The current system of representation at both the state and federal level suffers from the problem of senior legislators gaining too much power over the legislative process resulting in corruption and thwarting the will of the people that elected them.

Term limits, probably the only solution considered viable at this time suffers from throwing out legislators that may be doing exactly what their constituents want.  This too thwarts effective representation of the people by their representatives.

An alternative idea I would like to offer is something that comes from the Bible.  Moses was stuck trying to judge and manage a huge number of people.  His uncle offered the idea of leaders of 10s, 100s, 1000s and so on.  The top leaders (the 70) would consult directly with Moses, a group he could manage that gave him a logical heiarchy to implement policy out to the masses.

Imagine this idea happening where groups of 10s meet, elect a leader, who then sits as member of a 10 man group who will select the leader of a 100.  This goes on up till the number of leaders is less than say 100 and that becomes the House of the state or federal government.

Elections are held whenever a group of 10 wants.  That could be annually, or weekly.  If the leader of the 10 changes, he meets at the next meeting of the 10 leaders of 100 and so on.

Now we have a constantly revolving door of top leaders that make our laws.

So what are the benefits of such an arrangement?

1. Back door arrangements by long-time members become much more difficult to maintain as the membership is constantly changing.
2. Response to a good or bad choice by one level can result in instantaneous feedback from the lower level.
3. A leader need only listen to and please 10 people.
4. Elections can be quickly and easily and securely held at any time by a group of 10.
5. Constituents have a 10% share of interest in their leader.
6. Leaders can intimately be familiar with the 10 people that elected them and know their needs and desires far better than one representative per 100,000s of people..
7. Media influence and demagogery are simply not possible with such a system.
8. Money can no longer drive an election.

The Senate used to be elected by state legislators which gave us a naturally heiarchical system of representataion but that has been ammended away from the constitution, forcing direct election from the people, duplicating the repersentation of the House and disenfranchising the states.

By creating a multi-level representation system all the parts are smaller and efficiencies increase and corrupting decreases.

Jus sayin.

Sanford Staab – Editor