Elected County Sherriffs

The State of Long Island should seriously look at the possibility that a county sherriff, elected by the people; could have great powers to keep State and Federal officials at bay when they try to encroach on local powers. I believe that the more power and control that can be delegated to the county, city and precinct levels the better. Here is a website of a guy named Richard Mack. He may be a bit on the "right-wing" side of things so I don't know how useful his material will be; be I think we owe it to ourselves to evaluate it. Here is the website:

http://sheriffmack.com/

Corporation Reform - Part 2

There are two new corporate forms that are beginning to be established. One is the B Corporation - http://www.bcorporation.net/

L3C Corporation

Here is a wikipedia entry that describes L3C's in some detail:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L3C
Here is part one of a series of videos on YouTube regarding L3C

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZ9uQmVvtjA&feature=player_embedded

I will post more on this topic and hope others will join in this thread.

Redistricting, Election Reforms

The State of Long Island has an incredible opportunity to re-engineer how electoral districts are established and how elections are conducted. Much of the way we do things around here is based on ideas that are 200 years old. The world has changed and the State of Long Island can be a leader in creating systems that work in the 21st century. Here are a few ideas:

Instant Runoff Voting and Proportional Representation

http://www.fairvote.org/

Citizens' Redistriction Commissions

Election "Day" should be spread out over a weekend. I propose that the polls be open starting the first Friday and end on the following Sunday and that the following schedule be maintained throughout the State of Long Island

(all times are Eastern)

First Friday - 2 pm - 11 pm
Saturday - 6 am - 11 pm
Sunday - 6 am - 11 pm

Election Processing Reform

There are several groups working on creating methods and means for being certain that ALL people who are eligible are able to vote and have their vote counted.

Hand Counted Paper Ballot Verification of all Ballots

Announcements of Results:
The State Board of Elections will announce all results on the Monday following the conclusion of the election.

I am sure other people have ideas to contribute to this thread. More resources and maybe even different ways of solving problems. I hope that there will be a lively discussion on this topic.

Sex Scandals

I have this crazy idea that what people do in the bedroom should be kept out of the political sphere. If the activities in question do not affect the ability of an office holder, public official or civil servant to perform their duties; then we should have a specific policy of Leave 'Em Alone." People can turn to many resources available to work through their difficulties, including psychologists, ministers, etc.

Tax Policy

Long Island, the 51st State has a real  opportunity to look seriously at the convoluted tax sytem at the level of state and municipal government. I'd like to suggest that we look at the philosophy of Henry George. A good short article about him and his work can be found on wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_george

The Henry George School of Social Sciences in Manhattan, NY is also an excellent source of information:

http://www.henrygeorgeschool.org/

Re-Engineer the Prison Industrial Complex

Like the rest of the governing structure of the State of New York, the "prison industrial complex" is a crazy quilt that had been added onto ever since the State entered the Union. There are jails, prisons, parole and probation departments just to name a few. Many people spend much of their lives caught up in this system; which has serious flaws and can be quite brutal. We end up with very angry people! The only beneficiaries of this set of boondogles are prison guards, jailors, district attorneys, defense attorneys, bail bondspeople and only God knows who else. The poor people who pay for this mess (that's most of us taxpayers) and the poor people who get caught up in this system are all the worse off. The State of Long Island has some real opportunities to humanize this system and end up paying a lot less in taxes for its maintenance.

Re-Engineering Taxation

One of the things that the 51st State of Long Island would have the opportunity to do is to re-engineer the entire plethora of schemes related to taxation. Since it entered the Union, the State of New York has had tributes and taxes of many kinds. Different schemes are simply added on top of what already exists, thus creating a monster tax code. As the first new State of the 21st Century; the State of Long Island could get the people together with the experts to figure out a taxation program that any sixth grader could read and understand. It would be a really simple system. People would have input and be able to submit their gripes about the current schemes. Once this were done, I truly believe there would be far few tax avoidance schemes. Tax avoidance is part of the entire taxation mess. Right now the only people who benefit are the tax accountants and the lawyers. The government and the people get ripped off.