Posted on 08/20/2008 1:47:23 PM PDT by nels96
Some years ago it became apparent to me that politics stinks, and that the stinkiest part of politics is the US Congress. Judging from the fact that voter participation in all our elections runs from 40 to 50%, apparently a great many voters agree, and simply don’t vote
So I made myself a commitment to start a campaign to “Tro Da Bums Out!” (All of them)
First, I looked at Term Limits. Since 75% of Americans want term limits for Congress, I thought it would be easy. But... we need to get a bill for term limits thru Congress FIRST, which ain’t never gonna happen!
Then I looked at Article V of the Constitution, which says that “the people” could have a “convention for proposing amendments”. But this was already tried by Bill Walker of www.foavc.org, and bounced by the Supreme Court in 2004, erroneously (imho), and should be attempted again. But we should wait for a more ‘originalist’ court.
Finally, after listening to many website discussions on this topic, I have come to realize that there is one unstoppable, foolproof method of achieving the goal of reforming Congress. Simply put, we voters must never reelect anyone in Congress.
If enough voters stick to this simple principle thru several election cycles, reelections in Congress would plummet. This would have a major impact on the behavior of all incumbents remaining in Congress. Furthermore, the many freshmen elected in such a changed election climate would have no doubt that they will be serving very brief terms unless they vote as responsible legislators instead of party hacks. And they would be much more likely to vote for a term limits amendment bill just to serve more than one term.
The big question is: How do we get Americans to stop reelecting their lousy Congress? We don’t have to succeed 100%. Just enough to drop House reelections from its current 98% down to about 65%. That’ll get their attention!
And if we keep it up thru 2010, 2012, and 2014, we will make a big difference.
When the media talks about it, many, many people who haven’t been voting will start voting again because they’ll see they can make a difference.
A second question will be: Who should I vote for if I don’t want to reelect my incumbent? Suggestions for both Democrats or Republicans:
1. If your guy was opposed in your primary, and lost, vote for the guy who beat him. 2. If he was opposed in the primary, and won, vote for the other major party guy. 3. If the other major party guy also won an unopposed primary, then vote for any 3rd party.
What we want is a 100% turnover in Congress, on BOTH sides of the aisle.
Remember the objective here is to defeat all incumbents of both major parties, so the simplest decision is to vote for any 3rd party candidate. Or, when in doubt, vote ‘em out!
Nelson Lee Walker of tenurecorrupts.com, Saratoga, CA
Term limits is the only way. Americans, by and large, have become ignorant or complacent with Congressional failure/corruption.
I dont necessarily agree. I think there is a difference with the House versus the Senate. I say wipe out the Senate.....tell em all they are out of a job.
I agree that we should vote out the majority of the incumbents. In June, I sent a letter to the editor of four Chicago-area newspapers. It said, “Sen. Obama says that this year’s election should cause change, and I agree. We can change the government by electing more Republicans. Democrats control the U.S. Senate, U.S. House, Illinois Senate, and Illinois House. If Illinois voters want to change the government, they’ll ensure that Republicans regain control of those four houses. If that happens, those politicians will cut tax rates, cut spending, enforce immigration laws, and protect us from terrorists.” Three of the papers printed it.
Sounds like a wonderful idea!!
The Dems are utter scoundrels who are destroying the traditions that made America great.
In lieu of a revolution to throw the bums out I'm for term limits.
Roughly half the country votes Democrat, and why would they want a change?
Typical Democrats (the condom-throwers, abortion enthusiasts, gold-chained union thugs, ACLU athiests, welfare grandmothers, Boy Scout hating lesbians, hand-wringing college professors, and the rest of the parasites, losers, goofballs, and bitter malcontents who comprise the Democrat party “base”) have never cared much about traits like upstanding moral values, honesty, or experience in their candidates.
For them, it’s all about how much free stuff they think their politicians can confiscate from hard-working, taxpaying, traditional American families (the Republican “base”) and hand over to them in exchange for their votes.
And so, the only way Democrats will “throw the bums out” is if somebody even worse comes along to replace them.
I dislike my republican congressman, Mark Kirk (of IL). He’s pro-spending increases, pro-choice, pro-gay marriage, pro-gun control, pro-illegal alien, and anti-Iraq surge. I emailed him four times, within the past 18 months, and I asked why he’s a Republican. I haven’t received a response. I sent an email to about 10 conservatives, who live in his district, and I asked them why he’s a Republican. None of them knew the answer.
Truer words were never spoken [re: the Democratic base’s motivation for voting]. I have Dem friends who hate congress, but only because they’re not taking more from “the rich” and giving it to the Dem base. These people are not going to throw the engineers of the gravy train out any time soon.
Cause it’s IL. Let me guess on the letters to the editors: the Sun-Times did not print it.
Not a particularly bad idea ... although one significant downside is that high turnover among the Congresscritters tends to increase the influence of the long-tenure, unelected, and therefore unaccountable House and Senate staffers, who would be in a position to influence the thoughts and votes of wet-behind-the-ears newbies.
You can’t get elected to anything in Villainois without playing that game - it’s just further proof that in urbanized states, party labels don’t mean anything. ;)
You guessed correctly. I sent my letter to the Chicago Sun-Times, Chicago Tribune, Daily Herald, and Lake Co. News-Sun. The Sun-Times didn’t print it, but the others did.
agree.
THROW THE BUMS OUT! ALL OF ‘EM!
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121910897089651793.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
While I like them doing as little as possible when it comes to legislation....this is the fluff they blow our $169,300 x 535 a year on. Shiftless, worthless, bums.
I just listened to a democrat spittlist lie through his sparkling teeth on Laura Ingraham’s stand in for Bill O’Reilly. The lie Obama is spewing is being defended by more layers of lies on the issue of Obama’s opposition to protecting babies who survive abortion attempt. Democrats are liars, they lie and then when caught lying lie some more to cover the lies, and the media sycophantic whores give them continuous cover!
I agree. I also look for that quality in what would be my ideal president. My idea of a perfect president would be one that would live at their own home and play video games all day. The only time they would go to the White House would be when they show up to veto every piece of legislation Congress passes.
Sounds like you want the job.
Put me on your petition then :)
Let’s also make ‘congresscritter’ an unpaid position where they have about 14 days of actual business a year, and the rest of the time in Washingon it’s a massive Madden ‘09 / Guitar Hero tourney...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.