1. Corruption
2. Government sanctioned two party monopoly
3. Fiscal irresponsibility
4. Lack of Government responsiveness to the needs of voters 

There are three hundred million known Citizens in America. About nine million live in New Jersey. There are a lot of extraordinary brains in this group. Among them, many are capable of solving the government problems that continue to grow each year. Unfortunately, they are not in control.  

These problems materialized as the Republican and Democratic Parties worked together to build their dynasties. They created laws that prevented a responsible government from coming into existence. They created a “Power Party” concept that eliminates the possibility of electing candidates that are not part of their good ‘ole boy network. 

The only solution to this mess is to have free and open elections. We need elections that encourage the availability of candidates with common sense and fiscally responsible ideas that are based on rational thinking.

Many of the tactics needed to bring about these elections are listed below. We must implement every proposal discussed. The list will be expanded and modified from time to time.   

Mandatory Term Limits  

 Over the course of many years, it is possible for a politician to do a lot of favors. Consequently, voters keep sending that same politician back to the same office. This “tit for tat” is a reflection of human nature and it will not change. 

 Unfortunately, officials become stale when they get comfortable in their positions. Just as impose term limits on presidents, governors, and some mayors, we should also impose term limits on all state and federal legislators. 

 The US Term Limits organzation conducted a study a few years ago which indicated that freshly elected public officials are less likely to waste money, more responsive to voters needs, and less likely to become corrupted.

 Elected officials do not own their positions. We need a constant turnover that will promote fresh ideas and new energy.  

 New Jersey must start the process to require mandatory term limits as soon as the next legislature convenes.   

Eliminate Primaries

 One of the best ways to equalize the political field would be to eliminate primary elections. 

 Primary elections are a sham. They are designed solely for Republicans and Democrats. They legitimize the one party system because they are designed to prevent other Parties from using them. NJ residents are paying for primary elections that have no other value than to offer free advertising for the political parties that have already chosen their candidates behind closed doors. 

 The only solution to this problem would be to eliminate all government operated primaries. Each party would be required to nominate their own candidates, which is what they do anyway. This would not only save money for taxpayers, it would not legitimize the parties that have the most money to spend. As Citizens see that there are good candidates available from sources other than power party, backdoor selection committees, we will start to see the fresh blood. 

Voting machines must be auditable. 

After you enter your vote into a computerized election device, you do not know what happens to it. There is no way to determine if the election computers accurately recorded your vote. There is no way to determine if the final result reported by the computer is accurate. And there is no way to recover lost votes if the voting computer crashes. 

If a business used this type of accounting to prove their tax liability to the IRS or to report their operations to investors, the company would not last very long.

Any good accountant or business analyst can design a bulletproof system that could be auditable by the general public. There have been several excellent books and articles published on how to build a reliable voting system. Let’s use them.

In the meantime, the only way to assure accurate election results is to return to paper ballots. This should be done immediately. As soon as reliable citizen auditing is possible with digital voting, we can consider a return to electronic voting machines. 

Only voters should be allowed to contribute to campaigns 

 It is absurd to allow organizations, such as business groups and other non-profit corporations, to vote. Yet, they donate money through PACS. This money is used to influence voters, which gives these groups more power than they should be allowed to exercise. These PACs generally limit their financial support to the power parties. 

 Individual voters should be the source of all donations. After we have free and open elections that do not give preference to party monopolies, we can consider removing all restrictions on donations.

 Eliminate the Pro Power Finance Laws

State and federal campaign finance laws are supposed to stop the buying and selling of votes. In effect, however, they legalize vote buying and vote selling for the Republicans and Democrats, while making it difficult for Citizen oriented parties to use traditional means to raise money and run efficient campaigns. 
 

First, there are the non-consumer oriented PACS that were previously discussed.

 Then there is the time and money expense caused by compliance and record keeping. Republicans and Democrats have established a method of maintaining campaign record keeping at the lowest possible cost. On the other hand, all other candidates must develop their own systems, which drain a larger portion of their valuable time and money resources.

 Government employees tend to develop systems that assume that people are guilty until proven innocent. We must live under those systems.

 Another problem is the requirement to collect information from each contributor. In the past, it was possible to “pass around a hat” in a group. Candidates would be able to raise $25 to $50 per meeting. Candidates would also be able to circulate in public, such as in a parade, and have people shake hands with a $20 bill.

These small contributions are the basis of most citizen campaigns. But they are no longer available because of a requirement that every candidate collect the name, address, occupation, and employer of every contributor. The request for this information destroys the “point of sale” emotional value needed to obtain some of these smaller contributions.       

 Here is the bottom line. The current set of laws that we use for elections have not given us a better government. We must work together as Citizens to inform politicans that we are through with thier nonsense. And then we must vote against them and establish systems that are in our best interests.