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Originally Posted by littleman2
I would make it law to ban any one from public office if they want to be in office. And make it a draft walk out and wam you have a draft notice to sever in congress for four years.
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Littleman2: We are very close to agreement on this one. I once spent hours theorizing a way to return our "representative" form of government to one that represents the people, instead of big interests. I never "finished" it off enough to write a book, but let me outline it for you and others who might (or might not) agree. This is a BI-partisan argument, and thus should not get me banned.
First, I agree with your intent, but not entirely with your method. The fact that someone like Clinton, or Dole, or anyone else might have a lifelong desire to BE in public office, should not exclude them. SOME people in government really DO have altruistic motivations. I don't think you would REALLY want a bunch of draftees in there.
The problem is that to STAY in office, with the intent of serving America, they must raise big bucks for campaigns and TV ads. I would do away with this problem.
Let the government give a set amount to every candidate, and leave it up to them to spend it wisely. Do not allow any outside form of fundraising.
Close the 'backdoor' financing from thier "parties." Make it illegal for ANY PAC to give any money to a candidate.
Further disuade special interests from "greasing palms" by setting reasonable TERM LIMITS. Before any Representative" can be in Congress long enough to weild POWER over committees and such, they would be out. Why would big business spend millions of dollars "cultivating" a "vote" if that candidate won't be in Congress long enough to do them any good?
Pay them about as much as a schoolteacher gets!! Many of them came to office from successful law practices anyway, and have enough money to "tide them over" while they SERVE their country. And almost ALL of them stand to prosper in various businesses or practices AFTER serving! That should be good enough.
I don't want their life as a Congressman to be EASY.... I want it to be a sacrifice! That should help weed out the ones who are in it for themselves, and leave us with only the bravest and truest of Patriots as 'representatives' of the people. Their sacrifice to represent the people of this country should be somewhat akin to the sacrifice our military is expected to make.
I'm not totally against your idea of "drafting" representatives. This has a lot of merit. But, realistically I find it best to....
1. Limit terms to limit opportunities for being corrupted.
2. Limit PAY & bennies to make them think TWICE about doing it.
3. Isolate them from any form of outside funding and influence.
4. Turn them over regularly to get NEW blood and ideas into Congress.
5. Institute across the board "line item vetos" so that bills can get passed in reasonable time without PORK!
6. In certain cases, make them submit a vote to a referendum of their constituents before they can tender their vote.
With ALL the concern about the loading of the Supreme Court lately, I've NOT been overly offended or affected by their decisions.
It is becoming increasingly clear to all, that the Executive branch DOES have to answer to Congress to some degree.
But.... who does Congress answer to? Certainly NOT the American people. Not under the current status quo. But.... that is exactly WHO they should be answering to.
The framers of our Constitution knew.... and dedicated the majority of their time and efforts to stipulations concerning the Legislative branch. They must be turning in their graves to see what has become of their ideal of a "representative government."
Hobo
