by Jack Lee
The year is 2059 and in order to save our State dramatic election reforms were necessary. The election rules over the past 5 years were changed for candidates running for the State Office to stop the growing corruption and incompetence in office. Similar federal laws were also enacted because the quality of their elections were also under seige. The following is a brief summary of what it took to finally restore the integrity of the election process:
These are not magic bullet reforms, just simple, no non-sense reforms that in a way make elections almost boring, but boring is good because this means they are absent scandals.
We start with a token gesture that sets the mood. The filing fee. There is no longer a candidate filing fee. Money or a lack thereof, was held to be a poor determining factor for who runs and who doesn’t. We found it was only necessary to qualify candidates to run by having them personally obtain 1000 signatures from his/her district in a 60 day filing period.
Once qualified, the candidates must attend at least 8 town hall meetings across their district or be disqualified. These appearances are open to the public and free of charge.
Only one ad, a mass mailer, is now allowed and it goes out in the 4th week before the election day. The timing of this was to allow the opposition to respond to any personal accusations in a rebuttal mailer in 3rd week. Too many elections were being scandalized by devious 11th hour hit pieces, mass mailers and ad blitzes and that low tactic had to go! At first candidates shreeked this was a violation of the 1st Ammendment, but the people said their false ads and mailers were an abuse of the 1st Ammendment and they won. The people said they wanted to see more of the candidates in person, and they did not want to be subjected to an inundation of mass mailers. This made sense and to protect the integrity of the election process the Supreme Court agree the ads of mass deception had to go. Common sense prevailed!
We have finally learned elections should be only about recruiting the best possible candidates to represent the people. We do that by encouraging more people to step forward to run, and in-turn this brings voters more choices and injects more ideas into the race. By enacting these no cost reforms we have a more level playing field for candidates to get their REAL message out… it is both fair and prudent to operate this way. The voters are finally free from all the manipulations by professional campaign consultants! Voters were disgusted with those increasingly aggressive fake slate mailers, the fake polls, the fake endorsements, and the big money influence that bought elections for special interests.
Under the new rules whatever is said in the election must come from the candidates mouth; then its on the record and there is no deniability.
Today’s candidates have been freed from raising vast sums of money and all the unhealthy obligations that came with it. This has had a dramatic effect in the quality of legislation and California government is now among the best run in the nation.
In 2059 candidates are left to run on their own abilities and that is exactly how it should be. Elections have been returned to the people! If it isn’t, the current course of corruption says that by 2059 we won’t have elections, we will morely have selections.