If you could change things about the government, what would they be?

Ok, well I was thinking about how many things I consider wrong with the government, and thought it would be interesting to see what everyone would change about the government if they could.

There are no limits, you can alter or add to the constitution along with basically any change you think should happen.


As for me there are quite a few things I'd change, so I'll list them in order rather than making a long speech about them.


-Change the First Ammendment to make it total universal free speech.

-Change the legal drinking and smoking age to 15.

-Make all drugs legal.

-Make it so that the government can not withhold information from the public, regardless of so called threats to national security.

-Change the presidential term to allow a person to be president for only one term of five years.

-Make campaign funding from anyone except non-profit groups illegal.

-Limit campaign funding to $5,000.

-Create tougher laws for corporations.

-Make higher taxes for the rich.

-Make all higher government employees have to be voted for by the public.

-Limit the position of supreme court justice to two five year terms to be voted on by the public.

-Lower the minimal presidential election age to 23.

-Open all military and government facilities to the public.

-Allow all scientific research.

-Create a war vote, thereby requiring the public to vote on if they think the country should go to war, and a vote for when they think we should stop.

-Get rid of the Electoral College, and count everyones votes in the country.

-Alter the first amendment to create a stricter seperation of church and state.

-Get rid of capital punishment.

-Lower the pornographic viewing age to 13.

-Lower the pornographic participation age to 15.

-Lower the voting age to 16.

-Create more programs to rehabilitate criminally charged persons.

-Create work camps for the homeless, allowing them to have a roof over their head and food, while saving money for them and eventually allowing them to go back into society as a productive person.

-Limit the amount of accepted psychological disorders.

-Make minimum wage $10 an hour.


So, what changes would you make?

[edit on 4/4/2006 by iori_komei]

So is everyone complacent with the way the American government works?

Or am I just to liberal?

For a start, how 'bout banishing lobbyists and imposing mandatory term limits to prevent career politicians from succumbing to corporate desires?

A few changes here...

Abolish minimum wage. Government has no business telling private business what a person is worth.

iori-_komei You want the minimum wage raised to $10 an hour? What kind of slavemaster are you? $10 an hour is not a livable wage. Shame on you. Everyone knows that $100 an hour would be more acceptable. Wait, why $100? Why not $500 bucks an hour? Would that make everyone happy?

Qualifying to vote. Simple minimum IQ and current events test would be mandatory. If you cannot name both Senators and at least 1 Representative from your state you are automatically disqualified.

Death Penalty: 2 years maximum for appeals before execution.

Social Security: Abolished. You get what you paid in back if you are under 40. If you are over 40 you stay on the same system, unless you elect to opt out. If you opt out you get the amount you paid into it.

Welfare: Totally overhauled. Everyone needs a little hand now and then. Mandatory attendence to training classes, mandatory drug tests. After getting off welfare you will be forced to save 5% of all money earned for 5 years, it will be taken right out of your check. Don't worry you won't miss it since Social Security is abolished anyway.

Taxes: 10% flat tax on all earnings over $50,000...no exemptions. I know the Kennedy's would hate this, because they haven't paid taxes in years.

2 year minimum military service either active or reserve. 2 years in military or 1 year in jail...your choice. Liberals love choice...don't they?

Random drug testing in Public schools. Must be drug free to graduate.

I could go on and on...I might add more later.


[edit on 5-4-2006 by Carseller4]

I don't even know when to start and I have seen some good ideas thus far, but there are a few I disagree with.

1) Eliminating the Electoral College. The Founding Fathers tended to have a foul taste in their mouths for many things. Democracy is one of them.

We have a Constitutional Republic for a reason. So, I would say return the Senate to election by State Legislatures rather than popular vote.


2) Welfare (at least on the federal level). If you want it, fine, but keep it on the county level if possible. The State level is absolutely needed.



Some of my ideas.

1) No income tax and no fair tax.

2) Eliminate Free trade agreements.

3) Cut the Department of Energy, Education, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, and the IRS right off the bat.

4) Make Education nearly privatized, although localities could opt for state owned schools. People tend to care only for what they write a check directly to, and the same is true of schools.

I would definitely change all of the 'red tape'. There is certainly way too much of it. Too many chiefs and not enough Indians.

I'm glad to see a variety of different opinions stated so far, would be boring if we all thought the same thing.


Anyways, I forgot some, that incidentally Breezin said, that being;

-Making it illegal for lobbyist to do what they do.

-Put a two 2 year term limit on both the house members and senators.

Also some that I forgot that no ones mentioned.

-Restructure the commitee system.

-Make it so you don't have to work for years to get on a sought after commitee.

-Have three senators from every state regardless of the populace of the state.

-Create an elected seat for president of the senate instead of having the vice-president be it.

-Restructure the tax system so that private businesses don't charge tax.

-Universal Healthcare.

-Create a government tax system that's the lovechild of socialism and capitalism.



Anyways, I'd like to hear everyones opinions.

Also, feel free to criticise any of mine, I don't mind.

I'd remove the whole system, crush it within my massive hand and re-build it from scratch. Bigger, faster, stronger!

We have the power!

*sigh* My eyes bugged out when I saw the first post. I had a problem with nearly every one of them. The only one I have seen in this thread that I agree with is the one about kicking lobbyists and corporations out of the legislature, period. You get caught trying to put money or something else into a legislator's pocket that he isn't approved by a public vote (ie. by the entire congressional district he/she represent), there is one penalty, death but rusty nails.

I'll cover a couple of the ones I didn't like now, if I tried to cover them all with my point of view I would be up way too long, and it is very late here (for me anyway).

Abolishing the Electoral College---No No No! *rolls up newspaper* The Electoral College needs some work, yes, but getting rid of it makes it so that the Presidential canidates will only campaign in those states that matter, which means the little states (ie. Wyoming, Alaska, you know the states with populations under 750k?) will never be visited by any politician and the only states you will ever see one of the Federal Poli-chickens go near will have a population of 5 million or more.

Altering the First Amendment, Period-- The first amendment has spent the last two hundred years at the forefront of the battles between people, yet it's still there just as the Founding Fathers wrote it. Separation of Church and State is not a law. Yes there is the phrase in the First amendment which states "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof....", but you know what that means? That means that unless the Churches violate the law of the land, the government should ignore them.

Something else on this one, sure the legislature at the Federal level opens up their sessions with a prayer by a religious figure (it's usually switched around between various religions), but they do this because all of the legislatures say "We want this." So are you asking that the legislators give up their First Amendment rights just because they are seen on CSPAN? I mean they are human beings (more or less) just like the rest of us! Give them a break, if you really don't like the fact that religion is a way of thinking that impacts many of the events of mankind's history, well tough cookies. I'm not saying that it is okay to throw it in the public's eye like Bush has once or twice, but personally I like the fact that even if he is lying that he at least recognizes (on some level) that there is something bigger than the one person.

And lastly the one I find just down right disturbing:

Making the words "Top Secret" and "Restricted" disappear-- If I get what the original poster was saying right, then they would make anyone capable of just walking onto a military base and walk right into a B-2 hanger, load it with a nuke, and take it to drop it whereever they want to.

I'm sorry, but those barriers are there for a reason. They are there for our protection and the protection of mankind. Yeah it might sound like I am in the midst of believing in the rhetoric, but think about it, give everyone access to a nuclear stockpile of bombs, then everyone is going to want one, and their use will become frequent and completely stupid. For example, have a weed that you just can't get rid of? Nuke it!

No, in no way should anyone allow that one.

One I haven't seen on here is anything concerning anything about being energy dependent or anything about Isolationism, which suprises me, seeing as how many people are afraid of the world, why not put up a 50 foot electrified fence and mine the area around it and tell the world "Buzz off!"

Here's an amendment for you that I would love to see: "There will be no involvement by this nation in any alliance-style organizations or anything even remotly looking like the UN. And as of now, they are evicted from US soil."

Ok, not worded quite like it would be in real life, but I think the idea gets across. Let's get rid of our involvement in the UN, kick them off of our soil, then see how the world goes for about 20 years. Maybe then they will appriciate us more since we supply about 22% of their budget (according to the wikipedia article on the United Nations (United Nations Article, Reformation Subtopic)

Let's fix our problems at home, then we will go overseas. I know that sounds like a tall order, but we can do it, if we will actually try.

[edit on 4/6/2006 by Sir Solomon]

[edit on 4/6/2006 by Sir Solomon]

Ok, I had written a good, and long response, but the site starting feking up right as I posted it, so my post will be relatively short.

Sir Solomon,

For the first thing, I just meant that the government should'nt fund religious organisations, regardless if they are aid organisations.


As to the second item of discussion.

No, I don't mean some guy should be able to go take a B-S and nuke somewhere.

What I mean, is that an average joe should be able to walk into a military facility, go up to the base commander and ask for a tour of the base, and the man should receive said tour.

And also be able to sit in a B-2 cockpit and have a souvenir picture taken, like how they do with older jet fighters and helicopters sometimes.

Thought of a few more changes I'd make.


-Make polygamy legal.
(It's not the gov.'s business who people are married to.)

-Allow for the nuclear arsenal of the country to not be able to exceed 500.

-Make nuclear fission plants illegal.

-Amend the constitution to add, that all citizens of the United States, regardless of age, have the same rights and civil liberties.

Originally posted by iori_komei
What I mean, is that an average joe should be able to walk into a military facility, go up to the base commander and ask for a tour of the base, and the man should receive said tour.

And also be able to sit in a B-2 cockpit and have a souvenir picture taken, like how they do with older jet fighters and helicopters sometimes.

Ok, I agree with you there, but I still think that maybe there should be a few things we shouldn't know about, you know? I personally wouldn't want to know if we had Hitler's corpse (I know, I know, no way that could happen, but just saying) on display in Area 51 or something like that...I mean, that would just be creepy.

Something else you would have to worry about is if there were a spy from a foreign country, could they just waltz right onto a military base and ask the commander: "Take me to your Ebola virus!" I don't see it happening, but on the other hand it would be a funny attempt, wouldn't it?

And on the religious separation, gotcha there, Good to go! I find that to be completely ok within the values of the Constitution and the People who died for it. Of course you could run into a problem once you start distinguishing organizations as religious or not. I mean could there be degrees of religious ties? I'm not even quite sure what I am meaning completely, but I mean how far would you want to take it? If all the Catholic churches in the nation decided to start giving items to the American Red Cross, should the Government pull completely out of helping the Red Cross?

Polygamy legal? Sure, as long as women are the ones that can marry the multiple times.

Speaking of, how about a constitutional amendment recognizing that women are the true rulers of the world Hmm, I might just be onto something there connected to the NWO *runs away to go build a theory* Any guy cringes at the words "The toilet seat stays down!". At least that has been what I have seen in my experience as a guy when my uncle's and aunt's trade the bathroom off after Thanksgiving

Something else you would have to worry about is if there were a spy from a foreign country, could they just waltz right onto a military base and ask the commander: "Take me to your Ebola virus!" I don't see it happening, but on the other hand it would be a funny attempt, wouldn't it?

Well unless it's a give away day, you don't have to worry, it would be like those museums that say "DO NOT TOUCH THE GLASS." on signs, except if you touch the glas you get your brains scattered across the room.

And on the religious separation, gotcha there,

Good to go! I find that to be completely ok within the values of the Constitution and the People who died for it. Of course you could run into a problem once you start distinguishing organizations as religious or not. I mean could there be degrees of religious ties? I'm not even quite sure what I am meaning completely, but I mean how far would you want to take it? If all the Catholic churches in the nation decided to start giving items to the American Red Cross, should the Government pull completely out of helping the Red Cross?

Well no, but I mean if the organisation is something like "The lord Jesus christ AID organisation", than they should'nt receive funding.

If it's a secular non-profit group that accepts donations from all, and religious peoplew/groups are donating, they should get gov. funding, as long as they don't start discriminating.


When it comes to polygamy, well,
If I want to have 30 husbands and 10 wives, than I should d*mn well be able to.


I'm surprised no one's atacked my legality age changes yet.

Hmm, this was a fun post to make.

[edit on 4/7/2006 by iori_komei]

Ok, since I'm trying to keep my add on's in there own post's I'm not adding this to my last post.



-The sexual consent law is 15, meaning if a 15 year old and a 30 year old want to go at it, than it's fine with the law.

-Casual friday for government employees.


Come on, you know you want to see Bush in diving shorts and a snorkle.

Originally posted by iori_komei
-The sexual consent law is 15, meaning if a 15 year old and a 30 year old want to go at it, than it's fine with the law.

-Casual friday for government employees.


Come on, you know you want to see Bush in diving shorts and a snorkle.

Sexual Consent---I don't think that making it legal would hurt, heck, if they really want to do that, they will find a way now anyway.

Casual Friday--Come on, can't we just make it Casual Friday a nation wide thing? I mean except for the President, cause seriously, I already puke too much because of Bush and his insanity.

Actually the best thing any Government could do would be to remove the moral legislation. This is, any piece of legislation based around criminalising a single individual or group of individuals which partake in any event or activity which causes no level of external harm. If people desire to take drugs, harm themselves, etc. They should be able too - the law should only be based around protecting the individuals from the actions of another person and not from themselves.

That's a very good idea Odium.

Actually, I think/thought the same, but could'nt figure out how to say it, good thing there are smart members like Odium around.

Here's my list of ideas

1. Introduce 10% flat tax on income. Eliminate capital gains tax. 15% corporate flat tax on profits. Also introduce 10% sales tax on luxury items such as vehicles over $30,000 and other garbage like fast food. Introduce sin tax of 20% on pornography(we'd probably pay off the national debt in about a week).

2. I'd also change how we spend the money. I'd change our governments priorities. My first priority would be to balance the budget and pay off public debts(federal and social security). I'd accomplish this by cutting the defense budget in half. I'd end all foreign aid. I'd reduce the burden of social security by increasing the age of retirement to 71 I'd also restrict the eligability to those who really need it(the top 20% of americans won't qualify).

3. I'd reform the system in which you gain access to this country I believe if you want to come here to work and become an american you should be allowed to but once here if you violate the laws of this land by committing a crime of violence you would be sent to prison for the term you were sentenced and parole would not be a possibilty. Then upon completion of your term in prison you be expelled from this land without the possibility to return ever.

Probably the first in a series from me.