Shower thought: what if we didn't have a President? 

"DC3 LS, Fuck Hyundai, now and forever" (eg6) 07/05/2018 at 08:49 • Filed to: None

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What if instead of having a President and VP, the population just directly voted for the secretaries (secretary of state, defense, treasury, etc) who would run the various departments of the federal government.

Since the VP acts as the speaker of the house does, but for the Senate. The new leader of the Senate could be either decided the same way the speaker of the house is, or could be voted on by all senators.

Veto power would be given to the secretaries, any two secretaries could veto any bill regardless of the subject.

Now as for who’s going to assume the more diplomatic and figure head functions of the President, that would be the Secretary of State since that’s already part of that job already.

Ideally the point of this would be that it’d allow voters to vote on more specific issues that they’re knowledgeable or passionate about without having to compromise with a package deal. Meanwhile a system like this would potentially reduce the importance of things like personality and image, since I think people would be less likely to vote for Secretary of Treasury based on “how much they’d like to have a beer with them” than the President. Since each position wouldn’t get nearly as much attention as the Presidency. I also don’t think politically disinterested people would feel as obligated to vote. Since a bunch of Secretaries sounds way less important than The President and wouldn’t get the same media coverage The President gets . And again, if they’re only interested or knowledgeable in one or two fields, than they can just vote for those couple positions and not care about the rest.

And lastly and the bestest reason.

Voting for more people = moar  Freedom = MOAR GOODER.

Nibby > DC3 LS, Fuck Hyundai, now and forever 07/05/2018 at 08:53

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VOTE SCOOB/NIBBY 2020

DC3 LS, Fuck Hyundai, now and forever > Nibby 07/05/2018 at 08:59

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Y’all will be the chosen ones , just make sure to destroy the Presidency, not become it!

PartyPooper2012 > DC3 LS, Fuck Hyundai, now and forever 07/05/2018 at 09:00

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There would probably be no corrupt colluding secretaries. 

Nibby > DC3 LS, Fuck Hyundai, now and forever 07/05/2018 at 09:05

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We will transcend humanity.

pip bip - choose Corrour > DC3 LS, Fuck Hyundai, now and forever 07/05/2018 at 09:12

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Jason Torchinsky for Transport secretary.

Tekamul > DC3 LS, Fuck Hyundai, now and forever 07/05/2018 at 09:18

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We should just reduce presidential powers significantly, putting more into the hands of the House and Senate.

However, that also puts more importance on actual fair voting weights in the House and Senate, which requires voter reform to fight gerrymandering, and a balancing of House seats to reflect actual populations (CA has 1 representative for every 746k people, WY has 1 for 568 k). This would likely cause a greater rift in House vs. Senate (House would be more D because of pop. density in cities, Senate would be more R reflecting the outsized representation of rural areas in states w/o big cities) , but maybe they could get some actual compromises through.

But it would probably be a better system. The President is just a cheerleader to go drum up relationships.

DC3 LS, Fuck Hyundai, now and forever > pip bip - choose Corrour 07/05/2018 at 09:23

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I can’t wait for vehicles with more than 3 cylinders or an even number of doors to be banned!

MonkeePuzzle > DC3 LS, Fuck Hyundai, now and forever 07/05/2018 at 09:25

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did you vote in the recent local elections for all those minor seemingly unimpressive positions we do get to vote for?

becuase that’d make you in the VAST minority. Most folks don’t vote for all the little positions. 

My bird IS the word > DC3 LS, Fuck Hyundai, now and forever 07/05/2018 at 09:26

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Yur key to better elections. ... is less people voting? You may not be wrong.

DC3 LS, Fuck Hyundai, now and forever > MonkeePuzzle 07/05/2018 at 09:27

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Exactly! Less people would be voting over repetitive talking points that often oversimplify  things, and more voters would be people who are actually knowledgeable.

Sampsonite24-Earth's Least Likeliest Hero > DC3 LS, Fuck Hyundai, now and forever 07/05/2018 at 09:29

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Man, my shower thoughts mainly consist of Audrey Plaza and Allison Brie making out. your shits deep. that said if you put that much power into congress then you also have to impose term limits on them as well. no more congressmen sitting in their positions for 20-30 years.

fintail > DC3 LS, Fuck Hyundai, now and forever 07/05/2018 at 09:32

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Not gonna happen.  The president gives people something to complain about, and distracts them from actual issues. The current one knows this, and goes into full yap mode when his neofascist cronies try to pull something over on everyone.

SilentButNotReallyDeadly...killed by G/O Media > Nibby 07/05/2018 at 09:33

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Yes but what about the humanity you'll leave behind?

shop-teacher > DC3 LS, Fuck Hyundai, now and forever 07/05/2018 at 09:36

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Someone will always find a way to wrangle the power. The most powerful person in Illinois is the Speaker of our House. A crooked lawyer named Mike Madigan . He’s way more powerful than the governor, has no term limits, and has his district locked down. He’s le d this state right into the fucking ground, and unless and until he retires or dies, we’re fucked in Illinois.

Now , you may wonder, if he’s crooked, why isn’t he prosecuted? Well , the Illinois Attorney General is a woman named Lisa Madigan ... His daughter.

SilentButNotReallyDeadly...killed by G/O Media > DC3 LS, Fuck Hyundai, now and forever 07/05/2018 at 09:37

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Australia doesn't have a president. We have a prime minister...and we don't vote for him or her. The appointee is their at the whim of the party who has the most seats in the lower house. We vote for whomsoever wants a seat...

and 100 more > Sampsonite24-Earth's Least Likeliest Hero 07/05/2018 at 09:43

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Cannot star this hard enough.

Ash78, voting early and often > DC3 LS, Fuck Hyundai, now and forever 07/05/2018 at 09:46

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/quick and dirty

Nibby > SilentButNotReallyDeadly...killed by G/O Media 07/05/2018 at 09:50

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They will be left to rot.

MrDakka > DC3 LS, Fuck Hyundai, now and forever 07/05/2018 at 10:08

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Welcome to Russia, because that's what having two secretaries will ultimately end up as.

ranwhenparked > DC3 LS, Fuck Hyundai, now and forever 07/05/2018 at 21:20

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You would have a collective head of state, like North Korea (Presidium of the Supreme People’s Assembly) and Switzerland (Federal Council) have -actually, basically identical to the Swiss model, since North Korea separates the role of head of government into a different body.

At any rate, you’d still need someone to guide the workings of the cabinet, set the overall agenda/policy, hold the members accountable to their jobs, serve as chief spokesman, and perform the various other tasks that a whole roomful of people can’t all do together as a matter of practicality (eg, accepting credentials of ambassadors, attending international meetings of other heads of state/government, hosting visiting heads of state, etc.). That person, Chairman of the Cabinet, or whatever, would become the defacto head of state. Weaker than an executive president, sure, but still there.

It would probably be functionally similar to how the United States was before we had an executive branch, in which the President of the Congress acted as the defacto head of state and head of government in the absence of any other single leader, even though he was only actually elected as a member of Congress.