Zompist Bboard Again

In the spirit of moral ambition that we mentioned in the reading thread, let us share ideas of how things could be better.

I propose one to start off:

Comprehensive public services: offering public services not just for specific important services like schools and hospitals but for basically everything worthwhile, from public repair buildings and public second hand shops to public laundromats and public showers (encourages cycling and helps homeless people if noone else).

Protections for job seekers—

• Salary transparency laws (and none of this “$1 to $350’000” BS; yes, that is an actual range I have seen)
• Prohibitions on ghost jobs, phantom jobs, and “pooling”
• Time-limited job reqs—no more holding out for cryptid employees who don’t exist
• Banning “personality tests” that do nothing but discriminate against neurodiverse and mentally ill people
• The DOJ getting off its ass and finally moving cannabis to Schedule III (or even better, removing it from the CSA entirely), so medical patients can breathe easy

Move amphetamines to Schedule IV, or at least abolish the central planning bureau that allows the government to insist on shortages, and legalize coca tea. Many economic benefits will follow.

Also, abolish DC building height limits and loosen setback restrictions.

MacAnDàil wrote: ↑Thu Apr 23, 2026 11:14 am In the spirit of moral ambition that we mentioned in the reading thread, let us share ideas of how things could be better.

I propose one to start off:

Comprehensive public services: offering public services not just for specific important services like schools and hospitals but for basically everything worthwhile, from public repair buildings and public second hand shops to public laundromats and public showers (encourages cycling and helps homeless people if noone else).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUWhlqItgus

MacAnDàil wrote: ↑Thu Apr 23, 2026 11:14 am In the spirit of moral ambition that we mentioned in the reading thread, let us share ideas of how things could be better.

I propose one to start off:

Comprehensive public services: offering public services not just for specific important services like schools and hospitals but for basically everything worthwhile, from public repair buildings and public second hand shops to public laundromats and public showers (encourages cycling and helps homeless people if noone else).

soooo socialism, state capitalism, or whatever else you wanna call it. i agree. we don't actually need business owners to have businesses just like we don't need worker owners to have workers. food stores are an especially good thing to start with.

Relatively easy stuff:

1. Eliminate balanced budgets for states. States are often far more progressive than the federal government, and balanced budgets are a stupid conservative idea; let conservative states kneecap just themselves.
2. Progressive taxes at the state level. E.g. Illinois has a flat rate, which is insane.

These two together would allow a lot more things at the state level: universal health, UBI, free higher education, whatever.

3. Remove barriers to building housing, especially at the low end. (We used to have lots of SROs.)
4. Redirect police budgets to mental health and support for the homeless.

If progressives can get control of Congress:

5. Limit Supreme Court terms.
6. Wealth tax.
7. Back to 90% taxes on billionaires.
8. Close the damn loopholes on executive orders.
9. Also fix the damn investment system: undo the deregulation of the 90s.
10. Postal banking, why not.
11. The IRS knows what tax you owe, let them just send a bill.

Fully legalizing marijuana and coca tea, sure.

Not intended as a complete list.

I've already gone into what I'd propose in length before, but worker cooperatives and council democracy...

Nortaneous wrote: ↑Thu Apr 23, 2026 12:17 pm Also, abolish DC building height limits and loosen setback restrictions.

Weren't you worried about bricks falling on your head?

rotting bones wrote: ↑Thu Apr 23, 2026 8:31 pm

Nortaneous wrote: ↑Thu Apr 23, 2026 12:17 pm Also, abolish DC building height limits and loosen setback restrictions.

Weren't you worried about bricks falling on your head?

Somehow I imagine that Nort's comment wasn't entirely serious.

Travis B. wrote: ↑Thu Apr 23, 2026 8:47 pm

rotting bones wrote: ↑Thu Apr 23, 2026 8:31 pm

Nortaneous wrote: ↑Thu Apr 23, 2026 12:17 pm Also, abolish DC building height limits and loosen setback restrictions.

Weren't you worried about bricks falling on your head?

Somehow I imagine that Nort's comment wasn't entirely serious.

I honestly can't tell anymore.

(1) Automatically increase the size of the house of representatives after every census, adding a seat for every 100,000 people (or maybe less).
(2) Abolish the senate.

rotting bones wrote: ↑Thu Apr 23, 2026 8:31 pm

Nortaneous wrote: ↑Thu Apr 23, 2026 12:17 pm Also, abolish DC building height limits and loosen setback restrictions.

Weren't you worried about bricks falling on your head?

No.

DC has a poorly made office building that sheds chunks of concrete over the sidewalk. It has safety netting now. But it's a low-rise.

zompist wrote: ↑Thu Apr 23, 2026 8:21 pm 6. Wealth tax.
7. Back to 90% taxes on billionaires.

And, presumably some way of stopping Very Rich People petulantly flouncing off to places with lower tax rates.

On which subject, one of our more left-wing political parties (now defunct) many years ago had a proposal in its manifesto to seize the assets of any foreign company which pulled out of investing in the country. <sarcasm level="extreme"> I can't see any problems with this, can you?</sarcasm>

jcb wrote: ↑Fri Apr 24, 2026 3:20 am(1) Automatically increase the size of the house of representatives after every census, adding a seat for every 100,000 people (or maybe less).
(2) Abolish the senate.

Quite. Failing that, we should at least reform the senate so it better reflects the distribution of voters. I would also suggest scaling back the power of the president or even moving toward a parliamentary system.

everyone wants a barber who shaves us for free
all and only those who do not shave themselves,
but who will shave the barber for free...

jcb wrote: ↑Fri Apr 24, 2026 3:20 am (1) Automatically increase the size of the house of representatives after every census, adding a seat for every 100,000 people (or maybe less).
(2) Abolish the senate.

SO MUCH YES on 2

senates are more plutocratic, introduce unnecesary delays making states unresponsive to reality, and pervert one-person-one-vote. in my country, my vote counts one fifth of the vote of a guy from the araucania region. i'm sure it's the same elsewhere senates exist.

xxx wrote: ↑Mon Apr 27, 2026 11:16 am everyone wants a barber who shaves us for free
all and only those who do not shave themselves,
but who will shave the barber for free...

Rather, one works to one's ability, and one receives labor vouchers (measured in hours of work) for one's work plus a fixed number of vouchers everyone gets regardless of how much work they have done (i.e. UBI). You buy things and services with the labor vouchers, which vanish into thin air in the process. How many hours (or portions of an hour) something costs depends on how much person-time, in total, it took to make the thing or provide the service. There is no profit or accumulation of labor vouchers, which cannot be transferred to another person or entity.

zompist wrote:4. Redirect police budgets to mental health and support for the homeless.

Also, instead of paying for a cop to pull people over for minor traffic infractions all day, how about we put that money towards building safe streets that don't need cops to babysit them in order for people to drive safely on them.

More thoughts:
(1) Ban gambling, and yes "prediction markets" are gambling. (And crypto too while we're at it.)
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_ItmnR9r_g
(2) Greatly restrict advertising for alcohol, e-cigarettes, and vapes, like what is already done for tobacco.
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJT0NMYHeGw

zompist wrote:5. Limit Supreme Court terms.

Do you think that would be enough? I think the court needs to be greatly enlarged. Why not have the same number of judges as representatives? Sure, it may sound silly to have hundreds (or thousands) of judges in a court room, but people used to say the exact same thing about having hundreds of representatives of the people, instead of having just a handful of rich guys and their friends.

Also, why not elect judges?
(1) Federal senators used to be unelected by the people, instead being appointed by state legislatures, and this system was so bad that it got fixed over 100 years ago by the 17th amendment.
(2) Does anybody really still believe that judges are perfect unpolitical impartial arbiters? This fantasy benefits only the powerful. We should just acknowledge that they are political actors, and make them electable like other political actors.

jcb wrote: ↑Thu Apr 30, 2026 12:28 am

zompist wrote:5. Limit Supreme Court terms.

Do you think that would be enough? I think the court needs to be greatly enlarged. Why not have the same number of judges as representatives? Sure, it may sound silly to have hundreds (or thousands) of judges in a court room, but people used to say the exact same thing about having hundreds of representatives of the people, instead of having just a handful of rich guys and their friends.

One thing we've learned is that no one safeguard is "enough."

Expanding the court could be done by Congress without changing the constitution, so that would be cool.

Also, why not elect judges?

Do you mean Supreme Court justices? Sure, why not.