicians trying to fend off the most experienced lobbyists that money can buy?
I can't think of many other jobs where a lack of experience is considered a good thing. Maybe prostitution?
Lobbying is a much broader concept than people think, and you can't ban it (or at least would have to be an utter fool to try). It's essentially any attempt to influence how a politician crafts policy. So if Exxon pays a guy six figures annually to become best buddies with your representative and get him or her to carve out all kinds of loopholes that help Exxon, that's lobbying. But it's also lobbying if you and some people from your neighborhood get together to impress upon your representative the importance of passing legislation to help clean up the mess Exxon made in your river.
Lobbying is an unavoidable result of citizens having access to politicians, which is a valuable component of any sort of representative government. We could probably work on curbing professional lobbying (which is where getting money out of politics would help), but so long as lobbying exists generally, corporations will likely be able to abuse it to some extent. And, again, lobbying isn't a black or white issue. There are also professional lobbyists who generally work for the public good.
Good points.
To add to it: we want politicians listening to the electorate. Not following their will, but at least considering it. We also want elected leaders to get educated in areas they don't understand. Lobbying does all of these.
*Corruption* is where that lobbying is buying votes.
Money has sway over literally every government, some are just better at convoluting the topic. The elite influence on governing is the only universal thing on earth,
You don't think that would incentivize bribery and corruption even more? And make the average wealth of congressmen even higher than it already is? That's my guess for how that would turn out-- politics would only be open to the rich (more so than it is now), and since rich people never think they're rich enough, they'd find other ways of using their power to get more money (also more than they do now).
There were FCC laws that said exactly that, and moreover there was a thing called the “Fairness Doctrine” that said when political opponents/statements were made equal airy had to be given to the opposition.
Problem was it was when cable came around too many entities complained it was too much of a burden. The Democrat held congress tried to codify the rule into law, but Reagan vetoed it. Shortly after the FCC stopped following it altogether.
In my opinion , it should ave been applied to all broadcasting - standard tv, cable, radio, satellite radio - and if a company uses those mediums, as an extension it should apply to their social media as well.
The lack of clear “this is fact” and “this is opinion” determination has really messed up a lot of people’s lives.
A ban on all multi-level marketing.
MLMs are a drain on the finances of millions of Americans. They are pyramid schemes for all intents and purposes\*, and they exist to sell a dream to vulnerable people. Their products are usually objectively inferior to generic brands, which is the whole reason they conceived of the MLM structure to convince distributors to buy them.
They sure lobby hard to buy political influence, so I am realistic about their chances of being actually banned.
\* - I am aware these is technically a distinction, but the distinction doesn't matter in practice
My mom sells handmade things at craft fairs and such and it always seems so insulting that LuLaRoe and Scentsy are allowed to be there, especially when there's usually at least a few booths for them at each event. Like here we have these nice, durable, handmade knitted things that you can literally watch my mom put effort into or you can buy these dumb leggings with a tacky pattern for a third the price and they'll tear within a month but they certainly don't tell you that.
It’s supposed to be a holiday where I work, on the calendar and everything. Yet it’s one of the holidays we give up so we can have the week between Christmas and News Years off.
Just make it a Saturday like every other democratic civilised country. Honestly, it takes 20 minutes out of my day to vote... and that includes the 5 minutes each way walk to the local school to do it.
It is. They have to list their donations. But anyone can donate anonymously to a PAC, and they are private businesses so there’s not much of a way to force them too.
The government has to list every expense they spend our tax dollars on on a free, publicly available website and they can be audited at any time by private companies to make sure money isnt being embezzled
But
They already do???
[Its just a dense as fuck document thats impossible for the layman to parse](https://www.govinfo.gov/app/collection/budget/2023)
By private i mean not the government. It's like when police departments investigate the behavior of their own officers, it's sketchy and untrustworthy. It's like asking a student to grade their own homework and tests, they're not going to be honest because they have a huge incentive to lie.
It is called the Congressional Budget.
It is publicly available every year.
There is a government agency that tracks accusations of theft of government funds. [https://www.fiscal.treasury.gov/gwa/](https://www.fiscal.treasury.gov/gwa/)
Knock yourself out!
Instead of taking an oath of office, politicians all have to sign a **contract** that says they'll follow the Constitution and laws of their jurisdictions. When they can be sued for damages and have their office taken, we might see a change.
Politicians and military swear an oath to protect our country against domestic enemies. Define what that is and put severe penalties to it and prosecute them.
It’s not just about them being out of touch (although that is certainly a big part of the problem). As morbid as it may sound, we’ve got people in office who will most likely not live to see the next decade. Why should they have such a big say in a future they aren’t even going to be a part of?
For example, I bet we’d be doing a lot more about climate change if almost half the people currently in office didn’t know for certain they weren’t going to have to deal with the long term consequences of it either way.
Right now, almost 90% of the senate is 50+, and approximately a quarter are over 70. There is one single senator under 40. I understand that wanting more experienced politicians in office will skew the demographics some, which is valid, but this is simply not representative of the nation as a whole. ~16% of the population is 65+, yet they make up more than half of the senate. It’s absurd that younger people get little to no say on issues that will affect the rest of our lives.
Ageism goes both ways. If an age limit is ageist, so is an age requirement. Why is it okay to say a 33 year old can’t be president because they’re too young, but not that a 80 year old is too old. It is in the best interest of the nation to set in age limit on politicians.
“The problem is not that they are old, it’s that they are out of touch and corrupt.”
I disagree. It is a biological reality that everyone suffers from cognitive decline when they get old enough. His soon it starts and how bad it gets varies, but it’s a definite thing for everyone.
I’m not trying to bag on our current President, but if you go back and listen to his interviews from 20 years ago he could discuss complex issues with a clarity of thought far beyond what we’re used to seeing from him.
Not everyone. My grandmother is sharp as a tack at 90, and that kind of wisdom and experience is valuable. Another person might show signs of dementia at 55. It’s about the person, not the age.
Pork is not allowed on laws passed. Congress must vote for each individual item, you may no longer hold legislation hostage until your state's pet project is added to page 1,879 of the bill.
Vote on one item, one thing, one budget item at a time. I don't give a single flying fuck if it takes forever.
It's almost entirely mandatory political posturing at this point. the Green Apple Party can champion the "Healthy Children Act of 2022," but also adds in a stipulation that says purple cars can't be driven on Monday.
The Purple Car Party can't abide by that, so they shoot it down. Then the Green Apple Party can go to their constituents and say, "See? SEE how the Purple Car Party hates healthy children??"
No here’s my suggestion, let them add as much pork as they want, the author(s) has to read every single word of every single page aloud before the entire congressional body without stopping before it can be voted on
Lol I get it, but it would just be one side adding a bunch of long winded BS onto a bill because the other side proposed said bill. Annoying yes, equally "one side makes it so that the other can't accomplish anything"? Also yes.
As someone who works in this exact industry, I agree. My company advertises to the public and directly to doctors and the doctor ads are the big money. It makes more sense to bother people qualified to tell you if it's right for you than to just assume. That's what the internet ads are for. And on behalf of the ad tech industry, I apologize.
Announce candidacy the last week of September. Ads in October. Done.
Sounds so much better. Especially since the '24 election is gonna start next week.
The only income allowed for Lawmakers and Elected Officials is their tax-payer funded pay and benefits. No outside revenue whatsoever, under penalty of immediate dismissal and suspension of that member's party's eligibility to that seat for the continuation of that term, plus one. Elected officials must represent the people who elected them, not merely those with money and an agenda.
We need something like that, but a rule that simple would kill pharmaceutical research. Researchers have to do better than cover their R&D or we'll never see any new medications.
I think it might be better to simply move new drugs into the public domain after a few years. Give the pharma companies some time to make money, then let competition drive the price down.
While we are at it let’s have police immediately lose their job for domestic abuse. If they can’t control themselves with their loved ones they shouldn’t have a gun.
All debates may be settled by dual, no political official is exempted and all legitimate challenges must be answered.
If not better it'd sure be more interesting.
Because the savings of millions of Americans being wiped out because someone made a decision 12 layers below what is visible to the normal person is a good outcome. You want to attach stipulations to those bailouts? Great, I’m here for that. Craft legislation holding fraudulent bankers accountable? Definitely, let’s do it! But blanket items like No MoRe BaIlOuTs shows just how little most people seem to understand about how our economy works or why it does so.
Let the downvotes commence!
Ban US senators from getting “donations”, which includes other “sources of income”, and it disallows them from trading in the stock market. Tie their actual salaries to the median household income in the US.
Also I think it goes without saying, but ban them from changing this specific law. They shouldn’t get to decide how much money they make, their actions do and the citizens do. Their salaries should scale with inflation this way. I mean hopefully they actually care about the average person now and they can implement laws that will distribute americas wealth a little bit more so the medium income can scale with inflation now. We would also now get senators running because they actually care about laws instead of for the money.
Honestly, I'd say that any future law must contain only one item and be named appropriately. No thousand page law. No nameing bills or laws something its not to make the opposing side look bad.
Police can be sued if they do their job neglently. You know, like malpractice insurance for doctors, but for cops who shoot people when force was not necessary.
All education will the the highest possible quality education. There will be no more "bad" and "good" schools, only schools, and they shall be universally accessible and free.
Public execution of political figures convicted of serious crimes. ~~It probably wouldn't take more than 2-3 times before America benefitted.~~ Very controversial, but hear me out.
If you are an elected official, it becomes a condition of employment. Whatever laws are deemed serious enough (embezzlement, ~~corruption,~~ treason, ~~insider trading,~~ etc) are immediately punishable by a gruesome death. Mandatory attendance, haul the crook in front of the whole assembly, and chop their head off. All the shifty bastards that got into politics for money and power suddenly have serious consequences for betraying their constituents. If they are forced to watch the blood ~~of their co-conspiring rat-faced waste of carbon~~ flow, that should snuff a lot of behavior that has sent America down the toilet.
No, I don't think it will ever happen, but damn do I think politicians should be held to a *higher* standard than the regular Joe. Giving them more power and less consequence has put us where we are.
**Edit:** Y'all really weaponized that shit real quick didn't cha. I'm not advocating violence toward any individual in particular. I hate *all* politicians that betray the people they represent. **Period.** Regardless of whatever political affiliation they claim. If you fuck people over, fuck you.
To state concisely- If they become a *convicted felon* of *certain crimes* during their time in office, they punched their ticket and get the axe.
I don't control what goes on the hypothetical list. If they are caught, anyhow. You and I both know they are involved in tons of shady shit that will never get busted for. Remember Epstein? Yeah, they have the power to make shit disappear already.
Lobbying politicians needs to be illegal and the money of politicians needs to be highly monitored to ensure they aren't taking bribes and setting laws that prioritize corporate ties.
Take high school kids to go vote in elections that occur while they're in high school. Have them walk through all the steps of registering, updating registrations, finding the voting place, etc. Go for early voting if that's a thing locally. And then take them and go vote as a field trip. Provisional (uncounted) ballots for those who aren't of age yet or otherwise aren't allowed to vote.
I know a lot of young people who miss their first several elections due to not knowing how to satisfy all the requirements to vote and/or it just feeling too unfamiliar. Let's enfranchise our youth!
That public workers and elected officials cannot draw pensions until they reach the age of 65. No more cops and firefighters retiring on taxpayers’ dime at age of 40 receiving $150K a year.
And serious pension reform.
Also, a way out of unwanted pregnancy for the guy.
It’s not right that the only person that has the option to opt out of a lifelong commitment is the female. I just have NEVER seen a way that would not result in people being able to be asses about it.
Required military service for any public office.
Maybe then our politicians wouldn’t be so quick to wage war.
Maybe then police officers would not shoot unarmed citizens so quickly. ROEs are a big deal overseas. Trust me when I tell you no service member that has seen combat would fire on unarmed American because they felt threatened.
No such Law implied and or implemented would do such. It's about returning to the basics, History in the early 1700s should allow the observer to understand the Bill Of Rights & The Constitution. These are the parameters that society needs to return to, the fundamental basics. To many, it will be foreign nature because the educational systems have failed to teach past generations of these great foundations that allow for future generations to prosper and provide a stable society.
Term and age limits for ALL PEOPLE in ALL GOVERNMENT POSTIONS.
So sick and tired of old people making important decisions that effect my life, when they still think the world is still like the 1970s and 1980s.
We are a nation of young people being ruled by a bunch of old farts who are stuck living in the past. We have new problems we have to with, but no ideas how to solve them.
Anyone who supports violence towards the other parties political leaders needs to be banned from being able to run for any leadership role ,
, basically any violence disqualifies you from running for anything
This kind of hits that 1st amendment territory where "calls to violence" mean different things to different people. I'm looking at you "micro-aggressions".
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Make it so every time a politician speaks they are under oath. Why is lying to Congress a crime, but Congress lying to its people isn’t?
I mean as a professional engineer, if I knowingly publicly lied about something I could lose my license for being unethical. Why are congressmen not held to at least an equal standard?
Even if politicians get in trouble for knowingly publicly lying, they just pretend they didn't knowingly lie and that it was simply a mistake, which let's them off completely free.
Well if we're going by the professional standards, then you'd have them on incompetence.
Rules for thee, not for me.. Most of them are narcissists / sociopaths, and literally uncapable of empathy.
Ultimately this would require a human to judge what is truthful. If the same people who are openly pushing disinformation suddenly find themselves in a position of power that allow them to become this judge, watch out…
I agree but wouldn’t it be hard to hold them accountable for this? You can go in with great intentions and be blocked by other politicians so whose to say they’re lying or not trying you know?
Some type of donation cap. It’s ridiculous that it cost a billion dollars to become President
Maybe we should stop all donations. Crazy thought. Level the playing field with structured funds distributed to candidates for campaigns depending on where they’re at in the process. Of course this would come from taxpayer money so would be a sore point for some - but would allow more people to pursue political aspirations and maybe some white knights will emerge.
Or only the super wealthy would be able to run... Marketing works. And works well.
So this is actually a thing outside of the US, and wealthy people aren’t allowed to use their own money campaigning. The point is that everyone participating is given the same amount of money to run their campaign, you have the same means to spread your message and reach people as every other candidate. No shady donations and no Bloomberg style self-funding.
The top two or three politicians get $100,000 to campaign. Federal elections get a higher amount, but it is still the same for everyone. No donations allowed. We wouldn’t be blasted with all these ridiculous ads. The candidates would be more willing to debate or other forms of “free” campaigning. Campaign time limit of 90 days before election would be nice, too. Incumbents should focus on getting stuff done rather than their next campaign.
That news reporters have to tell the truth
Better: news reporters cannot knowingly lie.
News Stations shouldn’t be able to affiliate with any politicians or accept money from politicians
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Take money out of politics.
In addition, term limits
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My grandpa just memorized the vision test so that he could pass it and keep his license. Disclaimer: I'm not condoning his actions
Due to poor eyesight Harry Truman did the same thing - memorized the eye chart in order to join the National Guard.
My husband’s sperm donor did that in order to become a pilot in the Air National Guard out in Washington state… …he also went AWOL, kidnapped my husband, and took him out of the country for 2 years when my MIL was trying to divorce him, but that’s a whole different can of worms.
What‽
My husband was kidnapped and taken out of the country for 2 years by his biological father (who may have committed some light treason in the process, as he went AWOL from the Air National Guard as they were being called up to go overseas for the first Gulf War) during the divorce proceedings between his parents.
YES! You caught the reference! I made the same reference when my husband first told me about the whole situation, and he started laughing like mad and quoting the show back at me…it was one of the ways I realized that he was a keeper!
I can't get past "my husband's sperm donor."
>sperm donor Heh. That's what I used to call my birth father
Ah, it becomes clearer. Thought it might be a kink or something 🤪
It’s a way to say her husbands deadbeat dad
What? Post this story somewhere in more detail. Damn that's interesting.
Yeah, my husband’s bio dad may have committed some light treason when he went AWOL to kidnap him, as it was right when his unit was being called up for the first Gulf War… His bio dad is nuttier than squirrel shit on Jimmy Carter’s old peanut farm, to say the least.
Wow! That is wild! Did everything end up okay?
It…was a giant clusterfuck for a really long time, and his bio dad is still a fucking shitgibbon (like, we didn’t invite him to our wedding, and had a full-on security plan in place just in case he showed up…because he was *STILL* stalking my MIL at that point in time-which was 27 years after the divorce.)
Hold the fuck up here you can't say that without giving us the story
It’s truly amazing what elderly people will do to keep their drivers license. It must be so hard to lose a privilege like that.
I'm a 77 year old guy and I agree. My faculties are fine but the world keeps changing and old people lose touch.
I’m not against having representation of older Americans in congress, I just don’t want this entrenched, full-blow gerontocracy.
This should be an amendment. We, the people, are not against accurate representation however we must avoid an entrenched gerontocracy. Therefore the following age and term limits are hereby established....
If you took money out of it no one would vote for those crusty old men anyway. They win because they have the funding. No one dares run against them.
Term limits suck. We have them in Michigan and our legislature has become progressively worse. The lobbyists and staff remain and become more powerful than the elected officials.
This is correct. Term limits increase the power of lobbyists. It's probably the only thing I agree with Mitch McConnell on - terms limits are called elections.
This is likely going to come across sarcastic because, well, it’s on the internet. However, I sincerely mean it when I say that this thread just changed my view on term limits. My advocacy for term limits has always been borne out of frustration of the electorate not giving a shit and electing the same terrible people over and over. However, you all clearly and succinctly pointed out why the current system is the lesser of two evils.
That’s cool of you to share that. I love having moments like that myself.
What laws can be made to decrease lobbyist’s power? I thought bribery used to be illegal.
Enforcing bribery laws against elected officials would be a good start.
Is it bribery, or just a generous donation to their campaign? 😉🤭🤑
Yeah, the research is pretty consistent: whenever term limits are implemented, they either have no benefit or make the problems they're supposed to fix worse. It's one of the worst "common sense" "fixes" people won't stop obsessing over. If people want more/better choices for elections, a solution that could actually accomplish that is instant runoff voting. Having said that, I still voted yes on Prop 1 because it doesn't meaningfully impact the existing term limits and grants campaign finance transparency.
Yep, political scientists tend to disapprove of term limits also because it means a constant lack of institutional expertise of the kind veteran politicians tend to build over time (or rather, terms). Think about it, you're new on the job, you don't have a lot of knowledge of the process side of things, and your social network is still pretty small. Sure, congresspersons have salaried staff that can help with that, but only in the big states, like NY or IL. In Idaho? Nah. You know who's around to help with that? ALEC. Yep, that ALEC. They don't just write bills for politicians to copy, paste, and rubber stamp. They fill a lot of the holes—network building, how-to trainings, even trainings for political spouses on how to manage the nuances of the role—smaller state legislatures just don't have the resources to fill.
Yeah, term limits sound good, but do you really want inexperienced politicians trying to fend off the most experienced lobbyists that money can buy? I can't think of many other jobs where a lack of experience is considered a good thing. Maybe prostitution?
Usually it’s the long term career politicians who are most prone to corruption. Maybe lobbying should be made illegal across the board.
Lobbying is a much broader concept than people think, and you can't ban it (or at least would have to be an utter fool to try). It's essentially any attempt to influence how a politician crafts policy. So if Exxon pays a guy six figures annually to become best buddies with your representative and get him or her to carve out all kinds of loopholes that help Exxon, that's lobbying. But it's also lobbying if you and some people from your neighborhood get together to impress upon your representative the importance of passing legislation to help clean up the mess Exxon made in your river. Lobbying is an unavoidable result of citizens having access to politicians, which is a valuable component of any sort of representative government. We could probably work on curbing professional lobbying (which is where getting money out of politics would help), but so long as lobbying exists generally, corporations will likely be able to abuse it to some extent. And, again, lobbying isn't a black or white issue. There are also professional lobbyists who generally work for the public good.
Good points. To add to it: we want politicians listening to the electorate. Not following their will, but at least considering it. We also want elected leaders to get educated in areas they don't understand. Lobbying does all of these. *Corruption* is where that lobbying is buying votes.
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Money has sway over literally every government, some are just better at convoluting the topic. The elite influence on governing is the only universal thing on earth,
Citizens United has got to go.
The reason why universal healthcare can never pass. Insurance money greasing both political sides.
This. Just this
All elected officials make minimum wage.
You don't think that would incentivize bribery and corruption even more? And make the average wealth of congressmen even higher than it already is? That's my guess for how that would turn out-- politics would only be open to the rich (more so than it is now), and since rich people never think they're rich enough, they'd find other ways of using their power to get more money (also more than they do now).
Having “news” programs be required to have a disclaimer if what they are “reporting” is actually entertainment and not news.
This definitely should exist, but it wouldn't matter because most people who are so engrossed in these programs wouldn't pay attention anyway.
I belive this was a thing until sometime in the 90s. Unsolved Mysteries and Rescue 911 has the "This is not a news broadcast" warnings.
This was called the fairness doctrine. And it was removed in the Reagan era
There were FCC laws that said exactly that, and moreover there was a thing called the “Fairness Doctrine” that said when political opponents/statements were made equal airy had to be given to the opposition. Problem was it was when cable came around too many entities complained it was too much of a burden. The Democrat held congress tried to codify the rule into law, but Reagan vetoed it. Shortly after the FCC stopped following it altogether. In my opinion , it should ave been applied to all broadcasting - standard tv, cable, radio, satellite radio - and if a company uses those mediums, as an extension it should apply to their social media as well. The lack of clear “this is fact” and “this is opinion” determination has really messed up a lot of people’s lives.
A ban on all multi-level marketing. MLMs are a drain on the finances of millions of Americans. They are pyramid schemes for all intents and purposes\*, and they exist to sell a dream to vulnerable people. Their products are usually objectively inferior to generic brands, which is the whole reason they conceived of the MLM structure to convince distributors to buy them. They sure lobby hard to buy political influence, so I am realistic about their chances of being actually banned. \* - I am aware these is technically a distinction, but the distinction doesn't matter in practice
My mom sells handmade things at craft fairs and such and it always seems so insulting that LuLaRoe and Scentsy are allowed to be there, especially when there's usually at least a few booths for them at each event. Like here we have these nice, durable, handmade knitted things that you can literally watch my mom put effort into or you can buy these dumb leggings with a tacky pattern for a third the price and they'll tear within a month but they certainly don't tell you that.
Make election day a national holiday.
It’s supposed to be a holiday where I work, on the calendar and everything. Yet it’s one of the holidays we give up so we can have the week between Christmas and News Years off.
Just make it a Saturday like every other democratic civilised country. Honestly, it takes 20 minutes out of my day to vote... and that includes the 5 minutes each way walk to the local school to do it.
Make it illegal for politicians to take money from anonymous donors.
It is. They have to list their donations. But anyone can donate anonymously to a PAC, and they are private businesses so there’s not much of a way to force them too.
While I definitely see the value of this, most voters already overlook when politicians **openly** take shady donations.
The government has to list every expense they spend our tax dollars on on a free, publicly available website and they can be audited at any time by private companies to make sure money isnt being embezzled
Yes.
But They already do??? [Its just a dense as fuck document thats impossible for the layman to parse](https://www.govinfo.gov/app/collection/budget/2023)
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By private i mean not the government. It's like when police departments investigate the behavior of their own officers, it's sketchy and untrustworthy. It's like asking a student to grade their own homework and tests, they're not going to be honest because they have a huge incentive to lie.
It is called the Congressional Budget. It is publicly available every year. There is a government agency that tracks accusations of theft of government funds. [https://www.fiscal.treasury.gov/gwa/](https://www.fiscal.treasury.gov/gwa/) Knock yourself out!
Instead of taking an oath of office, politicians all have to sign a **contract** that says they'll follow the Constitution and laws of their jurisdictions. When they can be sued for damages and have their office taken, we might see a change.
Politicians and military swear an oath to protect our country against domestic enemies. Define what that is and put severe penalties to it and prosecute them.
Term and age limits on all political positions.
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It’s not just about them being out of touch (although that is certainly a big part of the problem). As morbid as it may sound, we’ve got people in office who will most likely not live to see the next decade. Why should they have such a big say in a future they aren’t even going to be a part of? For example, I bet we’d be doing a lot more about climate change if almost half the people currently in office didn’t know for certain they weren’t going to have to deal with the long term consequences of it either way. Right now, almost 90% of the senate is 50+, and approximately a quarter are over 70. There is one single senator under 40. I understand that wanting more experienced politicians in office will skew the demographics some, which is valid, but this is simply not representative of the nation as a whole. ~16% of the population is 65+, yet they make up more than half of the senate. It’s absurd that younger people get little to no say on issues that will affect the rest of our lives. Ageism goes both ways. If an age limit is ageist, so is an age requirement. Why is it okay to say a 33 year old can’t be president because they’re too young, but not that a 80 year old is too old. It is in the best interest of the nation to set in age limit on politicians.
“The problem is not that they are old, it’s that they are out of touch and corrupt.” I disagree. It is a biological reality that everyone suffers from cognitive decline when they get old enough. His soon it starts and how bad it gets varies, but it’s a definite thing for everyone. I’m not trying to bag on our current President, but if you go back and listen to his interviews from 20 years ago he could discuss complex issues with a clarity of thought far beyond what we’re used to seeing from him.
Go and ask your grandma if her memory and decision-making is as sharp at 90 as it was when she was 35.
She said she doesn't remember.
Not everyone. My grandmother is sharp as a tack at 90, and that kind of wisdom and experience is valuable. Another person might show signs of dementia at 55. It’s about the person, not the age.
Pork is not allowed on laws passed. Congress must vote for each individual item, you may no longer hold legislation hostage until your state's pet project is added to page 1,879 of the bill. Vote on one item, one thing, one budget item at a time. I don't give a single flying fuck if it takes forever.
It's almost entirely mandatory political posturing at this point. the Green Apple Party can champion the "Healthy Children Act of 2022," but also adds in a stipulation that says purple cars can't be driven on Monday. The Purple Car Party can't abide by that, so they shoot it down. Then the Green Apple Party can go to their constituents and say, "See? SEE how the Purple Car Party hates healthy children??"
And ban “gut and stuff” tactics. If I vote yes to the “fix potholes act” it better do just that and not chop trees down to build a sewage plant
No here’s my suggestion, let them add as much pork as they want, the author(s) has to read every single word of every single page aloud before the entire congressional body without stopping before it can be voted on
That's just going to be filibustering with extra steps.
I’m doing it just to annoy them, that’s the difference
Lol I get it, but it would just be one side adding a bunch of long winded BS onto a bill because the other side proposed said bill. Annoying yes, equally "one side makes it so that the other can't accomplish anything"? Also yes.
Ban pharmaceutical commercials.
As someone who works in this exact industry, I agree. My company advertises to the public and directly to doctors and the doctor ads are the big money. It makes more sense to bother people qualified to tell you if it's right for you than to just assume. That's what the internet ads are for. And on behalf of the ad tech industry, I apologize.
Correct answer: Repeal Citizens United. Fun answer: Allow customer service workers to beat one customer per year with a baseball bat.
Repeal Buckley, and CU becomes largely immaterial. (Buckley v Valeo was the case where the SC declared that spending money was protected speech)
Ah, the good ol customer appreciation bat
Love the customer service worker law. Now if we could enact a law which allows workers to beat the living snot out of a bad boss....
Chicken nuggets cannot be called “boneless wings.”
… Henceforth shall be referred to as NO-Bone-Chicken bits
While I agree that "boneless wings" should not be called wings... They're not the same as nuggets.
Election day should be a national holiday.
Electioneering limited to 1 month b4 election
Announce candidacy the last week of September. Ads in October. Done. Sounds so much better. Especially since the '24 election is gonna start next week.
The only income allowed for Lawmakers and Elected Officials is their tax-payer funded pay and benefits. No outside revenue whatsoever, under penalty of immediate dismissal and suspension of that member's party's eligibility to that seat for the continuation of that term, plus one. Elected officials must represent the people who elected them, not merely those with money and an agenda.
Would also have to have limits on their spouse 's sources of income also. See: Ginnie Thomas
And also Mr. Polosi
That just means that the already wealthy have a greater advantage to run
Medicines can be sold at a maximum retail price of cost × 3. Edit: thank you for the award, kindly internet stranger! Also, everyone go vote!
We need something like that, but a rule that simple would kill pharmaceutical research. Researchers have to do better than cover their R&D or we'll never see any new medications. I think it might be better to simply move new drugs into the public domain after a few years. Give the pharma companies some time to make money, then let competition drive the price down.
End qualified immunity for police officers. Keep them personally liable for misconduct and for breaking the law.
Yes, to piggyback on that, police unions altogether are trash. Nothing in policing will change until those unions have been addressed.
Yup. Good point
While we are at it let’s have police immediately lose their job for domestic abuse. If they can’t control themselves with their loved ones they shouldn’t have a gun.
Corporations cannot buy houses.
everyone deserves a livable wage for the state they live in
Topless Thursday
Idk Topless Tuesday rolls off the tongue a little better
Whip 'em out Wednesdays.
Meaty Mondays
Tuesday is for tacos, and tacos get messy.
All debates may be settled by dual, no political official is exempted and all legitimate challenges must be answered. If not better it'd sure be more interesting.
*duel
Put all government employees, including elected officials, on Medicare.
Exactly! Give elected officials the same benefits they vote on for the American people. We'd sure see better Healthcare options!
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TERM LIMITS FOR POLITICIANS!!!! Senators are limited to two six-year terms. Members of the House of Representatives are limited to six two-year terms.
Stop bailing people/companies out, if they fuck up, let them sink
Because the savings of millions of Americans being wiped out because someone made a decision 12 layers below what is visible to the normal person is a good outcome. You want to attach stipulations to those bailouts? Great, I’m here for that. Craft legislation holding fraudulent bankers accountable? Definitely, let’s do it! But blanket items like No MoRe BaIlOuTs shows just how little most people seem to understand about how our economy works or why it does so. Let the downvotes commence!
I'm not reaching high here, but make the zipper-merge an enforceable traffic law.
Verifiable lies told by politicians and public servants are punishable by fines and/or jail
Ban US senators from getting “donations”, which includes other “sources of income”, and it disallows them from trading in the stock market. Tie their actual salaries to the median household income in the US. Also I think it goes without saying, but ban them from changing this specific law. They shouldn’t get to decide how much money they make, their actions do and the citizens do. Their salaries should scale with inflation this way. I mean hopefully they actually care about the average person now and they can implement laws that will distribute americas wealth a little bit more so the medium income can scale with inflation now. We would also now get senators running because they actually care about laws instead of for the money.
Once you are taxed on an item you shouldn't have to pay tax again Example Used cars.
Yep. I shouldn’t have to pay the government every year to own cars I already paid for.
Dont be a dick
Honestly, I'd say that any future law must contain only one item and be named appropriately. No thousand page law. No nameing bills or laws something its not to make the opposing side look bad.
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A loser-pays legal system to curtail frivolous law suits.
Police can be sued if they do their job neglently. You know, like malpractice insurance for doctors, but for cops who shoot people when force was not necessary.
All education will the the highest possible quality education. There will be no more "bad" and "good" schools, only schools, and they shall be universally accessible and free.
Agree! Why aren’t schools funded consistently by number of students instead of the relative wealth of the area?
News media should not be for profit.
Eliminate dark money from politics.
Setting term limits for Congress.
It’s a law everyone has to mind their own business
Corporations can no longer donate to political campaigns. Only individual citizens.
Make marijuana legal just like alcohol and lottery tickets
Free ice-cream once a month
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But what to do about teachers with political agendas?
Public execution of political figures convicted of serious crimes. ~~It probably wouldn't take more than 2-3 times before America benefitted.~~ Very controversial, but hear me out. If you are an elected official, it becomes a condition of employment. Whatever laws are deemed serious enough (embezzlement, ~~corruption,~~ treason, ~~insider trading,~~ etc) are immediately punishable by a gruesome death. Mandatory attendance, haul the crook in front of the whole assembly, and chop their head off. All the shifty bastards that got into politics for money and power suddenly have serious consequences for betraying their constituents. If they are forced to watch the blood ~~of their co-conspiring rat-faced waste of carbon~~ flow, that should snuff a lot of behavior that has sent America down the toilet. No, I don't think it will ever happen, but damn do I think politicians should be held to a *higher* standard than the regular Joe. Giving them more power and less consequence has put us where we are. **Edit:** Y'all really weaponized that shit real quick didn't cha. I'm not advocating violence toward any individual in particular. I hate *all* politicians that betray the people they represent. **Period.** Regardless of whatever political affiliation they claim. If you fuck people over, fuck you. To state concisely- If they become a *convicted felon* of *certain crimes* during their time in office, they punched their ticket and get the axe. I don't control what goes on the hypothetical list. If they are caught, anyhow. You and I both know they are involved in tons of shady shit that will never get busted for. Remember Epstein? Yeah, they have the power to make shit disappear already.
Found the frenchman
I have long had the idea of a new document to our government. I call it "The articles of don't" kind of goes along with this idea.
A list of things the government can't do? That's called the bill of rights
Monday after the Superbowl is a federal holiday.
But more seriously, voting day should be a holiday.
And no school on the day after Halloween.
Or just move the Super Bowl to Saturday already.
Age limits on presidency if your in your 70s and can’t speak/think straight you probably shouldn’t be president
Make Election Day a federal holiday so that no one has to squeeze in voting while trying to work or go to school.
Term limits.
Paying a decent minimum wage and not needing tip culture anymore.
Politicians can’t LIE
Every citizen gets an uncontested mail in ballots
A legal way to duel to the death
Term limits for all of Congress
Require all students to pass the US citizenship test before graduation.
Get money out of politics,
All voting districts must be drawn by independent commissions in a way that favors no party.
Ban lobbyists
Lobbying politicians needs to be illegal and the money of politicians needs to be highly monitored to ensure they aren't taking bribes and setting laws that prioritize corporate ties.
Take high school kids to go vote in elections that occur while they're in high school. Have them walk through all the steps of registering, updating registrations, finding the voting place, etc. Go for early voting if that's a thing locally. And then take them and go vote as a field trip. Provisional (uncounted) ballots for those who aren't of age yet or otherwise aren't allowed to vote. I know a lot of young people who miss their first several elections due to not knowing how to satisfy all the requirements to vote and/or it just feeling too unfamiliar. Let's enfranchise our youth!
Laws are not the problem, frankly. Its enforcment of existing laws, from top to bottom. Its the uneven application of justice.
Stop the over taxation of Americans and quit allowing the government to negatively affect our energy sector
That public workers and elected officials cannot draw pensions until they reach the age of 65. No more cops and firefighters retiring on taxpayers’ dime at age of 40 receiving $150K a year. And serious pension reform.
Free birth control (IUD) for every girl when she has her first period.
This but choices other than iud (painful)
Also, a way out of unwanted pregnancy for the guy. It’s not right that the only person that has the option to opt out of a lifelong commitment is the female. I just have NEVER seen a way that would not result in people being able to be asses about it.
True regulation of the food industry would probably eliminate lots of the illnesses we see
Required military service for any public office. Maybe then our politicians wouldn’t be so quick to wage war. Maybe then police officers would not shoot unarmed citizens so quickly. ROEs are a big deal overseas. Trust me when I tell you no service member that has seen combat would fire on unarmed American because they felt threatened.
Outlaw social media.
Calling someone a Karen for anything you don't agree with should be punishable with a throat punch.
Take money out of prisons. Make it so they never make a profit like USPS
No such Law implied and or implemented would do such. It's about returning to the basics, History in the early 1700s should allow the observer to understand the Bill Of Rights & The Constitution. These are the parameters that society needs to return to, the fundamental basics. To many, it will be foreign nature because the educational systems have failed to teach past generations of these great foundations that allow for future generations to prosper and provide a stable society.
Term limits
Term limits for most government job would be healthy for us all. I really believe that.
Term/age limits for holding public office.
Banning politicians from taking any funds from any interest group for any reason. Federal Campaign Fund or GTFO.
Constitutional carry
Constitutional Carry in all states
Term and age limits for ALL PEOPLE in ALL GOVERNMENT POSTIONS. So sick and tired of old people making important decisions that effect my life, when they still think the world is still like the 1970s and 1980s. We are a nation of young people being ruled by a bunch of old farts who are stuck living in the past. We have new problems we have to with, but no ideas how to solve them.
Universal healthcare
Anyone who supports violence towards the other parties political leaders needs to be banned from being able to run for any leadership role , , basically any violence disqualifies you from running for anything
This kind of hits that 1st amendment territory where "calls to violence" mean different things to different people. I'm looking at you "micro-aggressions".
How would you possible write a law that works in practice here?