Kamikaze Parties

Summary

• People are fallible and have ruined politics
• We need to start voting for ideas instead of people
• A kamikaze party is temporary political party erected to deliver a single, measurable policy into government
  • Example
    • A gun reform kamikaze party, seeking a federal assault weapons ban.
    • The party writes the policy before seeking election
    • The party's platform is exactly and only the single written policy
    • Representatives abstain from every other unrelated vote (finance, taxes, budget, antitrust)
• Once the policy is instituted the party self-destructs

Mechanics

Self-destruction

Before running candidates must sign a contract requiring them to resign upon successful institution of the party's policy.

Two things will ensure this actually happens:

• There will be a large buy-out. Representatives are awarded the buy-out once they leave office.
  • This money is raised as part of campaign fund raising.
    • This feels legally grey, but this is America so it should be possible
• Representatives must be poor. This will compel them to take the buyout and is a requirement.

Anonymity

Reprensentatives must change their legal name change to reflect the party platform.

Example:

Chastity Pelosi must change her name to '15-dollar-minimum-wage'

This shifts focus from the person to the issue.

Discarded ideas

Rotation

Being able to annual rotate representatives of a kamikaze party would help drastically reduce the likelihood of representatives being corrupted. Unfortunately, in practice, this seems like a tricky thing to do.

For example, Article I, Section 2, Clause 4 of the Constitution says:

When vacancies happen in the Representation from any State, the Executive Authority thereof shall issue Writs of Election to fill such Vacancies.

This seems to mean that in the House of Representatives vacancies are filled by special elections. Alternatively, if parties could decide how to fill vacancies in their own party then kamikaze parties could administer an annual resignation for their representatives, and institute a new, anonymous representative each year.