Red View v Blue View
Top 3 Priorities for Our Next President
Red View vs. Blue View
RED VIEW: by Jim West
Is the smoke clearing from this election, or is it getting worse? Just when America seemed to be accepting a Biden win, for good or bad, new evidence is coming out about fraud. A US Senate hearing confirmed many of the claims that Rudy Giuliani made regarding stuffing ballot boxes in all kinds of ways, but the real kicker is that a forensic audit report was finally released (after much delay and blocking by Democrats) validating that Dominion machines can be, and were, used to fix the election in Antrim County, Michigan.
So will the election be overturned? Who knows. Trump still has a couple of legal paths to victory, but if the media continues to refuse to inform the people about the evidence of fraud, then it will be difficult to overturn just for lack of an agreeable public opinion to do so. One thing this election has taught me is how powerful the media is in shaping our opinions and influencing elections.
But regardless of how it turns out, there is still going to be a president in a few more weeks. Whether Biden or Trump, what are the 3 most critical priorities that need to be addressed?
Red Priority 1 — Election Reform
Well, coming from the Red side, you can imagine my first choice is to repair and reform our election system. It has slowly been degrading over the last 2 decades. It used to be so simple. Go to the voting station on election day, make your selections, then cast your ballot in a tabulating machine right there on the spot. The ballot never left your hands before it was counted. Results were hand-delivered by both parties or phoned in up the chain of election managers until we had a national result, and most of us knew who won before we went to bed.
But then we started extending voting days before election day. Some states starting handing out photo IDs to non-citizens so they too could vote. Some states abandoned photo ID requirements altogether. Some states got rid of paper ballots and just started using computer screens (though much of those problems were fixed after the 2016 election).
Still, many states approved ballot harvesting and same-day registration. Provisional ballots, verified by a signature, are being replaced by mail-in ballots that need no signature. This year, in key swing states, election day deadlines were completely disregarded. And now, nearly all ballots leave our hands to be transported to 3 or 4 locations before they are counted by tabulating machines that have been turning out suspicious results for years. This whole system is a big mess with many opportunities to cheat at all levels and in many ways.
Since our elections are a foundational leg for our democratic republic this needs to be reformed ASAP. Since each state has such radically different regulations, I support an intervention. The US Constitution makes a provision in Article 1, Section 4: “…the Congress may at any time by Law make or alter such regulations…” I say, this is the key to reforming our elections.
I propose we do 6 reforms: 1) Require photo ID nationwide at least 30 days prior to elections when registering. 2) Require signature verification to receive or cast ballots. 3) Voter rolls must be audited in off-election years to rid the rolls of people who have died or moved away. 4) Use hidden, secret watermarks on official ballots that are different for each election to clarify which ballots are real and which are fake. 5) Tabulating machines must be greatly simplified, no USB access, no internet access, no laptop access. Just simple machines that count dots on paper and spit out a receipt of the results. And 6) I would like to see an election day holiday so that it’s as easy a possible for as many people to vote who want to vote.
Red Priority 2 — Government Corruption Reforms
I could talk a long time about this, so let’s just get to some of the solutions:
Term limits for all Congress members and possibly Supreme Court Justices. I would say 3 full terms for House members, 2 full terms for Senate members, and maybe 10 years for Justices. Any limits would be better than what we have now, which is none.
Lobbying Restrictions: Today, Congress members often make 10 times more money as a lobbyist than they made as a Congress member. That’s an incentive problem. There need to be more restrictions, not only for them but for family members and any organization they might belong to or work for. Or perhaps there would be some way to cap the amount of money lobbyists can make.
Outside Wealth Restrictions: We need to further restrict government officials and their family members from financially benefiting from their government position outside of their salary. They tried, for example, under Trump, to eliminate their exemption from insider trading laws, but those rules have now been relaxed again. If it were illegal for family members to financially benefit from corporate or sovereign country influence, Hunter Biden wouldn’t be in the trouble he’s in right now.
If we’re going to take away the perks of making money outside of their salary, we also have to restrict their salary increases. After all, how many times has Congress voted down their own salary increase? Never. Gotta put some reigns on that horse.
Pass a line-item veto power for the president to reduce pork spending.
Pass a Balanced Budget requirement. The biggest reason the government is so big is that they don’t have to earn their money. They just take it from us or they borrow it, in which case, they take it from us in the future, or they print the money (see priority 3).
Enforce the damn law! So many politicians have become corrupt because there are no consequences for breaking the law. You might remember Eric Holder was found in contempt of Congress for lying. He’s still walking the streets. You might remember Hillary was clearly obstructing justice when she destroyed phone evidence, had an illegal server, and wiped clean her hard drives of 30,000 emails. She’s still walking around. There are a hundred examples, with Republicans too, and the problem is that no one pays the price.
Red Priority 3 — Reduce National Debt
This is heavy on my heart sometimes, but our National Debt is out. of. control. We need to greatly reduce spending, like at least by half, and greatly increase revenue. Increasing taxes might help but we have to be sensitive to what the people can bear. Another idea that I never hear people talk about is selling a bunch of our government land to pay down the debt. I don’t mean our beautiful National Parks, but some Western states have 80% ownership by the government. There is no need for this.
If we don’t do something about the National Debt, it will someday break our economy and it will hurt in a big way. It may be inevitable, but maybe if we start making it go the other direction, it wouldn’t hurt so bad if it does happen.
So those are my Red View priorities. I kind of cheated by putting so much under Government Corruption, but really, it’s a foundational problem and it needs to be fixed. Elections too are terribly unsound and if we don’t correct that right now, we can easily slip into a situation where one party cheats so much that a power-hungry minority unfairly wins, and from then on they always win, just like Venezuela or Cuba or Russia. And the National Debt is not something people seem to talk about, but I think we’re heading for big reset if we don’t do something.
We would love to hear what your priorities would be in the comments.
More from Blue View — Red View:
BLUE VIEW: — by DJB
One point we all seem to agree on is that this country is a mess. Many people are tense and feel that no one is paying attention to some obvious flaws. One of the problems is that there are so many flaws it is difficult to prioritize
My virtual friend and colleague, Jim, has chosen three, and all of those are valid. They are not the three I have chosen, but I feel the need to address them from a Blue point of view because they are serious problems.
1. Election Reform. (response)
The damage that the Republicans are doing to the electoral process is yet to be determined. Trump has always seen fraud everywhere. He is talking about declaring martial law. Despite all the court cases, many Republicans are still acting as if they do not accept the outcome. But, the results are all in. Trump is acting like a four-year-old who loses at Checkers so he knocks the board over and cries. Will this happen every time a Republican loses?
To that, I offer a solution:
This from WIRED magazine, a couple of months ago;
“She (Dana DeBeauvoir the chief clerk and election administrator of Travis County, Texas, better known as the home of Austin) had come to the conference with one purpose: to invite the computer scientists to design a new voting system entirely from scratch. It would have a paper trail, an easy-to-use interface, and the greatest security conceivable. And, she declared, “The. Source. Code. Must. Be. Open.”
I believe that this machine may be ready for 2022. It can keep track of mail-in ballots, as well as in-person votes. I think that everyone should have a chance to vote. That registration should be easy to do, that the responsibility to vote should be ingrained in our society. Voting, especially with a safe, secure machine, should be made as accessible as possible. Voting should go on for several days. Polling places should be evenly distributed, and carefully monitored. The counting of mail-in ballots should begin the night before the last day of voting. We have over 350 million people now. Access has to be monitored, but easier.
2. — Government Corruption Reforms (response)
Agreed. This is way overdue. I would be a bit more generous with term limits. But I agree, they would revitalize Congress, and perhaps help it regain some respect. Diane Feinstein, Mitch McConnell, way past their due date.
We have learned a lot from Trump about what needs to be done to strengthen the safeguards against corruption. “Executive Privilege” needs to be clearly defined, and limited. There can be no cover-up of crimes. The investigations of Congresspeople should not be done by Congresspeople. The Inspector Generals in the Executive branch, should not report to the executive. The Justice Department cannot be the president’s attack-dog or protector.
A line-item veto gives too much power to the president to reward his/her friends and punish his enemies.
And yes, enforce the laws! The lying, cheating, and stealing now goes on in plain sight.
What this really means is that we have to reduce the power of money in campaigns. The Citizen’s United decision opened the spigots. The corporations and billionaires give the money and call the shots. The average voter now gets 100 solicitations a day for $5 to $25, but each party will match it 400X! From where?
I would propose that a presidential campaign, including the primaries, should begin in February of the election year. No declaring, no fund-raising, no campaigning, nothing but rumors and positioning until then. All those debates that the Dems had in 2019 and the Republicans had in 2015, were a waste of time, effort, and money. They were a distraction from the real running of the country. Everything can be done virtually, over three months. There can be interviews, town halls, debates, and speeches, all on-line or on TV. Three big primaries, one in March, April, and May. Nominate in June. Vote in November. No published polls, except about issues.(I expect none of this to happen)
3. Reduce the Debt (response)
Funny, how the Republicans always notice the debt when they are not in power. Reagan started having big debts during peace. H. W. Bush tried to raise taxes to get rid of them and he got voted out. Clinton cut down the debt. W. Bush charged his wars on the US credit card. Now, with the virus killing businesses and people, the economy needing stimulus money, and millions of people needing food and shelter, Republicans begin to complain about the debt.
But we can do it. Cut military spending on offensive weapons. Get rid of most of the social programs. Establish a basic annual income that will keep everyone safe and sane. It will save a lot of money, and treat people decently.
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Those were Jim’s priorities, here are mine:
Blue Priority 1 — Reestablish a functioning government
To me, the new Biden administration is being overwhelmed by the mess that Trump will intentionally leave behind.
Biden’s first priority should be to get the government functioning again and show the country that it is worth having a government. We need a government that can protect us from the raging plague. At the same time, it needs to protect us from our enemies instead of letting them shoot our soldiers and hack our entire infrastructure. At the same time, we need to feel that the government is of the people, by the people, and for the people. Sound familiar?
Biden needs to create an atmosphere of morality, transparency, and ethics. No administration can be perfectly transparent, nor will they always be truthful. But they need to do their best to answer questions, to explain their intentions, their policies, and their goals, and not just attack the questioner.
I am sure that Biden’s Twitter account will be boring. there will be no personal attacks, personnel firings, or international name-calling done by Twitter.
Blue Priority 2 — Equal Justice
I mean this in the broadest sense. People need to feel that America is the place where everyone can enjoy life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Or, let me put it this way: this is Biden’s job description:
“We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”
“The general Welfare” includes universal healthcare, a clean and safe environment, as well as equal justice before the law. That means the police protect all the people equally, and that the courts treat all those who come before it equally, rich and poor, every gender, every color.
Blue Priority 3 — Ensure economic and financial security
Many jobs in manufacturing, fast food, Amazon warehouses, and the driving of all kinds of vehicles are going to be lost to robots, and Artificial Intelligence, over the next decade. The stockholders get rich, the middle and working-class get eliminated from the market. The new jobs that will be created will require more sophisticated skills, and there will still be fewer of them. New kinds of skills will need to be taught.
It is the huge disparities in wealth that are the biggest threat to America’s stability. The citizens of this country need to feel that everyone is important not just the wealthy or the superwealthy.
We need to start with a new tax structure. Begin by eliminating the Trump and Bush/Cheney tax cuts. Then we need to move down the road towards a Guaranteed Annual Income.
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Start there. Getting any of that done will be amazing given the current political culture. There is so much more to do: climate destruction, China, immigration, NATO, trade relations, Iran, real infrastructure, digital infrastructure, regulating Artificial Intelligence and CRISP-R, the cost of medicines, drone and robotic warfare, exploring space peacefully…
