The Big Ideas Project

It's time to bring back earmarks in the form of 'THE PEOPLE'S PORK'! Every Congressional district should be given, say, one million dollars to be spent in the district on one or more local projects, employing local people, using local stuff. But instead of being directed by the local Member of Congress, the expenditures would be proposed and voted on in an online government-conducted and refereed in-district crowdsourcing -- at a site with a name like www.peoplespork.gov!

Submitted by Gregory Wright, ADA So Cal Board Member in Government & Elections Dec. 22, 2014, 5:32 a.m.

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#2145

30 votes

Death penalty is reserved only for anyone elected to public office who is convicted of accepting any bribe whatsoever.

Submitted by CitizenUSA in Government & Elections Dec. 17, 2014, 2:34 a.m.

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#2145

30 votes

Implement Approval Voting, the simplest beneficial change to our current system of voting, for all elections.

Submitted by Drew B in Government & Elections Jan. 3, 2015, 3:07 p.m. 1

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#2156

29 votes

Lower the voting age to 16.

Submitted by Kevin in Government & Elections Dec. 9, 2014, 10:10 a.m.

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#2156

29 votes

As industries mature and their products or services become fundamental components (i.e., necessities) of normal functioning in mainstream society, these should be transferred to the public sector. The entities may be provided tax breaks and perhaps low interest loans for transitioning into other businesses (or closing). Internet access and cell service are good examples.

Submitted by Timothy Salt in Government & Elections Dec. 16, 2014, 2:26 p.m.

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#2156

29 votes

Pass a constitutional amendment making all current and future states of emergencies subject to a vote of the people every three months. States of emergency - by their very nature - supersede (replace) the Constitution, and it is because of the current states of emergency that we are losing the Constitution as our governing authority, along with our Bill of Rights and our freedom.

Submitted by Herschel D. from CA in Government & Elections Dec. 18, 2014, 1:35 a.m.

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#2156

29 votes

Allow candidates to use some of the campaign money to fund local or state projects to help out the area and create jobs before they win office. They leave a legacy even if they don't win. Why waste all that campaign money on slandering another person?

Submitted by Dolores C. from NC in Government & Elections Dec. 12, 2014, 8:15 a.m.

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#2175

28 votes

Amend the Constitution of the United States to prohibit all artificial/created entities from contributing or having expenditures to, for and/or against any elected official, candidate or piece of legislation before the Senate and/or the Congress and/or people. Limit Campaign contributions to 7% of the median household income [~$53,000.00] for the previously recorded year per candidate, per piece of legislation per person. Currently $3,700.00.

Submitted by Nobody I. from WA in Government & Elections Jan. 8, 2015, 5:46 p.m.

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#2175

28 votes

Alternate voting method for elections. Study and compare voting methods, such as plurality, instant runoff voting, various Condorcet methods, approval voting, and others. Consider criteria such as ease of implementation and use, satisfaction of voting system criteria, and the quality of representation and governability by those it would select in the comparison. Propose implementation of an alternate method, selected based on the display of desirable characteristics, to the state legislatures.

Submitted by Edward Cramp in Government & Elections Dec. 14, 2014, 3:11 p.m.

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#2182

27 votes

Use "Instant Runoff" voting for all elections with more than two candidates. (The voter ranks the N candidates 1 to N; the winner is the one left after repeatedly removing the one with the fewest first-place votes and counting again.) It does require aggregating all votes before counting, but is verifiable if each election is handled separately and the report from each level to the next is the number of ballots matching each possible voting pattern (a few dozen in a 4-way election).

Submitted by Dave Anderson in Government & Elections Jan. 5, 2015, 5:26 p.m.

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#2182

27 votes

Give the public the ability to disband Congress.

Submitted by Sam in Government & Elections Jan. 11, 2015, 12:55 p.m.

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#2191

26 votes

Requiring a super-majority 60% vote to stop a filibuster (cloture) allows the MINORITY to control the Senate. Change cloture rules back to requiring a simple majority vote - 51% of the Senators PRESENT. Today, the rule is 60% of elected Senators, so it always requires 60 votes even if not all 100 Senators are present.

Submitted by Cynthia S. from CO in Government & Elections Jan. 14, 2015, 8:28 p.m.

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#2191

26 votes

Abolish the two party system. Let anyone who wants to run for an office do so with no economic or other political disadvantages. Even the emerging democratic countries have that system, though they they might vote for hundreds of candidates.

Submitted by thecatlady in Government & Elections Jan. 6, 2015, 10:21 p.m.

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#2205

25 votes

Greatly reduce government regulations on healthcare and and other corporations that require extensive and costly documentation. Reduce the documentation to understandable and simplified versions that are clearly understood. Documentation alone increases healthcare costs by over 50%. To buy a home or get a loan involves too much documentation and too many individuals that have to be paid increasing all costs in purchases and commodities. Too much documentation is chaos.

Submitted by Chrisg in Government & Elections Jan. 6, 2015, 12:26 p.m.

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#2214

24 votes

forget small stuff: convert to a truly representative (parliamentary) democracy closer to the people. Start w/ small, no-outside-money neighborhood scale elections to select electors for Congress, to elect the President.

Submitted by ken burgdorf in Government & Elections Dec. 26, 2014, 4:02 p.m.

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#2214

24 votes

Use the Citizens Jury process on all big government decisions to involve the "electorate" in these decisions. A Citizens Jury is a representative group of citizens that are presented with real data on any issue and asked to discuss the issue and make a recommendation on that issue.

Submitted by bigb in Government & Elections Jan. 5, 2015, 12:55 p.m.

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#2220

23 votes

These 30 members of congress should offer to break with every member of their opposition with the guts enough to share a civil meal. And more than once.

Submitted by Judge Chuck E. from FL in Government & Elections Jan. 4, 2015, 4:27 p.m. 1

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#2220

23 votes

Change the constitution to make amending it more equitable. Amendments should be proposed by two of these: the three fifths of the Senate, three fifths of the House, the President, two thirds of the Supreme Court, three fifths of the states, or a petition of ten percent of legal voters. Ratification should be by states representing three fourths of the population. Amendments would still require difficult supermajorities, but ideas could not be blocked for self-serving reasons as they are now.

Submitted by Bruce McKinney in Government & Elections Jan. 10, 2015, 5:02 p.m.

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#2227

22 votes

The National Guard should supplement state/local resources to maximize voter registration and voting.

Submitted by Jeff in Government & Elections Dec. 19, 2014, 12:08 a.m.

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#2227

22 votes

Put all bills in Congress directly before the constituency for on-line voting and require congresspersons to vote in accordance with public mandate -- with results published.

Submitted by Lawrence Gold in Government & Elections Jan. 8, 2015, 6:19 p.m.

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#2227

22 votes

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