Thu
Oct
30
How I would reform elections
Every presidential election, I end up totally disgruntled with our outdated election process. Previously, I blogged a little about this here. So if I were suddenly bestowed ultimate power on running the next campaign, what would I do. *drum roll*
Choose One:
- Abolish the party system. I previously said get rid of the party system and let candidates run on their own merits. I like this approach because getting rid of this eliminates cop-out straight party voting.
OR
- Ensure each party has equal opportunity. One of the primary tenets of this is fixed campaign budgets. We set aside (for example only) 2 million dollars, and each major party gets their share of it. If there were 5 candidates, each one would get 400K to campaign. We have five somewhat major parties, why not give them all a fair shot. The way things are now it is a two-horse race … and who wants to watch a two horse race? The more horses the better, to a point.
Other changes:
- Separate Presidential and Vice-Presidential candidates into separate campaigns, not nominated by the presidential candidates. Each VP candidate would run their own campaign for the #2 spot just like the presidents. This would allow for a mixed party executive team. Blasphemy you say! This would foster non-partisan executive planning and decision-making. If they are not big enough to play nice they have no business in the white house IMHO.
- Eliminate the electoral college and let popular vote determine the winner.
Note that though I mainly talk about Pres and VP here, I think these principles should be applied all the way down the ladder. Why do I only have one, in many cases, choice for a state/local representative?
