Posted on 04/17/2010 8:17:55 AM PDT by Big Bureaucracy
The US Congress is a redundant body. Two hundred years ago “We the people” had to send our representatives to Washington DC because it was just not possible to fit all of us under the Capitol roof. Today we don’t really need representatives. We can easily vote on any piece of legislature electronically while eating chips on our couch.
Technologies give us the chance to abandon the sleazy politicians and to govern through a Virtual Congress where every registered voter is a Congressmen or Congresswoman or Congress-something-in-between. Here is how the Virtual Congress can work. Every bill proposal can be downloaded into the Virtual Clerk docket. Voters can choose which bill to co-sponsor. If a certain bill gets enough support (let’s say 500 000 thumps up) national Up-or-Down vote for the bill is announced by the computer.
All registered voters represent themselves and through electronic signature vote to approve or kill the bill. 60% “yes” votes are needed for the bill to pass. If approved the bill is printed directly on the President’s desk. Imagine all the special interests fighting for your attention instead of circling the Capitol all day long. Imagine you getting a sweetheart mortgage deal instead of Senator Dodd. Imagine you getting Caribbean vacation instead of Rep. Rangel. Imagine you too will be called Senator not only Barbara Boxer.
(Excerpt) Read more at bigbureaucracy.com ...
The executive branch is left intact, the judicial branch is left intact. The only change is - instead of representatives people vote themselves to approve or kill the bills in the legislative branch. All checks and balances are there.
My congressman has been phoning it in for a long time anyway.
They are winning now with Accorn. Why do you think they will be winning electronically.
A one way trip to dictatorship. No thanks.
Because we live in a Republic, not a democracy.
OK - you win - we’ll keep the senator and representatives.
Once in a while the thought strikes me that America is getting the government it deserves. Rotten representatives are probably symptomatic of a rotten people.
Yup, that's exactly what needs to happen.
Virtual Congress is NOT the answer.
Term limits, Fair Tax, and a decentralized government ARE the Answers.
Looks like it - we all deserve our politicians.
Ross Perot’s electronic town hall. Whoever runs the slickest commercials gets the vote of the sheeple.
Exactly - somewhere in the comments I posted a link to the TIME article from ‘95 - on Perot and Gingrich and the virtual government
It is amazing how sometimes we the conservatives are afraid of our own ideas :)
WRONG!!!!!!!!!!
DEMOCRACY IS ANARCHY!!!!!!!!
This is a Representative Republic and it MUST remain that way or we will fail and fall into the grip of Totalitarians!
Sorry for the shouting.
How about we just replace them with people who know what the federal government is supposed to do and follow the US Constitution? There wouldn't be a lot for them to do if they just followed the constitution.
Sounds like a great way to make things even worse than they already are.
It is OK - I already conceded - you keep your Senators and Represenataives.
How is that different then now - we have a celebrity president and a liberal media bias.
Plus - we have representatives because it was impossible 200 years ago for all of us to present ourselves in Washington DC at the same time - not so today.
"It's not the people who vote that count. It's the people who count the votes." (Josef Stalin)
I'd have a hard time trusting a government run by Internet poll.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.