Sturgeon's Law

I understand people tell Seth he should write less about politics and more about poetry and other frivolous things. Well, I almost never write about politics, but I think I will right now. Here are some changes I think we need to make on a national level. Most of these are nonpartisan things I really think people across the spectrum could get behind.

1. Eliminate the electoral college. Any system that enables presidential candidates to essentially ignore all but about 10 of the 50 states is a bullshit system. It doesn't eliminate shenanigans anyway, which is the chief argument of pro-EC people.

2. Eliminate gerrymandering of congressional districts. Arnold Schwarzenegger actually has a good idea in California (nonpartisan panels of judges drawing political districts), though if you only do it there and not somewhere like (cough) Texas, it's pretty partisan. Enforce sensible drawing of the districts on a national level, and you have something good.

3. Conduct all primaries/caucuses on the same date. Let's stop giving Iowa and New Hampshire undue influence over who the non-incumbent party's next presidential candidate is. The current setup is a relic.

4. Term limits for Supreme Court justices. Okay, I realize not many Republicans would get behind this one right now. Nonetheless, I think the fact that whichever party is in control gets to put someone in what is a top-20 national position of influence for what could wind up being 25+ years with no real reassessment of the pick is nonsense. Since the idea with judges is that they don't consider the need to get reelected in their decisions, I think limiting the amount of time they serve in the highest post would be a good idea, and would eliminate the sorry spectacle of daft old men trying to hold on until the next presidential election.

5. Make it easier for third-party candidates. Yeah, yeah, that's a pipe dream. Plus, I don't have a specific idea here, unlike the others. Ah well. As a registered independent, I want and have long wanted this.

I have other ideas, but they're mostly partisan. For example, I think Social Security should go to more progressive indexing and lift the $100,000 tax cap. Good luck getting a fiscal conservative behind that shit, yo.

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Just so's you don't think I'm too political, here are the musical artists that I have at least one hour worth of songs by on my mp3 player right now (in order of track time):

• Metallica
• Tool
• Bad Religion
• Clutch
• U2
• Nirvana
• Led Zeppelin
• Neil Young
• Queensryche (shut up)
• Tom Petty
• Pearl Jam
• House of Freaks
• Stone Temple Pilots
• Johnny Cash
• Hawksley Workman
• God Lives Underwater
• Antonin Dvorak
• Nine Inch Nails
• A Perfect Circle
• Husker Du
• Poe

Groups I'm most surprised didn't make the list: Public Enemy, The Beatles.