• Abolish of the Electoral College, Direct Election of President
Today, the polls show over 60% of the population supports this move.
• National, Federal and Uniform Electoral System
The use of the same ballots and the same rules from state to state will go a long way towards eliminating the irregularities that facilitate the electoral fraud that is an organic part of the bipartisan system. This new system should be overseen by an elected body, not a two-party-controlled organization like the Commission on Presidential Debates.
• Preference Voting
In the preference voting system, voters would rank the candidates in order of preference for each office.
• Eliminate the Winner-Take-All System
Because of the "winner-take-all" nature of the US political system, the winner of an election is under no obligation to address the issues raised by the other candidates. This is of no importance to the Democrats and Republicans, who have always had fundamental agreement on most policy issues. This is of grave importance to those residents of the US that are currently unrepresented.
• Proportional Representation
Proportional representation is the logical replacement for the winner-take-all system. Under proportional representation, a party's representation in a legislative body would be determined by the percentage of the vote it receives. It would no longer be possible for a party to get 20% of the vote yet still not achieve any representation.
• Eliminate of the Private, Two-Party-Controlled Commission on Presidential Debates
Open, Public Debates for All Candidates on the Ballot. No candidate for public office should be exempted or excluded from debating their programs in public with all other candidates. Democracy without open debate is little more than a beauty contest.
• Eliminate of soft and corporate money-100% Public Financing of all Electoral Campaigns
• Universal Equal Access to TV, Radio and Newspapers for All Candidates on the Ballot
• Representatives to be Subject to Immediate Recall Elections
• Extend the Right to Vote to Non-Citizens
In some states, like California, more than half of the population are immigrants from Latin America, excluded from voting due to their immigration status. Although these immigrants are an essential element in the production of the wealth of US society and pay as much or more in taxes as US citizens, they are still excluded from participating in elections.
The right to vote was only taken away from non-citizens earlier this century because non-citizens represented the most militant segment of the working class. In order to see real political reform, this must be reversed.
• Eliminate the legal prohibitions on voting for former felons and victims of the failed "war on drugs"
No less than 25% of all young male African Americans are prohibited from voting because of convictions on drug violations.
• Lower the Voting Age to 16
Millions of young people, especially young people of color, have been subjected to attacks on their democratic rights in the last 20 years with no method of recourse. Democracy demands that representatives be made accountable to those they represent.
• Eliminate All Barriers to Registration and Same-Day Voter Registration
• Easier Ballot Access for All Political Parties
• Election Day as a Paid Holiday
In the recent election, by contract, members of the UAW had a paid holiday to allow them to go to the polls. This should be generalized throughout the country for all workers.
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Demonstration at Texas Governor Mansion |
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Without these radical reforms imposed as a package, this system will remain the corrupt undemocracy of the rich. The campaign finance reforms proposed by the Democrats and Republicans will not alter the essence of a system biased in favor of the rich. The Supreme Court has already ruled that to ban corporate campaign contributions limits the freedom of expression of these imaginary "people."
Because these demands will engender political participation from a broader sector of society and because they will facilitate the development of political alternatives to the Democrats and Republicans, they run directly counter to the bipartisan system. For the Democrats and Republicans to grant these demands would be to sign their own eviction notices. Therefore, in order to achieve them, it will be necessary to obtain the serious involvement of the trade unions. The struggle for true political representation must also rely on the organization and leadership of those unrepresented under the current system.
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