John Dingell calls for Senate to be abolished

The Hill ^ | 12/04/18 | Chris Mills Rodrigo

[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. That’s 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.

[robowombat]

Dingell is old enough to be suffering from some form of dementia. I saw this with my father. In 1990-91 he was in his late 80’s and still lucid but parroted the lamestream crap about ‘the worst economy in fifty or a hundred years’ and the war with Iraq over Kuwait was going to be like WW1 with massive casualties and no decision (because that was how the Iraq-Iran War went). My father was really conservative. I knew he was just repeating what he heard and he was going downhill fast. I suspect prograt operatives, maybe grandchildren or nephews, are programming Dingell to get him to spew out this crap. It does tell one where the prograts are headed as a major talking point.

[robowombat]

expel California from the Union.

Fascinating. Is there a Constitutional basis for doing such a thing?

[pgyanke]

Also repeal the 16th and 19th Amendments.

Those may follow after the 17th. The 17th is the key to reining-in an out-of-control Federal government.

[savedbygrace]

Dingell wants war. If this idea were to take hold and be pursued, it would mean war, as the smaller States would need to protect themselves from the larger, more populous States.

[Political Junkie Too]

So basically he is calling to go to a Parliamentary system.

Actually, by singling out the Electoral College and the Senate, he's effectively calling for the elimination of states.

-PJ

[EdnaMode]

John “President Snow” Dingell wants the US to be like the Hunger Games, with the bigger states/cities ruling over smaller/rural areas.