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25 Recommendations for the American People

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Overhauling the American System and Starting Over

Part Four: 25 Recommendations for the American People

US Capitol - Dome-4824
US Capitol - Dome-4824
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1.The United States will take the initiative to dismantle all nuclear weapons and nuclear energy power plants the world over as soon as possible.

2. The U.S. will bring home all military personnel and close down the government's 700 military bases around the world. Even with such a drawdown, our nation will retain more than enough capacity to defend its own borders. The money previously spent on the military will be used to pay off the national debt and create new jobs to rebuild our nation's infrastructure: "[A]nd they shall turn their swords into ploughshares." (Isaiah 2:4) Many of our existing military ships, submarines, and planes will be used for low-budget travel and tourism to promote goodwill among nations.

3. Private financial contributors and corporate lobbyists will no longer have the influence on members of Congress that they have had in the past. Instead, the Library of Congress will create a website that will become an online forum and clearinghouse for all public policy proposals. All positions and arguments will be publicized. Everyone will know who is lobbying for what and why. Also, the same amount of finances will be publicly provided to the political campaigns of the 7 largest national political parties, and all 7 parties will get equal public exposure.

4. The U.S. House of Representatives will be elected through a system of proportional representation, and the U.S. Senate will be abolished. Currently it is unfair that California and Wyoming have the same number of Senators when California's population is about 70 times greater. Representatives will serve 2-year terms. Since all money will have been taken out of politics, Representatives, like the President, may serve an unlimited number of terms. This measure will provide some continuity of government.

The 7 largest national political parties will be empowered in a single-chambered, national legislature. Here is how Proportional Representation can be explained: the National Green Party, for example, may get 15 percent of the vote, or 65 members, in the 435-membered House of Representatives, and Indiana's population currently allows it to have 10 members in the House of Representatives. But it may be that of the 7 largest national political parties, the Indiana Republican Party will get to select and send 5 of Indiana's 10 Representatives to the House of Representatives (which alone will be the new Congress) because Indiana is largely a Republican state.

5. The Electoral College system for electing a President will no longer be legal. A President must now win with a majority of individual votes (not just a plurality of votes). Using the method of Instant Runoff Voting, each American voter will choose and rank 3 slated candidates (choosing 3 of the 7 largest national political parties) from most favorite to least favorite. With each round of voting, the candidate who got the least amount of votes is eliminated, until eventually one of the remaining candidates captures at least 51 percent of the vote. Presidents will serve office for 4-year terms, but they will be allowed to serve an unlimited number of terms. Presidents serving consecutive terms might be less likely with seven equally empowered parties, but it is possible.

The President will not be allowed to veto the decisions of the unicameral national legislature, and he or she will not be allowed to sign any Executive Orders, as previous presidents have done. All previous presidential executive orders will be evaluated by the new unicameral Congress, and the existing executive orders can then be kept the same, modified, or eliminated by the new Congress.

6. The Supreme Court, under the Third Constitution, will no longer have judicial review or judicial interpretation of federal legislation. However, the Supreme Court will have judicial review and judicial interpretation regarding state legislation that conflicts with the national Constitution.

Under the Third Constitution, the Supreme Court will consist of 7 Justices--no longer 9. The 7 largest national political parties will each appoint a Justice for the first Supreme Court. The first 7 Supreme Court Justices, appointed in March by the seven top political parties, will take office on October 1, at the same time the new President and 435 new national legislators take office. The elected Justices will begin a 4-year term of office.

If a Supreme Court Justice dies or resigns, the political party he or she came from will provide a new Justice.

7. Implement a decentralized, non-hierarchical, or grassroots, approach to public schools: The neighbors who live within the boundaries of each public elementary school (middle or high schools possibly later) will be encouraged to democratically select their own school board, which will establish and implement a school philosophy and curriculum for the neighborhood school, using public funds. It is not necessary to have federal, state, county, and township school superintendent control of neighborhood schools. Neighborhood control of public elementary schools will promote local self determination and a long, lost sense of neighborhood togetherness. It can reduce crime, as neighbors ideally become tribal, in a new and modern way.

Local neighborhood groups will probably search the Internet and study the most effective schools and various school curricula. Residents will be forced to think independently and philosophically. In the process, neighbors will get to know one another better, and they will build a close-knit community. Parents, other residents, and senior citizens will become better educated citizens, as they strive to become better teachers and tutors in the neighborhoods where they live. The current reliance on public school "experts" who dictate who can teach, what to teach, and how to teach has not worked well for our society. Using front yards and backyards--organic and composted, local food production can be incorporated into a school district's curriculum.

8. Abolish the Federal Reserve and allow the Treasury Department to oversee a publicly owned banking system like the existing Bank of North Dakota. Currently the Federal Reserve has pumped $16 trillion into the central banking system to bail out the banks and big corporations, as many people wonder, "Where is my bailout?"

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February 11, 2023 I grew up in a church that said you had to speak in tongues to get saved and go to heaven. I often prayed fervently starting at the age of 5 for the experience in the prayer room at church, where people would cry and wail, (more...)
 

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