Rather than having cumbersome elections, necessitating topheavy and inefficient beauracracies, huge taxpayer expenditures, and debates about who really won the presidency, I propose a new method for selecting which political party controls the country.

Bulldoze some of the cornfields in Nebraska and build a huge arena which can accomodate...say...half a million people. Then gather a previously selected group of warriors/gladiators representing each party and have them duke it out on the plains while the nation watches. Whichever army wins, that one's political party will then control the country for four years, after which the whole process is repeated.

It would foster cohesion within parties, it would provide motivation for the losing party to gain control, and best of all, it would be totally objective and free from politicking! Then, whatever party lost could never complain about recounts and public opinion polls and such, because they weren't good enough to rule the nation.

The only problem is, the Democrats would always lose....

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"I would rather be ashes than dust!
I would rather that my spark should burn out in a brillaint blaze
than it should be stifled by dryrot.
I would rather be a superb meteor,
every atom of me in magnificent glow,
than a sleepy and permanent planet.
The proper function of man is to live, not to exist.
I shall not waste my days in trying to prolong them.
I shall use my time."

-Jack London 1876-1916

1983 300CDT (running WVO since 12/05)
1981 300SD (parts car)

we tried this between 1860 and 1866.

So where's the problem?

Seriously, though...Term Limits in the senate and congress would go a long way toward fixing the current problems with pork barreling and influence pedaling. Two terms max, then back to a real job somewhere with 'em.

Probably has as much chance of happening as your pitched battle, though.

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1989 300 SEL that mostly works, but needs TLC

the simplest way to fix it is not to allow lawyers and millionaires to run..

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72 W114/M130

RedMeat cartoon

Too arbitrary. You'd see congressmen scrambling like cockroaches as they hid their money. Then, they'd come up with a definition of 'millionaires' so convoluted that none would be excluded.

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1989 300 SEL that mostly works, but needs TLC

well, maybe we'd get rid of the lawyers at least.. lol.. 1 out of 2 ain't bad..

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72 W114/M130

RedMeat cartoon

yeah, lawyers making laws is just silly

I would rather see our elections go like the Miss America pageant. I think it would be funny to see those idiots go through the swim suit competition and evening gown competition. After that we could have the talent competition and the question on national/world affairs that they all would have to answer. The host of the gala affair could be non other than one of those equally stupid national news casters.

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1983 300-D turbo
1985 300-D turbo
1959 Harley Panhead chopper
1929 Ford coupe restored
I hang out with Boneheaddoctor at Schuman Automotive OBK#5
All liberals are mattoids but not all mattoids are liberal.

can i be sponsored by big tobacco big oil and haliburton??

It worked.

B

For some.....in the end, the best path for freedom and governance prevailed. Were this a guaranteed result, it might be worth the bloodshed. Didn't Jefferson claim that a periodic bloody revolution was a healthful thing?

Yep. But I think he was very naive. The American experience was a once-only phenomenon. It was a direct outcome of the English Revolution, a cousin of the Reformation. The confluence of individuation in religion, rationalism in secular life, the rise of free-market capitalism and the discovery of a new world all came together in a strange harmonic that produced the USA. It is a unique moment in history.

But all moments in history are unique, I guess. It's just that this one produced an entirely new phenomenon. Not even teh Greel Democrats would have recognized the American Experience of the 18th Century. They would've recognized the 19th Century American experience.

If voters would recognize that election campaigns are presented by marketers and have nothing to do with promoting good government the process would be much more productive. Campaigns are are form of religion to many and also a form of entertainment to many.

One aspect of the problem once again goes back to first amendment rights for corporations. Corporations own all of the media outlets. Candidates should not have to pay corporations for advertisement to be elected. The merry-go-round of accepting campaign contributions from corporations seeking profits through legislation and paying corporations for PR and advertising is a twisted perversion of what the system was originally intended. As it is the corporations have to power raise the costs so that nobody can afford to participate in the system without contributions from the corporations.

Corporations should not own media outlets and should not be allowed to petition government. The unit of political power in this country was meant to be the vote and not the dollar.

Give the voters the right to introduce legislation in congress, and bring back the presidential line-item veto.

You want the media to give each and every candidate free publicity?

Why not require that GM give every candidate a free automobile?

Bot

Which entity should own media outlets?