zesty@country # /> Political Reform --help

Disclaimer

What this is NOT: A constitution or an attempt thereof.
This is just my idea and mine alone after watching the frustrating "dumpsterfire" that is the political scenes and, I am not just talking about the US although US certainly springs to mind. This is not meant to be a "perfect guide", it is an attempt to start as basic as possible, and to try and keep it simple as long as possible. It tries to resolve the issue of countries coming up with more and more rules, when they cannot even follow or enforce the ones they already have. There will always be people coming up with "but what if XYZ!?" But this guide tries to get some of the basics out of the way first.

Step 0, Realize that "talk" is not action.

Sheep spend their lives fearing the wolf, only to be slaughtered by the Shepherd.
You have to first acknowledge that the problem will not be solved using the level of thinking that established the problem in the first place. A realization that the justice system (and any other system affected by the current problem) will not help you in the current state.

Step 1, Clean Slate

When you get a virus on your PC, you don't go chasing special software that can maybe find and delete the virus, you reformat the hard drive and reinstall the OS to get a “clean slate”... and if you get a virus again, you repeat the process. Same thing for corrupt governments, once there starts to be to much widespread corruption for a surgical correction, you need a strategic approach to “reformat” the government. As you cannot know for sure if the politicians you are removing contained all the corruption you were seeing, you will need to remove all of them and start again fresh. At any time, if the approval rating of a sitting president falls below single digits %, an immediate reset of the election can be initiated. If they win over the people in the elections that follows, -for better or for worse- they will be back soon enough. "rinse and repeat" until the people wise up.
Keep in mind that, if you elect a clown, you should expect a circus.

Step 2, Election Controls

Step 3, Voting Rules

Majority vote gets you in the seat you are aiming for. All eligible voters get a blockchain based voting ID needed to vote and the ability to vote online or by voting station. No voting machines, only opensource hardened and scrutinized voting software. Only actively given vote ID’s are counted for an election, though all ID’s are part of the base. (No unused votes go to anyone)

Step 4, Running the Country

If the government cannot fund the running costs of the state for more than 2 years by taxes, the elected officials vote for tax hike, or running cost cuts, or a combination there of, this INCLUDES military spending.(an effort should be made to match GDP % spending of other countries) This alone should finance most infrastructure, health and education related issues.

Step 5, Taxes

Percentage is a “part of a whole” for a reason. And it is meaningless to tax rich or poor at a different rate, that only helps to show disparity. If you tax all at one rate, then those who earn more, will already be paying more. If you make less than XXX a month you can apply for government help to cover housing and living expenses. And no Religious Organizations are tax exempt. A company can still deduct expenses, but regardless of where it produces its goods or services, it pays taxes in the country where the majority percentage of those good or services are sold. I.e. the company will as per normal, include the overhead of the tax cost in the price of the product based on the market it is being sold in, just like normal value added tax(VAT).

Step 6, Policing the Country

All police officers will be given mandatory body cams, to protect them in the line of duty and the public to ensure a more transparent interaction on both sides. Police misconduct will have priority in the court system and any offense to the public while charged with serving and protecting them, will be elevated to "grievous" when charged.

Being ‘Woke’ is not enough

Many truths can be valid at the same time. “just because you are paranoid, does not mean that “they” are not out to “get you”. Point being that just because a crazy conspiracy theory exists does not negate the fact that other actual conspiracies/corruption/etc exist. The difference between many “crazy conspiracy theories” and “news” is often just “time”.

I.e. The Iraq War, Vietnam, Mass Surveillance with the help of “Big Tech” etc etc.

I have concern for those that start to realize what the stakes are but do not know how to approach the problem. Just knowing is not enough for the soul.

While I do not condone violence, I also have to consolidate the truth that “power is the ability to determine outcomes” and if the powerful are able to determine outcomes of elections (and they are through voter suppression, electoral collage, lobbying and gerrymandering) then what option is left to us but “cut off the head of the beast” though violence?

If the old saying “the devils best trick was convincing everyone that he did not exist” I would compare that to “democracy’s best trick was to convince the people that they have the power to change anything”. (Not yet true for all countries to be fair)

Maybe “despair” is too strong a word in this context? The fear is that apathy creeps in when we realize that we are not directly affected by doing nothing, and doing anything meaningful likely means stepping in to some gray zones of the law.

From time to time we are reminded of the courageous whistleblowers of the past that took the ultimate risks and did something with their knowledge so the rest of us would know…

Where are they now?…

Did ANYTHING change?…

Just knowing is not enough. And thus we are forced to examine our hearts… just knowing and just “awakening” is not enough, but it is of course a necessary start.