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Scott Adams Proposes a Fourth Branch of Government

Posted by Soulskill on from the how-about-the-psychohistorical-branch dept.

LoLobey writes "Dilbert creator Scott Adams is proposing a fourth branch of government in the WSJ. He describes it as 'smallish and economical, operating independently, with a mission to build and maintain a friendly user interface for citizens to manage their government.' It's a humorous article with some interesting ideas including internet access as a constitutional right and a constitutional ban on all election contributions for any candidate that polls above 10%. He's primarily proposing a method of getting verifiably accurate information on various issues to aid voters in making decisions, but despairs on his own blog about reader's comments on the article."

6 of 341 comments (clear)

  1. Better idea by MrEricSir · · Score: 5, Insightful

    How about getting rid of corruption? Corporate donations, professional lobbyists, etc.

    Just make it flat out illegal, and consider it treason.

    --
    There's no -1 for "I don't get it."
    1. Re:Better idea by chainsaw1 · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Assuming "our own" is the United States, there are twenty according to this list:

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corruption_index

      --
      - Sig
    2. Re:Better idea by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

      Isn't corruption already illegal?

      Also, can you please point out an example of a government that is less corruptible than our own?

      If by "our own" you mean the government of the United States of America, then I can point to several less corruptible governments including:

      Denmark
      New Zealand
      Singapore
      Finland
      Sweden
      Canada
      Netherlands
      Australia
      Switzerland
      Norway

      While I might be taking a bit of liberty in the interpretation (this is Slashdot after all), this is based on Transparency International's 2010 Corruption Perceptions Index (http://www.transparency.org/policy_research/surveys_indices/cpi/2010/results)

      "The 2010 CPI measures the degree to which public sector corruption is perceived to exist in 178 countries around the world"

  2. Can I propose another branch too? by characterZer0 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    The Sanity Check Branch.

    Composed of 251 adult citizens with college educations (5 from each state, 1 from DC) selected at random for 1 year terms. Each law after presidential signing or Congressional override must be read aloud and provided in writing to the branch. They vote on it in secret. If it does not get 60% of the votes, it dies.

    --
    Go green: turn off your refrigerator.
    1. Re:Can I propose another branch too? by CrimsonAvenger · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I suspect that it would be physically impossible to read every vote aloud in a reasonable (50 hour work week) time frame.

      If it can't be read aloud in 50 hours, it's almost certainly bad law.

      If Congress is passing so many laws that they all can't be read aloud during the Congressional Term, then Congress is passing a lot of what are, almost certainly, bad laws.

      One easy check for a bad law - the people who voted for/against it haven't read it.

      --

      "I do not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it"
  3. Re:you can't make voters care by 0racle · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Further, the R/D view is part of the reason voters don't care. It creates an US vs. Them scenario for people, I vote for my team and people who vote for the other are wrong. No thought, no discussion of issues has to occur, just keep the adversarial appearance.

    The two party system in the US has broken down to not being about issues, but about the two parties themselves.

    --
    "I use a Mac because I'm just better than you are."