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• Government Reform for Competition and Innovation Ideas

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  Limit political media exposure.

  Place mandatory limits on politician's media exposure. This would make it so that they were forced to spend time on what they say, limit them to working more than campaigning and since it would be all encompassing across the board there would be equal exposure for all. I'm not even certain this is workable, since it's potentially violating free speech but this scene of bloggers, pundits, and constant sensationalist ...more »

  Place mandatory limits on politician's media exposure.

  This would make it so that they were forced to spend time on what they say, limit them to working more than campaigning and since it would be all encompassing across the board there would be equal exposure for all.

  I'm not even certain this is workable, since it's potentially violating free speech but this scene of bloggers, pundits, and constant sensationalist junk is nothing more than sound bites being repeated and skewed in every way possible except the straight and narrow.

  And as Hillary Clinton of all people pointed out, we need a news network not a "news" network.

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  Submitted by Community Member 2 years ago

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  Green Tech

  Take a more established role in the securing a future in the reduction of greenhouse gases. Focus our government on solutions such as sustainable farms, homes and other tech we already have here. Michael Reynolds is an example of someone we need to watch and learn from, instead of ignoring. Stuff like solar panels, electric grounds carts that utilize solar power as well. I have friends who have almost completely negated ...more »

  Take a more established role in the securing a future in the reduction of greenhouse gases. Focus our government on solutions such as sustainable farms, homes and other tech we already have here. Michael Reynolds is an example of someone we need to watch and learn from, instead of ignoring.

  Stuff like solar panels, electric grounds carts that utilize solar power as well.

  I have friends who have almost completely negated their electricity bill by covering their entire roof with solar panels.

  Why exactly hasn't the whitehouse reinstalled the solar panels they took down for maintenance? Probably just got put aside and has since been costing tax payers thousands of dollars. And that's just one building!

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  Submitted by Community Member 2 years ago

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  Immigration Reform

  Improve the entire immigration process. I have met people who waited 2 years to take a test. Understand these people want what has always been spoken of by our country. We are the free and able, so are they. They just want a chance too.

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  Submitted by Community Member 2 years ago

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  Make Internet Access a Human Right

  http://tech.slashdot.org/story/11/04/13/1449244/Berners-Lee-Web-Access-Is-a-Human-Right We could be using this for so much more and it's obviously something we could stand to let everyone have access to. It needs to be free of any governing body as it is all too easy to isolate yourself from what you do not like as is. Put funds into developing a global internet system as a way to bridge gaps between cultures and merge ...more »

  http://tech.slashdot.org/story/11/04/13/1449244/Berners-Lee-Web-Access-Is-a-Human-Right

  We could be using this for so much more and it's obviously something we could stand to let everyone have access to. It needs to be free of any governing body as it is all too easy to isolate yourself from what you do not like as is. Put funds into developing a global internet system as a way to bridge gaps between cultures and merge ideas with the world. It's obviously what the world is relying on more and more and there is no reason we should not be on the leading edge. We could be schooling hundreds for cheap, we could be opening our minds daily. Also, in what I consider a problem.

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  Submitted by Community Member 2 years ago

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  Reform the jury system.

  The average person is generally unaware of their cognitive biases and logical fallacies and can be easily misled. This in turn causes the lawyers to have to play towards those proclivities, so a trial becomes more about how to convince a jury by taking advantage of said psychological weaknesses than about demonstrating the truth or falsity of the charge. Juror should be a paid profession which requires some education ...more »

  The average person is generally unaware of their cognitive biases and logical fallacies and can be easily misled. This in turn causes the lawyers to have to play towards those proclivities, so a trial becomes more about how to convince a jury by taking advantage of said psychological weaknesses than about demonstrating the truth or falsity of the charge. Juror should be a paid profession which requires some education in law, statistics, and psychology.

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  Submitted by Community Member 2 years ago

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  Incentives to Outsource TO America

  Give incentives/tax cuts for companies who bring factories to the USA. Factories are important not only for factory workers but for plumbers, electricians and anyone else who partakes in the construction and maintenance of the factories. We need to cut the services jobs, and have more people making quality goods in the USA.

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  Submitted by Community Member 2 years ago

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  DOE: First Aid Education REQUIREMENT

  With health costs going up in this country, training people to help themselves first can drastically reduce both the number of emergency room visits and the cost of the resulting medical bills. For example, knowing to keep a broken arm in a sling, before you visit the emergency room, will help it heal quicker and straighter, reducing overall medical costs in the long run. Also, only about 18% of emergency room visits ...more »

  With health costs going up in this country, training people to help themselves first can drastically reduce both the number of emergency room visits and the cost of the resulting medical bills. For example, knowing to keep a broken arm in a sling, before you visit the emergency room, will help it heal quicker and straighter, reducing overall medical costs in the long run. Also, only about 18% of emergency room visits result in hospital admission. This means with proper training, fewer people will feel the need to visit the hospital for the small things they can take care of themselves.

  A side affect will be more interest in the medical field, which will create more medical professionals which will also help lower medical costs.

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  Submitted by Community Member 2 years ago

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  Information Assurance Scholarship Reform

  http://cio-nii.defense.gov/sites/iasp2/docs/2010%20IASP%20Solicitation%20for%20Proposal.zip Currently under the Information Assurance Scholarship program, a student cannot accept any other form of tuition assistance that awards above $2500, which prevents good students from taking advantage of this program and shuns potential interest in working for the us government. We're telling potentially talented and motivated ...more »

  http://cio-nii.defense.gov/sites/iasp2/docs/2010%20IASP%20Solicitation%20for%20Proposal.zip

  Currently under the Information Assurance Scholarship program, a student cannot accept any other form of tuition assistance that awards above $2500, which prevents good students from taking advantage of this program and shuns potential interest in working for the us government.

  We're telling potentially talented and motivated individuals that they're too good for the government to care. We should be trying to recruit these individuals at every turn! Especially the Information Assurance individuals, our military and civilian IA and Computer

  Security professionals are bleeding away into the pockets of contractors that gouge tax dollars on massive contracts and private companies that don't share their information for the good of the GIG.

  This program needs to be revised to attract these professionals in the same way the NSA does. The NSA is successful with their fellowship program (http://www.nsa.gov/careers/career_dev/fellowships.shtml)

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  Submitted by Community Member 2 years ago

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  Less Arms R&D, More NASA R&D

  I'm not aware of specific military spending projects, because a lot of arms development is need-to-know, but boosting our weaponry supply in general is way over-funded. I feel like shifting money to other military-based R&D has less of a beneficial effect outside of the military sector than NASA based R&D will have on the rest of the world. The military has a significantly higher budget to start with; NASAs is extremely ...more »

  I'm not aware of specific military spending projects, because a lot of arms development is need-to-know, but boosting our weaponry supply in general is way over-funded.

  I feel like shifting money to other military-based R&D has less of a beneficial effect outside of the military sector than NASA based R&D will have on the rest of the world.

  The military has a significantly higher budget to start with; NASAs is extremely small comparatively. 50 billion dollars in the Military, which has such massive capital resources, has a much smaller marginal gain than those 50 billion dollars redirected to NASA, as that would double its budget.

  The contributions NASA would give to science would provide numerous benefits for mankind outside of just space exploration. For example - if NASA were to fund, say, a solar power research project to increase energy gain from light sources, in order to further space travel capabilities, the benefits to mankind on earth due to increased efficiency in solar power would be outstanding.

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  Submitted by Community Member 2 years ago

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  Spend less on missiles, more on software development

  Well, to put it bluntly, if we bought 20-30 less Tomohawk Missiles, we could fund regional cyber defense for 1 branch of the military. And each implementation of that regional defense would cost less, since the startup work has mostly been done by the previous installations. Tomorrow's war is going to be about killing people, it's going to be about getting their tightly held expensive information, and compromising computer ...more »

  Well, to put it bluntly, if we bought 20-30 less Tomohawk Missiles, we could fund regional cyber defense for 1 branch of the military. And each implementation of that regional defense would cost less, since the startup work has mostly been done by the previous installations.

  Tomorrow's war is going to be about killing people, it's going to be about getting their tightly held expensive information, and compromising computer systems to access that information.

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  Submitted by Community Member 2 years ago

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  Turn off non-essential computers at night

  Why does a building with 1000's of computers need to leave them on overnight EVERY. NIGHT. This is what i experience at work. This isn't just a waste of money, it's a massive drain on our resources. And no, the computers don't automatically go into hibernation mode, they drop down to idle and just sit up with a screensaver. Maybe the monitor is turned off because an employee is conscious of the waste of power, but ...more »

  Why does a building with 1000's of computers need to leave them on overnight EVERY. NIGHT. This is what i experience at work.

  This isn't just a waste of money, it's a massive drain on our resources. And no, the computers don't automatically go into hibernation mode, they drop down to idle and just sit up with a screensaver. Maybe the monitor is turned off because an employee is conscious of the waste of power, but still we're required to leave our computers on 24/7.

  Scheduled updates could occur at the same time every night and auto-shutdown if it's not in use. This isn't exactly a huge burden. Make it 3-4 hours after the standard end-of-business, and only auto-shutdown computers that aren't logged into.

  Millions of taxpayer dollars and the environment will thank us

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  Submitted by Community Member 2 years ago

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  "Open Source" government funded software projects

  The public does it! There are so many open source projects out there that provide source code and accept input from around the globe, why doesn't the government have this capability within itself? Since we're developing software with government employees and paying with tax payer money, what does the whole government gain from a piece of software only being available to one spec in the cloud? The software could be ...more »

  The public does it! There are so many open source projects out there that provide source code and accept input from around the globe, why doesn't the government have this capability within itself?

  Since we're developing software with government employees and paying with tax payer money, what does the whole government gain from a piece of software only being available to one spec in the cloud?

  The software could be released to any agency or service that wants to use it and can prove operational need for it, at no additional cost!

  We could put the source code out there for modification like all the open-source projects on the web. This could make dedicated development team's lives easier by receiving input, suggestions, and comments from around the entire system, rather than just being requirement drive.

  This drives innovation and security on the outside, lets use it as an example for the inside.

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  Submitted by Community Member 2 years ago

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  Change mandatory PCS of non-deploying & shore jobs for military

  This one is simple. Why are we requiring that people move to a new command if they have the ability to grow and develop where they are at, while fulfilling local billet requirements? Some navy ratings require balancing "In" and "Out" ratios, when in reality both are Shore billets. The only difference is that one is out-conus and one is in-conus. Maintain rotation for those who wish to rotate, but why is it impossible ...more »

  This one is simple.

  Why are we requiring that people move to a new command if they have the ability to grow and develop where they are at, while fulfilling local billet requirements?

  Some navy ratings require balancing "In" and "Out" ratios, when in reality both are Shore billets. The only difference is that one is out-conus and one is in-conus.

  Maintain rotation for those who wish to rotate, but why is it impossible for some sailors to fulfill a billet in the same command or geographical area they are working? It's a massive waste of tax-payer money to MANDATE that a member pack up and move elsewhere.

  Worse still, you lose specialized workers that know how to operate stuff no one else does. Why would you mandate those people move? Why wouldn't you mandate they train a replacement before they would be ALLOWED to move?

  A change of mandatory PCS is needed. Allow for more Homesteading when operations support it, rather than mandating a new body show up when a fully qualified one already exists.

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  Submitted by Community Member 2 years ago

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  Certification Requirements for Higly Technical Military Jobs

  Unlike other portions of the DoD, the military tends to skim over requirements like DoD8570 and push them aside for "A" and "C" schools (in US Navy Terminology) that teach information that is extremely outdated, poorly taught, and often focusing on the quantity of passing students rather than the quality of those students. Example: DoD8570 requires an E-5 in the navy working as a Computer Network Defense Analyst to ...more »

  Unlike other portions of the DoD, the military tends to skim over requirements like DoD8570 and push them aside for "A" and "C" schools (in US Navy Terminology) that teach information that is extremely outdated, poorly taught, and often focusing on the quantity of passing students rather than the quality of those students.

  Example: DoD8570 requires an E-5 in the navy working as a Computer Network Defense Analyst to obtain at least IAT level II (Security+ Certification), and Global Certified Intrusion Analyst (GCIA).

  Why aren't we sending these people to schools that certify them for these specialty positions before they arrive?

  Why do we have to rely on command training budgets to provide that training when they should be able to expect their technicians to hit the ground running when they arrive?

  Why do they have to wait to arrive at a command and suddenly realize the training they received has little to nothing to do with what they'll be doing for the next 3 years? These people should be allotted for and trained for specific positions based on aptitude BEFORE REACHING THEIR FIRST COMMAND.

  Then the same person PCS's to another command, and is put into an entirely different job where the skills they've learned only partially translate.

  Teach and Maintain SPECIALTY TECHNICIANS, not JACK OF ALL TRADES.

  Countless hours are spent by under-qualified personnel struggling through PQS or JQR requirements that should be taught far before they arrive at their duty station.

  We expect our Civilian and Contracted employees to hit the ground running, so why are we wasting so much money on training when we should be getting solid work hours out of them.

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