Total topics: 5
I'd like to begin by saying that this is all theoretical, of course as the title suggests, and my purpose in posting this is to see if it isn't an inherently flawed idea for the restructuring of the American government. I also would consider myself somewhat educated, but I am certainly no expert on American government and law so I'm here additionally to learn what else could be needed for such a system to succeed.
I will begin with a general overview.
A. The federal government as it stands would drastically change. The Executive and Judicial branches would remain largely what they still are today, but the Legislative would instead become a system of direct democracy.
B. State governments would continue to be run similarly to how the federal government is run, with instead mayors acting as representatives who collectively legislate for the state rather than a lower/upper house of state senators. The governor would continue to act similar to a president, with veto power, leadership over the state military and police as granted by the state legislature, and would still be voted in by term.
Each of these have a decent amount of specifics, so I'll mainly hop into subject A.
A(1): EXECUTIVE The executive branch hasn't been my focus for this thought experiment, but in reality it wouldn't be affected much other than the removal of the electoral college allowing for true voting of the president. The president would maintain a cabinet and vice president as well as keep the same duties held currently as stated by the constitution.
A(2): JUDICIAL The judicial branch would also only have minor changes, allowing for a limit of age both lower and upper for supreme court justices of 35-65. The judicial branch would otherwise continue to check and balance the other two branches through recognizing the existence or lack of lawfulness and constitutionality of bills and would resolve court cases of extreme sensitivity and importance. They would also continue to be placed into office by a president with the legislative branch available to veto said nominees by a 2/3 majority.
A(3): LEGISLATIVE Now for the most drastic.
a. GENERAL STRUCTURE
The house of representatives as it stands would be dissolved. The senate, rather than having 2 representatives from each state, would run for office on a federal level regardless of resident state with 9 total senators at a time who have 3 year terms. Those with the power to vote on the bills presented by the senators would be all citizens not currently in a position of public office.
b. RULES, DUTIES, AND STIPULATIONS FOR ELECTION TO THE SENATE AND GENERAL GOVERNANCE
The American citizenry would vote directly on the senators whose main purpose would be the writing of bills and legislature. Those who are voted in as senators must still be citizens and senators may NOT vote themselves, revoking their right to vote for instead the right to write. American legislation would continue to go through the process of first being written as a bill but instead of being proposed to either the house or senate, would be proposed to the American citizenry to be voted in as law. On the first Monday of each month, all Americans citizens would be provided a holiday to vote on all current issues their senators have brought forward for vote. If an emergency vote is necessary, the senators may hold public counsel and if a majority agree on record, an emergency vote may be held within the next three days time, the period of time for which would be broadcast to the citizenry and decided upon by the senators. Bills being placed for vote, without an emergency ruling, after having been approved by the judiciary must be placed on the docket for vote at least one week prior to the voting holiday. Should a bill be passed by the citizenry that needs revision, any senator may propose a revision for the upcoming holiday or for emergency vote. Lobbying of any kind is impermissible and illegal, as well as mass bribery or voter intimidation. Should any group or individual be suspected of such villainy, they are to be investigated by federal police with a minimum of 4 years jail time if found guilty as well as receive the revocation of their voting rights. Should any senator be found colluding with outside influences for financial, political, or personal gain the other senators may at any time and without majority request an investigation of said senator if there be reasonable cause, as well as propose a vote to the American citizenry for their impeachment. Senators and their spouses are not permitted to trade publicly on the stock market. Should they own stock of any kind, it must either be left untouched until the end of their term, sold before entering office, or given to a third party handler that may not in any way communicate with the senator/spouse until the end of their term unless all stock under the senator's name or purchased with the senator's money is sold and the money returned to the senator. Should they be impeached, the president will nominate a new senator for vote by the citizenry before the next voting holiday. If they are not approved by 51% majority, the president will continue to nominate a senator before the following voting holiday until the office be filled. Senators will receive a pay equal to the current yearly average pay amongst the citizenry. Senators will be held to term and age limits, allowing for any senator to serve between the ages of 35-65 in terms of 3 years for a maximum of 4 terms. Senators will not be required to live in or meet at any specific location, nor will be given a minimum or maximum number of bills to propose. Senators may write bills as individuals or as partners for review by the citizenry. Any bill a senator wishes to publish to the citizenry must first be published to the judiciary branch who must approve it. Should a bill be passed by the judiciary and be passed by the citizenry but receive a veto by the president, the bill will return to the citizenry and will be passed by a 2/3 majority vote. A majority vote will be predicated not on the size of the population, but as a percentage of the votes themselves.
c. RULES, DUTIES, AND STIPULATIONS FOR THE CITIZENRY
All American citizens above the age of 18 are required to vote. Failure to vote without reasonable cause, namely health, access, capability, or service would result in a $100 fine. Should you fail to vote and wish to appeal your fine, any may do so with their local city government as well as they may enroll for exemption from voting should it be necessary and needful .Anyone over the age of 65 may also apply for removal from compulsory voting but in doing so will revoke their right to vote at all. Any may also choose to appeal this decision within 5 years time and reinstate their previous duties to vote. Citizens would hold the responsibility for voting each first Monday of the month and for educating themselves on the upcoming bills needing votes. Voting would take place either in person at local voting facilities by electronic ballet or online through government provided services. Votes will be cast and counted through the use of 1 USD crypto per ballet item provided by the government to the citizenry. The citizenry may choose to vote for or against any bill and all votes are to be anonymously gathered. The gathering of data regarding the personal details of persons voting is expressly prohibited and protected beyond the verification of identity by the government, with penalties of a minimum of $5000 dollar fine to be paid to the persons whose information has been illegally gathered. Should a citizen wish to present a bill, any citizen may write to any senator a bill they wish to be proposed. The senators are not obligated, however, to present such bills. Should the citizenry wish for an emergency vote of any kind, either on a specific bill or for the impeachment of a public official, 1 USD crypto will be provided at all times to each of the citizenry to use for the proposing of an emergency vote. The emergency vote may be initiated online through services provided by the government and should it receive 25% of the votes from the total population of the previous voting cycle within one week's time of the original emergency proposal, the vote would be presented to the general citizenry for deliberation and vote. Anyone found guilty of voter coercion through means of violence, bribery, or otherwise illegal and unsavory means amongst the citizenry would face the same charges as those from the government, namely a minimum of 4 years jail time and the revocation of voting rights.
To conclude, this is meant to be based on the ideal that we have a legitimate, accessible, and reliable means of voting as a general population. I suggest the use of crypto due to it's ability to be both online and unique, thus helping prevent voter fraud, but if there's a better way I'm open to it. My focus isn't necessarily on that, however, but on the general system provided so please. Poke away.
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Politics
I've been mulling over a curious question and perused the internet for information but only found surface level answers thus far and am curious if the religious knowledge of the folks here have anything to add.
(KJV) Matthew 27:46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?
So I personally own a Strong's Concordance of the Bible and its a great resource as anyone who has used it knows. Most any time I come across something in the Bible I find curious I run to my concordance, do a quick translation back to Hebrew or Greek as well as search the roots of the words to try and fully understand the passage. I recommend doing this for anyone going through the Bible, it's exceptionally educational and for me, spiritual. Anyway. This particular phrasing, specifically when he says "Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?" is a very strange phrase to find. First, the entirety of the New Testament is classically Greek and the Bible Hebrew. This phrase, while if a quote could make sense if Hebrew, is Aramaic. While the languages are similar, the meanings of words do come with slight variations. Such as "sabachthani" is meant to say what is similar to the English forsaken in Hebrew, specifically meaning to be left or abandoned in a particular place whereas for English we use forsaken in an emotional context to say that someone has broken a bond with you. The Aramaic translation is much closer to English, being more closely associated with emotional abandonment rather than a geographical one. As I am trying to understand the meaning of this verse, ultimately the feeling that I might believe Christ is trying to convey is one of loneliness to his father and rather than saying "why'd you betray me dad" he's communicating "why have I been left here" as now at this point everyone has left him there or expects him to die. Either way is sad, but one reflects differently on the character of God and Christ vs the other. If you view it as an emotional forsaken, God's perfect character seems thrown into jeopardy as he would never truly forsake anyone, including his son. As a perfect father he would never abandon Christ. Yet Christ, also meant to be perfect, could be taken here to be questioning his father which would be a form of griping or complaining. While I don't think anyone would count this against him having been whipped, beaten, nailed to cross, and slowly dying in front of his family and friends it would throw some doubt on the nature of his character if taken in the Aramaic or English sense. It truly makes no sense to me. I don't understand why this, and only this phrase is Aramaic in the New Testament and why use that language instead of Hebrew which Christ almost certainly would have spoken instead. It is similar to if I go to a Trump rally as a Russian speaker, transcribe everything into Russian but then keep one phrase in Spanish and translate that back to Russian. I just don't get it. That said, there are plenty of places where the Bible doesn't make total sense which is why I don't believe in biblical inerrancy so normally I'll take what is good and move on. For some reason though this passage continues to be one that I chew on and haven't had a satisfactory answer yet. If anyone has any insight or other source I haven't seen yet I am open to it.
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Religion
Whether atheist, agnostic, or theist what do you see as the benefiting factor that most prominently contributes to your belief. To be clear, I'm not asking what caused your belief or lack thereof but rather why maintain your position?
Me personally, I stay a religious person because I know spirituality has, and does, help me overcome challenges while having the possibility to help others. Without the focus on God that I've had I can be quite confident that I personally wouldn't have had the focus on personal growth that I have.
Lemme hear what ya got
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Religion
This is more of a question rather than a position. Should there be a federal aspect to education in America? Constitutionally there is no provision for any aspect of federal government being involved in education and as a whole has caused a lot of issues with schooling in the attempt to make all states schools equally credible. What would be a solution if the federal government wasn't involved anymore? Or how could we make it more effective as it stands now?
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Education
For my first 19 years of life, I had a very structured outline of how I would conduct my life. I did well in school, made some great friends, had some incredible and terrible experiences, and basically followed the plan. I spent my entirety of high school choosing a career, bouncing between law, medical, finance, finally resting on cybersecurity within the military. I come from a low income family and to make a long story short I can expect no financial support from my parents. After high school I worked and invested to go on a religious mission, which I did. After my experiences there I found myself once again doubting my career choice. I come home to nothing, having spent basically everything I had. I lived in my friend's parent's office space for a few months, got a job at a restaurant, and moved into a different place where I rented a room. I started college and have been trying different careers since. My mother expects me to finish college, as when my great grandfather passed he left all the money he had for me and my sister's education. It would be enough to cover about 3 years at a state college which is an incredible gift. As a result of this gift, I want it to be spent in the best way possible and so I dove deeper into trying to make a decision. I joined a cybersecurity program on campus while working three other jobs and still at school, trying to support myself, get educated, and decide on a path. Honestly, all that came out of it was a feeling of dissatisfaction. I've gotten my own place now, still work at the restaurant as a server and have started investing in my future. College only made me more angry at our education system and its stupidity, working all this much has frankly burnt me out, and I'm still no closer to a real decision. Some say focus on passion, which if I went with would be to major in religious studies and become a professor. Unfortunately for that path, there is no real money at the end of that rainbow and I'd likely hate the school I work at. Teaching would be incredible and I find it extremely rewarding but not at an American school. Then some point to money and say just to make as much money as possible, then do your passion. Which I'm like, "ok that makes sense." But then you look at stories of success and nearly every one of them tell you that if you just go in for money you're gonna hate yourself and likely not succeed anyway. Which I'd rather not do. So then you get right back at education. Keep getting educated and trying to find a career path, although I could be wasting the precious few funds I have on something that I'm not likely to get much back from that I couldn't do myself. If my American history class is literally a study of the Constitution, I can read wikipedia. I own a copy of the Federalist Papers, I can be educated on these topics without spending all this money. Unfortunately, self-education has little in the way of credentials and modern work life demands more and more often to produce a degree. Now every time I sit down and try to come to a decision, I feel paralyzed by the sheer amount of choice. I know dozens of ways I could just go make money or do something I really enjoy or go for an education. If you've made it this far down the rabbit hole with me, what would be your advice? What's the best way to sort through all the crap without wasting time or money and avoiding hating myself in 10 years.
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Personal