Did some further reading on this.
Trump is appealing the James ruling. While the appeal is under review, he was still required to pay the penalty amount as a bond to stave off the possibility of the state seizing his assets.
While the bond amount has been reduced to $US175 million. The full penalty still stands if his appeal against the ruling fails!
Down-under, we have some other mechanisms to try to preserve democracy:
Mandatory voting and preferential voting. This provides opportunities for third parties and independents who engage with voters.
Ethics Committees, used at state levels but pushes for a Federal Ethics Committee. “They allow Parliament to scrutinise the Executive more effectively, making it more responsible to the people”
Caps on political donations is another measure, supported by progressives but not yet by the conservatives.
Makes sense. It’s a shame when these should be fundamental principals and accountability of the person’s elected.
The concern for me is there would be those that act without conscience or care, the ‘wreckers’ that don’t have any current policy or engage in rational debate, they’re in plain sight already today and not being held to account?
I think a problem with blind voting is, who do the citizens know who represented them and acted in their interest, and therefore who they should support and vote for? Backroom deals and corruption would run rife. Greater transparency is better than less.
A conscience vote, where the party leaders do not enforce a particular party line, instead accept the will of the representative member (notionally on behalf of their constituents) should be more commonplace. This is essentially the same as getting an independent. Best bet is to break up the 2-party system.
For a few seconds this could have been a shit post. But when you see it, its shitpost.