What laws need to be enacted to prevent another BushCo from happening?

[begin_within]

[cynatnite]

1. Every vote must be counted and have a paper trail

That one simple law would have saved us a hell of a lot of heartache.

[texpatriot2004]

2. Absolutely, and No Corporate Owned Voting Systems. n.t

[mirandapriestly]

4. Exactly. That would have prevented all of this.

They were not elected EITHER TIME.

[radwriter0555]

21. No privatisation of the vote. ONLY the US government can oversee ANY

voting machines, their manufacture, etc. It must never ever be sold off to a partisan corporation again. Ever.

And most importantly, a paper trail for each vote, with a receipt.

[aquart]

3. REAL election financing reform.

I'd go for the British system. Six weeks campaigning and stringent finance requirements.

[RepublicanElephant]

13. i'd go all the way and amend the constitution to create a completely...

parliamentary system.

[cynatnite]

14. I'd pay real money to see bush do an answer session...

like Blair does.

He'd fall to the floor, curl into a fetal position and cry for mommy. :evilgrin:

[mopinko]

18. yes!! question time!! and paper ballots and hand counts!!

i think that *, as well as raygun, would have been shown for the puppets they are if they had to have even one question time a year!
but the first posts are correct. these f'ers were not elected either time.

as far as campaign finance, i support the nascar plan. make them wear a jacket with patches with their "friends" logos. you'll never get rid of money, just get rid of the secrecy.

[DLnyc]

5. a couple of things:

1. Corporations are not people, and have only those rights given to them explicitly in their charter. In particular, corporations are banned from participating in the political process.

2. Control of the electoral process to reside in non'partisan citizen committees. All persons to have equal access to the electoral machinery (regardless of race, income, urban or rural resident, political party, etc.) Paper ballots counted by hand, and recounted in case of dispute. Electronic voting machines to be thrown into the harbor along with their manufacturers (attachment of concrete weights optional).

3. Restore fairness doctrine, break up media monopolies, restore laws that prohibit ownership of a large percentage of any media market by one person or corporation. Require major broadcast channels to give 5 minutes free time to each major candidate during major elections.

4. Limit the power of the executive to declare war: require a 2/3 majority of both houses, limit any emergency powers to 2 weeks, prohibit an executive who has declared war from seeking a second term. Limit the political functions of an executive who has declared war.

5. Declare it illegal for any government official to limit the access of any member of the press to any person place or thing.

6. All government procedings to be recorded and made available to the public on request.

7. Government responsible for stewardship of the environment. Violent damage to the planet to be considered in impeachable offense.

[cynatnite]

8. A couple I don't agree with...

4. Limit the power of the executive to declare war: require a 2/3 majority of both houses, limit any emergency powers to 2 weeks, prohibit an executive who has declared war from seeking a second term. Limit the political functions of an executive who has declared war.

I do agree the only way to go to war the pres must get approval from both houses. Period.

I don't agree with a limit of one term or limiting their executive functions as a result. I don't think we should make presidents following one asshole who abuses their rights pay for it.

5. Declare it illegal for any government official to limit the access of any member of the press to any person place or thing.

This I completely disagree with. I don't believe the press should have access to everything. Considering the sensitive dealings that go on, the press having access is a bad idea. One really bad president shouldn't be the reason to allow this.

6. All government proceedings to be recorded and made available to the public on request.

I agree with recording all proceedings, but I don't think it should be on request. It's for the same reasons as I stated above.

This administration has been the most secretive one in history and because of that, the mistrust of govt has grown considerably. Transparency is important, but it shouldn't be at the expense of our security.

[DLnyc]

11. Well, it makes for interesting discussion.

Thanks for your feedback, and please allow me to add my own:

On 4., I do think something needs to be done to stop presidents using wars as political tools. That's why the Constitution limits the power of the president to declare war. Don't know what can be done about this, but Nixon, Bush I and Bush II totally took this country to the cleaners hiding behind "support the troops" in wars that the American people didn't really want (or wouldn't want, if they had a glimmer of the facts).

On 5. I just meant that government OFFICIALS cannot ban the press from covering things that otherwise anyone would have access to. Of course people can refuse to be interviewed or sue for invasion of privacy, but the government cannot prevent the press from interviewing people who are willing to be interviewed, or from coveriing a war or counting the dead in NO or etc. Of course, national security is an issue but that has often been used as an excuse to cover up things are not really security issues at all (for instance, Sibel Edmonds, Warren Commission, and millions more). Perhaps there should be a specific court that has security clearance and rules on whether claims of national security are valid or not.

On 6. I'm thnking mostly about things like Cheney's energy policy meetings and the secret machinations to sell the war and the coverup of the events surrounding 9/11. If it's our government, we ought to be allowed to know what it's doing. Any honest government, it seems to me, shouldn't fear an investigation into how it made its decisions. Again there is the security issue, but also again that has often been misused.

Anyway, as I said above, it makes for interesting discussion.

[cynatnite]

12. Oh, you're right...very worthy of discussion...

It seems like the ability to use our military by the president has been sorely abused and I think there should be stricter limits placed on it. We don't live in the same world anymore and the ability to send our military off to fight is way to easy. I really hate that.

Cheney's energy meetings came to mind when you wrote about public access. And you're so right about our government shouldn't fear investigation. If it's true, honest and just, our government should welcome it.

What makes us question this stuff now is the abuse, incompetence and outright criminal behavior that has hijacked our government. They've used those very things which were always a benefit and turned them against the people. They've used them to excuse their secrecy, their lies and corruption.

I'm all for finding ways to prevent this from ever happening again.

[DLnyc]

16. I agree, the important thing now is to figure out how to prevent this from

happening again. Key things, I think, are:

1. Prevent excessive concentration of economic/political power in the hands of elite cliques.

2. Have a meaningful electoral system.

3. Have a functioning press that can and does facilitate thought and discussion and shines a light on the behavior of government.

4. Have a populace who cares enough to stay up late into the night having these kinds of discussions!

(Speaking of which, it being after 5 a.m., I think I will call it a night!)

(edit typo: populace)

[ima_sinnic]

6. any person descended from GHW & Barbara Bush, unto

the 99th generation, forever barred from holding public office. :D

[Rosco T.]

7. eliminate the Electoral College. n/m

[sandnsea]

9. That is a helluva question

The last 5 years have certainly shown us how fragile our democracy really is. And we aren't completely out of the woods yet.

[1932]

10. Real campaign finance reform

[LynnTheDem]

15. Bring back the Fairness Doctrine for the M$M.

Ain't it funny how the rightwingnuts screech about the "liberal media", yet they OPPOSE bringing the FD back.

Hmmmm.

[cascadiance]

19. Limit redistricting to census years by law...

or some other ways to prevent the Texas redistricting ploys we saw that Delay engineered.

[cascadiance]

17. Put in place "Clean Elections" campaign financing nationally!

Have public financing of political campaigns at a national level and other reforms to take out the institutionalized corruption bribery that we have now in place that aids special interests (corporations, well-heeled individuals, etc.) at the expense of representation for the average American's interests.

[Loonman]

20. Laws? How about a winning candidate and a good campaign for once?

Democrats need to stop acting like idiots and started getting elected, again.

Laws, enacted....WTF, dude, that's authoritarian.

[tmoore]

22. I'm sure the Repuck's in the Senate will get right on that.

:argh: