Possible OWS step toward legislation in the works.
This guy’s got an idea.
He wants OWS to help distil it and perfect it to fit everyone’s needs.
Here’s the basics of the proposed Electoral Reform Act of 2012:
Electoral Reform Act of 2012
Phase I [Implementation in Time for November 2012]
| 01 Open Ballot Access | Proposed, that ballot access requirements should be the same for every candidate, irrespective of party affiliation. This helps end Two-Party Tyranny. See Free & Equal. Equal access includes access to debates (see 03 Honest Open Debates). This shall also apply to initiatives and referenda, and to primary elections. |
| 02 Make It Easier to Vote, & Count | Celebrate Democracy—Election Day should be a national holiday. Every voter regardless of condition and especially of transportation, should be able to vote easily. Early Voting should be universal. Those who have served a prison sentence should be re-enfranchised. ALL ballots must be on paper and subject to physical re-count. |
| 03 Honest Open Debates | Proposed, to end the current monopoly of the debates by the two-party alliance against independent and third parties, that new independent non-partisan means be found to manage honest open debates, to include third to fifth parties. |
| 04 Instant Run-Off | Proposed, that to ensure the election of a winner elected by a majority, that the instant run-off concept be adopted for all national and state elections. Included is an elimination of Diebold—guarantee Voter-Marked Paper Ballot for All Voting. Other options include Ranked, Approval, and Range Voting, Liquid Democracy. |
| 05 Expanded Debates | America is too complicated to elect one person who then picks their buddies and carries out a “winner take all” purge of the Congress and the Executive. Candidates should be required to name their Cabinet in advance and also post a planned budget, with Cabinet designees participating in Cabinet-level debates. |
| 06 Fusion Teams | The public and candidates are encouraged to incentivize fusion teams where coalition cabinets are formed, and there is an end to the winner take all system of governance. |
Phase II [Implementation in Time for November 2014]
| 07 Full and Balanced Representation | Enact Open Registration; all parties having at least 10% of the voters registering a preference for their political philosophy shall be eligible for assigned districts proportional to their number, and also to a proportional share of leadership positions in legislative bodies at all levels from local to national. |
| 08 Tightly-Drawn Districts & More | Proposed, that we end the corrupt practice of gerrymandering, replacing it with compact computer drawn districts similar to the kind used in Iowa. See Fight Gerrymandering. All gerrymanders in progress in 2011 must be stopped. Increase # of districts to achieve 1:500,000 representation, recalculated following each census. |
| 09 Full Public Funding of Diverse Candidates | Proposed, to eliminate all federal and corporate financing of campaigns, and all political action committees while creating a public Electoral Trust Fund (300M citizens x $10 each = 3 billion a year). Air time for all candidates is free and equal. Networks are NOT allowed to broadcast trends—a complete media black-out until election day is over. |
| 10 No Legislation Without Consultation | Proposed, to eliminate special interest dominance of the legislative process, and to end the practice of passing legislation such as the Patriot Act without its actually being read, and to end all earmarks, that all legislation without exception be published on line in Wiki format, with an easy to understand one-page summary, normally one month prior to vote but no less than 24-72 hours for emergencies, to include explicit geospatial pointers for all “earmarks” each of which must be publicly announced and also offered for amendment by the voters in the relevant district. |
| 11 Constitutional Amendment | In addition to all of the above enacted as an interim law, work toward a Constitutional Amendment that places Electoral Reform outside the power of the government; enact Statehood for the District of Columbia; abolish the Electoral College; and re-enfranchise convicts who complete their sentences |
Here’s a cool video that really simplifies instant runoff voting:
So what do you think? Does any of this sound good to you?
Yes.
Yes.
BLOODY BRILLIANT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Great proposal.
Really thrilled to have this noticed. I’ve been working on it with many others for eight years, but it took the context of OWS to show its relevance. Thank you for understanding that I am not trying to push this on anyone, indeed am hoping that every occupy group – every neighborhood – will identify an electoral reform facilitator, scrub all this, add anything that is missing (but I do feel it is important to keep it to one page) and then all the coordinators come together to agree on a national Statement of Demand and a national Electoral Reform Act of 2012.
Bottom line: any Senator or Representative who refuses to co-sponsor and vote on this act–as finally refined by the public at large, not just OWS, should be recalled, impeached, or simply hounded out of office. I think we can do this. I think it takes all the pressure off the OWS encampments, moves the fight to the offices and homes of the Senators and Representatives, and gives all of us “one thing” we can come together on.
Semper Fidelis,
Robert
http://www.phibetaiota.net
This is so awesome/We need it.
I just posted this in the stream but I think you’ll enjoy this read…Simon McKeon, Australian of the Year 2011 and bank executive chairman…
http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/society-and-culture/all-things-being-equal-20111101-1mtrq.html?comments=33#comments
I particularly like the parts of this notion that would level the field for 3rd parties. We would have one already if they were not suppressed… That’s what I think. And the debates? The League of Women Voters bowed out of hosting why?….
I like the idea. We may be to late for the 2012 election cycle but we need to pass something like this by National Referendum and make sure that it is the law after 2012.