A friend sent this and it sure sounds good to me!
Warren Buffett, in a recent interview with CNBC, offfers
one of the best quotes about the debt ceiling:
“I could end the deficit in 5 minutes,” he told CNBC. “You just
pass a law that says that anytime there is a deficit of more
than 3% of GDP, all sitting members of Congress are ineligible
for re-election.
The 26th amendment (granting the right to vote for 18 year-olds) took only 3 months & 8 days to be ratified! Why? Simple!
The people demanded it. That was in 1971 – before computers, e-mail, cell phones, etc.
Of the 27 amendments to the Constitution, seven took one year or less to become the law of the land – all because of public pressure.
Warren Buffet is asking each addressee to forward this email to
a minimum of twenty people on their address list; in turn ask
each of those to do likewise.
In three days, most people in The United States of America will
have the message. This is one idea that really should be passed
around.
_*Congressional Reform Act of 2011*_
1. No Tenure / No Pension.
A Congressman/woman collects a salary while in office and receives no pay when they’re out of office.
2. Congress (past, present & future) participates in Social
Security.
All funds in the Congressional retirement fund move to the
Social Security system immediately. All future funds flow into
the Social Security system, and Congress participates with the
American people. It may not be used for any other purpose.
3. Congress can purchase their own retirement plan, just as all
Americans do.
4. Congress will no longer vote themselves a pay raise.
Congressional pay will rise by the lower of CPI or 3%.
5. Congress loses their current health care system and
participates in the same health care system as the American people.
6. Congress must equally abide by all laws they impose on the
American people.
7. All contracts with past and present Congressmen/women are void effective 1/1/12. The American people did not make this
contract with Congressmen/women.
Congressmen/women made all these contracts for themselves. Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career. The Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators, so ours should serve their
term(s), then go home and back to work.
If each person contacts a minimum of twenty people then it will
only take three days for most people (in the U.S.) to receive
the message.
THIS IS HOW YOU FIX CONGRESS!
This has a wide circulation. I’ve personally received it numerous times. Maybe, just maybe, some of these ideas might take hold. Times, they are a-changing. Watch out Congress! We’re now gunning for YOUR benefits!
Thanks for posting this!
This blog is lightening fast now, thanks to Trish. She ripped out the guts and put it back together.
“…ripped out the guts and put it back together…” – i take it her cold is much improved! 😉
Mucho improved, yes!
I agree with some of the proposed ideas but not all of them. The reason why the Founding Fathers did not establish term limits is because if the people like their member of Congress, they can keep reelecting them. The point of elections was an accountability, which appointed offices such as the Supreme Court Justices did not have. Term limits were imposed on the President only after FDR broke with tradition and got elected to a third and fourth term. The Republicans in Congress did not like the power he amassed and kind of short-sightedly put an end to it, which many regretted when Reagan became president (which, to the relief of Democrats, he was unable to run for a third term, which he likely would have won).
The Founding Fathers also set the Senate election cycle into 1/3 out of fear that the voting public might vote all the Senators out in a single election. There was less of a chance in the more populated House of Representatives, but the point was that Congress needs experienced and competent people to provide for a continuity. If we look at the accomplishments of a Senator Ted Kennedy, imagine what our country might look like today if he was term limited or if there was a law that all members of Congress would lose their jobs if they ran deficits.
I do support the idea that the retirement and health care benefits should be the same as the American people. If members of Congress had to live under those rules, we would have single payer universal health care for sure, no matter what the HMO lobbyists want! And there would be no way that members of Congress would allow the Corporate capitalists on Wall Street to run their retirement accounts, at least not without stricter regulations.
Things need to change for sure…but not on the term limits. That’s what elections are for. If people are dumb and lazy to vote for incumbents just because they have an “(i)” next to their name on the ballot or because that’s who they always vote for, then they probably shouldn’t vote. The fact is, most people like their member of Congress. In the district I lived in from 2006 to 2010, no one liked our Congressman, but he kept winning the Democratic primary (I always voted against him there) and in the general election, the Republican opponent was too scary to contemplate so he had an easy win there. It took a sex scandal to force him into giving up his seat and it looks like we are going to get a great Congresswoman as a result, so I’m happy about that.
That makes sense and some of it could be adapted for the UK too.
You write that the 26th amendment came about because ‘the people demanded it’. This doesn’t seem to work over here – recently the people demanded a referendum about our part in the European Union (and whether we should leave this) but the main three parties told their MPs to vote against this (a three line whip). They are not listening to the people. And now they want to take action against the (peaceful at the moment) demonstrators outside St.Paul’s Cathedral in London.
Interesting as to who really rules the world …
People’s demands don’t work so well here either, anymore. But maybe the tide is slowly turning.
Agreed!!!!
Too bad a bill like this would never make it through congress. But I wonder what would happen if we could find a few candidates willing to run on this as a platform…how many incumbents would get voted out for failing to support it?
Here’s another one they could include: Former members of congress cannot become lobbyists after their term ends.
I’m definitely passing this on! Imagine, no more ruling class; isn’t that the dream that birthed this nation?
OK – THE NEW LOOK IS FABULOUS!!!
and MUCH faster now!