Absurdity

Introduction

I have given the idea of Democracy a fair bit of thought lately, at least enough that I find it occupying the majority of my thoughts throughout these recent days. I have come to some conclusions about what would make a good Democracy, one that will one for the people, and at least allow its inhabitants to be a little bit happier than what they are in their current conditions. If these guidelines of mine are followed, and taken true to heart, the world would be a much better place, and although they in no way guarantee there will be no fighting between people, and least the people will have a government that looks after them, that helps them rather than harms them.

Government/People Relationship

Now it has been said that the people shouldn't fear its government, the government should fear its people. However I must take issue with this and say they should not be afraid of each other, in fact they should be working together as one, there should be no fear, the government should be the people. One of the ways I have thought up to help achieve this ideal, where the people can become their own leaders, is to create term limits, not for office help, but political life. It seems to me an ideal period of 8 years would be quite adequate for a political life. This will prevent any one person or group of people from taking control, whether they be directly affiliated or not. The idea is politics should not become a career, but a service you do for your country, when one group of people become accustomed to ruling the other, they will become reluctant to give up their power, and will eventually try to take more power for themselves to further keep a hold of the power they wield. If they are limited to politics for 8 years this will help because they will now be forced to think about existence while they are not in the ruling class, and will therefore serve the people better, and not make the transition from people to ruling elite.

President Status

There should be no need for a president, everything should be decided by congress. Being a congressman should be considered a duty to one's country, so no salary, you are volunteering to serve your country. However your bills will be paid for (at a reasonable amount) so that anything you own doesn't get taken away from you during your service, and it doesn't become a hardship taking on this great duty. As well food, clothing, and other basic needs should be provided for, but the gist is you are no better or worse off for your service when you leave than when you enter, financially. This is to make sure that only people who really want to lead do so, without trying to become a congressman for power or money. Also anyone dependant on you, for the duration of your service, shall be taken care of by the government, financially, and otherwise where needed.

Laws

All laws should be voted in with a 70% majority, with the exception of laws that affect voting which should require an 80% majority; an example is district resizing. If something is undecided (don't get a 70% vote either way), it must be brought back up to congress within a week, if something doesn't get passed or denied after three weeks an election must be called and new representatives must take office. After they have taken office and after three more attempts are still unable to come to a conclusion, the issue must be brought to the public for a public vote next election, tied in to the ballots for electing officials. If something is deemed important the public can vote on it early, though having the public vote on everything will be costly, so only have them vote early on undecided important laws.

No law should be passed concerning how someone treats their own body. You may educate them not to harm their own body, but ultimately they have the freedom of choice, and their body is theirs, not the governments. This includes drugs and suicide. You may still punish anyone who harms another, including drugs, sex, or helping a suicide. The government should not over-reach its bounds when it comes to drug enforcement, going after the sellers would be the same as saying you can't use it, they should focus more on education. They can still go after sellers who use shady practises, selling stuff that's not what they say it is, laced with some various substances, or not being clear on the dangers when selling.

Elections

Early elections are not allowed as this can be contrived as the government trying to take advantage of it's popularity. Having a majority or minority government doesn't matter, as long as congress can come to decisions with 70% majority one way or the other, and have no undecided issues for more than three weeks, the government should stand unified. There should be elections every 2 years, to ensure the people are constantly being heard, but not being polled too often that it costs the taxpayers too much money. Two months of campaigning is allowed before the election date, ads for or against people before this time should not be allowed, heavy fines if they do in fact run ads early, but be real when enforcing this rule, or any rule in fact, a day or two early isn't a big deal, a week early is pushing it, however if they do it a day early for several campaigns then they should be fined, as they are abusing the generosity of the system.

Voting

Everyone should be required to vote, or face a fine. Jail time for not voting would be ludicrous and the government over extending itself in this case. This is to ensure the people are represented, even if they don't want to be. Everyone is everyone mentally or physically capable of voting, so coma patients don't have to, as well as the mentally unstable. However this does not mean the mentally ill are denied the right to vote, they may still vote if they wish to, they simply have to pass a comprehension test (something simple enough for a 6 year old to reasonably pass), it should be short and to the point, asking clear concise questions. The test may be taken orally, there should be no true or false question, multiple choice, or long answer, just short answer questions, 70% of which can be answered with a one word answer. The test may not be longer than 20 questions and should focus on making sure the person knows what they are voting on. A simple 50% would be required to pass. Polls should be open for 3 days, 24/7 to allow everyone the time to vote. Mail in voting should also be accepted. May not opt out of voting, but on ballot may put undecided, or non-voter, but still need to fill out the ballot.

Army

The army should be controlled by the states, each one supporting it's own army, this is to ensure the government doesn't try to seize power through the army, there will always be other states to resist. Although they can be trained as separate units, one third of the forces should be sent into the federal army, which is a composition of all of the state armies, trained to work together under one. The ranking system should be the same under all armies, and all armies should recognize each others ranks. In times of war the federal army may take no more than half of all the soldiers, and war time strategy should be decided upon by an appointed general from each state, ensuring that state and federal army troops, although not officially working together, can still be part of the same overall strategy. During wartime in times of disagreement, the person with the highest rank will decide what happens, unless outvoted by the majority of the appointed generals, at least 85%.

Voter Registering

It's important that registry to vote can be done at anytime, requiring people to register to vote a month ahead of time is an attempt to keep people from voting. People should always be able to register at the polls. Every means necessary should be done to ensure people are able to vote, nothing should ever be done to limit people from voting, or making it unnecessarily hard from voting. By limiting people from voting you are interfering in democracy, as not everyone's voice is heard, the government should make all means possible to listen to the people, and make wise decisions based on what the people say.