Thoughts on Congressional Reform

J

Jeff White

New member
In a few hours we will begin the next century. The question that I am pondering is will we keep the freedoms we have left and will we be able to undo the creeping socialism of the past 40 years?

I have some thoughts on how we can keep the freedom we still enjoy and even turn back some of the damage the past 40 years has done. We need to reform Congress and the way it does business. What I'm going to propose will never fly, because it would strip too many entrenched pwer factions of their power and return it to the citizens. But I think my ideas are simple and doable.

1. Limit the number of weeks Congress can be in session. Our founding fathers did not intend for Congress to be an elected ruling class, or even for it to be a full time job. Congress members we to be sort of drafted by their peers and take a few years out of their lives to serve them. To restore this, I propose that Congress is only in session for 16 weeks a year, except in time of war or other emergency. The rest of the time the Congressmen and women would live here in their districts with us. They could keep office hours in the district and walk the same streets and shop in the same stores with us. With all of the modern communication abilities we have, there is no need for them to be in Washington and just visit the district. They should live in the district and visit Washington. I would even support the building of guest quarters at Ft. Monroe VA. for Congress, after all, what financial sense would it make to buy a home near Washington, if you were only going to be there 16 weeks per year. We can also pick up their expenses during that 16 weeks. As an incentive to complete their business in 16 weeks, they would pay their own expenses for every day they were in session past 16 weeks unless the President asked Congress to declare a national emergency and 2/3 or both houses agreed to enact one. Of course we couldn't have an ongoing emergency, the declaration must have a termination date or circumstance. Any extension of the emergency would have to be asked for by the president and approved by 2/3 again.

2. Do away with voice votes. With the technology available, all votes should be roll call votes and the constituants will be able to see how their representative voted.

3. Do away with campaign finance laws. Anyone can give anything to any candidate, all campaign contributions are made public immediately.

3. Do away with omnibus legislation. All bills will be considered individually. No attachments of unrelated matters on any legislation.

4. Official Misconduct will become the most serious crime under Federal Law. Lawmakers and employees of government agencies who abuse the trust the people have given them will face certain prosecution and the harshest punishment. No prison camps at Maxwell AFB, these violators will go to Marion Illinois (there is room there since they opened the new Federal Supermax in Colorado)and serve all of their time.

Of course Congress has to vote this in and it's hard to get an agency to regulate itself.

Jeff
 
I would add one other to your list. One term only. Lets keep the doors revolving. This way when they go to vote they are voting on what the people in their district want. Don't give them a chance to be there so long that they come up with new friends. Also knowing that they could only serve one term they would be more likely to represent their district.



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Richard

The debate is not about guns,
but rather who has the ultimate power to rule,
the People or Government.
RKBA!
 
All of the above plus a finite limit on the number of federal laws ever in force - say for today 2000. Cannot add a new one without taking an existing one off the books. Every year this number must be reduced by 2 laws, until we get to 1776 of em and reevaluate.
 
Jeff, some great ideas that make sense and therein lies the problem. They make sense! Self regulation is just about the last thing on any politician's agenda, besides, the very thought of actually having to live in their district more, is the fartherest thing from their minds. The way it is now - the status quo is the norm - they've got it made...

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ff ...save the 2nd. No fate but what we make.
 
Jeff White:

On conmgressional refporm, the following strikes me as "interesting", though I doubt that it would ever ben enacted or accepted by our "elected thi ngs".

1. Do away with non germane amendments. If the subject of the particular amendment cannot stand on it's own legs, it isn't worthy of consideration.

2. Do away with "omnibus legislation", that being 500 page proposals, submitted at the last minute, containing all sorts of cute hookers, that our elected things then claim "I didn't know that that was in there", when they voted without having read. Of course, one might wonder what their ample staffs are paid to do, but thay's likely a "nasty" question.
 
What if we took the entire gang of 535, got some piano wire, and hanged each one by the neck from 535 lightposts? Then we could vote a whole new gang of 535 in and, in a few years, we'd be back in the same boat.

The problem isn't really the sleaze in Congress now, it's the people who elect them. As long as a majority of the people believe they have a right to another person's property just because some have more than others, or the right to run other's lives, we'll continue our descent into totalitarianism.

There was a time in this country, long ago, when people were proud to be independent, and rightly so. They survived on their own, by their brain and brawn, they lived without apology to or permission from anyone, and they resented any interference into their lives by any government agency. Gradually, generation by generation, this independent streak weakened to the point of today's mess.

What changed? The people's philosophy, their basic outlook on life, and, until a majority of the people's philosophy shifts back to one of proud independence and the exaltation of the individual, we'll get more of the same as we have today. And worse.

I can't fault people for some of the ideas expressed on this subject on how to reform Congress, but I don't see them as real solutions. Listen, I am no fan of the way government operates today, and the emotional side of me would love to punish politicians, but that won't solve anything. The electorate and its philosophy is the real problem, not the whores it elects.

Someone once said that a country deserves the government it gets. Of course, that doesn't apply to every single person, but it does apply to the aggregate population. This country is in its current mess because it made that mess itself. It can get out of the mess, but it will take plenty of clear, objective thinking, something I don't see happening anytime soon.

BTW, Jeff White, I'd say that things started to fall apart over a hundred years ago, beginning with the Sherman Antitrust Act in the 1890s.
DAL

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Reading "Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal," by Ayn Rand, should be required of every politician and in every high school.
 
Dal: Somebody else once said that in a democracy, EVERYBODY gets what the MAJORITY deserves. Granted, the ultimate source of the problem is the people, in the sense that by extensively researching the candidates and voting right, we could at least theoretically fix the problem. But that's some demand; I'm sure you can cite several politicians you've helped elect, only to see them violate their campaign promises once elected; So long as politicians can lie with impunity about what they'll do once in office, voting will remain a very blunt tool for reforming the system. And punishig campaign lies is one reform with a zero chance of being adopted!

Still, there are a couple of institutional problems which MIGHT be possible to fix, as there are plenty of Congressmen who are bothered by them, too.

First, I'm with Jeff on voice votes. So far as I can tell, from extensive CSPAN viewing while I was recovering from a broken leg a few years back, they serve two, and ONLY two purposes: One, to allow business to be conducted without a quorum present, in violation of the Constitution. Unfortunately, this is to a major extent something the members actually LIKE, as it allows them to hold down the job without showing up for work most of the time; They may be in Washington, but they're not in the House or Senate chambers! It also frustrates them sometimes, too, because it lets the leadership slip contraversial things through while nobody, almost literally, is present. I believe most of Clinton's appointees have been confirmed by voice votes... Not because they weren't contraversial, but because they were slipped in in the middle of the night by the "leadership" to avoid a debate. The second purpose is also to the leadership's advantage: It lets them ram stuff through over the objections of the members; Did you know that "All in favor say Aye, all opposed say Nay, the Ayes have it!" is one word?

The second reform I'd propose, also to the leaders' disadvantage, but very much to the advantage of the average member, would be to require all bills to be published on the internet in their final form a minimum of several days prior to the final vote on their passage. It's quite common for bills to be voted on before anyone in the general membership has had a chance to read them, and I understand the leaders occasionally take advantage of that to actually add stuff to the bills AFTER THEY'VE BEEN VOTED ON!

These two reforms would make Congress much more responsive to the views of the MEMBERS, (It would still be up to us to elect the right people.) and much more accountable.

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Sic semper tyranus!
 
Hey, I agree with everyones' suggestions to a point, but does everyone realize exactly how many new laws are put in place annually? All of the unelected CZARS that rule our existence, by law, produce thousands of laws quarterly. I point out that a moratorium on new laws would be a good thing. I.E., let em make any dumbass law they want , but give em a finite dumbass law budget. I want not a balanced fiscal budget as much as a balanced legislative intrusion bottom line. ;)
 
G-Freeman,

I agree. And I think our Constitution makes a pretty straightforward explanation of the intrusion bottom line if we simply read it without manipulating it.

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Either you believe in the Second Amendment or you don't.
Stick it to 'em! RKBA!
 
The power of the vote is our only tool to fix things, short of those other "tools" which we all own and love, but are loathe to use unless it becomes an absolulte necessity.

That being said, the only real way to fix things is to educate the general populace. That may be a very slow, very painful process, but it is the only method which will ensure a future victory for freedom that is a lasting fixture. Everything else is just a temporary fix, as the legislators can do or undo any or all of the great ideas presented here.

Those of us who can actually read the Constitution, and understand its history and how it came to be, must take the lead in educating our children first, then their friends and the parents of their friends. I have young children (aged 3, 5, and 7, with baby on the way in March), so I have a real chance to make a big impact here, and I will. But each of us must shoulder that responsibility, and it is just that. It is NOT an option, if the Republic is to survive. If your children are grown and out of your home, volunteer at a school or after-school tutoring/mentoring program. Yes, there is WORK involved. But isn't that better than shooting?
 
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