Healthy Democracy

January 6th was a horror. I condemn violence as a means of overturning elections. Debate and free speech are acceptable, but never fierce behavior. There are more important  goals than winning elections - like a healthy democracy. I propose reforms below for trust in elections, voter fraud, safety of elected officials, safety of elections staff, speedy trials, ending Gerrymandering, and seating representatives by state instead of party so that they actually talk to each other and start acting like healthy human beings instead of vicious hate mongers.Elections Trust. 

According to an Axios poll, more than a quarter of Americans doubt President Biden legitimately won the 2020 presidential election and another 16% are unsure. Our nation cannot maintain a healthy democracy when so many believe elections are illegitimate. It is important to have monitoring systems in place that ensure honest vote counting reasonable people can trust. Equally important is politicians themselves must stop questioning elections when they know, in private, it was not “rigged.”  In sports we despise sore losers. Hold politicians to the same standard as athletes: if you lose, don’t whine, don’t make baseless claims of fraud. There are more important things than whether you won, buddy… like the will of the people.Safety of Our Leaders. Politicians increasingly receive death or other threats, and endure people harassing them outside their own homes, where they are supposed to live normal lives. We need to protect politicians and have law enforcement quickly go after anyone who dares to threaten the safety of elected officials and their family.Safety of Elections Staff.  Many thousands of decent, honorable citizens, man the polling stations.  Often for free. There are sickos in the country who harass and threaten those decent people working to make sure elections run smoothly. We must have local law enforcement quickly go after anyone who dares to threaten people working so hard to make democracy work. We should have zero tolerance for anyone who threatens election staff. Zero tolerance  Election Fraud. Concern about election security predates 2020. Many instances of election fraud have been investigated and found to have altered the outcome of elections. I attach below some of them. I propose federal legislation requiring all voters show an accepted form of identification with address, name, verifiable signature, Social Security number, or picture. I propose reforms that ensure people only vote once, dead people are eliminated from voting records, and non-citizens remain ineligible to vote. The danger to democracy comes not from those who allege election fraud, but those who smugly and stubbornly overlook honesty and simply say, "trust us.”Seat Delegations by State. I offer an important reform to improve relations in Washington: require politicians to sit by state in Congress and the Senate. They currently sit by party on the left and right side. Our original Congress of the 1780s sat according to state. Let’s return to such healthy roots. Let representatives from each state sit together, look each other in the eye, talk about family, ask of the other’s health or upcoming legislation. Make them interact like healthy humans. Likewise in all 50 states legislations. It’s time for our politicians to meet each other and show courtesy - and set a healthy example to our children.Gerrymandering. Drawing district borders to benefit a political party plagues politics. It’s unfair to voters. I offer a plan beautiful in its simplicity and logic: boundaries based upon counties made as "rectangular or square as physically possible."  I call it The Fair Square Districting Act.  It would reduce corruption by eliminating bizarre district shapes that are so common. It will take courage for politicians to act in the best interests of America and earn votes the right way - not by bizarrely shaped districts. A New York Times analysis concluded that only 40 of the 435 congressional seats are competitive. End this shady practice! A more detailed discussion on gerrymandering is on the website below.Speedy Trial. Some involved with January 6 spent years waiting in prison for trial. No one, from common criminals to potentially innocent people, should sit in prison for unfairly long periods awaiting trial. It is a reminder that our judicial system needs major reform. In many cities in America, sixth amendment rights to speedy trial are not enforced, partly because courts are so underfunded. There’s no excuse to justify people sitting in person for six to 12 months awaiting trial.We have to live together as a nation. Tolerance of ideas is at the foundation of our country. Many talk of breaking the union. It must stop. We are one country, and that means we must cooperate with people who we don’t agree with. The above reforms will be will be a good start in repairing our wounded democracy.          ——————————-Voter fraud cases published in the New York Times et al:Mark Harris 2018 race in NC 9th.   Article covers mail ballot fraud in mutable cases   Hector Ramirez NY 86th Assembly 2014   2020 Patterson NJ Dem primary thrown out