I don't want any name calling, and somewhat serious answers please. Try to keep it under 5 paragraphs?
Follow the Constitution. Get rid of the following Departments, breaking up the parts we need to keep into other departments: Interior, Energy, Commerce, Education, HUD, Labor, Agriculture, Transportation and Veterans Affairs. Decertify all public sector unions and make them illegal. Take every responsibility that doesn't need to be Federal and push it back to the states. Make sunset provisions for every agency every five years. Move civil service retirement benefits to 401k's. Get rid of baseline budgeting. Defang the bureaucrats and create accountability by bringing regulations back under the aegis of Congress. That's a start.
Bingo. Devolve power to the States. There's no reason Rick Perry and Jerry Brown shouldn't be a domestic policy equal to the President. Fifty laboratories of democracy. Give people the option of voting with their feet.
Where to begin is the real question. First off, I think term limits might not be the worst idea. Parallel to that is real campaign finance reform and breaking the Republican, Democratic stranglehold on televised debates - we need a broader pool of candidates and somehow need to stop automatically selecting the kinds of people that willingly seek elected office (i.e. narcissistic, egomaniacs whose only real qualification is the ability to raise money). Do I think any of this can happen with any forethought and careful execution? Almost definitely not. I'm guessing the only way the system will be deconstructed and rebuilt is following a financial collapse, eclipsing the magnitude of the Great Depression and a period of extreme civil unrest. Not a civil war per se but some very bad times, a lot of unpleasantness, and a lot of violence. Whatever comes out on the other side will probably be a lot less appealing than the country the Founding Fathers envisioned 235+ years ago.
Well, like I said, I would cut the NSA completely. I would cut the TSA completely. I would severely limit the FBI and CIA and monitor their spending. I would eliminate the Department of Homeland Security. FEMA is fine. Military spending would come down. I would leave the Navy as they are but I would lower the budget of the Army and the Air Force. Having the most powerful Navy in the world is a must, but having a huge standing Army is not. The Air Force is questionable. Bombers are important, but I don't know if we need a huge air force while we have a huge Navy. The other departments of government are so huge and bloated, I don't know where to start. I think I would cut the budget of every single department and then build it back up based on what is truly necessary.
Pretty much, though I don't think that goes far enough. California should be at least two states; Texas, three. IMO, we need to rebuild the idea of having a community. Some states are huge.
For the record, I'm not saying make Rick Perry and Jerry Brown more powerful. I'm saying if the governorships are perceived as being more powerful, it will attract better people than Rick Perry and Jerry Brown.
I don't know about that. Political positions almost self-select against people with integrity and wisdom; people with those qualities typically go into other arenas that don't require kissing babies and grovelling for money.
I think Texas would secede if people started talking about breaking them up. That state is ridiculously proud of its heritage.
Addressing the grossness of politics is a whole other story. Removing the money from it all would be a great start, especially after decentralization.
If there was term limits and a ban on corporate/special interest group campaign financing, I think we would see a better caliber of people in politics.
Begin to closely follow the Constitution. Make the following amendments to the Constitution: Repeal the 14th, 17th and 26th amendments. Which would return us to conferring Citizenship only to babies born here of citizens or abroad of fathers who are Citizens. Return to Senators being selected by states. Return the Voting age to 21. Amend the Constitution to require Congress pass and the President sign a balanced buget each year except in time of declared War. If a Balance buget was not passed by x date, The President and the House would all need to stand for reelection on x date (soon) or resign. Clarify the Definition of Natural Born Citizen to be the same as is found in the Law of Nations. Clarify by amendment that Congress and only Congress has the power to initiate War. The President has the power to execute war and defend the nation when it has been attacked or an Ally by treaty has been attacked. Eliminate the following Departments, Energy, Education, Hud, and Labor. Combine the Agriculture and Interior, and combine the ATF and FBI in one department under Home Land security which would also include the USCG. Put the DEQ under the Interior department with zero power to create rules without an act of Congress.
At least then you can find a place to move to if you don't like the shit that's going down. Christ, they have me looking into Uruguay and Chile and stuff the way it is today.
