I'm not sure that th U.S. can regain the trust of our allies

[ThoughtCriminal]

Even if we sweep in 2026 and 2028. We've all been down this road before:

- After the stability, prosperity, and peace that we had with the Clinton Administration, we let GW Bush bring us a costly and immoral war and later a financial crisis brought about by GOP deregulation.

- So we managed to re-take Congress and put President Obama in the White House.

- After turning the economy around and once again bringing peace and prosperity, the voters again put the GOP in charge of Congressional obstruction and put Kommander Krasnov in the White House, because "Her Emails".

- After 4 years of incompetence , corruption, and economic disaster, we elected Biden, and once again, a Democratic Administration defied predictions and turned things around leaving us with the best economy in the world.

- But again, voters with the memory capacity of a maggot, returned that thing to the White House along with a majority in both houses and a Supreme Court that signaled immunity to a sociopath felon.

So even if we run these criminals and traitors out again, we have PROVEN that by the next election cycle, the voters will screw themselves and everybody else, for the most moronic reasons conceivable.

Rinse, lather, repeat. YOU can count on the billionaires, the GOP, and the media to use the same playbook.

We don't just have to win, we have to win big. And it is not enough to just fix what the GOP has broken, but repair our democracy.

1- End Legalized Bribery. Target "Citizens-United"
2- Support reproductive rights
3- Place some reasonable restrictions of Presidential Pardons
4- Prosecute white-collar criminals. Enforce insider trading laws. Ban stock trades while in office.
5 - Investigate and shine a bright light the on influence that hostile foreign governments have on elected officials.
6- Enforce anti-trust laws and make them stronger - especially addressing the media monopolies
7- Remove barriers to voting. Expand election day to election week so that working people can fit it into their schedule. If a state is going mandate photo-ID, remove any costs associated and make it practical and convenient.
8- The Supreme Court should have the highest ethical standards. Pass and enforce ethical standards for the Supreme Court. Remove Justices that do not uphold the Constitution or fail to recuse themselves from cases with even the appearance conflicts of interest
9- Restore the Fairness Doctrine and protect Net Neutrality. Nurture independent media.

There's a lot more - feel free to add. I'm not really interested in "We'll never have the votes" excuses and replies.

Edit:
I might as well add:
10- Replace the Electoral College with direct popular vote
11- End gerrymandering of House Seats. Add new seats the the House.
12- Make the Senate more representative of a stats's population - maybe a minimum of one and up to four Seantors.

[OnDoutside]

1. Noble thoughts.

👍

My fear is Trump is the symptom, half the American people are the problem.

[Irish_Dem]

9. Yes and half of congress, court system, most of the media, and federal officers are MAGAs.

Trump is just the snake oil salesman.

[elocs]

12. And that half is pretty much interspersed among the rest of us. No Mason/Dixon line

to conveniently separate our moral divide.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

2. Trust is lost in buckets and come backs in droplets. US has unquestionably lost the trust of Canada.

PM Carney said so when he said the traditional relationship is over, and nobody has contradicted him.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

3. What I take as the thrust of your OP is that top-to-bottom reform is needed, and I agree

There is lots of slack in interpretation of points of US law, like defining emoluments and proper "official presidential duties".

Your number one point is well chosen to be a number one.

[ThoughtCriminal]

4. And bottom-to-top

We have ignored local and state elections for a very long time.

[brush]

5. Trust from our allies? That'll take decades to rebuild, if ever. Mever with a republcan in charge.

[canetoad]

6. As long as the US political system

Allows the possibility of this happening again, in another time, with another criminal president, I think you are right.

[Skittles]

7. who is gonna forge real ties with a country that goes off the rails everytime the GOP takes over

UGH

[Meowmee]

8. Chances of doing most of that are slim to nil

For one R will never vote to change the ec. The whole system is set up for failure.

[SamKnause]

10. The U.S. can't regain the trust of its citizens.

[elocs]

11. Why should our allies ever trust us again? Because when, or if. Trump is gone,

what is to stop the American electorate from voting for and empowering another Trump?
Nothing.
So the people who voted Trump into power last November have changed the world forever, and not in a good way. And here I thought I would have a quiet and uneventful retirement.
That bird has flown. I can only hope to avoid homelessness. Ironic. I wonder how many Americans who despise the homeless will find themselves in that position?

[thought crime]

13. You're right. No trust until the political system is fixed.

To qualify as a full democracy we have to make the Senate strictly proportional to population. Perhaps a base of one Senator and an additional Senator for each additional million voters (or whatever increment makes sense). Or just eliminate the Senate and make House representatives statewide positions elected proportionally.

I also think the Presidential system has failed. Trump destroyed it. We need a parliamentary system and proportional representation to end the two party system. It is too difficult to create and maintain informal coalitions that make any kind of sense. One of the two parties has already surrendered itself completely to a “strongman” and the politics of emotion to win elections, and to bad faith in governing.