Why not create 'The People's House,' for a tricameral congress?
Question:
DETAILS:
1. Anyone can join the People's House.
2. Held mostly online, with alternative access to vote at public schools.
3. The People's House exists sequentially below the House of Reps.
4. Bills passed through the People's House go up to the House of Reps.
5. Add yours here.------
BENEFITS:
1. Democratic participation -- people can make things happen
2. Social awareness -- the intermingling of the People's House and the Press
3. Congressional accountability -- the People's House more closely reflects public opinion, against which to measure the interests of the House of Reps and the Senate.
4. Add yours here.-----
Answer:
Not sure of all the possible political ramifications here, but it seems to me that this would allow universal participation and basically make the other two houses unnecessary. The other members of congress are supposed to act as intermediaries between the people and the government and to represent the people. If the people have direct say on what happens then there's no need for the intermediaries, which means no need for politicians... I like it!
Problem is that we have a hard enough time with voter education. The advantage of having politicians is that it is their full time job to be familiar with the issues in order to make good, educated and informed decisions (you can argue how often this actually works), very few Americans have the time to stay that "up" on the issues.
Interesting idea though.
No. Ummm... no.
The representative structure of our government, and the original intent of the Senate, was to protect us from rash decisions in the heat of passion. Considering the level of rhetoric and outright deception that our people have not only been subjected to but responded to, your suggestion would expose us to the results of rash decisions to a degree that would probably cause the collapse of the country.
Just consider one example; after 9/11 Bush enjoyed very high popularity and nearly anything he wanted was given to him - in fact, nearly everything he wanted WAS given to him. Fast forward a few short years and now everyone is pointing fingers because the results were disastrous, and Bush's popularity is at an all time low.
Our government is bad enough without being subjected to public opinion of the moment, driven by propaganda and rhetoric.
wow, now this is some scarry stuff..
No. It will not solve anything. First of all. That is what the House of Representatives was set up to be. A 'People's House' This would solve nothing.
Ahhhh, The House of Representatives IS called The Peoples House.
That's because any citizen can be a member, and every citizen has a direct vote for their Representative.
What you are asking for is an end to the government of the United States, see we live in a Representative Democracy, not a Direct Democracy.
This sounds like making law by taking public opinion polls, and it don't sound good.
Just look at all the incredibly stupid people on AnswersRoom.com and see why this is a crazy idea.
The people's branch of Congress is the House, we do not need to create any more red tape to slow up needed legislation. And anyone joining, do you mean in the world, age, etc. This is not something that an American would want others from the world running our government. And on line would definitely be open to manipulation. We have one of the finest government systems out there to create involvement,people just have to be active. No need for more confusion.
Public opinion where an issue can change day to day depending on that days poll no that would not be democratic but anarchy. The general population does not take the time to be fully informed on issues to be given this voting block on issues.
This idea is retarded. If you know history, then you know pure democracy does not work in large countries. It has only ever worked in small city-states, i.e. Ancient Athens.
The online component is even more ludicrous as foreign peoples could cast votes simply by using a proxy server.
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