[Love2Swim]

Originally Posted by jimbomaybe

And how do you insure that the person on the registration card is the person who wants to vote, that the person has only one "card" that they will not walk down the street and vote again? honor system?

Voting would be computer monitored, and the voting cards would be updated every so often and feature a picture ID and fingerprint or some way of verifying it is the exact person. That way we'd hopefully avoid the situation that we had when a number of Villagers voted twice in the last election.

[DonnaNi4os]

Originally Posted by MartinSE

I agree with you, but I have little hope at this point. Many historians are pointing out how similar we are today to the 1930's and the pre-civilwar days. A lot of animosity and intentional attempts to destroy the US from within.

Any of the social media conspiracy spreaders (about a dozen or so) are simply in it for the money/clicks.

We cannot be naive enough to believe that all of this dissent comes from our fellow countrymen. I believe that there are outside influences that have directed much of the problems we see happening around us today. I pray that our eyes are open to the truths and that we can focus on our strengths and freedoms. Infiltration from foreign powers, I believe, have instigated some of our biggest problems that have us pitted against one another. United we must stand or surely we will fall. I love my country and believe that most Americans are proud to be from the USA. We can and will survive this time in our history. We must preserve our history and learn from our mistakes. If you are unhappy with your elected officials it is time to vote them out in fair elections. We cannot give up and we must not believe the propaganda that is being fed to us on a daily basis.

[ThirdOfFive]

Originally Posted by jimbomaybe

And how do you insure that the person on the registration card is the person who wants to vote, that the person has only one "card" that they will not walk down the street and vote again? honor system?

Take a lesson from Mexico.

Mexico's federal elections were a swamp. Totally untrustworthy. Then they implemented their current system. Every Mexican citizen legally eligible to vote MUST vote, or have a good reason why not. In federal elections when they go to the polls, they have a government-issued voter registration card that they must present, along with positive ID. The voter card is uniquely coded to the bearer and only the bearer. When he or she votes in a federal election the information on the card goes into the national system in real time, guaranteeing that the person to whom that card is registered has voted--once, and cannot vote again. It has turned Mexico's federal elections, once so riddled with corruption that no one trusted the results, into one of the most trusted around.

[jimjamuser]

The Presidency should be a 3 or 5 person committee instead of ONE person. That would prevent an IMPERIALISTIC Presidency in the future. The office of President in modern times has become too much like a KING.

[jimjamuser]

Originally Posted by Tvflguy

IMO, no hope. THEY promote and desire the division. Even on issues where there may be compromise, they don’t in order to kept that divided issue alive.

Truly it’s sad. Sorry to be a Negative Commentary but I tend to be a Realist. And from my view, not very hopeful…. This is NOT a bump in the road. It’s pretty much a humongous hole.

We could be such a great country if it weren’t for the “Parties”. Oh, and definitely TERM LIMITS!!!

I am in TOTAL agreement about the term limits. As far as polarization goes, I am a LITTLE more optimistic. It seems that lately there has been a small trend toward compromise. The European countries often have multiple parties. Sweden, I believe has, or once had.......an "Eat the Rich" party. That seemed to show some merit !

[jimjamuser]

Originally Posted by OrangeBlossomBaby

As long as we continue to have loud, armed, violent clusters of people running around free and inciting violence, who demand that we all follow party over country, or individual over the Constitution, I will have no faith in the humanity of America.

I believe that certain websites and TV networks have pushed OVER the limits of free speech and have entered into propaganda. There needs to be an FCC with TEETH that can eliminate the propaganda, while still retaining free speech and opinion.

[jimjamuser]

Originally Posted by MartinSE

Totally agreed, term limits for everyone, including SCOTUS, age limits for everyone (forced retirement at 65), etc. And I would not oppose only women for a few terms, men have ruled the world for thousands of years time for women to have a turn.

Agreed - 50% of Congress should be required to be women. And have 2 out of 5 of my ideal PRESIDENT group be women. Then on alternate terms.......have 3 out of 5 be women. We would have fewer unnecessary WARS.

[Tvflguy]

Originally Posted by jimjamuser

The Presidency should be a 3 or 5 person committee instead of ONE person. That would prevent an IMPERIALISTIC Presidency in the future. The office of President in modern times has become too much like a KING.

OK. Just like the Supreme Court??? Oh yeah that would solve everything, right. Omg.

[Stu from NYC]

Originally Posted by jimjamuser

Agreed - 50% of Congress should be required to be women. And have 2 out of 5 of my ideal PRESIDENT group be women. Then on alternate terms.......have 3 out of 5 be women. We would have fewer unnecessary WARS.

Silly me think the best candidate should win whether male or female

In the words of Mr Wonderful of Shark Tank, take this idea behind the barn and shoot it. His words not mine.

[Tvflguy]

Originally Posted by jimjamuser

Agreed - 50% of Congress should be required to be women. And have 2 out of 5 of my ideal PRESIDENT group be women. Then on alternate terms.......have 3 out of 5 be women. We would have fewer unnecessary WARS.

??? Yep. Pacification. ThT should work against China Russia Iran North Korea.

Just as it was tried before WWII.

Yep that should do it. Also I think that is sexist, assuming female leaders can’t be strong against our enemies…

[jimjamuser]

The tax code should equalize wealth more. Even billionaire investor Warren Buffet agrees with me. There should be NO mega, MEGA wealthy people like Soros, Gates, Musk, and Bezos in America. They can go to Saudi Arabia or Russia with the other Dictators. It is actually NOT their fault personally, just the tax system and brackets that stupidly support such non-productive wealth. People like that are NO longer working for MONEY anyway, they are motivated by their leadership skills in most cases and POWER in some cases. It is the same principle as term limits for politicians - the wealthy need REASONABLE limits.

And with the right tax brackets the EXCESS money that these people can't use personally - it could help the average US citizen get their small share of the TOTAL US WEALTH. It is only RIGHT ! The average US citizen TODAY can NOT afford to own their own home - while Bezos has a BOAT with its own helicopter landing pad. That IS NOT right, it is ALL wrong.

And that will eventually lead the US into being controlled by powerful oligarchs and a Dictator ala Putin !

[jebartle]

Originally Posted by DonnaNi4os

We cannot be naive enough to believe that all of this dissent comes from our fellow countrymen. I believe that there are outside influences that have directed much of the problems we see happening around us today. I pray that our eyes are open to the truths and that we can focus on our strengths and freedoms. Infiltration from foreign powers, I believe, have instigated some of our biggest problems that have us pitted against one another. United we must stand or surely we will fall. I love my country and believe that most Americans are proud to be from the USA. We can and will survive this time in our history. We must preserve our history and learn from our mistakes. If you are unhappy with your elected officials it is time to vote them out in fair elections. We cannot give up and we must not believe the propaganda that is being fed to us on a daily basis.

Absolutely...VOTE, VOTE, VOTE (SURE wish I could make that word as big as the page) but research, research, research first and then VOTE.

[Two Bills]

Originally Posted by jimjamuser

The tax code should equalize wealth more. Even billionaire investor Warren Buffet agrees with me. There should be NO mega, MEGA wealthy people like Soros, Gates, Musk, and Bezos in America. They can go to Saudi Arabia or Russia with the other Dictators. It is actually NOT their fault personally, just the tax system and brackets that stupidly support such non-productive wealth. People like that are NO longer working for MONEY anyway, they are motivated by their leadership skills in most cases and POWER in some cases. It is the same principle as term limits for politicians - the wealthy need REASONABLE limits.

And with the right tax brackets the EXCESS money that these people can't use personally - it could help the average US citizen get their small share of the TOTAL US WEALTH. It is only RIGHT ! The average US citizen TODAY can NOT afford to own their own home - while Bezos has a BOAT with its own helicopter landing pad. That IS NOT right, it is ALL wrong.

And that will eventually lead the US into being controlled by powerful oligarchs and a Dictator ala Putin !

....and in your perfectly equal society, why should anyone bother to work harder, have better ideas than anyone else.
No reward = no effort.
Sounds very much like communism.

[Dr.Butler]

Originally Posted by Caymus

Which side controls the large high gun crime cities?

Well. If you want the truth, then here:
Stats of the States - Firearm Mortality

TL;DR
8 of 10 are "Conservative"

[jimjamuser]

Originally Posted by ThirdOfFive

The short reply: yes.

Social media (the mother of all oxymorons, in my opinion) is a cancer in this country. Of course, many people use it properly: my wife for example can talk to her family and friends in Thailand via FaceTime whenever the urge strikes her, as well as both of us being able to communicate face-to-face with family in Minnesota. But in my opinion the minuses of the venue outweigh the pluses. No matter how bizarre or dangerous one's beliefs might be, it is no problem to find like-minded people on the internet and communicate with them. And if what you are looking for is not information but VALIDATION (which I think all too many people are), then there is no point of view that cannot be validated through social media.

But the danger does not stop there. I understand that nefarious things have been going on only forever but the existence of social media makes it far too easy for the evil-minded among us to do what they do. Recruiting underage girls for the sex trade, for example. Set up drug deals. Arrange smash-and-grabs (there were incidents in Minnesota before we left where groups of people would all of a sudden show up in various vehicles at a big-box store, effectively raid the place of all the appliances and electronics they could carry, then run out the door with them and be gone in a matter of a few minutes; easily evading the police no matter if the police were called the minute the group began looting. And so on. Probably dozens more examples.

And let's not forget spreading hate. Back in the day, if you wanted to write, say, a letter to the editor, you sat down at a keyboard, or grabbed a pen and paper and wrote your letter. Maybe it would be printed in a week or two, maybe longer. But you knew upfront that it would be screened, maybe edited for grammar, some content deemed objectionable possibly taken out, etc. But today? Any yokel with an ax to grind or the intent to stir up negative emotions can sit down at his or her keyboard and dash off letters, opinions, and observations to this--or-that discussion group or newspaper thread that before the advent of the internet, especially as it exists today, would never have seen the light of day. And more and more those sites aren't even monitored, or rely on customer monitoring, which is a joke. Anyone who reads the "discussions" following newspaper articles know exactly what I mean by this. Hatred reigns.

Sir Winston Churchill once observed that "a lie can make it halfway around the world before the truth can get it's pants on". I doubt Sir Winston would have had even the slightest idea of just how right the future would prove him to be.

The software of media platforms like Facebook push people into opposite corners depending on their responses - so that you become polarized as far as various opinions go. The middle ground of opinion is made barren on purpose. the software does this for the purely greedy purpose of keeping you on their site for the MAXIMUM amount of time - to sell you MORE stuff. This lets the site, like Facebook, prosper but, at the expense of social cohesion. and apparently there are worse sites than Facebook, which personally I have never joined. Zuckerberg is another overly greedy individual. He gets no money from me! Congress tried to investigate Facebook, but failed. They dropped THAT ball.