Injustice foments and revolution is imminent. The series of protests and demonstrations collectively known as the “Arab Spring” or “Arab Awakening” was predetermined. The oppression of dictators and unyielding governments seemed inescapable, and slowly but surely the populace accepted their predicament and yielded to their social and economic erosion. However, as the years progressed three factors gave hope for renewal and prompted this enlightened revolution of today. The dawn of the new millennium saw a rapid increase in Arab literacy, a falling birthrate, and a significant decline in the widespread custom of endogamy, or marriage between first cousins. This shows that Arab societies were on a path toward mental and cultural modernization in the course that the individual became more important than an autonomous entity.  The transformation of the political system, the spreading wave of democratization and the conversion of subjects into citizens are the products of this liberal movement, and the ensuing revolution was well under way.

            As the people became more educated and informed they became less complacent and unrest soon sat heavy on the shoulders of each nation. Though progressive reformists sought a national enlightenment, the political injustices and crimes of range of tyrants continued.  As a result, a decrease of nationalism and an increase in emigration sent up a red flag to the Western world. A new class of Western Arabs was born, and in due time, their homeland economies diminished further. Governments had begun to sense this growing unrest and they attempted to placate the poor and unemployed with bread and money but it was too late; the time for change had come.

            First went Tunisia, then Algeria. These leading cases of insurrection prompted the tidal wave of change, and the revolts of December 2010 shattered the dams holding them back. With the success of the protests in Tunisia, this wave of unrest sparked by the self-immolation of a Tunisian man struck Algeria, Jordan, Egypt, and Yemen and then spread to other countries. The largest, most organized demonstrations have often occurred on “days of rage”, usually after Friday afternoon prayers. Demonstrations of epic proportions shook the Middle East, and the governments of Tunisia, Egypt, and then Libya were overthrown. These uprisings took many lives, signifying the relentless determination of the people. Even some of the better off nations, like Lebanon and Morocco sought reform and an end to corruption. The geopolitical implications of these protests have drawn global attention, prompting further protests in Europe and Asia. Even the “occupy” movements were influenced by the Egyptian revolution. This tidal wave of change had far reaching repercussions which, in hindsight, was the result of decades of injustice with little to no change.

            King was right; change is inevitable. It only took a Tunisian spark to ignite people’s suppression and it all went up in flames. The Civil Rights movement of the 50’s and 60’s shared the same principles and desires of the Arab Spring; conformation is eventually succeeded by unrest and revolution. Voters are taking part in free and fair elections, newly elected lawmakers are issuing progressive legislation, and the morale is generally high in these post dictatorial nations. Though much work is left in the name of transition, the Spring was a success and it will surely influence multitudes of revolutions to come.

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Can you program a dollar bill? No. If you had a digital dollar, you could program it, in order to limit what kinds of transactions you could make with it. For example, suppose you had a teenage son, and you wanted to give him an allowance, but you were afraid that he would do something stupid with the money. Suppose you were afraid that he would buy alcohol with it. If you were using a digital money system, you could create a small allowance for your son, by creating digital currency for him with your home computer. The digital currency would be tagged with anti-alcohol tags. After tagging the currency, you would give the digital currency to your son for his allowance, in the form of a debit card.

When he takes the debit card to the store, he may attempt to buy alcoholic beverages, with the debit card. The store would have a computerized cash register, that would keep track of the products he was attempting to buy. If he tried to buy alcohol with his card, the cash register would automatically stop the transaction, since his money is tagged with anti-alcohol tags. The anti-alcohol tags prevent him from buying any product that the cash register identifies as an alcoholic beverage. If he buys something harmless, like a candy bar and bag of potato chips, the cash register will accept his money, and when the money is transferred to the store’s account, the anti-alcohol tags would be erased, since they are no longer needed.

Digital currency may be tagged with anti-alcohol tags, or with anti-tobacco tags. The anti-tobacco tags would be useful if you wanted to give your son an allowance, and you were afraid he would buy cigarettes with his allowance. It is important that the tags are automatically erased, every time a purchase is made, because after a valid transaction is made, the tags are no longer needed. The tags on digital dollars would be erased every time a purchase is made, and new tags could be added at any time. Although the tags I’ve mentioned above are intended to be temporary, some tags will be permanent.

Suppose we organize an international boycott of a rogue state like North Korea. In that case, every digital dollar in the U.S.A. would have to be tagged with an anti-North Korea tag. These anti-North Korea tags would make it impossible for the money to be transferred to a North Korean account, and would also make it impossible for you to buy a product that was imported from North Korea. This class of tags would be permanent, and they would only be placed on currency by the government.

Would tagged digital currency really work, as a way of boycotting foreign countries? Let’s take Cuba as an example. Suppose we were going to use progammable digital currency to maintain an economic boycott around Cuba. All the digital dollars in the U.S.A. would have to be tagged with anti-Cuba tags. These anti-Cuba tags would make it impossible to buy any Cuban product, and they would also make it impossible for you to transfer the tagged money to an Cuban account. But, suppose you had a debit card that was full of tagged money, and you took it to Canada. The government of Canada does not have a boycott against Cuba, like the U.S.A. does. In Canada, people can openly buy Cuban products, like Cuban cigars. Presumably, you could go to Canada, and use your debit card to try to buy a Cuban cigar, and the cash register in that Canadian store may not recognize the anti-Cuban tags that are embedded in your money, so you may be able to buy that cigar. If the American government made an agreement with the Canadian government, regarding the Cuban boycott, then the Canadians may agree to alter the programming in their cash registers, so the cash registers in all Canadian stores will recognize the anti-Cuban tags. In that scenario, you would not be able to buy a Cuban cigar in Canada.

So, if the government could put tags on all the digital currency in America, to maintain boycotts against rogue states like Cuba and North Korea, then what about the American people themselves? Would the American people be allowed to tag their own currency, so that their digital dollars would automatically boycott companies and corporations that they disagreed with? It would be unwise to allow people to do it haphazardly, so I will recommend that a democratic process should be used to establish tags on digital money. The democratic process would require people to circulate a petition. If they gathered a certain number of signatures, then the issue would be qualified for a ballot proposal in a municipal, state, or federal election. Registered voters would then be allowed to vote, to decide the issue. If the majority voted ‘yes’ then the government would allow the tags to be placed on currency, so that certain companies could be boycotted.

Let’s consider an example of how it would work. Suppose people all over America were angry at the J.P.Morgan bank. It woudn’t do any good to start a protest and ‘occupy’ the sidewalk in front of the bank. The only sure way to get rid of the bank would be to organize a boycott. People would gather signatures and if they had gathered enough signatures, the issue could be put on a ballot. Then, registered voters would go into the voting booths to vote on the issue. If the majority of voters voted ‘yes’, then the issue will pass, and people will be granted the right to put anti-Morgan tags in their digital dollars, so they can establish a boycott of the J.P. Morgan bank. After people start putting the anti-Morgan tags on their money, it will be impossible for their money to be transferred into any account in J.P.Morgan bank, or any subsidiary of J.P. Morgan bank. As a result, the bank would collapse, from lack of funds.

Unlike the temporary tags I mentioned earlier, the tags that are authorized by a democratic process would be permanent. So, with this system, people could establish official boycotts against companies they disagreed with. If people are going to use digital currency in the future, they should have the right to control their currency with a democratic process that includes petitions and elections.

Anthony Ratkov, February 13,2012.

It can’t be money, it can’t be sex, it can’t be drugs.  Ruling power is all that it can be.
Wow.

This article shows how each nation under Communist or Socialist rule, can get rid of their despotic rulers, just as Tom Cruise and the Bourne Conspiracy would do it.

Imagine the wonderment if all nations were democratic.  Not hybrids but true democracies; no graft, no lies, no loss of freedoms, easier access to health care, border to border infrastructure improvements, jobs, safe environments and never another world war. 

We would need one umbrella Joint Chiefs of Staff, and “replacement trainee presidents and military officers” ready to go to replace those that will be removed by
this movie’s methods and movements.

We would also need to create a new UN cause the current one houses the enemy.

First, we ID the enemies.  They include:

a; China
b; N. Korea
c; Russia
d; Cuba
e; Myanmar
f; Vietnam
g.  other Asiatic nations?
H.  ALL Muslim nations
 
Then, we ID replacement president candidates. And we ask the new candidates to design a new constitution that has no religion in it–for 3 years, no religious
activities would be practiced. 

While religion has its place, as it is, Communist and Socialist nations use fake Christian or real Muslim policies to restrict partly or fully, human rights. 

Thus, all of those policies have to be dispensed with. Thus, no Muslim practices.  Their leader did, after all, gain converts by threatening them, not by loving them.

Of course, in short order, the spies within the Communist and Socialist nations will know that our umbrella group is meeting.  It will meet in a safe, covert house.

“Rules and policies” that are intended to last for a minimum of one month are to be created and then, studied by both US business consultants and constitutional law professors in the US and Canada.  These rules and policies lead the ex-Communist and Social nations  into federal and state constitutions.   This “injection”needs to be put into place as soon as the dictators are “removed.” 

Most of the middle east has, as its weakness, no leaders to step into the void and no democratic constitution ready to be put into use. That is the “killer.”  Iraq took years to put one together while the Iraqi and US military tried to keep the nation together. Absurd. A new constitution is both a band-aid and a surgical tool as well as a legal one; it must be “conditionally complete” and put into effect in minutes after the dictators and kings are replaced.

It is easy to understand why women, for example, will be hesitant to behave as if they have been freed since coup de etats happen frequently–one guy knocks out the current baddie and in weeks or months, he himself is knocked out by the recently deposed or by a new comer as the new guy is often as bad as the one toppled.

Also, our new laws will have to prohibit cultural processes–going after traditional males in the villages who might attack or at least reprimand the females for “going naked.”   [A father and his sons just executed a daughter for listening to American music!]

The biggest blunder Syria and other failing freedom fighters are losing is that they attack in the daylight and overtly.  That is dumb. Since the U.N. will not help the Syrian or Yemenese freedom fighters, the rebels must use military methods: split into squads, attach specific state and federal government buildings and staff.  Turn off water, electricity and phone lines. Use x-ray types of optics to see where in each building, government people are.  Make extensive use of feints; pretend to be one place while focusing on being elsewhere.  Go after the families of government officials and just kidnap them-do not harm them.  Do things quietly, covertly–under the cover of dark and then, scatter or at least, quietly and covertly, return to safe houses.

Also, give each dictator 1 week to leave.  On the eight day, all at one time, blow up the buildings where the kings and dictators do their dictating.  Depreciate their power. 

Use hit squads……never use jeeps to act like roving bandits. 

Each nation must act in concert with the others–so that the dictators and kings know they and their teams are marked. 
               
Sometimes, trusted advisors and body guards will help the rebels eliminate the bad leaders.  Those same guards will be given non guard jobs when the new constitution is put into place.  That will keep them away from the new power circles.

Imagine the economic benefits to the world of forcing out all the dictators:

If there was only a UN force that had teeth like the US army military does, it could do what Michael Renne’s “The Day the Earth Stood Still”’s robot force was designed to do; start a war, die.   If a government officer was accused of breaking a law, he-she would be removed immediately during an investigation [not belatedly] and held under house arrest. 

With only one world military, national budgets could shrink 95%.  Or there would not be any need for any military budget.

With radical religious people stopped dead in their tracks, “religious radicalism” would be stopped immediately.  Praying is one thing but only Christianity, Buddhism and the like would be tolerated because the other religions limit their members to behaviors outside what the law permits/restricts.

With only fairness and equity and all people protected, every nation’s infrastructure would be improved to match cities like Amsterdam, San Francisco, and other dynamic and clean, safe places.

People in every village of the world would have immediate access to health care.  Immediate access to all levels of education and could study any field they chose.  Women, in more than one half the nations today would be able, for the first time ever, to freely move around, hold any job they wished that was open, have any self-employment they chose, and did not need relative escorts. 

With these almost immediate changes, the world’s and nation’s gross national and domestic product would sky rocket.  It would increase because, before this transition, women in many cities and nations, are not permitted to make use of their abilities; they are restricted to being mothers.  Many Arabs who would stop sitting in front of their stores and go and grasp clients and have true businesses, would start earning 4x their current incomes.

Casinos would climb and leap in value in some cities and be closed in others as women and intelligent men would make superior choices on the use of both their living expenses and their discretionary funds.

Dirt roads throughout Africa and Asia would be converted to cement [if viable] and thus, perhaps faster movement.  In those African nations where slaves have been a primary employee source [with no pay] would immediately have to hire staff to do whatever was needed to be done.  Over 1,000,000 people who are slaves would be put back into the free market environment and be able to have free movement.

Those individuals who wish to be intimidating rather than use creative, ethical ways to start and grow firms will find themselves in prison for their life-times and will be given chances to handle high risk tasks for the prison system; being guinea pigs for medicine testing, test out and place, water flow electric generation systems, and settle on asteroids and perhaps the moon [like Australia was a penal colony, the moon would become one.]

Children in Central and S. American nation villages that have no infrastructure would have their villages either eliminated or brought up to city codes.

Street drugs would be removed from society and the Mexican and other nation’s drug cartels would be removed from society and placed with the prisoners on the moon or elsewhere. 

Places like Siberia and the Mongolian desert could be converted into totally safe and comfortable places to live with the rarely used or tried, plexiglas covered cities. 100% of the city would be covered.  All residents would live in a temperature controlled environment. 

World unemployment would disappear.  Intelligence would sky rocket.  Freedom would be the key as long as one’s freedom did not include physically harming others.

democracynow.org – The CIA’s drone campaign targeting suspected militants in Pakistan has killed dozens of civilians who had gone to rescue victims or were attending funerals. So concludes a new report by the London-based Bureau of Investigative Journalism. It found that since President Obama took office three years ago, as many as 535 civilians have killed, including more than 60 children. The investigation also revealed that at least 50 civilians were killed in follow-up strikes when they had gone to help victims. More than 20 civilians have also been attacked in deliberate strikes on funerals and mourners. We speak to Chris Woods, award-winning reporter with the Bureau of Investigative Journalism. “We noted that there were repeated reports at the time, contemporaneous reports in publications like New York Times, news agencies like Reuters, like CNN, that there were these strikes on rescuers, that there were reports of an initial strike and then some minutes later, as people had come forward to pull out the dead and injured that drones had returned to the scene and attacked rescues,” Woods says, “We have been able to name just over 50 civilians that we understand have been killed in those attacks. In total, we think that more than 75 civilians have been killed specifically in these attacks on rescuers and on mourners, on funeral-goers.”

To watch the complete daily, independent news hour, read the transcript, download the podcast, and for the additional Democracy Now! reports about Pakistan, visit http://www.democracynow.org/tags/pakistan

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Democracy has been hacked. Different countries all over the world have redefined democracy to suit their own desires,the leaders of some countries that once dwelled in years of tyranny and military dominion has fine tuned their practice by adding a little flavour of democracy to whatsoever they practice and believe in…..all over the world,both physical beings and spiritual entities recognize democracy as the best type,kind and class of government where sovereignty belongs to the people and not an individual presiding or piloting the affairs of the nation. The hackers of democracy are of the african origin,they borrowed Democracy without guarantee to pay for it,due to years of military dominance,they were given democracy for gratis,in their acceptance they rejected the true attributes of democracy and added their own attributes…..they hacked democracy. A case study is Nigeria,a nation that has been in the spirit platform of democracy for 12 years,a nation that have hacked democracy to fit in with their many years of military regime,it was designed by the military and an army General became the first president in 1999. Since then Nigeria have seen civilians commanding the armed forces in the name of being the president,thereby making democracy every expensive and its dividends out of the reach of Nigerians. Democracy has been enslaved in Africa. Our leaders are hackers of democracy,but someday democracy will gain independence and then africans will see the beautiful dividends of democracy where the rule of law will be paramount and where no single entity of government parastatal shall be above the law,and a democracy where sovereignty truly belongs to the people. Until then may we stand up and fight these hackers of democracy that have infiltrated our fatherland without the consideration of the nemesis of their evil deeds…..they want to gain powers beyond powers,I call them political emperors. In Nigeria,there so many political Emperors who are even above the government hence they call them the god fathers.

Perhaps the United Nations should be renamed the League of Nations, established after World War I.   The word, “United,” is, in my opinion, a misnomer.”The word, “League,” would serve this body of nations appropriately, simply because, the word, “United,” sounds meaningless, when nations have a right to differ politically, such as Russia and China whose veto powers have become an exercise in contradiction.

The League of Nations was set up in a different era that was nonetheless pressured by events that were no less important than the events of today. The present body of nations consists of members with varied political views. They have the privilege of airing their opinion about which there may not be any unity of purpose nor a commonality of objectives.

It might be that soon after World War II, the majority of nations had come together to celebrate the defeat of a tyrant in the person of Hitler; hence, the word “United” had seemed appropriate under the circumstances. In this day and age, when nations, such as Russia and China, are privileged to exercise their veto freely and with partiality, the word, “United” has no bearing on the politics of today.

A key area in which this shift has been most visible is in his approach toward the war on terror. Obama has chosen to focus on terrorist groups, rather than on promoting freedom and democracy all over the world like president Bush. His focus is no longer nation building but terrorism and terrorist groups wherever they are found, ignoring the state of government in those areas.

This, according to some scholars, is likely to encourage dictators world over, as they will not be held accountable by even the most powerful nation on  earth.

America is also likely to lose moral authority on all things to do with democracy, since some of its allies in pursuing terrorists will be dictators.

In the White house’s version of events  however, this approach is delivering for America,, as seen by the deaths of 20 of the 30 al-Qaida leaders, including Osama Bin laden. According to the White House website on January 15th, not only has this approach yielded the deaths of many terrorists, but has also reduced the influence of terror groups in places like Afghanistan, where the Taliban are on the retreat.

But according to a BBC report, the Taliban are not retreating, their popularity is actually rising. The group has wan favor among rural Afghans in particular, who see president    Kazai’s government as corrupt.

Obama’s foreign policy has departed from Bush’s in the use of force as well. In Obama’s foreign policy, According to Henry Nau, force is a last resort,, diplomacy takes priority.

Obama has sent diplomats to every trouble spot in the world, in an effort to secure global peace. To the middle east he has sent George Mitchell, to Iran Dennis Ross, Steve Bosworth to North Korea. He has also shifted toward counter insurgency in Afghanistan, proposed to reduce nuclear arms, believing them to be the source of threats, not the motives behind their manufacture.

Henry Nau  writes against this type of foreign policy approach, stating that reducing the emphasis of force weakens diplomacy, as the military strength of a country has a bearing on its diplomatic authority. Pointing to the end of the cold war, he says that Reagan’s approach of both the threat  of eminent force and diplomacy is the right kind of bargaining in international politics. It is likely that America’s diplomatic influence will reduce considerably, professor Nau contends.

But the White House has argued that the approach it has taken has helped to rebuild friendships once broken, such as with Russia, Europe and the Muslim world. It has according to the white House, even helped secure the world from a nuclear terror threat.

The shift to counter insurgency has placed America  on a reactive path toward terrorism, instead of a preventive one. The challenge with this, according to Nau, is that it  leaves America open to attacks of terror and does not focus America’s resources on preventing it.

On the other hand, Obama has embraced multilateralism, the exact opposite of Bush type unilateral practice. Obama seeks consensus on almost all things in international politics.

A desire for consensus risks delaying American action on any threat, over and above that, it paints America as a sleeping giant. Powerful, yet passive. Besides, waiting on the whole world to agree may delay the implementation of very important decisions for America. In the event that North Korea develops a nuclear bomb, will Obama wait for the whole world to agree?

In international economics, Obama has achieved some level of success.  Trade deals with Panama, Colombia, and South Korea have been signed expected to create more Jobs for Americans. According to the White House website, industries such as agriculture, automotive, manufacturing and more are likely to benefit from these deals.

While Obama has shifted from markets toward regulation, he has made significant headway in developing trade relations with these countries and improving the American economy.

Both positive and negative implications result from Obama’s foreign policy. It remains to be seen however, if the American public will trust him with a second term on the basis of his performance in the current, particularly with regard to foreign policy

There was little for India to cheer at the Republic Day this year, thanks to the government which has become an Under-Performing Asset (UPA) for the country. All the pomp and show at the dazzling Republic Day parade cannot obscure the fact that the country is in shambles: economic stagnation, spiralling inflation, a slew of scams, lack of reforms and decision-making, and mis-governance amongst other ills  have characterized a nation that was once seen as an economic miracle.

For all its talk of stability, it is no secret that there is weak leadership at the helm of affairs: the general perception is still current that Sonia Gandhi controls the Manmohan government backstage. And the government has had its hands full of political compulsions and coalition dharma – pandering to demands of its coalition partners have become a priority – than looking after the aam aadmi who sent it in power in the first place. For example, even after 62 years of India’s becoming a republic, the State still cannot provide clean drinking water, sanitation, primary education, basic health facilities to all its citizens. Poverty is still rife in the country, and since liberalization of the economy, disparities of income have reached alarming proportions. A recent UN report says India has most numbers of malnourished children in the world, meaning that even sub-Saharan Africa is looking after its children better than New Delhi.

Manmohan Singh once reportedly said that there is more danger to India from within than from the outside. Naxals and several insurgent groups in India carry out regular attacks on innocents and government targets with impunity. Demand for new states – Gorkhaland, Bodoland, Bundelkhand, Saurashtra, Vidharba, and Telengana amongst others – have become more vociferous in recent times suggesting an inequitable economic growth and development across India. Kashmir and Manipur continue to be under the draconian Armed Forces Special Powers Act which curbs basic rights of India’s citizens on a daily basis in those states. Under this Act, the army enjoys unprecedented powers, including detention without trial and immunity from investigation against military excesses.  Therefore, little has changed since the Prime Minister made the above statement.

More shockingly, India’s spirit and image as a secular, vibrant democracy is under threat from a State that is increasingly pandering to demands from a handful of fundamentalist groups. Salman Rushdie, one of the world’s greatest living writers was barred from appearing and speaking at the Jaipur Literature Festival, Asia’s biggest literary fest this year after Muslims protested against his visit. Both sets of governments – central and state – refused to provide security and protection to the writer under pretext of law and order. To make matters worse, the administration concocted threats and spread disinformation about threats to the author’s life. M.F. Hussain, the renowned painter lived and died in exile because his work allegedly hurt religious sentiments of Hindus, and the essay, “Three Hundred Ramayanas” was withdrawn from Delhi University curriculum after it drew protests from fundamentalists. Moreover, the government’s censorship of Internet is already stifling creative expression and freedom of thought and speech in India.

The government’s backtracking on Lokpal Bill (anti-graft bill) and FDI in retail after public outcry further exposes the government’s inefficiency and its apparent lack of decision-making. The much-hyped UID (Unique Identity) scheme aimed at providing every Indian an identification document has run into problems after security-related objections from ministry of home affairs. Unfortunately there is little to show for achievements and more to ponder over, “ifs and buts.” Therefore, whilst India cheers for its rich cultural heritage on Republic Day, a part of it also moans that pseudo-servants of the State are taking the public out of the re-public. Thus the United Progressive Alliance government of Manmohan Sigh is no more than an Under-Performing Asset (UPA) to the country.

In my last two articles, I explained why Barrack Obama should win the 2012 election in the United States, http://socyberty.com/politics/why-obama-will-be-re-elected/, and gave you a hint as to who the real Barrack Obama is: http://socyberty.com/politics/who-is-barrack-obama-2/. Now I want to present you with some alternatives to both the way that elections are carried out and the current candidates.  Admittedly, these suggestions are a bit convoluted and perhaps a bit frivolous, but then, we are talking about America here, where the absurd is larger than life and everything is supersized!

First, let me put forward this proposal for revamping the election system, itself.  One of the great failings of democracy is that those who have it don’t use it.   According to a vigorous search of the Internet, the last presidential election in the United States drew only 54%, down from 58% in 2004.  The 2010 midterms got 37%.  Nearly 220 million people were eligible to vote.  Now consider just one “reality” show – American Idol.  According to the same source, anywhere from 29 to 45 million people glue their eyeballs to the screen for a given episode, with 122.4 million votes being cast in the final and over 624 million over the season.   One person voted 130 times!  When you consider that sort of passion, you can readily see a better model for election to political office.  

Americans apparently love competitions – awards shows, sports shows, shows where people are humiliated – anything like that, as long as they don’t have to get out of their chairs and can use the remote to vote.

What I have in mind is a reality show based system, grounded on these models: The People’s Choice Awards, The Amazing Race, Undercover Boss, Dirty Jobs and The Apprentice.  We could also include a segment taking its cue from Shark Tank.  This scheme also has the built in benefit of not only being self-financing, but massively profitable, due to the revenue from high cost advertising spots (Super Bowl ads can run up to three million dollars for thirty seconds!).

Here’s how it could work: first the contract would be awarded to the highest bidding network, followed by a public call for nominations published in such important literary journals as U.S.A. Today and People Magazine, as well as announced on leading news shows like Entertainment Tonight.  Anyone can be nominated – even politicians, like Republicans and Democrats – but they must be nominated in teams (President and Vice-President).  The top twenty nominee teams would be announced at a red carpet gala, internationally televised and hosted by Ricky Gervais.  The successful pairings would now compete in various contests along the lines of the above named shows.  The “Amazing Race” segment would pit the contestants’ abilities in foreign affairs, in such contests as a journey through Africa to locate the recipients of foreign aid, or negotiate a safe passage to the next destination with the local terrorists in Tajikistan – that sort of thing.  Back at in the U.S.A., they could be disguised (Undercover Boss) and tasked to do the most disgusting of chores (Dirty Jobs) and challenged to come up with various business propositions and promotions to save failing businesses (The Apprentice model).   Each week, of course, we would lose some teams, due to their having been voted off the island.  Ultimately, the survivors would make a pitch to a panel of high profile celebrities, in an effort to get their investment in their visions, and Americans would be invited to “Rock the Vote” with their ballots, by texting or phoning or punching in numbers on their remotes.   In the grand finale, held on the mall in Washington, D.C.  (following endless clips of show highlights and performances by leading rock bands), the winner of the Office of the President (and Vice-President) of the United States would be announced to great fanfare by the host, Ryan Seacrest. 

As to who should be nominated for the initial stage, that’s up to you, the reader.  I’d be interested in hearing your nominations.  There is a place somewhere below this article to post your comments. 

For my money, I like Willy the Weasel (http://youtu.be/BGH5kWMVMgY ).  I even bought his book!  

“Known mainly in political circles for his strong opinions, adorable body, and utter contempt for humanity, Willy has been campaigning to become President of All of North America since 2003.  As the only presidential candidate ever outlawed by the Department of Health, he has entertained dozens of people with his numerous policies and guides, some of which have been leaked on the Internet, despite a court injunction.”

Vote early!  Vote often!  Rock the Vote!