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%POLITICAL REVOLUTION 1997 CONGRESS BALANCED BUDGET+950129
 %PRIORITY VOTE MEDIAN RECOMMENDATION POWER CORRUPT+950129
    %CONCENTRATION DISTRIBUTE EVENLY FAIRLY JUSTICE 950129

     How shall we understand the 1991 political revolution
in the U.S.A.?

     Democrats have often promised too much to too many.

     Republicans have often promised too much to too few.

     Both parties have concentrated power too narrowly.

     Any concentration of power invites corruption.

     We need to distribute our power broadly and fairly.

     There  are new ways to distribute power more  broadly
and fairly than has been done in the past.  These new ways
have been used informally in many political conventions in
Iowa  and  in  political  caucuses  in  the  Iowa  General
Assembly and in the  U.S.   Congress.   I   refer to these
new   ways   as  "priority  voting".       Many   national
organizations now  ask potential contributors  to send  in
their "priority votes" with their contributions.

     The U.S.  House of Representatives has voted to amend
the U.S.  Constitution with a "Balanced Budget Amendment".
How  will the power to balance the budget be  distributed?
Who  will cut the pie and distribute the portions?    What
small group will  make the key decisions and ask the  many
to say "Yes"?

     Power  can be distributed more broadly and fairly  by
wider  and more formal use of "priority voting".  Consider
the following way to balance the budget:

     1.  Ask each member of congress to recommend how  big
each  major "line item"  in the federal budget should  be;
both for federal tax income and federal tax expenditures.

     2.  Identify  the  few members of congress  who  made
recommendations  closest to being in the middle  for  each
major "line item", at the median; half the recommendations
being larger and half smaller than the median.

     3.  Adjust all medians of federal tax expenditures by
a common percentage so  as to balance the budget  relative
to  the  anticipated total of all medians  of  recommended
federal taxes.

     4.  Publish the tentative budget with the name of the
members of congress recommending closest to median values.

     5.  Ask  for citizen input and repeat the  process  a
few times.

     6.  When in the above process the Congress can muster
an appropriate  majority  of  votes  to  adopt  a  refined
prioritized budget, do so.

                                                                                                                               
                         (c) 2005 by Paul A. Smith in      
                    (On Being Yourself, Whole and Healthy)  
                                                                                                                               
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