Falconist plan to reform our politics and government

Our political system is biased against minor parties and towards incumbents who implement the same failed programs year after year. K-Street has way too much influence over Congress. The laws of the nation and the policies that affect the world today are made by only 535 people who are not in touch with the American people. The Falconist Party says we need to reform our political system and reform our government so that it is in touch with the American people and does more with less.

To begin with, we need to reorganize the Executive Branch of our government so that the POTUS has greater control over the bureaucracy as well as execute its mission more efficiently and effectively. With this in mind, we propose the following measures for the executive branch.

1. The Departments of Commerce and Labor will be merged into a Department of Commerce and Labor (DCL). Not only would this reduce bureaucracy, this will also harmonize the interests of business and labor in dealing with America’s economic issues.
2. The Departments of Interior, Agriculture, the EPA, and elements of the Department of Energy will be merged into the new Department of Resources (DERES).
3. The Department of Housing and Urban Development along with elements of the Department of Agriculture, and the Department of Transportation will be merged into the Department of Rural, Urban, and Suburban Affairs (DRUSA). The DOT will become an Office of Transportation within DRUSA and the Civil Air Agency will become an independent agency.
4. The Department of Health and Human Services will be split into the Department of Health and the Department of Workfare.
5. The Department of Homeland Security will be changed into the Department of Civil Security.
6. The separate departments of the Army, Navy, and Air Force will be replaced by a Joint Force Defense Headquarters run by the Secretary of Defense.
7. The Department of Energy will change into the Department of Science and Technology
8. The Postal Service, the National Endowment of the Arts and Humanities, PBS, NPR, and the new National Internet Administration (NIA, formerly the Rural Electrification Administration) will all become part of the new Department of Culture and Communications (DCC)
9. Create five new offices of Vice-President for Economic Policy, Domestic Policy, Operations, National Security, and Administration. All cabinet officers will report to these five appointed VPs with the elected VP serving as the Executive VP.
10. Consolidate programs with a similar mission into a single program and assign it to a specific department or agency.
11. Assign new missions to agencies that completed their previous mission and reorganize those agencies for their new missions if necessary.
12. Combine the separate 200+ law enforcement agencies of the U.S. Government into a single U.S. Police Force operating under the Department of Civil Security. The U.S. Marshal’s Service will continue to operate under the Department of Justice and will serve as the national “sheriff’s office” of the United States.
    

As far as Congress goes, we propose expanding Congress to 5,000 members and move from single-member districts to multi-member districts whose constituents will use a Single Transferable Vote system (STV) to elect members of the House of Representatives. Not only would this even the playing field for minor parties, but it will also give smaller states more representation in Congress as well as reducing the numbers of constituents a member of the House represents from close to a million down to 60,000.

On the state and local level, we propose replacing bicameral state legislatures with unicameral state legislatures of 200 members each. The 200 state legislators will be elected by the constituents in 40 state legislative districts with five legislators for each district. We propose that state legislators are also elected by the Single Transferable Vote system. We also propose that states apportion their electoral votes for POTUS in proportion the percentage of the popular vote won by each candidate. The candidate with the most popular votes in that state will receive two electoral votes that represent the two U.S. Senate seats. Finally, we propose eliminating all hurdles that prevent minor party candidates from obtaining ballot status.

We also propose reducing the number of local governments in America from over 80,000 to 40,000 by replacing counties, townships, and special districts with municipalities. This will save taxpayers $200 billion a year in taxes. That same $200 billion can also be used in building roads, schools, and bridges, hire more police officers, firefighters and rescue workers, build new schools and hire more teachers. We can also alter the border s of municipalities to combine large cities with suburbs broadening their economic and demographic base as well as more capable of handling problems that cross existing city and county lines. Municipal councils should also be elected by a Single Transferable Vote system.

We will also review all federal programs and consolidate those programs that have overlapping missions. We have over 1,000 programs in 13 different agencies that deal with drug abuse. We should consolidate them into a single program administered by the Department of Health. We have a dozen programs in a dozen different agencies to assist agriculture. We should consolidate them into a single program administered by DRUSA. We have over 1000 different programs in Education in a score of educational agencies. They should be consolidated into a few programs administered by the Department of Education.

We must review the mission of every agency of the federal government. Some agencies that have completed their mission such as the Rural Electrification Administration will be given a new mission. The REA will be changed into the National Internet Administration, placed under the new Department of Culture and Communications, and be given the mission of connecting the whole country to the information superhighway. Some agencies and programs that have been proven failures will be terminated. And agencies with overlapping missions will be merged. This will save America billions of dollars, streamline our bureaucracy, and enable the government to really help those in need.