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Should the U.S. have a referendum?
Voters cast their ballots for the midterm elections at the Los Angeles County Lifeguard headquarters on November 2, 2010 in the Venice Beach neighborhood of Los Angeles, Calif.
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Steve Chiotakis: That confidence vote in Italy is very much like the one that took place in Greece after the Greek prime minister last week had originally hailed -- and then scrapped -- plans for a public vote on that country's big budget cuts.
Well, the U.S. is racked with a lot of debt. Could a national referendum on cuts happen here at home? Fortune magazine's Allan Sloan is with us now to talk about it. Good morning Allan.
Allan Sloan: Good morning, Steve.
Chiotakis: So all right, we saw the Greeks have scrapped the plan to call for a referendum on those big government cuts. What about here at home? I mean, should we just skip all the super committee stuff that's going on in Congress and put the deficit question straight to the people here?
Sloan: Well there are only two minor problems with this, Steve.
Chiotakis: OK, give them to me.
Sloan: The first one is: What question exactly would you ask them to vote yes or no on? Which, you know, is not clear. And the second thing is: How would you conduct a referendum -- since we've never had one in the United States -- how would you do it?
Chiotakis: A national referendum -- everybody across the country.
Sloan: Sure, OK well as soon as you've set up all the voting systems, let me know. At least Greece, there's at least some understanding of what it is the government is proposing to do, and you can vote -- and forgive my Greek pronunciations -- ne or okhi.
Chiotakis: Oh very well, that's good.
Sloan: All I need is 10,000 more words and I can become Greek.
Chiotakis: By the way, he said 'yes or no.'
Sloan: It's so hard here because there are so many different opinions. And if I asked you to say in 20 words or less what is it you're asking people in the United States to say yes or no on, I couldn't do it. I don't think you could do it.
Chiotakis: What does this say to you, Allan -- the fact that we're having so much trouble just articulating this -- what does this say to you about our political situation today?
Sloan: Well it says our political situation is a mess. Of course, it's always a mess. But now, it's messier than ever because everything here is now so divisive and so bizarre. You know, they're speaking different languages -- we might have to have three or four different language versions of our question, if we could ever figure out what it was.
Chiotakis: Fortune Magazine's Allan Sloan in New York. Allan, thanks.
Sloan: You're welcome, Steve.
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political situation today?
Sloan: Well it says our political situation is a mess. Of course, it's always a mess. But now, it's messier than ever because everything here is now so divisive and so bizarre.
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You asked for it. You got it.
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You going to turn off?
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I am going to demonstrate to you its purpose. Its deep meaning.
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Go to your Firefox Browser then put you pointer onto a paragraph. Then tap on your touch pad in time to the rap!
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Rap on!
Rap on and on!
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I could only hear a note of challenge in Allan Sloan's comment about a US referendum in 20 words or less... here is my best attempt:
Would you like to see the congress replaced by a demographically representative collective barred from accepting corporate money or influence.
There would be more details to mash out, but it seems a good start.
Yes, a national referendum is a great idea. Here are 3 simple questions:
1- Would you like the media to stop transforming issues into monsters that promote the interests of the extremely rich by taking away income and programs from everyone else?
2-Would you like the supercommittee to design programs that promote jobs instead of focusing on ways to cut programs and social supports for the 99%?
3- Would you like to control costs of healthcare by controlling the income and profits of the top 1 percent and thereby preserve Medicare and Medicaid for 99% of Americans?
