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What if we ran the government?

Joined
Apr 20, 2013
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Naples, Florida
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Libertarian - Right
This is not a political theory thread, this is more of a political fantasy one. What if the people on DP ran the US government? Meaning President, VP, all the cabinet members, the supreme court, congress, etc. Do you think we could do it better? I personally think that our system would still lead us to have the same partisan dysfunction present currently, but who knows. I think that some of the people on here are much more well versed on political theory than the majority of our politicians, but I'm not sure how that would translate. Any thoughts?

Also, please state what position you would like to occupy if we were the governing body. I would like to be the secretary of state personally, traveling the world and dealing with international relations.
 
I thought libertarians didn't want any foreign relations?

As to your idea it'd be a shooting war.


This is not a political theory thread, this is more of a political fantasy one. What if the people on DP ran the US government? Meaning President, VP, all the cabinet members, the supreme court, congress, etc. Do you think we could do it better? I personally think that our system would still lead us to have the same partisan dysfunction present currently, but who knows. I think that some of the people on here are much more well versed on political theory than the majority of our politicians, but I'm not sure how that would translate. Any thoughts?

Also, please state what position you would like to occupy if we were the governing body. I would like to be the secretary of state personally, traveling the world and dealing with international relations.
 
This is not a political theory thread, this is more of a political fantasy one. What if the people on DP ran the US government? Meaning President, VP, all the cabinet members, the supreme court, congress, etc. Do you think we could do it better? I personally think that our system would still lead us to have the same partisan dysfunction present currently, but who knows. I think that some of the people on here are much more well versed on political theory than the majority of our politicians, but I'm not sure how that would translate. Any thoughts?

Also, please state what position you would like to occupy if we were the governing body. I would like to be the secretary of state personally, traveling the world and dealing with international relations.

While there would be partisan dysfunction, I think there is a general consensus here that lobbying is bull****. So any dysfunction would be genuine and not manufactured based on the wishes of the highest bidder.
 
We (American People) do run the government, and influence policy we care about no matter what amount of money special interests pour into they system, when we have a mind to do so.
 
I thought libertarians didn't want any foreign relations?

As to your idea it'd be a shooting war.

You've got it all wrong sir. We, or at least my own libertarian views, want foreign relations to the extent of cooperation on issues and trade. However, WE (and that is all true libertarians) do not want any foreign wars. That might be what you were thinking of.
 
This is not a political theory thread, this is more of a political fantasy one. What if the people on DP ran the US government? Meaning President, VP, all the cabinet members, the supreme court, congress, etc. Do you think we could do it better? I personally think that our system would still lead us to have the same partisan dysfunction present currently, but who knows. I think that some of the people on here are much more well versed on political theory than the majority of our politicians, but I'm not sure how that would translate. Any thoughts?

Also, please state what position you would like to occupy if we were the governing body. I would like to be the secretary of state personally, traveling the world and dealing with international relations.

After seeing the poll results on various polls here, I am certain that "we" would run the country much worse than our elected representatives do. A lot of the things people think we "should do" are just plain stupid. Finding ways for the government to do less might be good, but making all sorts of idiotic changes ranging from boosting miminum wage to stupid levels and starting trade wars with other countries to full-on wealth redistribution and gun-grabbing would dismantle this country faster than any foreign army could.
 
We (American People) do run the government, and influence policy we care about no matter what amount of money special interests pour into they system, when we have a mind to do so.

True. Less and less as the system is altered by whose who make the decisions. However, I meant what if we were the government, like the actual representatives of the people, and not just the people.
 
While there would be partisan dysfunction, I think there is a general consensus here that lobbying is bull****. So any dysfunction would be genuine and not manufactured based on the wishes of the highest bidder.

I agree that many people think lobbying is bad because many people aren't smart enough to realize the importance of having the right to petition the government that is passing laws that directly impact you. Lobbyists do a lot more than negotiate with politicians. The greatest value is actually that they give industries and affected parties an ear in Washington to hear what the people we've elected are planning to do to these industries and affected parties. When legislation is passed that affects them, they already know about it and are prepared to deal with it. Lobbying, while much maligned, is a necessary thing for a free country.
 
I agree that many people think lobbying is bad because many people aren't smart enough to realize the importance of having the right to petition the government that is passing laws that directly impact you. Lobbyists do a lot more than negotiate with politicians. The greatest value is actually that they give industries and affected parties an ear in Washington to hear what the people we've elected are planning to do to these industries and affected parties. When legislation is passed that affects them, they already know about it and are prepared to deal with it. Lobbying, while much maligned, is a necessary thing for a free country.

Additionally, it brings real-world expertise to the decisions.

It seems that some would prefer if those directly affected by government action had no say. I can't see how that makes sense.
 
True. Less and less as the system is altered by whose who make the decisions. However, I meant what if we were the government, like the actual representatives of the people, and not just the people.

The system has not changed. Money poured into DC buys one thing: our votes (campaign ads). If we care about a policy matter, i.e. Social Security which Wall Street interests have been wanting a piece of for decades, or people fear Internet freedom might be impaired, which moneyed interests lobbied heavily to change, and there's blowback from "We The People," Pols in DC run for cover at friggin' lightspeed and cannot backpedal fast enough.

So it's merely Us lacking priorities, as well as being uniformed / complacent, which special interests are NOT. So they do not win with money; they win by being informed and involved, merely gaining access with money. The nanosecond we get informed and involved, policy will be EXACTLY what we demand. Fact.
 
Regarding the issue of lobbyists...

In our DP government, would we utilize people who are actually restaurant and other business owners, employees of specific industries and others' real world knowledge in our decision making process? Or should we ignore real-world advice and just go with whatever we imagine is best?
 
Regarding the issue of lobbyists...

In our DP government, would we utilize people who are actually restaurant and other business owners, employees of specific industries and others' real world knowledge in our decision making process? Or should we ignore real-world advice and just go with whatever we imagine is best?

Neither. If there's a policy you think would be good for you, demand it. Special interests act in their interest; we can too, at any time. Representative government represents those who pay attention and demand specific policy, and no one else, including those who whine about outcome. You don't like the outcome? Okay. What change in specific policy will improve the outcome?
 
This is not a political theory thread, this is more of a political fantasy one. What if the people on DP ran the US government? Meaning President, VP, all the cabinet members, the supreme court, congress, etc. Do you think we could do it better? I personally think that our system would still lead us to have the same partisan dysfunction present currently, but who knows. I think that some of the people on here are much more well versed on political theory than the majority of our politicians, but I'm not sure how that would translate. Any thoughts?

Also, please state what position you would like to occupy if we were the governing body. I would like to be the secretary of state personally, traveling the world and dealing with international relations.
It begins with a fairy tale of passion and exuberance, that declines rapidly from idealism to apathy to corruption. Same old. I see no reason to expect that the usual patterns shouldn't reemerge, simply for an influx of fresh blood.
 
Neither. If there's a policy you think would be good for you, demand it. Special interests act in their interest; we can too, at any time. Representative government represents those who pay attention and demand specific policy, and no one else, including those who whine about outcome. You don't like the outcome? Okay. What change in specific policy will improve the outcome?

So you agree that lobbyists are an important part of a free society, as a voice of real-world expertise to government decisions based on theory? I presume that you agree with this based on the necessity of hearing the voices of those directly impacted by government action and the need to consider government action with as many perspectives present as possible.
 
Additionally, it brings real-world expertise to the decisions.

It seems that some would prefer if those directly affected by government action had no say. I can't see how that makes sense.

It's actually very critical that politicians hear from industry when they are regulating that industry. Politicians know politics and expecting them to have all the information necessary to understand the real impact of real world decisions on businesses they know nothing about isn't realistic.
 
It's actually very critical that politicians hear from industry when they are regulating that industry. Politicians know politics and expecting them to have all the information necessary to understand the real impact of real world decisions on businesses they know nothing about isn't realistic.

It's kinda like putting all the power into the hands of a dictator who is free to ignore his subjects.
 
So you agree that lobbyists are an important part of a free society, as a voice of real-world expertise to government decisions based on theory? I presume that you agree with this based on the necessity of hearing the voices of those directly impacted by government action and the need to consider government action with as many perspectives present as possible.

Yes; insofar as I like all our rights, especially the right to petition our government.
 
Absolutely I could run it better. I would like to be president of the United States. I owe no special interest groups favors of any kind. I cannot be bought with money or power. I know how to read and I know what the Constitution says. For some reason people think running the country is a complex job. Running this country is easy, the guidelines are clearly written (the Constitution) and should be adhered to. I would get the federal government out of the way and allow this great country to heal itself. Seems that for the last few decades everything the federal government touches rapidly turns to crap. Set to fed gov back to it role as a limited government.
 
It's kinda like putting all the power into the hands of a dictator who is free to ignore his subjects.

It's exactly like that. It's like letting knuckleheads write arbitrary laws based on "it sounds good" and/or because their voters who also don't know a feckin' thing about business want them to because "it sounds good". It's tyranny at least as bad as what we had when King George was passing laws on the colonies without any interest in hearing what they had to say about the effect of those laws.'

That's why there will always be lobbyists and people bitching about them. You can't do away with them and lots of people will never really get their heads around the reasons why the government should listen to any interest except their own.
 
Absolutely I could run it better. I would like to be president of the United States. I owe no special interest groups favors of any kind. I cannot be bought with money or power. I know how to read and I know what the Constitution says. For some reason people think running the country is a complex job. Running this country is easy, the guidelines are clearly written (the Constitution) and should be adhered to. I would get the federal government out of the way and allow this great country to heal itself. Seems that for the last few decades everything the federal government touches rapidly turns to crap. Set to fed gov back to it role as a limited government.

One thing is sure... there would be a lot less use or need for lobbyists if the government wasn't sticking it's fingers in everyone's business in every conceivable way.
 
Absolutely I could run it better. I would like to be president of the United States. I owe no special interest groups favors of any kind. I cannot be bought with money or power. I know how to read and I know what the Constitution says. For some reason people think running the country is a complex job. Running this country is easy, the guidelines are clearly written (the Constitution) and should be adhered to. I would get the federal government out of the way and allow this great country to heal itself. Seems that for the last few decades everything the federal government touches rapidly turns to crap. Set to fed gov back to it role as a limited government.
That ship has sailed. Pandora's Box, dude.
 
I'm the only one qualified to run the country. Please vote for me in 2016.

I'm trying to imagine HOJ and NP working together to run things. Gridlock!

Specklebang For President
 
Yes; insofar as I like all our rights, especially the right to petition our government.

The trouble is that what they call lobbying, most people call bribery.
 
Do you think we could do it better? .

No. The members of Congress are intelligent and educated for the most part. They aren't the problem. The system and the partisanship are the problem. Turning the system over to a different set of people won't change anything. You have to change the system, the incentives and get rid of the partisanship. Tall order.
 
Absolutely I could run it better. I would like to be president of the United States. I owe no special interest groups favors of any kind. I cannot be bought with money or power. I know how to read and I know what the Constitution says. For some reason people think running the country is a complex job. Running this country is easy, the guidelines are clearly written (the Constitution) and should be adhered to. I would get the federal government out of the way and allow this great country to heal itself. Seems that for the last few decades everything the federal government touches rapidly turns to crap. Set to fed gov back to it role as a limited government.

You also have no special interest groups backing you, which is why you can't get elected.

But what would you do? "Small government!" makes a good catchphrase. As does "this great nation" and other feel-good statements. "Back to the constitution" doesn't mean anything. You need to be specific. See, there is no singular "correct" way to read the constitution. For all I know, you mean you want to disband the USAF because it's not listed under Congress' enumerated powers.
 
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