One Simple Government: Origin

Today, I was asked if I were allowed to design the shape of the ideal organization, what would it be.  This question was part of a discussion about churches, but in general, the thought had not occurred to me.


I have previously helped organize a band and a non-profit organization.  In my career, I have organized and re-organized functional departments within several business.  I have even worked to redesign entire businesses, including outsourcing programs, closing manufacturing locations and opening new ones in low cost environments.  But, I have never taken the time to consider designing and building an organization from scratch.  So I took a few minutes to think about it then talked further along this line of thinking.  My ideal organization was a Simple Organization.  (Maybe I'll write more about this later...)


After that discussion, I continued to think about how a Simple Organization would function and then it hit me.  Why couldn't we design a Simple Federal Government.  Today's U.S. Federal Government is so complex that most citizens (which the Federal Government is supposed to represent and work for) do not understand what it does or how it operates.  In fact, this complexity has resulted in a deep distrust for all politicians and forms of government.  In my humble opinion, we could use some simplification and that's where I come in.


Of the talents and gifts that God has granted me, probably my most annoying (and most successful) trait is the ability to simplify (some would say over-simplify) and organize work flow or processes.  And isn't that what the U.S. Federal Government is?  A massive collection of administrative processes and work-flow.


So, with just a few minutes of thought, I have pieced together the beginnings of a Simple Government outline. I have listed my initial foundational components of this Simple Government in no particular order.  (Note that THE foundation of any such U.S. Government is the existing U.S. Constitution.)


Simple U.S. Government

1. Flat Tax (Federal Income Tax of 10%) - Replace existing Income Tax Code - No deductions except Health Care Insurance / Expenses and Retirement Investing.
2. Layman Laws - No new laws that are more than 10 pages long in plain English (no 'legal-babble').
3. Open Documentations - All bills must be posted at least 10 business days on a public internet site for citizen review prior to any vote in either house of Congress.
4. Open Accounts - Public web site containing the the Federal Budget and Spending Tracking.
5. Essentials Only - Departments or Programs that are not essential to fulfilling the U.S. Federal Government's responsibilities as defined in the U.S. Constitution will be challenged and limited or discontinued.
6. Strong Defense / Military Development - Allow Military leaders to develop strategies that Secure National Borders, Prosecute Wars, and Protect American Interests (at home and abroad).  This initiative includes weapons and defense systems technology development programs.
7. Business Minded - Low, flat-rate business taxes with incentives for hiring new employees. Other business positive tools, like R&D program funding, should be implemented to coordinate with the taxes and hiring incentives.

Well, these are just a few ideas for simplifying our US Federal Government.  I am certain there are other great ideas that can and should be implemented, but it's late and this is all I can think of for now.  

Feel free to comment.