In the 4th Article of the United States’ Constitution, it is declared that all states have a “Republican form of government”. This forces upon the state government that it be elected by the people, and that it serve the interests of the people. In Vermont, as with all other 50 states and the several dependencies, this has tended to come with a bicameral legislature (or just unicameral, in a single case), a governor, a lieutenant governor, and a system for elections that oftentimes closes down any third party opposition. Some governments are dutifully trying to do what is right as in our state, while others are trying to force a rewriting of history, as we’ve seen in states like Arizona and Wisconsin.

While I can’t complain about Vermont’s political landscape (hell, even the secessionists and liberty union crowd make the place fun), I can, and will complain that our system isn’t quite as perfect as we’d like it to be. I suppose, with my limited understanding on the formation of government, and the political powers in the state, I’ll try to show you what I think our state should operate, at least on an electoral and legislative level. (I might delve into what I do know some of, which is the economics of it. Might.)

I won’t mince words, I don’t think the primary system we have in our state works. I believe the progressives in Burlington were onto something when IRV (instant runoff voting) was implemented, and I was saddened when it was stripped from the city for merely political reasons, stripping the people of the city a real opportunity to choose in an election. I think the IRV should be taken statewide, to every office, from the town and the village, to Montpelier, St. Albans, to Rutland and beyond. A statewide election system based on IRV gives a political party (or independents) more of a chance than the current system. With this, a flow of ideas, the kind of flow that makes Vermont great, can become even more powerful. Without the trade of ideas, we’ll become stagnant, I don’t particularly want to see that.

So, IRV still is within the “Republican form of government” required by Article 4.

Next, Vermont should reform its bicameral legislature, into parliamentary assemblies. I’ll admit, this idea makes IRV look palatable to even people like the ones at Vermont Tiger. In this concept, there wouldn’t be the separation of a head-of-state and a head-of-government. The head of state would also be the head of government, in other words, the powers that Governor Shumlin has today, a Premier Shumlin would have in this scenario. What would change, is the role of the Lieutenant Governor, while in Vermont we sometimes have a Batman of one party to a Robin from another, a parliamentary system would dictate that the Lieutenant Governor be positioned either through a coalition government or a popular vote (through IRV) by the parliamentary assembly. In this case, it would still be possible that Phil Scott could be the Lieutenant Governor under Peter Shumlin, but his odds are diminshed. I do realize that at this point, Vermont would look like a one party state, but my belief is that redistricting, along with instant runoff voting, that not only will Democrats return to office in large numbers, but Republicans in the rural parts of the state could win seats they’ve lost in the last few cycles, and the Progressives will move out of their traditional strongholds. This includes motions of confidence, snap elections, and a fluid political system even more responsive to the Vermont voter.

There should be citizen juries, where a committee of chosen (at random, much like a jury trial) Vermont citizens are given petitions and referendums and give a report on the issues and suggest to the parliament action or inaction on the filings before them. The citizen juries would likely have the lottery two months after an election (whether snap or not) to give time to the new (or re-elected) government time to form their cabinet.

In this electoral change, campaign spending, filing, and finance laws need to be completely transparent. Where is money moving from, where is it moving to, and what mediums is it being spent on. Personally, in this if a candidate raises more than $10,000.00 in a race for the state legislature or statewide office, any amount over 10,000.00 goes into the rainy day fund (regardless of party). The remainder can be spent in the lull between elections, with quarterly filings. Could we also have a sort of CSPAN for this parliament (or for this legislature, anyway)? VT Digger and the BFP do a good job, but it’s not quite wall-to-wall coverage on the government.

For the economic aspect of this, all the letterheads will be changed, the wiki will be edited, but we should use a popular referendum to create Offices of Trade to our top 10 international trading partners, to secure deals on energy and goods that give the next generation of citizens a fair shake at an evolving world. That is, if it passes.

I think this is all I want to type for now. This might be a series.