Forum Post: Possible suggestion for the Occupy Movement's goal

What is the goal of the OWS movement?? We propose that it is to achieve honesty and to restore trust in the United States government system. The solution we propose will not only help to minimize, if not eliminate, political corruption, but will also boost our economy and redistribute funds from massive corporations to the 99% of people who fund them.

Fact: In 2004 there were about 216 million people able to vote. Of those people only about 58% voted.

When you take into consideration that the votes were split between republican and democrat, this means that the decision of who runs our country was determined by roughly 1/4 of our population.

Here is our suggestion.

Part 1: Restore the voice of the American people in elections.

-Establish a mandatory voting system. All working U.S citizens would be required to vote by law on any election at the state level or higher. Voting would become a civic duty just like jury duty, or registration in our selective service.Of the percent of citizens who choose not to vote, there must be a large number of them who simply do not care about politics in any way. Establishing a mandatory voting system would then cause an influx of votes that do not reflect true views, i.e. people that just don't care about politics but would still be required to vote. These votes should not count, therefore there must be a short basic mandated quiz prior to voting that would simply test the very basic knowledge of the voter. For example, Bob Smith is an average Joe working citizen who does not care about politics at all. He is now required to vote. To ensure Bob Smith's vote counts he must pass the quiz with a score of 80% or higher to prove that he has a basic general understanding of the candidates running.

Example quiz questions would be: "John Doe supports gay rights. True or False?" "Sally Brown supports abortion. True or False?" "Herman Cain's main tax plan is known as the 9-9-9 plan. True or False?"

The quiz would be very basic and short.

As an incentive to pass the test and vote citizens would receive a small tax credit or other monetary compensation.To fund this idea, we would establish a "Voter's Tax" that would only effect major corporations making in excess of one billion dollars per quarter.

Part 2: Eliminate corruption in political offices.

Establish a mandatory audit of a randomly selected group of politicians each year.There would be a random selection of about 10 politicians at the state level or higher made each year for a mandatory audit. There would be a random selection of average citizen's who are certified public accountants to do the audits. The politicians as well as the auditors would change every year by random selection. Audits would be extremely extensive in nature. Requiring disclosure of all bank account and monetary information.Politician will be strictly prohibited from owning any bank accounts outside of the U.S.A while in office. *Any politician found in violation of their audit would be immediately discharged from office and any corporation involved in the corruption would be heavily fined.

This idea would be beneficial for both the economy to help redistribute the elite wealth from the 1% to the general population, as well as to minimize, if not eliminate, corruption in office. Any working citizen who refuses to vote does not belong in our country. If you live here, enjoy your freedom, and use our resources then it is a civic duty to vote. Violators of this mandatory voting system should be subject to penalties such as fines, warrants, or even after numerous offenses, deportation.
Politicians would lose their motivation for greed, knowing that there are random yearly strict audits. This would in turn result in more honest and trust worthy people running for office. The only motivation would then be to do good and represent the people.