thanx Mia...it is clear that transparency of relations and conduct on Captitol Hill, the same transparency expected of corporate boards by the SEC, is long overdue. This is something we the people can remedy as part of national self-examination of how 911 happened. The failure of the Founders carefully crafted checks-and-balances is a substanatial part of the problem.
We must purge DC of the professional politician and return to the idea of the citizen-politician.
If we do this, we will break the power-and-corruption cycle. Post-9/11, we no longer have the luxury of time or circumstance to abide that nonsense.
We must field citizen-politicians of the highest caliber. As envisioned by the founders, the citizen-politicians would ''lend'' their expertise to government and then return to private life. The culture of access, influence and self-interest--and with it, the tyranny--would literally disappear overnight.
With their obvious excellence and assisted by the new technology, citizen-politicians would easily bypass the stacked system to capture the imagination -- and votes -- of the masses.