Fixing America

I posted this once before, but given the lack of progress I'm seeing out of our current congress I'm going to post it again today. 

20 Political Reforms to Reshape & Fix America:

1. Filibuster Reform - filibuster abuse by the GOP has gotten out of hand, I think I'm fairly safe in saying that the current use of the filibuster was not what the founding fathers had in mind, let's fix it. 
2. Electoral College - any system that allows someone to win the Presidency without a majority of the popular vote is flawed and in need of reform.  Let's move to a national popular vote. 
3. Senate Composition - why does a state the size of Delaware have the same number of Senators as a state the size of California or Texas?  How about we give one of Delaware's Senate seats to a larger state, such as New York (thus giving Delaware 1 Senator & New York 3 Senators)?  Or we could just increase the number of Senators, say from 100 to 120 or so with the larger states gaining more Senate seats. 
4. Redistricting - the gerrymandering of congressional districts is taking away any real competition in many districts. In the 2012 elections Democratic House candidates won more votes than Republican House candidates yet the Republicans maintained their control of the House of Representatives, how is that a representative government?   The states obviously cannot be trusted to end this practice so let's pass federal legislation to prohibit partisan politicians from having a say in the composition of congressional districts.   
5. Lobbying reform - right now, we are a country that has been bought by corporate interests, we desperately need to get money out of politics.  One way to do that would be to put restrictions of former government officials from moving straight to K-Street after leaving office. More transparency and disclosure would also be helpful.
6. Election Day - Federal standards are needed, the Voter Empowerment Act is a good place to start.  I'd also make election day a national holiday in an attempt to get more people to participate.  We should be making it easier for people to vote not doing everything in our power to discourage it.
7. Trade Pacts - I'd renegotiate all existing 'free trade' pacts to include 'fair trade' provisions and enforce the 'fair trade' provisions that already exist but are not enforced.  Many of these free trade pacts have had a negative impact on middle class Americans, shouldn't we all be playing on an even playing field?  
8. Dream Act - we live in a country made up of immigrants, I don't see an issue with keeping the best and brightest immigrants here.  There are lots of economic benefits to this too. It's also not too realistic that we can round up all of the illegal immigrants and ship them out of the country anyways.  Pass the Dream Act.
9. Single Payer Healthcare -  we pay more for healthcare than any other country in the world yet our healthcare system ranks #37 in the world, that's not acceptable.  It also appalls me that millions of Americans are going without healthcare.  Obamacare was a step in the right direction, but we can still do better.  
10. Assault Weapon Ban - nobody needs to own an assault weapon, they were designed for warfare, that's what they should be used for.  I'm tired of all the mass killings, it's time for action.  
11. Tax Reform - it's not right that the wealthy are paying less in taxes than those in the middle class, implementing the Buffet Rule would be a good starting point.  There's also absolutely no reason that dividends and capital gains shouldn't be taxed as income, let's fix that.  Putting an end to offshore tax havens should also be a priority as should stiffer penalties for tax evasion.  I'd also institute the Financial Transaction Tax. 
12. Legalize Marijuana - our war on drugs is not going anywhere, a different approach is needed.  Is marijuana really any worse than alcohol?  There's economic benefits to legalization too.  It's time to legalize it, regulate it and tax it.    
13. Campaign Finance Reform - the Citizens United ruling was an atrocity and needs to be repealed.  Being that it's doubtful that the U.S. Supreme Court will reverse it's decision the only answer is a constitution amendment forbidding corporate personhood, let's get it done. We need to get money out of politics and this would be a good start.  
14. Supreme Court Term Limits - why do Supreme Court Justices have lifetime terms?  That's ridiculously long, how about 1 ten year term, then out with the old and in with the new. 
15. Ban the Death Penalty - it's barbaric, it's racially biased, it's costly, it's entirely possible we are sending innocent people to their death, most of the civilized world has already outlawed it, it's time we follow suit.  
16. Legalize Prostitution - why are we prohibiting the actions of consenting adults?  Legalize it, regulate it, tax it and I wouldn't have an issue with it.  Regulating it would of course be the key.  
17. Reform Social Security - why would anybody want to end this program?  It's been wildly successful.  There's an easy fix too, just remove (or raise) the cap on income subject to social security taxes.  Most people pay this tax on 100% of their income, why doesn't this apply to everybody? 
18. Save the Post Office - another easy fix, the Republicans manufactured the crisis within the post office (I assume to privatize it and to rid themselves of a powerful union) by forcing the USPS to pre-fund their pension plans 75 years in advance and gave them 10 years to do it.  What business do you know of that could survive that type of stipulation?  Remove that arbitrarily selected 75 year funding limit (or lower to say 10-15 years) and problem solved.  I don't want to privatize this service, I doubt they could do it as cheaply or as effectively.  I also don't want to see the end of Saturday mail. 
19. End Affirmative Action - it had it's purpose, it was needed at one time, it did what it was suppose to do, but it's jumped the shark, all it leads to now is a form of reverse discrimination, academic mismatches and negative psychological tolls, it's time to end it.  Let's judge people on their merits, not on their race, sex, age or sexual preference.  
20. Legalize Gay Marriage - if two people love each other and want to share their lives together, who are we to tell them no?   Let's keep government out of the bedrooms, what happens between 2 consenting adults should only be of concern of those consenting adults.