Posted on 08/01/2007 7:14:29 AM PDT by UltraConservative
And there lies much of the problem...IMO
We Need Term Limits.
The Federal Income Tax gives the congress to much money to play with.
The longer they stay in office the more removed from reality they become.
The more their view of their self importance becomes.
The more delusional they become.
A honest broker for the people who elected him doesn't need to buy votes.
In his last two Senate campaigns of 1976 and 1982, Proxmire refused to take any campaign contributions, and spent on each less than $200 out of his own pocket—to cover the expenses related to filing for re-election and return postage for unsolicited contributions. He was an early advocate of campaign finance reform.
They think it’s theirs.......
Oh, I bet we would, if only because of the shenanigans you described in your post.
In those days every politician accused every other politician of corruption as a slug line in every campaign. It was probably all true. Now they can’t do that so easily since it can come right back in many cases.
“When some one can show me why a candidate will spend millions for a job that pays in the 100k’s I will believe they are there for public service.”
Exactly!
And the fact that the quality of our Senators and Congressmen is in the toilet. They are in it for what they can get out of it. Instead of representing our conscience in Washington, they are representing only themselves.
Our entire government is in dire need of a huge upheaval and house cleaning. We should fire every single senator and congressman and start over.
How can anyone seriously support government controlled health care, other than those who stand to profit from it?
Why so many freepin' words? Let's cut to the chase...
They set their own salaries.
They set their own 'expense accounts'.
They exempt themselves from the laws the rest of us are expected to observe.
If a bureaucrat makes a serious error affecting life or property, the victim is expected to set things right. For instance, with the IRS, contrary to the Bill of Rights, you are guilty until proven innocent.
All of these things apply to the elected and appointed politicians, all bureaucrats and the courts.
There are tens of millions of them. What are the odds that they will adrress the criminal imcompetence and corruption on their own?
Now here's the conundrum:
Articles like this one are useless. As long as they have the final word and keep their hands in our pockets, we can call them anything we want and rant and rave endlessly. The sinkhole that Alexis de Tocqueville predicted has arrived. The corruptees have bought all of their supporters with other people's money and it has gone beyond the tipping point. The sheep are truly helpless.
That's the usual line of Bullshit* that makes the problem impossible to solve.
I can't imagine the possibility of rookies doing more damage.
Term limits should not be enacted unless something is done about this. In place of term limits, I'd suggest the repeal of the 17th Amendment which would return the election of our senators to the State Houses. As for the House, forcing them to publish on-line the source and amount of every dollar they receive in campaign funds would go a long way. Sunshine is the best disinfectant.
IMO, one term is enough for these ego maniacs. They’re power hungry and morally bankrupt. They think of themselves as royalty and entitled to everything they can suck out of the American taxpayers. They disgrace our founding fathers and our heritage. The US Congress has become a national disgrace.
While that may be true, you missed the heart of the matter that makes it much worse today in effect on the taxpayer; you clearly missed this part:
The increased role of the federal government opens the door to federal corruption. As long as the federal government spends millions of taxpayer dollars on purely state and local projects, lobbyists would be fools to stay away. As long as the federal government spends cash on bridges to nowhere and structures named after senators, political interest groups will lurk in the shadows, offering pay-for-play.
The vastly increased powers and role of the Federal government into every facet of even idividuals' lives has made things incredibly worse, in effect.
Hogs eating at the trough. The bigger the trough, the more hogs and the more that gets eaten.
We need a much smaller trough.
Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness—these firmest props of the duties of men and citizens. The mere politician, equally with the pious man, ought to respect and to cherish them. A volume could not trace all their connections with private and public felicity. Let it simply be asked, Where is the security for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation desert the oaths which are the instruments of investigation in courts of justice? And let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion. Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.Washington believed that only religion and its related moral principles were forces powerful enough to overcome man’s natural inclination to abuse power. For any official who did not believe in God, only the threat of punishment would be sufficient to restrain him. So, as American culture has come to value belief in God less and less, it has become necessary in modern times to pass an increasing number of laws specifying punishments for the corrupt behavior of government officials.It is substantially true that virtue or morality is a necessary spring of popular government. The rule indeed extends with more or less force to every species of free government. Who that is a sincere friend to it can look with indifference upon attempts to shake the foundation of the fabric? Promote, then, as an object of primary importance, institutions for the general diffusion of knowledge. In proportion as the structure of a government gives force to public opinion, it is essential that public opinion should be enlightened.
A three trillion dollar honeypot attracts of critters.
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