Meaningful Reform-John McGlone Guest Blogger

The problems in the United States today are legion. It is safe to say that none of the branches of government are functioning as they were intended. Our liberties, rights and protections are being eliminated, the country is being looted, national debt is sky rocketing, poverty is rapidly expanding, health care quality is diminishing while the costs are astronomical and rising, the destruction of the environment is reaching catastrophic levels, we no longer live in a democracy, the U.S.A. is owned and operated by the Fortune 500, religious zealots are moving closer to their goal of creating an American theocracy and we engage in wars for the benefit of the oil industry and military industrial complex. Government of the people, by the people, for the people has perished from this earth.

How can we change all this? How can we repair the damage? How can we get on the right path? We can't until the political processes change.

The first step needs to be the replacement of the electoral college system with a national election that ensures the principal of one person one vote. The electoral college has always been one of the founders' mistakes, which at best was a flawed elitist system that never guaranteed majority rule.

Then the primary system needs to be changed. There is no fairness in allowing a few small states to decide the candidates for the whole country and this system is less than likely to provide the best candidates. We need a single national system, with candidates for president and vice president running independently, that allows the entire country to participate in the process and results in the two top vote getters in each category being the candidates unless there is one candidate with a clear majority of the votes.

Voting is seen as a right and a privilege but voter turnout is shamefully low. Voting should be viewed as a citizen's obligation and be mandatory. There is no value in citizenship without responsibility.

Private financing of political campaigns must be eliminated. This will always result in politicians being controlled by those wealthy contributors with special interests like the petroleum and health care industries. Public financing and management of the campaigns are essential but the money must not be distributed to the candidates. It needs to be used to pay for designated forums which are scheduled during a campaign season not to exceed three months and available equally to all the candidates.

Campaigns must deal only with the issues, have truthfulness as a requirement, with candidacy revocation for lying or dirty tricks and no advertising to be allowed by candidates or advocacy groups. Honest, open elections are absolutely essential. There must be a tamper proof voting system capable of being easily audited.

Franklin and Madison among other of the founding fathers feared the factions created by political parties and what they do to a country and their fears have proved to be well founded. There is no role for political parties guaranteed in the constitution, but now we need to take the step of eliminating them. Also, members of secret societies cannot be candidates nor be appointed to government positions.

Six year terms for Senators are too long, especially for those who turn out to be mediocre or incompetent, and should be changed to four year terms; while the term of two years for Members of the House of Representatives is too short in most instances to prove one's capabilities and needs to be lengthened to four years.

The legislative processes also need to be improved. Professional lobbying has to be banned and replaced with open forums to obtain input for new bills and to change existing ones. The accepting of gifts or favors of any kind should be considered a felony offense. The ability to add riders and earmarks to bills, secretly or otherwise, must be eliminated as well as any means to add pork barrel or items not pertaining to the bill.

There needs to be real accountability, fiduciary responsibility and merit reviews for these elected officials with severe punishment for breaking laws and abusing the public trust.

Lastly, all members of Congress have to devote fifty percent of their time in their respective districts with constituents learning about what is working, what isn't and what needs improvement. They need to also maintain their permanent residences within their own districts and temporary government housing should be provided for them in a government owned complex in Washington DC.