The Birth of a Party
 

This is kind of bleed over from another thread, but there is no point in completely hijacking that thread so i decided to start it here.

So first of all - would you be willing to abandon your current party for a new one? If so, what should be the basic tenets of our existence?

I believe that we could greatly improve the political game of the US by changing the very nature of the election cycle. Instead of having different terms of office with long and bitter battles for reelection we should change a few things.
We are forming a new party which will have the following four changes as the central theme for the party's activities:

1) All national offices (house, senate, president) should be limited to one, six year term
2) Elections should be held every November with a portion of the positions up for grabs at any given time
3) Lobby groups and 527's are abolished immediately (any lobbiest found in DC will be shot on site. any office holder found to have met with them is immediately dismissed
4) A flat tax on any earnings over $25,000 annually, no loopholes or deductions. percentage to be determined

Those are the basic tenets of the Party. What other planks should we have in our platform?

Big vs small gov't
isolationist, expansionist, world cop?

I guess I should point ou that i support the one, six year term because i think most politicians want to leave a positive legacy but end up spinning their wheels trying to get reelected. If they didn't have to worry about that then it would motivate them to work hard to accomplish their goals in the only term they get.

I would say that they can run for the same office after their term is over and they have gone through another 6 year cycle.
Also they can run for a different office but must sit out one year, that way they cannot take time away from their duties to worry about the next election. remember there will be elections for different offices every year.

example:

2005 - elected to house
2011 - leave office
2012 - run for senate and get elected
2018 - leave office
2019 - run for house or presidency

I've only ever been registered as an independent and am voting for Badnarik this election because I believe in many of the platforms of the candidate. In 2000, I supported John McCain. I believe him to be an independent, logical thinker.

I think some of your ideas are good, although it's hard to know how things would work in practice.
1) one term - there would be a lot of turnover in government, which could both be good and bad.
4) I am all for a flat tax.

By the way, what is the name of the new party?

No offense, but big woop. As an educated person who keeps up with political news more than the average person, I don't see that it matters a lick what party I'm a member of, except to determine which primary (if any) I vote in. As an average joe on the street, whichever party's ideas I may identify with, why does it matter to me what party I'm a "member" of? And what makes you think your effort will be any more successful than those of previous "third parties" of recent memory?

I personally think political parties have done more harm than good. So I may be more inclined to dismiss the idea out of hand.

I guess I should rephrase what I said: "I wanted to John McCain to win"
I didn't actually vote for him in the primary's because I'm not a registered Republican

I don't vote-- there are no Wiccan candidates.

*falls over grabbing chest*

holy crap brianna - we need to fix this situation immediately. they may all be slightly different versions of the central asshat theme, but you still need to vote.

I never got to choose beer before... I like voting much more now.

ok folks - thanks for voting, but let's see if we can turn my quickly sinking thread around. i know we aren't forming a new party - hell i'm a pretty die hard independent myself. the point was to see what kind of party we would create if we had the option.

if we were to create a new party what would be the important features or touchstones of the party?
you are all free to throw out suggestions.

Or use the entire six years to steal as much as possible and take care of people that might employ them in the future, seeing as they can't get retreaded anyway. :(

A corporation is not a person.

if they were assured of only one term would the real crooks really be drawn to these positions still?

Oh, oh, oh, I'm confused about selection #7 -- what happens if my Kommissar isn't in town?

You're in his eye
And you'll know why
The more you live
The faster you will die

I'll go for the beer.

Makes for a far better party.

I think we tried to start a new political party here once before. The Aloyicious Party, IIRC. Named after one of the guy's dogs.