If you were the president how would you get rid of the corruption?

[rudder]

I'd force all institutions to be open like wikipedia or something, including the CIA.

I guess you wouldn't need the CIA then. As much as you hate it... there needs to be some stuff that is top secret.

Now to end corruption and abuse... why not try a more sensible approach.. like accountability for ones actions? Look at the latest government scandal... fast and furious. One person involved was canned... the others got promoted.

government employees have been caught using government credit cards to go to strip clubs... I guarantee each offender is still a civil servant.

No one is running the place. The reason there is no accountability is because the president appoints directors and such. If these directors had to enforce accountability... it would look as if the whole department is a mess which makes the sitting president look bad.

 

[yllus]

I think I'd launch a concerted, four-year-long drive to simplify all forms of legislation: Tax code, the manner in which government functions, environmental and business regulations and criminal/common law.

Simplification would be aimed at removing the opportunity to become corrupt. A tax form for an individual that is one page with no deductions and two pages for corporations with no deductions isn't just more transparent but also more fair: Big business has the time and money to spend looking for creative loopholes while smaller businesses and individuals do not. Same thing with the courts: Rich defendants will find a way, those who have public defenders simply can't afford real justice.

Be nice to have a sunset-clause-by-default for all new laws going forward too. Something like ten or twenty years, but a default clause nonetheless.

 

[fskimospy]

I guess you wouldn't need the CIA then. As much as you hate it... there needs to be some stuff that is top secret.

Now to end corruption and abuse... why not try a more sensible approach.. like accountability for ones actions? Look at the latest government scandal... fast and furious. One person involved was canned... the others got promoted.

government employees have been caught using government credit cards to go to strip clubs... I guarantee each offender is still a civil servant.

No one is running the place.

Uhmm, I guarantee you each offender is not still a civil servant. Depending on the severity of the transgression there could be different punishments, but someone at my command was busted for abusing the ship's credit card and they were court martialed for it. There was also a credit card scandal at the post office awhile back, and a number of people were fired for abusing credit cards.

You can say that the abuse is still a problem and not enough is being done to address it, but to say that people aren't fired or harshly punished for these abuses is simply false.

 

[AMFMQAM]

Pity me, for I am a 9/11 truther who is off his meds.

 

[Ausm]

Simple solution would be to give Congress an Enema.

 

[Argo]

Increase punishment. Doesn't china have death penalty.

 

[Siddhartha]

I'd force all institutions to be open like wikipedia or something, including the CIA.

Please provide examples of the corruption you are talking about.

 

[Deudalus]

Increase punishment. Doesn't china have death penalty.

Death penalty does nothing.

Texas has the highest rate of capital punishment and also one of the highest rates per capita of murder last I checked.

 

[SpatiallyAware]

It really is a trick question. Anyone that had an agenda to fix corruption would never even get close to office.

 

[Pens1566]

Remove corporate personhood. Term limits. Bans/limits on former govt. employees from working for or on behalf of lobbying groups. Campaign finance reform, possibly public financing, regulate timeframe when campaigning could occur. Just a start.

 

[PingSpike]

Any reforms that could reduce corruption, including the legal kind would be blocked by the people that put them in place and benefit from them (congress). Acknowledging the futility of my goal when viewed against the limitations of the presidency I would resign and have a drink.

In order to actually remove or even just reduce corruption I would need real power.

But SpatiallyAware is right. Anyone that actually was serious about corruption and had a chance of winning would have been stamped out by the rest of the group from the start. The American political machine is a giant beast that is primarily concerned with feeding itself. The most hilarious part is most of us have deluded ourselves into thinking we have some measure of control over it, when really all they do is allow us to choose the color of our casket.

 

[Jaskalas]

Parallelism.

Feds would collect NO taxes directly. States would opt in to individual federal programs by providing the .gov with the money. All 50 states would be granted as much freedom as humanly possible to provide and care for their own people as they see fit.

All our eggs would no longer be in one, corrupt, basket.

 

[Tab]

Deporting Republicans and removing religious persons is still the best idea. None of you sissys can defeat it.

 

[JS80]

Deport all Republicans.

What about him http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_J._Jefferson#Corruption_case

 

[Tab]

What about him http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_J._Jefferson#Corruption_case

Just send him to a gulag, I think we should institute those as well. Same with kids that don't do school work, might as well put them to good use.

 

[Gintaras]

I'd force all institutions to be open like wikipedia or something, including the CIA.

When you dream while you asleep - it's ok, when you start dreaming while you awake - mental condition that needs medical attention....

 

[Zebo]

I'd open a prison system in Somalia.

a) gives aid to Africa
b) would be a hell of a lot cheaper
c) zero recidivism guranteed.

 

[IGBT]

I'd ban your obama from pissing tax revenue away on green hoaxes like the half-billion-dollar loan to the solar-panel manufacturer Solyndra OMB officials expressed concern that they were being rushed to approve the company’s project without adequate time to assess the risk to taxpayers..Solyndra collapsed two weeks ago, leaving taxpayers liable for the $535 million loan that your obama signed off on.

 

[sarsipias1234]

Most presidents are severely limited in their powers.

If I had absolute power I would demand absolute transparency of all government including the CIA.

The government is so corrupt that they now believe that people are guilty until proven innocent.

This is in direct conflict with the Constitution which states that people are innocent until proven guilty.

"We might hope to see the finances of the Union as clear and intelligible as a merchant's books, so that every member of Congress and every man of any mind in the Union should be able to comprehend them, to investigate abuses, and consequently to control them."

--Thomas Jefferson, 1802

 

[rakzum]

I guess you wouldn't need the CIA then. As much as you hate it... there needs to be some stuff that is top secret.

Now to end corruption and abuse... why not try a more sensible approach.. like accountability for ones actions? Look at the latest government scandal... fast and furious. One person involved was canned... the others got promoted.

government employees have been caught using government credit cards to go to strip clubs... I guarantee each offender is still a civil servant.

No one is running the place. The reason there is no accountability is because the president appoints directors and such. If these directors had to enforce accountability... it would look as if the whole department is a mess which makes the sitting president look bad.

Brazil military spending 100,000

U.S. military spending 1,000,000,000

You don't need a CIA if you stop inciting Muslims to bomb the shit out of hegemankees.

 

[piasabird]

Quit my job!

 

[Cr0nJ0b]

take the money out of politics.

Force all candidates to run for election with a small amount of public money. Nothing more.

Make lobbying illegal completely.

Don't allow for any political ads on either side by anyone other than the candidates.

 

[Ausm]

What about him http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_J._Jefferson#Corruption_case

You assholes tried to impeach him lead by Newt (Who was having his own affair on the side at the SAME time )and see how well that worked?

 

[QuantumPion]

All power corrupts. The only way to end corruption is thus to end power. This was the purpose of the constitution. Return the federal government to only doing what it can legally do and 99% of corruption is eliminated.