Department of Activism:
Themes discussed in the book "Puerto Paz" that are critical for improving the United States:
- ELECTION REFORM - A healthy democracy is dependent on a fair election that maximizes citizen participation and truly expresses the will of the people. This is by far the most important, and most critical improvement the United States needs to make.
- INSTANT RUN-OFF VOTING (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instant-runoff_voting) rather than the binary yes/no system that promotes a two-party, polar opposites system. This could easily be implemented in conjunction with voting machine changes noted below to make it less complex and less stressful for voters.
- GERRYMANDERING ELIMINATION: this is cheating the system to try to maintain control. A graphic found on the Wikipedia entry for Gerrymandering (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerrymandering) shows how this undermines our election system.
- VOTING DAY HOLIDAY - You shouldn't miss out on your democratic duty because of work or other obligations. It is especially punishing to poor people who have to work multiple jobs and have little control over their work schedule.
- VOTING MACHINES THAT PRINT RECEIPTS - Voting machines, especially electronic machines, should provide paper receipts proving that they tallied your vote correctly that you could review before depositing in a hardcopy ballot box. One copy could be used for re-counts, another copy could be yours if you want it. The receipts would not identify the voter, but could identify the voting location and an anonymous but unique number to confirm no vote is duplicated. (Try to hack THAT, Russia!)
- MONEY IN POLITICS -
- Our members of Congress spend more than half of their time raising money, rather than dealing with the business of congress. (April 2016 article from https://www.termlimits.com/congress-fundraising-priority/). This needs to change. Members of congress should be spending more time reading the bills they vote on and corresponding with their constituents, and less time trying to "win the election game".
- Money is not free speech! Free speech is free speech. All citizens should have equal access to their elected officials, and corporations and the wealthy should not have unfair influence over politicians. Political monopolies need to be regulated just the same as corporate monopolies.
- ELECTORAL COLLEGE ELIMINATION - Although not as critical as the changes noted above, the presidency is a national position, selected in a national election by citizens of the United States. The states as entities already get to nominate state positions (senators and representatives), they shouldn't be exerting this much control in a nationally elected position. A vote in Montana should have the same power as a vote in Michigan. One vote equals one vote. The electoral college skews the voting power to certain states. This is not democracy. A scenario where a candidate can win by winning several close states by 1 vote per state, but lose the rest by a landslide, and end up winning the electoral college despite a drastic loss in the popular vote should not be possible in a democracy!
- CONSUMER AND WORKER UNIONS
- Needed to address issues of income extremes, the unfairness of how salaries are determined, and the lost meaning of the value of a dollar.
- Are you a conservative screaming "But what about the corruption?!?!?"... Yeah, there has been some corruption in worker unions, but corruption isn't unique to unions. Corruption can happen in ANY group of 2 or more people. You, your spouse, and your best friend could experience corruption if your spouse cheats on you with your best friend. The Girl Scouts can experience corruption. Your church can experience corruption. The goal is to eliminate that corruption and get unions working better, which proper checks and balances within the organizations should help with.
- Speaking of checks and balances... that's exactly WHY unions are needed. As it is in the USA now, corporations can afford to organize and pay-to-play with politicians and there is no check and balance against them. Individual voices of citizens go unheard. The only way to combat this is to organize and unite, and create a powerful lobby of citizens. Individual citizens quitting their job in protest is insignificant to a corporation, as is an individual consumer boycotting a product. It has to happen as a massive group to have any impact. Checks and balances is a concept that the founders of our country definitely got right, but there are sectors of society that are going un-checked and are creating monopolies.
- Consumer Unions: A group to combat the abuses of corporations against citizen consumers, including environmental issues noted below.
- Worker Unions: A group to combat the abuses of corporations against their employees.
- CLIMATE CHANGE & ENVIRONMENT
- Although not specifically addressed in the book, climate change is indirectly referenced when it briefly mentions coastal flooding that destroyed cities, including how Miami was destroyed and then re-built as New Miami further north. The disregard for environment is mentioned in the (libertarian) SEUS part of the book.
- There is a crisis of people in this country who are so narcissistic as to think that they are smarter than experts who have spent decades studying and researching issues. The experts overwhelmingly say it is real. Ice caps are demonstrably melting. You might be entitled to your opinion, but you are not entitled to your own facts.
- Sane people want to live in a world where their tap water and rivers don't catch on fire, and where their tap water doesn't poison them. They want to be able to walk outside, inhale deeply, and not get a lung full of fine particulates or toxic pollutants. People with consciences don't want to scorch the earth and leave behind a disgusting state of affairs for future generations.
- Milkmen found other occupations when the milkman industry dried up. There will be new industries as technologies change, new opportunities for work, new opportunities for corporate profit. Climate change and environment trump jobs in industries that harm us. The focus should be on making this a win-win... collaborating to ease the transition in labor, without sacrificing our planet.
- When common sense regulations are applied evenly and consistently, it is an even playing field for everyone. Businesses can still thrive under regulation. The environment cannot thrive when businesses run un-checked with an attitude of "profit is all that matters".
- The technology is already here. All we need is the will to implement it. The same kind of will that built the interstate highway system and landed us on the moon.
Existing organizations that, with your/our support, might help nudge things in the right direction:
Please note that I, Jefferey J. Reese, have no affiliation with, and often no personal experience with, the groups listed here. They are listed as suggestions because based on limited research they appear to support at least some of the goals noted above in the Themes discussed in the book "Puerto Paz" that are critical for improving the United States.
Please note that I, Jefferey J. Reese, have no affiliation with, and often no personal experience with, the groups listed here. They are listed as suggestions because based on limited research they appear to support at least some of the goals noted above in the Themes discussed in the book "Puerto Paz" that are critical for improving the United States.
RepresentUs: https://represent.us
"RepresentUs is America’s leading anti-corruption organization working city by city, state by state to fix our broken political system." They are fighting for anti-gerrymandering, campaign finance reform, and the change I think is most important, Ranked-Choice Voting.
Legit Action (affiliated with Russ Feingold): https://www.legitaction.com
I don't like the liberal bent to what is really a centrist or all-inclusive issue, but they attempt to address critical election problems. Russ Feingold, co-author/sponsor of the McCain-Feingold is one of the few politicians who seemed to care about cleaning up the election process (regardless of whether you think that bill helped or hurt the campaign finance situation... some people say it drove the money to privately run organizations with less oversight). He has always been a stand-up, trustworthy guy.
Equal Citizens (affiliated with Lawrence Lessig): https://equalcitizens.us
Lawrence Lessig ran for president of the United States in 2016. He campaigned on a platform (paraphrasing) of fixing our broken election system, with a crowd-sourced Vice President selection, and a promise that as soon as he accomplished his election reform goals he would resign from the presidency and his V.P. would become president.
Ralph Nader: https://nader.org/
A persistent advocate for fighting the abuses of corporations.
Bernie Sanders: https://berniesanders.com
A persistent advocate for fighting for true democracy.
Elizabeth Warren: https://www.warren.senate.gov/
A persistent advocate for fighting the abuses of corporations and corruption in government.
Consumer Reports: http://www.consumerreports.org
An "independent, nonprofit organization that works side by side with consumers to create a fairer, safer, and healthier world." They provide "provided evidence-based product testing and ratings, rigorous research, hard-hitting investigative journalism, public education, and steadfast policy action on behalf of consumers’ interests."
Snopes: http://www.snopes.com
An independent organization that debunks or confirms widely spread urban legends. Given the prevalence of political and corporate lying and spin, an agency like this is critical to filtering out fiction from fact.
Politifact: http://www.politifact.com/
A fact-checking website that rates the accuracy of claims by elected officials and others who speak up in American politics. Given the prevalence of political lying and spin, an agency like this is critical to filtering out fiction from fact.
"RepresentUs is America’s leading anti-corruption organization working city by city, state by state to fix our broken political system." They are fighting for anti-gerrymandering, campaign finance reform, and the change I think is most important, Ranked-Choice Voting.
Legit Action (affiliated with Russ Feingold): https://www.legitaction.com
I don't like the liberal bent to what is really a centrist or all-inclusive issue, but they attempt to address critical election problems. Russ Feingold, co-author/sponsor of the McCain-Feingold is one of the few politicians who seemed to care about cleaning up the election process (regardless of whether you think that bill helped or hurt the campaign finance situation... some people say it drove the money to privately run organizations with less oversight). He has always been a stand-up, trustworthy guy.
Equal Citizens (affiliated with Lawrence Lessig): https://equalcitizens.us
Lawrence Lessig ran for president of the United States in 2016. He campaigned on a platform (paraphrasing) of fixing our broken election system, with a crowd-sourced Vice President selection, and a promise that as soon as he accomplished his election reform goals he would resign from the presidency and his V.P. would become president.
Ralph Nader: https://nader.org/
A persistent advocate for fighting the abuses of corporations.
Bernie Sanders: https://berniesanders.com
A persistent advocate for fighting for true democracy.
Elizabeth Warren: https://www.warren.senate.gov/
A persistent advocate for fighting the abuses of corporations and corruption in government.
Consumer Reports: http://www.consumerreports.org
An "independent, nonprofit organization that works side by side with consumers to create a fairer, safer, and healthier world." They provide "provided evidence-based product testing and ratings, rigorous research, hard-hitting investigative journalism, public education, and steadfast policy action on behalf of consumers’ interests."
Snopes: http://www.snopes.com
An independent organization that debunks or confirms widely spread urban legends. Given the prevalence of political and corporate lying and spin, an agency like this is critical to filtering out fiction from fact.
Politifact: http://www.politifact.com/
A fact-checking website that rates the accuracy of claims by elected officials and others who speak up in American politics. Given the prevalence of political lying and spin, an agency like this is critical to filtering out fiction from fact.
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© 2020 Jefferey J. Reese - All rights reserved.