Ideas to fix the problem

If you are a routine reader of this blog you know I do not like overly simplistic answers to very complex problems. See, however, if some of the following ideas don't make some sense and are in fact actionable.


For instance, many of you, if feel, sure have seen the following:

Winds of Change.... Warren Buffet is asking each addressee to forward this email to a minimum of twenty people on their address list; in turn ask each of those to do likewise. In three days, most people in The United States of America will have the message. This is one idea that really should be passed around. _*Congressional Reform Act of 2011*_ 1. No Tenure / No Pension. A Congressman/woman collects a salary while in office and receives no pay when they're out of office. 2. Congress (past, present & future) participates in Social Security. All funds in the Congressional retirement fund move to the Social Security system immediately. All future funds flow into the Social Security system, and Congress participates with the American people. It may not be used for any other purpose. 3. Congress can purchase their own retirement plan, just as all Americans do. 4. Congress will no longer vote themselves a pay raise. Congressional pay will rise by the lower of CPI or 3%. 5. Congress loses their current health care system and participates in the same health care system as the American people. 6. Congress must equally abide by all laws they impose on the American people. 7. All contracts with past and present Congressmen/women are void effective 1/1/12. The American people did not make this contract with Congressmen/women. Congressmen/women made all these contracts for themselves. Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career. The Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators, so ours should serve their term(s), then go home and back to work. If each person contacts a minimum of twenty people then it will only take three days for most people (in the U.S.) to receive the message. Don't you think it's time? THIS IS HOW YOU FIX CONGRESS! If you agree with the above, pass it on. If not, just delete. You are one of my 20+ - Please keep it going, and thanks.

---

Not new and it would astonish me if most of you have not seen this or some version of this.


Most parents know that a child's behavior should carry some consequences, should it not?  Our Congress, then, which we openly criticize and praise, could be said to be acting like a spoiled child, could it not?  I know I have ranted right here about their behavior.


Term limits: let us look at the positive value of term limits. But first I want to introduce you to a reference book.

Congressional Deskbook: The Practical and Comprehensive Guide to Congress, Fifth Edition (Legislative Series) [Paperback]

This is a $47 book available at Amazon.  Maybe your legislator will send you and older copy for free.


If a book such as this is needed for a person to be able to do their job, you have to ask yourself why?
Here it becomes difficult for me to reduce my thoughts to cogent sentences and paragraphs.


Congress, the club, makes its own rules.  We here them referred to all the time in the news.But few of us have any idea what the rules are.  So we write our congressman or senator and ask them to do this or that or the other.  But the "Rules" are strict and they can't just jump up and do something.  Most things must go to a committee. And in order for it to get to the committee "Rules" must be followed.  Protocol must be observed.  The bill must be considered by some group, then placed on some other groups agenda for further consideration and recommendation to be forwarded to the appropriate committee for study and review, etc., etc. I believe I'm correct, in general, on the above.


In order to get any action on the proposal, what do you suppose must happen?  Well, the key players, or gatekeepers, at any stage must be persuaded of the merit of the proposal or at least convinced to pass it along.  And here is where deals are made


Tenure, yes, tenure.  This thought train is about tenure.  So the merit of tenure is that a congressman has the time to read the book, and learn the ropes and then be able to actually introduce something of their own.


But why is all of this necessary?  Rules; which powerful interests have devised for the purpose of ? Control!


For a couple of centuries now, the cry of the public has been, "throw the bums out" and get a new bunch of ?......  Bums?  And that is essentially what we do.  Replace republican bums for democratic bums, but regardless of the "sex" they're all from the same litter.


If that is a positive result of tenure, what is an example of a negative?  Since rules proved order and control does it not make sense that the person(s) who know them the best and are most adept at their use will have more control over the process than others?  Sure it does and you can follow your own train of thought from there about the possible results, good or bad.


In conclusion it seems to me that there are enough examples of special interests, pork and favoritism for us to see that without consequences the behavior is not likely to change.  I do not believe that you or I would "...cut off our own nose to spite our face". So the real answer is for us to run for political office or to get appointed to an office.  How? well a start is to become politically active.  Accept appointment to a committee or group in your city or county government, by actually going to the mayor or whomever and asking to be on the committee, whether it's animal control (dog catcher) or housing and zoning, etc.


If we are not leading we are following or standing still. (<--- Sorry, overly simplistic).

Perspective

You should keep in mind as you read my posts that I am 66 1/2 years old and I speak from that perspective. From May 7, 1945 until now a lot of history has happened and I've lived through and been a part of it along with many of you. So, that being said; that among other things colors and informs my perspective. The election here in Kentucky is over and we re-elected some incumbents and a few new folks. Our governor is the same, atty general the same, auditor new, treasurer new, etc. Our one independent for governor got less than 15% of the vote, so I guess that speaks to our willingness to try something out of the mainstream. I guess it's "better the devil you know than the devil you don't". "Do no harm" was the general feeling I got from other citizens as the election process dragged along. Seems like the folks felt that the team we had hadn't done anything catastrophic or horrible and generally led us through the period without doing too much harm and even did some real good along the way that they are taking credit for, so I suppose everything is in order this morning. On the national scene, that circus is just getting rolling. The news media continue to focus on non-issues and "create" news from nothing, guiding our thoughts toward whatever agenda they have in mind. Time for Jack to do his definition thing. Liberal = progressive = socially responsible = socialist = communist (this is my 66 1/2 year perspective) Conservative = strict constitutional interpretation = 'right wing' = radical right = bigot = religious fundamentalist = traditionalist = big business = my soul is for sale Libertarian = crazy people who believe in pure democracy = strict constitutional interpretation (< how can one be true and two be true at the same time?) = believe words have no nuance when used in a sentence. Military/industrial complex = quaint notion from decades ago that has no relevance today in our complex and interdependent world (BS). Capitalism = the basis of our 21st century government (world wide). Positive social Values = quaint notion devised and developed centuries ago which are no longer applicable in a highly advanced technological society OMG, my blog post has turned intro a rant !! I'll quit.