Decapitating Congress-What would happen if a substantial number of Congressmen were killed?

Connecticut (the "Parasite State") would go out of business.

depends on how many are democrats....

The dead Republicans would go to heaven and the dead Democrats would go to Chicago.

Almost correct... the correct answer is that they would all be voting in Chicago for the rest of their natural deaths.

As soon as I saw the subject, I knew this was gonna be a "fun" thread... but seriously, if such a catastropic event would occur, then I think the country would get along just fine in a state of emergency run via the executive branch until replacements could be selected in the normal manner (special elections). I think replacing the entire Supreme Court would be more problematic -- it would give a single Adminitration unprecedented power in stacking the Court.

Our nation would be paralyized! What would we do without new oppresive laws?

It would be pandalerium! Series! Hugh!

but they also have Leahy, Jeffords and Bernie Sanders :-(

Ug true - I didn't think about them

The Country would be netter off.

I'm series!

For sure, it would mean a trip to the store once the single malt ran out...

What would happen if a substantial number of Congressmen were killed?

The sky would fall.

What a silly fantasy. Professional politicians have run this country from the beginning. What history have you been reading that would make you think otherwise?

Like the Republic wouldn't be over if such a thing could happen? You know it would.

"Decapitating Congress-What would happen if a substantial number of Congressmen were killed?"

I hesitate to say it, but..
Can I volunteer Hillary and Schumer? / joke.

There are procedures in place for such a thing.
No telling if they'd actually be followed.
We ALL know the Rats wouldn't do so, they don't like rules being applied to them.

This subject was in the November(IIRC) 2002 Reader's Digest. We discussed this at a group that I moderate called The Thomas Jefferson Think Tank (We're radicals who believe in limited constitutional government) and one member, Mark Crowley, put together what I believe to be a very workable, if not perfect solution.

But he approached it differently. His belief is that the wrong question is being asked and that is why we will get the wrong answer to the problem. Here is his proposal:

Continuity of Government (or Its Restoration)

The question being discussed is how to continue the functioning of government after an attack, a natural disaster or some event that kills or disables a large number of our representatives and senators. Unfortunately, because of our federal government's current size and the extent it's involved in our society, the potential for disruption goes far beyond the Congress. It extends to many of the current functions of the federal government that flow top-down from Washington to the rest of us. The real problem is, therefore, much larger than the question originally posed.

It is also naïve to think that having an order of succession plan for members of Congress is the key to the continued survival of our freedoms and our way of life. An assault on Congress will no doubt cause government to react against the attackers, but will also cause it to react against our precious freedoms. The heavy siege on our freedoms and liberties today proves that. Thus, the question about legislative continuity posed to us, and the unspoken question about continuity of a large and centralized self-protective government, is one that we must find a way to render moot and irrelevant.

An Alternate Question

A better question to ask is how to make it so difficult, ineffective and irrelevant to attack the seat of our national government that it's very unlikely to happen in the first place. Likewise, how can we insure that if an attack or a natural disaster struck at this location, the national consequences would be minimal?

We already have the answer to this question. We've had it since 1787.

The answer lies in restoring a vision of America held back at the time of our nation's founding. This vision is reflected in the original intent of our Constitution. Besides restoring that original vision of limited constitutional government, all we need to do is to expand one small part of that original vision by returning something else back to the states.

Expanding the Constitutional Vision

Imagine if our elected representatives met in Washington, DC for the constitutionally mandated minimum number of times once each January. The meeting would be to open the session, register contact information, take the oath of office, close the meeting and return home. With some parliamentary extensions on quorums and limitations on debate for the first meeting, the instantaneous number of members actually present could be kept low enough so that they wouldn't be tempting targets.

Congress would then hold its remaining sessions and votes by using available communications technology (telephones, videoconferencing, Internet, etc.) at facilities located in each elected official's home state. These facilities would be financed by the home state and would meet the needs of each state's citizens.

Making 'remote' citizen legislators into 'local' citizen legislators is the one small extension to the founders? vision. It's consistent with the spirit of their original intent to keep government close and accountable to its citizens. Today's communications technologies now make it possible to further extend our founders'wisdom in a way that they couldn't consider in their time.

Enhancing Security with Limited Government

Furthermore, imagine if all Washington-controlled aspects of the many point-of-service functions of our government were returned to the states. These functions include: health care, education, welfare, law enforcement, social services, regulation, the list goes on and on. Moving these functions, their management and their funding responsibilities back to the states will accomplish two critically important things. First, it will strengthen these services by diversifying them. Investors do this to seek superior investment performance among many options. Second, it will insure the continued existence of these services in a time of national crisis. Military leaders do this to make sure their forces are not vulnerable to a single attack or threat.

Moving these functions back to the states will, in fact, provide a kind of redundancy. This redundancy minimizes the effects of terrorism and natural disasters because the remaining services throughout the country will be there to help. Interstate cooperation can be formalized and defined to establish reciprocity agreements as FEMA-type responsibilities are returned to the states. If national cooperation seems doubtful, then look no farther than the voluntary national response to the 9-11 tragedy or the aftermath of the last hurricane.

Other Benefits

There will be many other benefits to this approach. Some of them include:

· Increased Congressional Availability to Citizens 'Local' members of Congress will be far more accessible to citizens. Most of the nation would be less than a one-hour drive from their federal representative. Senators would probably be slightly farther away, but still far closer than Washington. This will be a welcome change for citizens in distant states like Alaska and Hawaii and for highly populated states like California and Texas.

· A More Responsive and Efficient Federal Government
A federal government with fewer responsibilities will become more manageable and responsive. It will be able to focus on a limited set of constitutional functions faster, better and with less expense to the taxpayers.

· Fewer and More-Focused Committees
A smaller federal government will have less need for congressional committees and that need will be less frequent. By not having a central meeting location, it will further discourage all but the most critical of face-to-face committee meetings. Furthermore, meetings can be held at locations fitting the need of the issues in question. For example, if a committee meeting about illegal immigration and border policy is needed, then what better place to hold it than near a suspect border. Periodic meetings with a less obvious meeting location could be held at host locations throughout the country bringing elected officials closer to citizens everywhere.

· Local Media Becomes More Important
With a decentralized federal legislature, local media outlets throughout the nation will have a much greater role in covering and reporting congressional news. Local news outlets will get a chance to report and provide commentary on important national stories. News filtered through the established media will have locally diversified competition.

· Fewer High-Value Congressional Targets
A smaller federal government with many of its functions and elected officials decentralized and returned to the states will not only make less attractive targets for terrorists, but less attractive targets for political lobbyists too.

Back to the Future

It's now clear that we have permitted the federal government to grow so large, so centralized and so intrusive that it itself is now a danger to its own security. It's also a danger to our security and to our personal liberties. It is truly ironic that our nation forgot this lesson. These dangers were identified in 1776 when colonial representatives signed the Declaration of Independence. A framework to avoid those dangers was implemented in 1787 when the states ratified the Constitution.

It's fitting that the same constitutional and libertarian ideals from over 200 years ago hold the answer to our current dilemma. Let's return our congressional representatives and senators back home to perform their duties. Let's return the functions of government not specifically outlined in the Constitution back to the states. By doing this we will increase our national security, lessen the chances of terrorism, minimize the consequences of terrorism and natural disaster, improve government accountability to citizens and restore our personal freedoms.

What's the big problem ... the states affected would hold new elections and new members would take their place.