James de Angelo's Call for Secret Balloting in Congress

James de Angelo's Call for Secret Ballots in Congress
While studying Bitcoin, I came across what I think is one of the best ideas as to why, how and when America started going downhill. James de Angelo used to have a YouTube channel called "World Bitcoin Network." He had plenty of videos on Bitcoin, and I learned most of what I think I know about Bitcoin from him. But Mr. de Angelo also had a few other videos that suggested political-type improvements. For example, one suggested a method of dealing with "Global warming/Climate change."
However, his best idea, in my opinion, was about the importance of secret ballots. His point was that changing the rules by which Congress votes, from secret voting to public voting, marked the beginning of America's decline. That happened around 1971, under The Legislative Reorganization Act of 1970. Interestingly, that year is also when the USA went off the gold standard. Since then, America has not had its money backed by gold and had public balloting rather than secret balloting in Congress.
Secret ballots are important to all of us. Anyone who has ever voted knows how much better secret balloting is than public balloting. We all value being able to vote in secret. So, why do we make our Representatives in Congress vote in public? Imagine what it's like to be your Representative and have people watching and recording your every vote. Number one, you'd be intimidated. Someone's watching how you vote. That's intimidating, at least for politicians, who typically like to be liked and, above all, be re-elected.
Number two, public voting quickly leads to what is essentially bribery. Suppose you're being watched by lobbyists, but you also know why they're watching you. You know how they want you to vote. You'd have a hard time voting against their wishes, but you'd have an easy time voting for their wishes if they also contribute to your re-election campaign.
Public voting leads to intimidation and/or bribery. On the other hand, with secret balloting the campaign contributors and donors really don't know how the Congressional Member votes. Potential donors are less likely to try to intimidate and/or bribe with campaign contributions. If we went back to secret ballots, large corporations and wealthy donors would probably still give donations, but it'd more likely be to all candidates—so no matter who wins they'll be on good terms.
Ballots used to be secret. The Constitution, itself, was written in a room where secrecy was demanded. No "reporters" of the day were allowed. Anyone attending the Constitutional Convention was forbidden from speaking outside the convention about anything that was discussed within the walls of the Pennsylvania State House, where the convention was held. The Pennsylvania State House is now called Independence Hall because the Declaration of Independence was also written there.
All votes were secret. President Madison, later the fourth President of the United States, attended the convention, as a representative from Virginia, and took notes. They're the only notes we have of what went on at the Constitutional Convention. Since votes were secret, Madison couldn't name any names, only the results of the votes by States. He named names when someone gave a speech. If someone spoke against some provision in the Constitution, you could assume they would probably vote against it. But you'd never know for sure, because no one knew how anyone else voted; votes were secret. A particular vote Madison would record as "9 (States) to 2 in favor," stuff like that. The names of the States were listed, but no names were attached to any votes. The "Founders" knew the importance of secret ballots. It allows Representatives to vote exactly the way they want to vote, and no one else will know for sure.
But in 1970, the Congress passed, and President Nixon signed into law The Legislative Reorganization Act of 1970. At the time, the change considered most out-of-the-ordinary was the introduction of an electronic voting system into the House Chamber. A state-of-the-art, million dollar electronic voting system went into operation on Jan 23, 1973 and was considered a big improvement because a roll call vote that previously took 30 to 45 minutes took only 15 minutes with the electronic system. In addition, all votes in the House, yea's, nay's, or present's, must be recorded and published in the Congressional Record. Those in Congress who voted for this law, and President Nixon who signed it, had no idea the monster they were creating.
Like many things that seem to be a good idea at first, but later turn out to be bad, the Legislative Reorganization Act of 1970 was an incredible boon to the number and salaries of lobbyists. Wealthy individuals as well as corporations were also winners. Even Members of Congress were winners. In fact, the only losers were the American people who began losing their democracy.
In this one bad law, one of many bad federal laws, America went from secret voting in committees and on the floor of the House of Representatives to where every vote of every member, even in committees, is put into the Congressional Record for anyone to see. It's nice to know how your Representative votes, I'll admit that. His or her vote may affect you. But, get real for a second. You don't look to see how your Representative votes in the Congressional Record, do you? Have you ever looked it up? For the most part, you don't care how your Congressperson votes on any issue. You most likely vote the party anyway, either Democratic or Republican, You probably don't donate to any Congressional candidate.
On the other hand, the lobbyists of the wealthy and powerful do care, and they donate. They donate to those who vote the way the wealthy and powerful want them to vote. It's a matter of money. Because of all the money the Legislative Reorganization Act of 1970 has brought into American politics, our Representatives are not as able as they used to be, to vote for their constituents or their own personal consciences. Mr. De Angelo believes that taking away public ballots would take away or lessen the bribery. To me, that's common sense. But I haven't looked at any exact figures. If anyone has those figures, please share them. I doubt anyone has such figures. We'd have to try it out to find out for sure. If we go back to secret ballots, will campaign contributions drop? That's a question that has an experimental answer.
Did those who passed this law know that what they were doing would turn out to be so bad? No. They thought open government sounded like a good idea. Open government probably is a good idea. But open government goes much farther than whether your legislature votes in secret or not.
And for any readers who think that there's too much money in politics and hope to overturn the case of Citizens United v Federal Election Commission, removing campaign donation limits, consider how much simpler going back to secret balloting would be. Restoring secret balloting in Congress would be much less costly, much less divisive, and much less difficult than trying to overturn the Court's decision. Anyway, the Court's decision is arguably correct, if you think about it. If nude dancing is protected speech under the First Amendment, then donating money to help your preferred candidate win must also be speech. Spending money is, in a very real sense, speech, of spreading your ideas, of promoting or "propagandizing" what you prefer. Secret ballots in Congress would take away the need to overturn Citizens United.
And that is James de Angelo's idea for where America went wrong, and started its descent, and where we could begin, immediately, to improve, simply by going back to secret voting in Congress. In my opinion, that's a simple but possibly truly great idea. It wouldn't solve all the problems, but it sounds like a step in the right direction. It's worth a try! Thank you, James de Angelo. No doubt another Bitcoin-inspired idea.