The Cardboard Box Reform - Nixon's Ghost Bill & A Crucial Flaw in Democracy
Why Hacker News recommends it
HN commenters recommend it as a long, evidence-backed theory for what changed in the 1970s and why Congress is broken, even when they are unsure they agree.
What it is
James D'Angelo argues that the 1970 Legislative Reorganization Act made congressional votes public, opening the door to lobbyists and special interests. He proposes restoring secret voting as a cheap fix for corruption and many social ills.
Recommended by 9 HN commenters across 10 different months, 2014 to 2025.
What Hacker News said
Strong rec higherpurpose · 2014-12 · on “Secret surveillance detected in Oslo”
We need to destroy their logic about "collecting everything, because they might need it in 100 years" first. They do it because it's so cheap, because they can, and because nobody is really standing up to them. However, if we allowed the government to do anything it wants "just because it can", thousands of our current laws wouldn't exist. I don't remember if it was Clapper or Alexander but one of them basically said the whole Snowden thing will blow-over, and they won't have to change a thing . From what we've seen already that seems to be the case. The watered down USA Freedom Act was killed, and they even made their collection powers stronger with that recent Intelligence Authorization Ac
Strong rec kbaker · 2016-04 · on “When Lobbying was Illegal”
This article kinda just glosses over any causes of lobbying, and then complains about the symptoms. There is one incredibly interesting video I have seen which lays out a major root cause of corruption in the US, and the rise of lobbying and corruption since the 1970s. [this video] (Cardboard Box Reform) It is long, but well-reasoned and supported by a lot of evidence. Definitely worth a watch...
Strong rec kilroy123 · 2022-05 · on “How to Be Successful (2019)”
This is very long but it goes into a well thought-out theory for why and how this happened. Very interesting stuff. Well worth a watch. [this video]
Recommends stephensongr · 2015-03 · on “Ask HN: Why is there no solution for direct democracy?”
Voting has to be truly and completely private to not permit of corruption. Smartphones will not and cannot ever be so. Watch this: [this video]
Recommends kbaker · 2016-09 · on “A prototype of a decentralized political party”
Just going to have to disagree... I think earmarks are exactly the thing that caused congresspeople to lose all of their power. > you've just put the big donors totally in charge of the campaign, because their spending dwarfs the spending of the candidates themselves. When the donors are the corporations, and earmarks result in higher profits for the corporations, a dangerous positive feedback loop occurs where you basically end up with corporations controlling the government instead of the elected politicians. As far as the worst political decision of the past few decades, watch this video if you have an hour to spare. It lays out the case where adding transparency in congressional voting i
Recommends mtgx · 2018-10 · on “As Chinese investment pours into the EU, the Europeans are beginning to worry”
You may reconsider after watching this video on why secret ballots (or anonymous voting in general) should be preferred over "voting transparency": [this video]
Recommends swalsh · 2020-11 · on “WTF Happened in 1971? (2019)”
Another great explaination is the Legislative Reorganization Act of 1970, here's an interesting video. [this video]
Recommends snomad · 2020-11 · on “WTF Happened in 1971? (2019)”
This video has a nice summary of all the changes in the 1970s, and how many other prominent authors have documented that radical shift. [this video] The author believes the problems can be traced to the US congress switching from closed (anonymous) to open voting on January 3rd, 1971 Somewhat related, this post shows how the US congress has grown incredibly divided over time [LINK]