Synthesis - Reinventing Government - Clarity

SEATTLE, Sept. 17 /PRNewswire/ -- The following blog post was published on September 12, 2010, by Shafeen Charania, author of the synthesis blog, winner of the 2008 Weblog award for best new blog, and Time.com's 25 best blogs of 2009.

By definition, elected governments get bloated over time. This happens because elected officials spuriously make promises, spend money and create laws all in the name of getting funding and wooing the electorate. The motivation is not the country first, it's get reelected first.

What if we were able to reboot the country and have a constitution that required the government to only do five things - educate everyone (for free) from ages zero (yes, zero) to the point at which they complete a post-high school certification (about 22); comprehensive healthcare and medicines; provide a national security infrastructure; operate a civil service department (infrastructure, foreign/trade policy, employment for those who can't be employed normally, etc.); and a progressive flat taxation system.

Doing this and nothing else, and having a constitution that motivates spending less could be the way to create a simpler and more sustainable government.

To learn more, please visit: http://interacc.typepad.com/synthesis/2010/09/clarity.html.

Thank you

SOURCE synthesis