Posted on 12/04/2018 7:50:34 AM PST by yesthatjallen
Former Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.) penned an op-ed Tuesday calling for the Senate to be abolished and for elections to be publicly funded.
Dingell, who represented Michigan in the House for over 59 years, wrote for the Atlantic a series of suggestions to address the "unprecedented cynicism about the nobility of public service itself."
The former lawmaker noted that in 1958 a survey from the University of Michigan found that 73 percent of Americans trusted the federal government to do the right thing almost always or most of the time. In 2017, the same study conducted by the Pew Research Center found that number down to just 18 percent.
One of the causes of frayed trust identified by Dingell was how a "minority of obnoxious asses can hold the entire country hostage to extremist views" because of the electoral college system and a Senate that provides two representatives to each state regardless of size.
"California has almost 40 million people, while the 20 smallest states have a combined population totaling less than that," he wrote. "Yet because of an 18th-century political deal, those 20 states have 40 senators, while California has just two. These sparsely populated, usually conservative states can block legislation supported by a majority of the American people. Thats just plain crazy."
Dingell also suggested moving toward full electoral participation by automatically registering all American citizens to vote when they turn 18 as well as campaign finance reform to improve accountability.
"Public service should not be a commodity, and elected officials should not have to rent themselves out to the highest bidder in order to get in to (or stay in) office," Dingell wrote.
Dingellberry is back!
It’s like he never ... oh, wait, he did never leave. They never leave.
California is NOT underrepresented.......
Abolishing the Senate and leaving only the House would not be enough, of course, for the RATS. We need only look to how they organize themselves for selecting their Presidential nominee with super delegates under party control who actually decide on the nominee to see that they do not trust the spirit of their own name no matter how much they blather on about population and equal representation.
There are 435 Representatives and only 100 Senators. A normal person who pays income taxes would say it would make more sense to get rid of the House of Representatives and only have the Senate. We could also save a ton of money on elections by get rid of the worthless House.
Curious how Dung-hell wants to abolish the Senate when WE control it.
Tell ya what, Dung-hell. Let’s abolish the House! Well, at least until we control it again.
Fair?
But, youll always have the opportunity to whinge ineffectually about the situation and have a little cry. You'll find it easy to enlist the likes of giggly metrosexual men and random interchangeable actresses to your cause.
Dingell must be abolished with extreme prejudice and malice.
Think of the minority of transgenders who hold us hostage with their extremist views.
Actually we are going to abolish this House and it is going to be fun to watch.
While we're at it, how about Medicaid for .gov employees and elected officials? Let's try it out on them first...
[Isaac D'Israeli]
Repeal the 17th
Agreed. The Founding Fathers were correct to make the Senate accountable to the States. You would see the term “unfunded mandate” evaporate into thin air.
:: These sparsely populated, usually conservative states can block legislation supported by a majority of the American people. ::
What he REALLY means:
These sparsely populated, usually conservative states can block legislation supported by a majority of PROGRESSIVE CALIFORNIANS.
Cause, that’s what is fair; that we should all be governed by Californians.
“Former Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich) ”
Note the “D”, it figures.
I agree with him on this, a “minority of obnoxious asses can hold the entire country hostage to extremist views”. The reality of that truthful statement is 99% of the obnoxious asses (a-holes) are liberal democrats.
Yes. Note my tagline. We're semi-auto shopping currently.
Maybe we con just appoint Casio queen now.
LOL, did he say that???? OMG. He was gone in 2015 but is old enough that perhaps nature will give us a helping hand soon.
The Dems will do anything for power. Why dont we just become a dictatorship and make Pelosi the dictator?
One of the right things for the feds to most of the time which the corrupt feds actually dont do is to not interfere in state sovereignty.
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