Welcome to General Chat - GAW Community Area
This General Chat area started off as a place for people to talk about things that are off topic, however it has quickly evolved into a community and has become an integral part of the GAW experience for many of us.
Based on its evolving needs and plenty of user feedback, we are trying to bring some order and institute some rules. Please make sure you read these rules and participate in the spirit of this community.
Rules for General Chat
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Be respectful to each other. This is of utmost importance, and comments may be removed if deemed not respectful.
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Avoid long drawn out arguments. This should be a place to relax, not to waste your time needlessly.
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Personal anecdotes, puzzles, cute pics/clips - everything welcome
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Please do not spam at the top level. If you have a lot to post each day, try and post them all together in one top level comment
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Try keep things light. If you are bringing in deep stuff, try not to go overboard.
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Things that are clearly on-topic for this board should be posted as a separate post and not here (except if you are new and still getting the feel of this place)
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If you find people violating these rules, deport them rather than start a argument here.
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Feel free to give feedback as these rules are expected to keep evoloving
In short, imagine this thread to be a local community hall where we all gather and chat daily. Please be respectful to others in the same way
I was refreshing on the rules again, and came across:
focused on helping ourselves and others walk away from the programming, and return our governments to "by the people, for the people!"
It got me thinking.. what would that look like?
We need a successful government "by the people, and for the people!" But what does that look like? Here's a few points I thought on:
It's transparent in its decisions, actions, and policies.
Accountable to its citizens, takes responsibility for its actions.
It upholds integrity and ethics and acts honest and ethical.
Free of corruption, greed, or pride, focus on truth and justice.
Representatives are true ambassador servants of the people.
Just - following and upholding the rule of law, treating all citizens fairly and equally.
Citizens who participate in decision-making processes have a voice.
Highly efficient, promptly able to engage in new or looming problems.
Leaders who motivate and inspire people to be the best they can be.
Focused on the long-term sustainability of governance to ensure the well-being of future generations.
I looked at that list for a bit and thought how far we are from a government like this. We clearly have advanced corruption rot all throughout our present governments, and need to get corruption cut out or minimized and under control, especially in light of the exponential increases of blatant corruption in just the last while alone.
I pondered the question "Is it possible for us to get that kind of government in the list, or is this something only Christ's return can end?"
After pondering that for a bit, i think it's both. Christ will return to put evil underfoot. But we don't know when. So, there's no reason to not do our duty to form a truer government by and for the people, as our forefathers did for us - recognizing how to avoid problems in the future. We may not get it perfect.. but we can improve on it to give the future a chance.
If we can envision how it should be, we should be capable of coming together to make it happen..
I like your thinking.
I can think of a few things that would also be part of the mix. While I think that the US constitution and government are the highest form provided under inspiration from God so far, I see it as a stepping stone. Whether the next phase is implemented under Christ's return or in preparation for Christ's return, that's for each to consider.
A hard limit on government budget: never more than 10% of GDP (i.e. of state or of republic)
No more career politicians. Fixed term limits for representatives (i.e. 2). A culture built where serving as a representative is seen as a duty and obligation, during one's lifetime, either at the Local Level (town, county), City, District, State or Federal. Duly compensated, but always limited in term.
a parallel representative watchdog structure that reflects the mosaic example: Communities of 100 households (a single adult or more forms one households) electing a representative; that representative joins with 9 others to chose one representative to represent the 1000 households, that representative joins with 9 others to choose a representative of the 10,000 households, then 100,000 households, and so on.
The role and function of these representatives (third point above) would be to be a watchdog over the corresponding level of government and keep them accountable, reporting to their represented family groups.
E.g. you might have a group of 100 such representatives at the 100k level representing 1 million households, and they serve not as a part of the government, but as a People's watchdog over the govt. They role is to report to and directly consult with the people as a backstop re: govt actions. The positions would also be term limited.
Thus, you would have direct accountability to the People embodied in two separate reciprocating systems. One, accountability to the constituents by the election process (including the principle of recall elections), and two, by second, more closely connected network of chosen representatives who do not run the govt itself, but who report to the people on each community level.
The current system of accountability by election only is unstable, and provides too much opportunity for corruption to set it. A dual system - like the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems - would create a much more powerful form of balance.
(Current forms of such watchdogs in are either a part of government itself, or non-governmental but also non-representative, afaik)
Just a note on Christ's kingdom: I know many of my faithful fellow believers believe strongly in a supernatural form of Christ's return and the subsequent shape of society following that, but my firm conviction is that it will be a natural form of rule and return. (Consider the second coming of Elijah.)
As such, Christ's government will not be a theocracy, theology being about religion. Also, Christ's government will not be about governing the people directly. People will still hold elections, chose their representatives, aka self-governance and self-rule.
However, Christ in the Kingdom will be like a constitutional monarch, where the role of Christ and Christ's lineage will be to reveal and indicate the will and heart of God. The role will be to preserve and protect the relationship between God and humanity, and uphold the nature of the constitution of the Kingdom of heaven. e.g. Freedom of belief will be a key part of Christ's kingdom. (Christ never uses force to control us. Ever.)
The sanctity of the natural family will be a key cornerstone of the kingdom, and will be enshrined into law. Law's and policies that promote the destruction of the family will be forbidden. While people will still be free to choose how they live, as long as they do not violate or harm others, government will not be allowed to promote 'lifestyles' that undermine God's family structure (1m+1w).
http://openanthropology.org/libya/gaddafi-green-book.pdf