Thursday, October 05, 2006


Midterm elections are coming up and the media have their panties in a wad trying to figure out if the Democrats are going to gain seats in the House and throw out the Republicans. I say, with all honesty, what difference does it make? All politicians these days seem to have more in common than they have differences. They all want to get elected, to stay in power forever, and to spend our tax money on pork barrel projects that will keep them in office. So, why bother to exchange bad Republican Congresspersons for an equally bad bunch of Democrat Congresspersons. Let's just throw them all out and start over with a new batch of perverts, crooks and sycophants.

Yep, let's just get rid of the whole rotten, nasty herd. We can do it by electing our representatives based upon their qualifications, proven track record, and election platforms not based on to which of the identical twin parties they belong. Our representative democracy has moved so far away from the original intent of the founders that there is no comparison between then and now. We pay our representatives too much money; we delegate too much power to them, we continue to elect deviates, like Ted Kennedy, regardless of what they do or how they act. Then we get all hot and bothered when our elected officials behave like the spoiled brats they are.

Our country stagnates in a morass of political indecision and political correctness while our borders are over run. Radical special interest groups that dictate to our elected representatives how they should vote now control the U.S. Congress and which of the groups' pet projects legislators should support. We quake in our collective boots each time some Islamic ass utters a threat against us and then wring our hands like old women wondering what we should do. We reward our enemies and have no real friends. We, the most powerful country that has ever existed, cannot or will not exert our considerable power to rid the world of power crazed lunatics and insane religious zealots. We worry about the "rights" of murderers and child molesters while innocent people are preyed upon by marauding thugs. Our police are hamstrung by asinine laws and regulations that hamper the capture and containment of criminals.

It has been said that the rich run the nation. Obviously that ain't so. If the rich did run the nation then maybe the business of the country would be run less like a seventh grade economics project. We give our elected officials trillions of dollars in tax money each year and then turn them loose to waste it any way they choose. What do we get for all this cash? We get bridges in Alaska that go nowhere, a corroding interstate highway system, Keystone Cops for airport security, Congresspersons who can't keep their hands out of little boys and little girls pants, and a woefully inadequate border security system. All this while the politicians sit in Washington paralyzed with fear that they might do something "wrong" and tick off the electorate.

The once hallowed halls of Congress are becoming more and more like an insane asylum that is being run by the inmates. While our country rots from the inside out Congresspersons and Senators twiddle their thumbs and debate whether Islamic terrorists are "Prisoners of War" and must they be treated according to the Geneva Convention. All while ex-Klu-Klux-Klaner, Sen. Robert Byrd, builds another high dollar memorial to himself in West Virginia.

How can we, as citizens correct these serious problems? Let me offer a modest proposal. One, we must institute term limits on members of the House and Senate. Term limits should be four terms for House members and two terms for senators. Present legislators would be allowed to finish the term they are in and that is it. Congresspersons would be required to sit out two terms of office before they would be eligible for reelection. Senators would not be eligible for reelection after their term(s) have ended or they were voted out of office. This would prevent legislators from establishing longevity and creating little fiefdoms for themselves.

Two, Congress should be limited to meeting for no more than three months a year. Only the president could call congress back into session and then only during times of war or national disaster. Then congress could only be in session until the immediate emergency ended or for an additional two months. This would prevent legislators from creating "make work" legislation and would greatly cut down the number of pieces of frivolous legislation.

Three, We would return to the original plan that the founders had for U.S. Senators. Senators were supposed to be the representatives for the state before the federal government. Originally the governor of each state appointed Senators. This policy should be reinstituted. The governors of the states should have the right to appoint and recall U.S. Senators as they please.

Four, salaries and benefits should be drastically cut for national legislators. Being a Congressional Representative or Senator should not be a fulltime job or a lifetime career. Legislators should be required to hold down tax paying jobs in their home states. Representation should be what it was intended to be a part-time public service. There would be no retirement benefits for either Congresspersons or Senators. Never again should we have a "Strom Thurmond" serving as a senator longer than the average person's lifetime.

Five, all national legislators should be required to give up office upon achievement of their 68th birthday regardless if their term had not expired at that time.

I suppose what I am saying is that it is time for real citizens to save our country from its elected leadership. Until we start demanding action and countability from the people we elect to public office we can expect to get more of the same. It makes no difference to which political party they belong.