Let's change our (political) clothes!
Posted by Laurel LaFramboise on Monday, June 15, 2020 Under: Editorial
We're fortunate to live in the best country in the world at the best time in history. Why?
In 2010 I was unemployed and bored out of my gourd so I decided to find out the answer to a question that had been bugging me most of my life: why is our political system and government so screwed up?
I hate complexity: it makes me feel confused, stupid, frustrated, lost, and alone. Politics is the height of complexity yet for voters it boils down to a choice between some names you don't know on a ballot (with hopefully an R or a D after their name to give you a hint about their political philosophy) and a choice to make on a local issue you know very little about.
I've learned that all complex concepts have a core, a simple and straightforward skeletal structure, that if studied often makes the complex parts manageable. We live in the best country in the world because our political core takes 30 minutes to read: the U.S. Constitution. Yes, to really understand it you need to read the User's Manual (Federalist Papers), and since it's a living document it needs to be annotated with a summary of the major Supreme Court decisions. We live in the best time in history because all human knowledge is at our fingertips (now even a voice command), and we can access it all in our study of the U.S. Constitution. At worst it'll take you a few months of evening reading to really know the heartbeat of this nation.
Once there you'll be astonished to realize most of the complexity is NOT part of the Constitution--specifically for this discussion the political parties and how a bill becomes a law. These are just traditions that can be changed as we change clothes. In fact, these political "clothes", being over 200 years old, are torn and tattered, and in many places rotten. "Draining the Swamp" will only dye these torn and tattered and rotten clothes from blue to red.
My mother loved to knit intricate sweaters. If she made a mistake she had to unravel the sweater to the point of the mistake--and it only took pulling on one thread. VoteKISS is that one thread that if pulled starts the political unraveling process. It ends multi-million dollar popularity contests and transfers it to issues-based campaigns; its pre-written bills end lobbyist interference and back room deals between a handful of tyrants.
My mother's sweaters looked complex, but knitting requires only a handful of motions done over and over and over and...you get the idea. VoteKISS requires consensus in the front rooms of millions of Americans and that can be tricky--but if it takes voting over and over and...until we reach consensus, isn't that better than today's compromise bills nobody wants or even understands anymore? How hard is it to "like" your favorite political problem on a party website and then "like" your favorite solution to it? Then vote in favor of a representative who swears in writing to "like your like" in Congress? That's VoteKISS in a nutshell. Let's change our political clothes in 2020!
In 2010 I was unemployed and bored out of my gourd so I decided to find out the answer to a question that had been bugging me most of my life: why is our political system and government so screwed up?
I hate complexity: it makes me feel confused, stupid, frustrated, lost, and alone. Politics is the height of complexity yet for voters it boils down to a choice between some names you don't know on a ballot (with hopefully an R or a D after their name to give you a hint about their political philosophy) and a choice to make on a local issue you know very little about.
I've learned that all complex concepts have a core, a simple and straightforward skeletal structure, that if studied often makes the complex parts manageable. We live in the best country in the world because our political core takes 30 minutes to read: the U.S. Constitution. Yes, to really understand it you need to read the User's Manual (Federalist Papers), and since it's a living document it needs to be annotated with a summary of the major Supreme Court decisions. We live in the best time in history because all human knowledge is at our fingertips (now even a voice command), and we can access it all in our study of the U.S. Constitution. At worst it'll take you a few months of evening reading to really know the heartbeat of this nation.
Once there you'll be astonished to realize most of the complexity is NOT part of the Constitution--specifically for this discussion the political parties and how a bill becomes a law. These are just traditions that can be changed as we change clothes. In fact, these political "clothes", being over 200 years old, are torn and tattered, and in many places rotten. "Draining the Swamp" will only dye these torn and tattered and rotten clothes from blue to red.
My mother loved to knit intricate sweaters. If she made a mistake she had to unravel the sweater to the point of the mistake--and it only took pulling on one thread. VoteKISS is that one thread that if pulled starts the political unraveling process. It ends multi-million dollar popularity contests and transfers it to issues-based campaigns; its pre-written bills end lobbyist interference and back room deals between a handful of tyrants.
My mother's sweaters looked complex, but knitting requires only a handful of motions done over and over and over and...you get the idea. VoteKISS requires consensus in the front rooms of millions of Americans and that can be tricky--but if it takes voting over and over and...until we reach consensus, isn't that better than today's compromise bills nobody wants or even understands anymore? How hard is it to "like" your favorite political problem on a party website and then "like" your favorite solution to it? Then vote in favor of a representative who swears in writing to "like your like" in Congress? That's VoteKISS in a nutshell. Let's change our political clothes in 2020!
In : Editorial