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Road to 350: What Does the US Navy Do Anyway?

AllAmerican75

FUBIJAR
None
Contributor
Well..a strong and popular POTUS could probably cajole Congress into term limits and that would solve a large number of our issues. Sadly, an economic collapse would help clean house. If they ever decide to touch election laws then the first thing they should do is remove all party affiliations from ballots including the ability to do a simple “party line” vote. You look at the ballot and all you see if Joe Schome and Bill Billy and you have to figure it out. I think we’d all be astounded at how quickly Congress would change then (including a lot of accidental votes).
I like it. I would also add that we should repeal the 17th Amendment and return to an actual republic where the two houses of Congress aren't both popularly elected and the upper house (Senate) actually represents their state's interests.
 

JTS11

Well-Known Member
pilot
Contributor
I like it. I would also add that we should repeal the 17th Amendment and return to an actual republic where the two houses of Congress aren't both popularly elected and the upper house (Senate) actually represents their state's interests.
I'm more of a repeal the 3rd Amendment guy myself. Demolish the barracks and base housing, and let's start quartering troops out in town. ?
 

AllAmerican75

FUBIJAR
None
Contributor
I'm more of a repeal the 3rd Amendment guy myself. Demolish the barracks and base housing, and let's start quartering troops out in town. ?
I mean, if you think you can convince Congress and the state legislatures to vote for a new amendment to forcibly quarter troops in private citizens' homes, then go ahead. I think returning our Congress to how it is supposed to operate as intended by our Founding Fathers is an easier sell.
 

Randy Daytona

Cold War Relic
pilot
Super Moderator
From USNI:

Submarine builders General Dynamic Electric Boat and HII’s Newport News Shipbuilding are far behind schedule in delivering the Virginia attack boats. Split between the two yards, the Virginia program is a combined 410 months behind schedule, according to a Navy construction estimate reviewed by USNI News earlier this year. The shipyards are delivering 1.2 attack boats a year and are on a path to reach two Virginias a year by 2028,
 

Flash

SEVAL/ECMO
None
Super Moderator
Contributor
Well..a strong and popular POTUS could probably cajole Congress into term limits and that would solve a large number of our issues. Sadly, an economic collapse would help clean house. If they ever decide to touch election laws then the first thing they should do is remove all party affiliations from ballots including the ability to do a simple “party line” vote. You look at the ballot and all you see if Joe Schome and Bill Billy and you have to figure it out. I think we’d all be astounded at how quickly Congress would change then (including a lot of accidental votes).

First off, I think it is foolhardy to think that a President is going to somehow convince enough of the 535 folks who make up Congress to impose term limits. It would also almost certainly take an Amendment to get it done, that's a lot of wickets to get through. Secondly, term limits won't likely fix anything but instead make it worse. Who is causing some of the biggest problems in Congress right now? Newbies who've been there less than 4 years in many cases, others only a little longer. I also think it is wishful thinking that an 'economic collapse' likely won't result in a house cleaning', many of the same politicians who were around in '29 and '08 were still there years later.

Finally, term limits already exist in the form of voting.
 

taxi1

Well-Known Member
pilot
Secondly, term limits won't likely fix anything but instead make it worse...Finally, term limits already exist in the form of voting.

One of those formative books that I stumbled upon years ago was The Evolution of Cooperation by Robert Axelrod. It's about how competitors can evolve to cooperate, with the key being repeated interactions. If you are only there for a short period to throw bombs, you won't evolve necessarily that behavior.
 

Sword

Member
Those darn newbies who won’t get with the program. We’re here to get in bed with industry and for insider trading; don’t upset the applecart. We’ll be rich! And have a job for life!
It’s the status quo, career politician, 40+ year tenured swamp-rats, not the newbies, who are the problem. The establishment is broken.
I completely agree with you, though, that term limits are difficult to pass. Politicians love talking about them until they get elected.
 

Flash

SEVAL/ECMO
None
Super Moderator
Contributor
Those darn newbies who won’t get with the program. We’re here to get in bed with industry and for insider trading; don’t upset the applecart. We’ll be rich! And have a job for life!
It’s the status quo, career politician, 40+ year tenured swamp-rats, not the newbies, who are the problem. The establishment is broken.
I completely agree with you, though, that term limits are difficult to pass. Politicians love talking about them until they get elected.

It would be funny if it weren't so sad that a very small group of 'newbies' have made one of the three branches of our government non-functional for three weeks and counting now.
 

Mirage

Well-Known Member
pilot
Term limits, ranked choice voting, and laws to fix corruption, to include gerrymandering. Give the people back their power.

Currently, a small minority of races are actually competitive (largely due to gerrymandering), and for a candidate to win they need an incredible amount of money. Very few Americans donate substantial amounts of money, so politicians don't give a damn about them. They care about rich folks, interest groups, and corporations. If you aren't familiar with RepresentUS, I recommend you watch some of their content and support their cause.

It's a big idea, and one I haven't seen anyone propose... but I think all campaign donations of any kind should be illegal. Each federal campaign that reaches a certain threshold of support to qualify should be given the same set amount of money by the government to spend as they see fit (within ethics/corruption laws). We could, for a pittance, completely eliminate corruption with regards to lobbying, and even the playing field between our 2 terrible parties and independent candidates, allowing the best ideas and candidates to win rather than the best puppets. The problem is that it will never happen, because the corrupt assholes in power would all lose.
 
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taxi1

Well-Known Member
pilot
Term limits, ranked choice voting, and laws to fix corruption, to include gerrymandering.
A big one that I hear few people talk about, is no "winner take all" electoral college votes by state. You get 60% of the vote in California, you get 60% of the electoral votes. This still favors the small states, with their disproportionate share of the votes, but makes every vote matter in the Presidential election. Some states already do this. All should.

Having 4-5 swing states decide our Prez election is bullshit.
 

Griz882

Frightening children with the Griz-O-Copter!
pilot
Contributor
To correct all of you…gently…when I talk about a popular POTUS convincing Congress I do not mean actually talking to those boneheads - I mean a popular POTUS convincing the voters to nudge Congress toward term limits. Will we ever have a POTUS that popular again? I doubt it. Moreover, I call BS on anyone who thinks “newbies” are messing things up or that we “have term limits” through voting. If someone enters office knowing they only have 12 years to make their mark…they’ll make their mark. Tell them it is a lifetime sinecure and they’ll spend a career blaming “the other side.” As I see it we have two choices - remove half the decision making from the voters (through term limits or eliminating party identification and party voting on ballots) or go back to having poll taxes or means testing to vote. The former is potentially legal, the later is not. Next, gerrymandering is a myth within a myth. Beyond requiring “straight line” districts (basically dividing all counties in a state equally between the number of representatives) it is the function of each party to draw lines to their advantage - and both parties have done it for years and still do.

Our problems aren’t that bad or that hard to fix..we just prefer to whine about it.
 
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Flash

SEVAL/ECMO
None
Super Moderator
Contributor
To correct all of you…gently…when I talk about a popular POTUS convincing Congress I do not mean actually talking to those boneheads - I mean a popular POTUS convincing the voters to nudge Congress toward term limits. Will we ever have a POTUS that popular again? I doubt it. Moreover, I call BS on anyone who thinks “newbies” are messing things up or that we “have term limits” through voting. If someone enters office knowing they only have 12 years to make their mark…they’ll make their mark. Tell them it is a lifetime sinecure and they’ll spend a career blaming “the other side.” As I see it we have two choices - remove half the decision making from the voters (through term limits or eliminating party identification and party voting on ballots) or go back to having poll taxes or means testing to vote. The former is potentially legal, the later is not. Next, gerrymandering is a myth within a myth. Beyond required “straight line” districts (basically dividing all counties in a state equally between the number of representatives) it is the function of each party to draw lines to their advantage - and both parties have done it for years and still do.

Our problems aren’t that bad or that hard to fix..we just prefer to whine about it.

And we don't have a Speaker of the House....why?
 

taxi1

Well-Known Member
pilot
Next, gerrymandering is a myth within a myth. Beyond required “straight line” districts (basically dividing all counties in a state equally between the number of representatives) it is the function of each party to draw lines to their advantage - and both parties have done it for years and still do.
With large data, we've crossed a line. Horribly undemocratic. By the way, nowhere in the Constitution does it mention parties (does it?) They are not a formal part of our government.

This is total BS.

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