Blue3
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« on: October 06, 2019, 08:47:25 PM » |
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Which political future would be better for the US?
Option 1:
The Constitution is trashed.
All metropolitan areas larger than 200,000 people (which is 220 in the US right now) become their own independent city-state. The remaining rural/suburban/exurban areas are divided into independent countries as well, most never more than 1000 square miles and all having at least 100 people. Most Indian reservations also become independent as long as they have at least 100 citizens. (Former national parks and empty lands have been divided up and claimed, but most of these micro-states in turn have very environmentalist policies to preserve the vast majority of their land). All have a democratic government, though not all do it in the same way.
All of these independent micro-states are members of NATO (which still includes the European countries), and at peace with each other. Some share the dollar as a common currency, though several do not. Most have a form of mostly-free trade and movement with each other, especially the city-states, with some exceptions.
Some of these independent micro-states have signed treaties with each other where they pool-in their resources to create a network of micro-states that have common single-payer healthcare and education and environmental/energy standards. Some micro-states also work together on collaborative infrastructure projects to connect each other, whether it's transportation networks, or to trade resources like water and electricity. But these micro-states are still indeed sovereign, independent countries.
Option 2:
The Constitution is trashed.
The 50 states no longer exist, and have been morphed into one unitary national government, which can still create and delegate to sub-national units of government but it's the national government that holds all the power. The Senate has been completely abolished, as has the Electoral College. The House has grown to 10,000-members, elected to a 5-year term, who nominate an individual to be President for a 5 year-term (and can be re-nominated). A referendum election is then held to all citizens to approve or reject this nomination, through secure encrypted electronic voting that's available to everyone everywhere, with correct ID proven by a quick DNA scan of the entire body (further ID required only for identical twins). If approved with over 50% of the general population, then the person becomes President within 10 days (unless there's no current President due to a death/disability, in which case the replacement becomes instant). If rejected, the current President stays in power and the House must try again to nominate someone who will be approved. A new presidential election must happen at least once every 5 years (more on that below).
The powers of the President are greatly expanded: legislative and judicial power are now invested in the President, in addition to enhanced executive power. The President's appointed officials are now responsible for writing the laws as well as executing them, all under direction of the President (though the President can directly write a law themself if they desire). Judicial disagreements are also filtered through the President's appointed officials unless they either can't agree (in which case it goes to the President to act as Supreme Court) or the President cares about a particular case and wants to write the ruling themself.
The powers of the President are checked in the following ways. Any legislative/executive/judicial decision (not involving military self-defense from existential aggressors outside the country) must wait 10 days before going into effect. Within those 10 days, the House can veto it if they have at least 2/3. The President can also be recalled by the House voting to nominate a new President and hold a new election, even if it hasn't been 5 years yet, also if they have at least 2/3 of the House. The President also cannot alter the new constitutional laws described here, and any amendment needs the support of 4/5 of House and no presidential approval needed.
If these were the only two options, which would be better for the political future of the United States?
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