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For all the moaning and groaning about President Obama in this forum, the bigger problem is the Congress. After all, Obama's approval rating is now about where Reagan's was at the same point in their presidencies -- above 45%. While Congress's approval rating -- with a Republican controlled Senate and House Of Representatives -- is about 14%.
I'm concerned most with the more childish branch of the Congress -- the House Of Representatives. At least the Senate is honest about who controls procedures -- the Majority Leader; in other words, the leader of the party with the most seats in the Senate.
But on the House side, the majority leader is called the Speaker Of The House. Yet that office does not speak for the House Of Representatives. Instead of being called the Speaker Of The House, right now it ought to be called the Speaker Of House Republicans.
This may seem like semantics, but I think it is more than that.
So my questions are:
1. Should the entire structure of the House (especially) and Senate be restructured (I cannot see that it would require a Constitutional amendment)?
2. In terms of salaries and other benefits, how should Congress be restructured?
Sure there are problems but the low hanging fruit are people like harry reid. He smothered all discussion and proposals and lied to sway an election. Before anything remove harry reid from politics.
Here are some suggestion to fix Congress, although they will never happen: One term limit- the longer they are there, the more corrupt they become; do away with the party system- it only breeds divisiveness; and make it illegal for lawyers to hold public office- they know all the loopholes to gratify their self interest, and are corrupt by nature (for the most part).
Most of the people in this country, those enlightened folks who are not hapless Conservatives, and the entire free world, know that REPUBLICANS in Congress are absolute idiots. This is common knowledge. It's obvious that they need to be replaced for this country to significantly benefit.
The structure of our Congress and government needs to be modified to eliminate the Dixie contingent. Bigots should not be in Congress. People who hail from red states or districts represent a contingent that is racist, bigoted, and out of touch, and these people have no business being in our government.
End gerrymandering. Make every district as competitive as possible for both parties. That way congressmen cannot just play to their base but have to attract and keep independent and moderate support.
Well, that sounded like a good point, except that mostly I'm talking about the way Congress works, rather than particular issues, and your comment doesn't address that only about 14% of the public approves of Congress' performance.
End gerrymandering. Make every district as competitive as possible for both parties. That way congressmen cannot just play to their base but have to attract and keep independent and moderate support.
Agreed entirely
Too many US House districts have been gerrymandered to the extent that they are so safely Republican or safely Democrat that a primary challenge from the left or the right is the only serious threat ... obviously this forces congressmen/women to move as far to the left or right as possible and this is what breeds our present situation. There are less than 90 truly competitive House districts nationwide ... 90 out of 441 including the 6 territorial delegates.
This sorting has not only amplified the ability of redistricters to partition states into safe seats. It has hurt Democrats, whose voters are disproportionately clustered on the map. The most Republican district in the country is Rep. Mac Thornberry's TX-13, with a score of R+32. But Democrats hold 15 districts with a PVI score of D+32 or higher. Overall, there are 247 House seats more Republican than the national average, and 188 seats more Democratic. This means Democrats would need to hold all Democratic-leaning seats and win 30 Republican-leaning seats to win a majority.
Well, that sounded like a good point, except that mostly I'm talking about the way Congress works, rather than particular issues, and your comment doesn't address that only about 14% of the public approves of Congress' performance.
Therein lies the problem, no?
The public elects these slugs/do nothings, and re-elects them.
For all the moaning and groaning about President Obama in this forum, the bigger problem is the Congress. After all, Obama's approval rating is now about where Reagan's was at the same point in their presidencies -- above 45%. While Congress's approval rating -- with a Republican controlled Senate and House Of Representatives -- is about 14%.
I'm concerned most with the more childish branch of the Congress -- the House Of Representatives. At least the Senate is honest about who controls procedures -- the Majority Leader; in other words, the leader of the party with the most seats in the Senate.
But on the House side, the majority leader is called the Speaker Of The House. Yet that office does not speak for the House Of Representatives. Instead of being called the Speaker Of The House, right now it ought to be called the Speaker Of House Republicans.
This may seem like semantics, but I think it is more than that.
So my questions are:
1. Should the entire structure of the House (especially) and Senate be restructured (I cannot see that it would require a Constitutional amendment)?
2. In terms of salaries and other benefits, how should Congress be restructured?
you mean like when Nancy Pelosi was Speaker how she was the speaker of all the house and not the leader of the democrats....wait... sorry... that didn't happen.
It hardly matters who you vote for when once elected they behave contrary to the lies ...er uh promises they made while campaigning.
Anyway, I laugh when I hear bitching about a do nothing congress because whenever it does something it ends up costing us $$$ and freedom.
Strip em of their power, and money, that is the only fix.
Personally, I am for a do nothing congress. I wish congress would do far less of the somethings they actually do.
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Republicans continue to drag Congress down
