Posted on 07/19/2008 12:48:21 PM PDT by nels96
MY 'EXTREMIST' SUGGESTION TO CHANGE CONGRESS
There was a time when I was generally and proudly optimistic about the prospects for our country.
But the growth of an irresponsible, liberally biased media, the incompetent ever-growing leviathan of government, and the essentially permanent self-serving Congress, has turned me into a desperate ‘extremist’, calling for all voters to ‘Never Reelect’ anyone in Congress, lest we continue our descent into a ‘Dictatorship of the Congress’.
It makes little difference who wins the Presidency. It is in Congress where the problems lie!
I can think of no rational alternative to ‘Never Reelect’ any congressperson, since Congress has a lock on preventing Term Limits on itself.
A congressional seat is now so attractive, and so essentially permanent, that they will fight tooth and nail to get reelected forever, eventually retiring as mult-millionaires! Reelection rates have reached 98%.
As a result, voter participation is down to 45%. Most people who want to vote against incumbents drop out, because of the high reelection rate, which then increases the percentage of voters who vote for incumbents, thereby guaranteeing reelections.
In the meantime, major national issues such as unbalanced budgets vs multi-trillion dollar debt, forbidden energy production while gasoline approaches $5/gal, plunging educational scores, etc, continue to sit on the backburners of an irresponsible Congress.
But they won’t act on these and other issues because the special interests, who fund their reelection campaigns, would be upset. On the other hand, the American people, who are demoralized by the resulting economic slowdown, vicious partisanship, and loss of national self-esteem, are confused, unorganized, and don’t know what to do.
THE ANSWER: The American people need to electorally slaughter the Congress (on both sides of the aisle) with a one-time 100% turnover to show Congress that the people are the boss!
What we need is a popular uprising, such as a ‘Do Not Reelect Any Congressman’ campaign, which will inflict wholesale damage on the incumbency in Congress, to show them that the American people are still in charge, NOT the special interests.
Any idiot can see that we, the voters, are our own worst enemy, when we deliberately keep reelecting incumbents, over and over again, when it is these very incumbents who are letting our country go down the tubes! It is not just that “my guy is OK, but not your guy”! They are ALL bums!
Congress should be a brief civic duty, NOT a career!
Never reelect anyone in Congress (at least until they give us term limits)
So let’s throw them all out! At least once, in 2008, and maybe again in 2010, 2012, and 2014. That’ll learn ‘em! Maybe the freshmen who replace them will let us have Term Limits!
I’m Nelson Lee Walker of tenurecorrupts.com
I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately myself. Wonder if we could get Rush to do an “Operation Chaos” type undertaking...???
The DemocRATS would never go along with this. They rely on their pollit-icians to bring home the pork. As for the Republican scoundrels in Congress, we don’t have to do a thing to get them thrown out. The DemocRATS are going to do it for us in November.
Something of this type is desparately needed. There is mostly definitely an ongoing culture of corruption. Not the one Queen-Bitch Pelosi intones - instead, the bigger culture of which she and others are always a part.
But what we are really longing for is a “well behaved” Congress that operates within the limits set forth by the U.S. Constitution. Plus, clear rules of conduct that eliminate corruption while enabling special interests to still make their case.
Why the founding fathers did not do more to constrain the excesses of party politics is a mystery to me.
Push for 401Ks for elected officials. They have voted themselves all kind of lush retirement perks, at the taxpayers’ expense. Even if the taxpayers did a 6% matching funds, it stll would be cheaper than the current system.
Take away those bennies and watch the rats bail out for greener pastures - or else end up living under a bridge because they have no saleable skills.
The next time your congresscritter pays your town a visit, ask him if he would support that measure - and then watch the tap dance begin.
Hey! You stole my plan! If everyone voted non-incumbent Washington and the media would go insane. Time for another “temper tantrum”.
I’ve been wanting to clean house for a long time. It doesn’t make sense to keep electing the same group of self serving scumbags who create new ways to screw us every year. We need to find honest people from the local community who care about what’s in our best interest. Congress has become a cesspool that is in dire need of a thorough flushing.
The grassroots needs a constitutional convention (created by state legislatures) to impose term limits. This will probably take another generation to accomplish.
Of course we could shorten this time frame by getting on the Internet and rallying our friends and relatives.
I have never witnessed in more than 55 years of voting a more arrogant, arsine group of kinder-garden kids.
But but but Senator Treason and Congressman Hairdo have done SO MUCH for [insert worthless state here]!!!
“I can think of no rational alternative to ‘Never Reelect’ any congressperson, since Congress has a lock on preventing Term Limits on itself. “
Easy. Litmus test on voluntary term limits. Basically, the candidate that agrees to only serve two terms is the one you vote for, regardless of party. This way they are serving the American people and not their own self interest.
Incumbency is the problem, but voting against someone in a general election just because they are incumbent is a tough sell. Democrats hate to vote for any Republican just as much as Republicans hate voting for Democrats. The primary system is where change needs to come. The party structure HATES competitive primaries. Open primaries would help. But congressional candidates raise money more to fend off primary challenges than they do to use in the general. People need to encourage primary challenges and reward a candidate who is underfunded, unexperienced, but wants some change as badly as the voters. If we wait to the general to get rid of incumbents then it ain’t never going to happen. Incumbents need to be eliminated in the primary like one Mr. Cannon from Utah.
I have never voted for my congresscritter in the primary, and will never vote for the extremist liberal that runs against him in the general.
is there a way to limit tenure in a specific committee. The lobbyist’s would find it less attractive to funnel $$$ to a committee member if he knew this person could only influence the committee for a short period of time.
is there a way to limit tenure in a specific committee. The lobbyist’s would find it less attractive to funnel $$$ to a committee member if he knew this person could only influence the committee for a short period of time.
I’ve posted so many times the phrase “PULL THE CHAIN”. I really believe in it. I probably should make it my tagline, but I like the old one I have had since the beginning of my membership in January of 2004.
Pull The Chain, flush the Congressional bowl.
Term Limits
12 years in the Senate (2 terms)
12 years in the House( 6 terms)
For the Senate an incumbent must sit out 1 term to be eligible to return.
For the House an incumbent must sit 2 terms to be eligible.
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