Eliminate the Presidency

[Reptillian]

I've been thinking of how we could restructure our government in the United States. Perhaps instead of a president, we could have a Council of Experts. The greatest minds in a variety of fields who have established themselves as brilliant authorities. Any thoughts?

 

[9Westy9]

I've been thinking of how we could restructure our government in the United States. Perhaps instead of a president, we could have a Council of Experts. The greatest minds in a variety of fields who have established themselves as brilliant authorities. Any thoughts?

I think it'd be much more successful

 

[4consideration]

That sounds a lot like a "Keepers of the Truth" sort of approach. I wouldn't support those with that level of power actually being the ones to determine what is so for the rest of us. I am suspicious of it as a practical matter. It may sound good, but is probably more ripe for corruption than what we have now.

 

[Reptillian]

That sounds a lot like a "Keepers of the Truth" sort of approach. I wouldn't support those with that level of power actually being the ones to determine what is so for the rest of us. I am suspicious of it as a practical matter. It may sound good, but is probably more ripe for corruption than what we have now.

There might need to be a few extra checks and balances...but the senate and house would still exist to keep them in check. I'd trust a commander in chief who was a military expert over the political philosophers, lawyers, and businessmen we have now. Who better to write legislation on foreign policy or economics than an economics experts and expert historians/sociologists/psychologists?

 

[Sunstone]

That sounds a lot like a "Keepers of the Truth" sort of approach. I wouldn't support those with that level of power actually being the ones to determine what is so for the rest of us. I am suspicious of it as a practical matter. It may sound good, but is probably more ripe for corruption than what we have now.

I have to agree with 4consideration on this one. The OP's system sounds ideal in theory, but would probably be open to great corruption in practice.

I myself favor a parliamentary sort of government. One in which the leader of the House of Representatives would be the chief executive, and in which his or her cook would be the chef executive.

 

[Reptillian]

I have to agree with 4consideration on this one. The OP's system sounds ideal in theory, but would probably be open to great corruption in practice.

I myself favor a parliamentary sort of government. One in which the leader of the House of Representatives would be the chief executive, and in which his or her cook would be the chef executive.

So we create some checks and balances so that "we the people" are still in charge. Easy!

 

[Sunstone]

So we create some checks and balances so that "we the people" are still in charge. Easy!

Specifically, what checks and balances do you have in mind?

 

[Reptillian]

Specifically, what checks and balances do you have in mind?

The people decide what constitutes an expert and can impeach experts who're doing things that the populous deems unethical. The people will have to vote on the legislation that the experts put forth. The military and foreign experts say we should go to war, then let's put it to a vote. In the past, leaders made decisions because communication was slow and limited. Nowadays we can almost instantly communicate with anyone anywhere on Earth. Let the people decide. Let's use some of the futuristic tools we have available and get out of this primitive 18th century political structure. Our government was designed to be flexible and changeable, but we've become rigid and dogmatic, so let's experiment a little bit! Let's find what works and what doesn't.

 

[Sunstone]

The people decide what constitutes an expert and can impeach experts who're doing things that the populous deems unethical. The people will have to vote on the legislation that the experts put forth. The military and foreign experts say we should go to war, then let's put it to a vote. In the past, leaders made decisions because communication was slow and limited. Nowadays we can almost instantly communicate with anyone anywhere on Earth. Let the people decide. Let's use some of the futuristic tools we have available and get out of this primitive 18th century political structure. Our government was designed to be flexible and changeable, but we've become rigid and dogmatic, so let's experiment a little bit! Let's find what works and what doesn't.

Just to be clear, you're advocating that your panel of experts be elected?

 

[Reptillian]

Just to be clear, you're advocating that your panel of experts be elected?

In some sense, only in that what constitutes and expert is determined by vote (this requires an educated and enlightened populous) There will likely be several experts within each field, and people can vote to determine which is best suited for the task of being on the Council.

 

[BSM1]

This is starting to get cumbersome just describing it. Can you imagine what would happen if put into practice. Although it's a great idea, someone has to make a decision. Hopefully this decision is based on the best information and the decision-maker has integrity. This is why we have an elected official in charge.

 

[Reptillian]

This is starting to get cumbersome just describing it. Can you imagine what would happen if put into practice. Although it's a great idea, someone has to make a decision. Hopefully this decision is based on the best information and the decision-maker has integrity. This is why we have an elected official in charge.

Someone? No, no...you have the collective make the decision; some are for, some are against. Decisions become a type of statistical average or thermodynamic quantity.

 

[Revoltingest]

I've been thinking of how we could restructure our government in the United States. Perhaps instead of a president, we could have a Council of Experts. The greatest minds in a variety of fields who have established themselves as brilliant authorities. Any thoughts?

A "Council Of Experts", eh? I can just imagine how the abomination we call a "presidential election" would be even more perverse
in selecting a whole committee. We'd have atmospheric physicist Al Gore, famous endocrinologist Todd Akin, brilliant economist
Barack Obama, communications expert George W Bush, & perhaps the greatest mind of our age....Joe Biden. Selection poses
problems...do we give up our voting rights, & let other experts vet & select them? Or do we vote for them? The latter portends
more of the same ill considered choices we've already made.
But the biggest problem is whom to blame. With a single prez it's easy...just blame the current guy or the last guy. But with a
council, how do we pick one? Our carping would become diluted & less fun.

 

[Reptillian]

A "Council Of Experts", eh? I can just imagine how the abomination we call a "presidential election" would be even more perverse
in selecting a whole committee. We'd have atmospheric physicist Al Gore, famous endocrinologist Todd Akin, brilliant economist
Barack Obama, communications expert George W Bush, & perhaps the greatest mind of our age....Joe Biden.

Even if those simpletons are considered "experts", I can't imagine that they could do worse than one guy acting alone. What is it they say, "two heads are better than one"?

 

[Revoltingest]

Even if those simpletons are considered "experts", I can't imagine that they could do worse than one guy acting alone. What is it they say, "two heads are better than one"?

Look at the Supreme Court. We can all agree that a bunch of'm are complete losers.
(We'd just disagree about which ones.)

 

[BSM1]

[q

uote=Reptillian;3068352]Someone? No, no...you have the collective make the decision; some are for, some are against. Decisions become a type of statistical average or thermodynamic quantity.

[/QUOTE]

Are you sure this is wise? Just try to get everyone to decide what's for dinner at home and multiply it by about a million. Also what would happen if we were facing an imminent attack or crisis in some early morning hour, how long would it take to get the collective together and how long would they take to glean all the pertinent information for a decision?

 

[Tarheeler]

I acutally like the basic idea of the presidency; having an executive that is separate and somewhat insulated from the legislature gives us a very stable government.

Sure it needs some major reform, but I don't see any benefit in scraping it for a council.

 

[BSM1]

A "Council Of Experts", eh? I can just imagine how the abomination we call a "presidential election" would be even more perverse

in selecting a whole committee. We'd have atmospheric physicist Al Gore, famous endocrinologist Todd Akin, brilliant economist
Barack Obama, communications expert George W Bush, & perhaps the greatest mind of our age....Joe Biden. Selection poses
problems...do we give up our voting rights, & let other experts vet & select them? Or do we vote for them? The latter portends
more of the same ill considered choices we've already made.
But the biggest problem is whom to blame. With a single prez it's easy...just blame the current guy or the last guy. But with a
council, how do we pick one? Our carping would become diluted & less fun.

I sleep well in my bed at night knowing that if, God forbid, something happens to our President then Joe Biden takes over.

 

[Revoltingest]

I sleep well in my bed at night knowing that if, God forbid, something happens to our President then Joe Biden takes over.

Geeze....you had to remind me.
I'd personally take a bullet for Obama just to keep that from happening.

 

[Reptillian]

So we just have frequent "expert" elections...the problem with the Supreme Court is that they're in there for so long. They need to be mixed up every 5 years or so...how often they should be mixed up should be determined mathematically using optimization software.

Look at the Supreme Court. We can all agree that a bunch of'm are complete losers.
(We'd just disagree about which ones.)

The alternative is that we toss all the politicians into an active volcano and let a super intelligent network of supercomputers decide what we should do. Super eh?