How America can fix its Corrupt and Broken Government
It is obvious by now to anyone who is paying attention that the US government has gone completely off the rails. Rife with corruption, plagued with self-serving, and infested with charlatans and grifters; the American government has begun to resemble the dysfunctional and anti-democratic governments of failed states and totalitarian regimes.
What is responsible for this failure of what was once considered to be the best form of government? Simple. Lack of accountability. For years now, the American people have watched as elected leaders and other political operatives get away with corruption, lying, cheating, back-door dealing, spouting propaganda, misleading the American people, war crimes, theft, incitements to violence, attempted treason, sedition, and in every other way breaking their oaths of office for their own financial and political gain.
The problem however, is that as we’ve now seen, there is precious little accountability for politicians, no matter how reprehensible their actions. Most of what we see is a censure which is the equivalent of a parent telling a child who has committed a serious offense, tsk tsk. It carries zero weight. Even at best what we see is ejection from office, but that isn’t a punishment. It may be a personal embarrassment, but hardly punishment for grave misdeeds.
And this is particularly strange when what we have heard from our political leaders for decades now is the need for harsh law and order to deter criminals. We’ll throw someone in jail for 25 years over a petty crime like stealing a hammer or carrying an insignificant amount of marijuana. We’re told these harsh measures are necessary to teach a lesson and to convince others to not commit such crimes. Yet, that same degree of law and order doesn’t apply to our political figures. On the contrary, all lawlessness seems acceptable in government.
So, how can we fix this problem? First, it must be noted that in a nation led by elected representatives there can be no such thing as treason against the government. There can only be treason against the people, for the government is but the representative of the people. Even attempts by nefarious actors to overthrow segments of the US government (local, state, federal) is not treason against the government. Rather, it is treason against the American people who have democratically elected those in office. Within that premise is the solution.
It is time to start holding our elected representatives and other political figures accountable for their malfeasance, and to a much higher degree than the American people themselves are held to, for they are entrusted with the well being of the nation.
It is time for the federal government to pass the Treason Against the American People Act. The act would cover a multitude of sins and do much to curb the political corruption running amok in US government at every level.
Treason against the American People Act
Any elected public official or other political or government operative found guilty of the following crimes shall be guilty of having committed treason against the American people and punished accordingly.
1. Any action, decision, vote, or legislating which causes significant harm to the American people, society, the nation, or the planet.
2. Lying, misleading, or misinforming the American people; including dissemination of disinformation and/or misinformation.
3. Contesting, without evidence, and/or after case disproven, any election at any level of government within any of these United States of America.
4. Financially benefiting from office including; stock and trading, revolving door between government and corporate America, campaign contributions in exchange for favors, legislation, appointments, or business contracts, or any other financial benefit in exchange for favoritism, which entails betrayal of oath to the American people.
5. Denial of and actively working against (in any form including social media posts) humankind’s best science and information at the time. For example, working against evidence of climate change or the seriousness of the coronavirus outbreak; particularly when such actions can reasonably be argued to be self-serving, rather than in the best interest of the American people, or cause grave harm such as hundreds of thousands of American deaths.
6. Any attempts whatsoever, and in any form, to suppress or disenfranchise voters. Including gerrymandering.
7. Suppression of information including; government documents, research, data, journalism, or any other information that is the American people’s right to know. Also to include forbidding or otherwise interfering with an expert or knowledgeable individual from speaking to the public.
8. Manipulation in any form of; information, data, pictures, documents, evidence, research, texts, emails, or other source of information or evidence.
9. Any attempts to legislate morality (not to be confused with ethics). Examples would be LGBTQ rights, abortion, or sex work.
10. Any attempts to cheat the electoral process.
11. Any actions which promulgate, promote, or perpetuate social divisiveness, violence against any person or groups of people, or otherwise seeks to undermine the stability of society and the nation, or set the American people against one another for political gain.
12. Psychological and emotional manipulation. It is time to put an end to the absurd and acrimonious election nonsense in America. Candidates running for office should be elected based on their individual merits; education, past government experience, voting record, public record, etc., and not on their rhetoric, appeals to emotions, fear mongering, empty promises, casting aspersions on other candidates, mudslinging, falsehoods, propaganda, or other forms of psychological and emotional manipulation.
(This is easy to accomplish and would save the American people millions of dollars annually wasted on political campaigns. Running for public office should be precisely like applying for any job. It should consist of the submission of a resume to include; education, past experience, and voting record if any, verification of past experience, education, and any other claims, an extensive background check, and lastly, an in depth and intense one on one interview. This could easily replace costly campaigns and performative politics).
13. Any evidence, no matter how small, of any other political corruption or betrayal of oath of office, constituents, or the American people.
Other criteria could be added of course, but this is a good start. Nor should it be particularly difficult to pass something like this at the federal level. The sole responsibility of both elected officials as well as federal and supreme court judges is to the American people. As such, there should be no push back against a law which seeks specifically to protect the American people from the abuses of those in power.
Detractors would be admitting that their loyalty is NOT to the American people, and that they are either already guilty of Treason Against the American People, or plan to be while in office. There is simply no defensible objection to passing a law such as this to better regulate those sworn to look after the best interests of the nation and its people.
As a final point, such a law should also be considered the highest crime in the nation and likewise, deserving of the harshest punishment. Given our current criminal justice system that leaves two options; either life in prison (actual prison, not some federal country club) with no eligibility for parole or capital punishment.
And, while the American people as a culture are moving away from support of capital punishment, in instances such as these, when those who have been elected to public office and entrusted with the well being of the nation and its people betray those who have elected them, such harshness may still be necessary. For as our political leaders so often tell us, only through strict law and order can we eliminate such transgressions.
