Amending the Constitution to remove political corruption (house of representatives, ethical, legal)
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Term limits are a problem unless they are long. Colorado has term limits and the turn over in the state legislature means the institutional knowledge resides with the bureaucrats and lobbyists and with that knowledge comes power and the power to shape legislation. Dennis Gallagher was a great Denver Auditor (an elected position). A career politician he was term limited out, but he used his knowledge of where the bones were buried in the bureaucracy to ferret out corruption.
TRANSLATION: We cannot have any Presidential candidate who has ever served in ANY office before.
In other words, in 2016, Donald J. Trump is the ONLY major candidate from any party, who would be qualified!
GREAT plan......
Well since President Trump is the best president we had in over 60 years, it might just be a great plan .
A lot of politicians don't make their money staying in office though. It is also after they leave office, high paying positions in private industry they favored while in office, as lobbyist, book deals, speaking appearance etc.
Making lobbying illegal would solve most of the problems, its basically legal bribery!
However, since that is NEVER going to happen, maybe regular citizens should get into the game, form a 'collective/co op' and hire their own lobbyist? As far as I know, anyone can hire and use a lobbyist, as long as they have the money.
Making lobbying illegal would solve most of the problems, its basically legal bribery!
However, since that is NEVER going to happen, maybe regular citizens should get into the game, form a 'collective/co op' and hire their own lobbyist? As far as I know, anyone can hire and use a lobbyist, as long as they have the money.
It will just go underground (like a bunch of it already does).
So long as politicians have such vast powers, it will be for sale.
Making lobbying illegal would solve most of the problems, its basically legal bribery!
However, since that is NEVER going to happen, maybe regular citizens should get into the game, form a 'collective/co op' and hire their own lobbyist? As far as I know, anyone can hire and use a lobbyist, as long as they have the money.
You are wrong in many ways about lobbying as others are about bureaucrats with institutional knowledge.
The bureaucrats often don't have a clue. Lobbyists are necessary to educate them. Yes, there are lobbyists who do political donations, but there is a lot of bad law that gets amended because lobbyists bring knowledge to the table.
It will just go underground (like a bunch of it already does).
So long as politicians have such vast powers, it will be for sale.
Thats true, but MONEY does not always equal 'getting what you want'...
Look at how the Govt cracked down on pharmaceutical companies and opioid drugs...even though 'big pharma' lobbies plenty, they still LOST on that, its especially strange, considering they were raking in the money from opioids too.
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Why should any college degree be required?
Harry Truman didn't have one and if possible I'd take a Truman clone over the majority of candidates I've seen in my lifetime.
I've yet to be convinced on term limits. If established we'd be punishing ourselves when someone really good is in office. And if we're going to pretend to be a democracy shouldn't the people decide during each election cycle?
IMO, Consecutive term limits are the key ... definitely in Congress and the Senate, and probably SCOTUS. Career politicians get too deeply mired in 'the corrupt swamp.' They then protect their entrenchment by pandering to a narrow group of constituents ... who indefinitely foist them on the rest of the nation. Likewise, with the SCOTUS, lifetime appointments have become a 30-40-year political surrogate that typically "legislates from the bench" in favor of the party of whatever President nominated them.
Of course, the problem has always been the willingness of 'career politicians' to vote for term limits, when endless terms benefit them so highly. Trump says he will push term limits during his next term! Since he has been great about keeping his promises, instead of conveniently forgetting them the minute he takes office (like so many others), he will likely try to keep this one!
The mechanics would likely involve a Constitutional Amendment?? That's difficult because it's unlikely a 2/3rds majority of those in national office would support it. (Congress already doesn't support ANYTHING Trump does anyway, so maybe there is a way around them). - My recommendation would be TWO Terms (just like the President). As a compromise, they might be allowed to return to office ... after sitting out for at least one term.
PS: There appear to be FOUR ways to get to a new Constitutional Amendment:
(1) Both houses propose an amendment with a two-thirds vote, and three-fourths of the state legislatures approve. Twenty-six of the 27 amendments were approved in this manner.
(2) Both houses propose an amendment with a two-thirds vote, and three-fourths of the states approve the amendment via ratifying conventions. Only the 21st Amendment, which repealed Prohibition, was passed in this manner.
(3) Two-thirds of the state legislatures call on Congress to hold a constitutional convention, and three-fourths of the state legislatures approve the amendment.
(4) Two-thirds of the state legislatures call on Congress to hold a constitutional convention, and three-fourths of the states approve the amendment via ratifying conventions.
{Washington Post, 8/2020)
3. Require a practical college degree. No more people going to college, kissing the right backsides and effectively getting a degree in politics (Political Science, non-lawyer law degree, etc.). Engineering, teaching, computers, biology, something hireable out of college, no gender studies, literature, or similar degrees. I'm tempted to exclude law degrees entirely, but I know there are many good, hardworking lawyers, that are grounded in the practical world, and truly seek justice, but there are just as many Clintons and Obamas out there who would gladly jump at the power. I'm also tempted to exclude pure business degrees. Get a degree in software engineering and then get an MBA to run a good software company? Fine. But get a bachelor's of business to get into management? No. Get a bachelor's of business, but also get a mechanical engineering degree? Also fine.
Our Constitution and founding fathers were actually pro- higher education. Your focus on attacking education is unAmerican and would never fly.
4. Limit direct, total compensation to the median income of the area you represent. U.S. median income is $61,937. The president shouldn't be compensated more than $61,937 per year. You represent Atlanta's English avenue? Your direct compensation is limited to $26,613. This includes any weird "bonuses" paid out of the city/state/national budget. That English Avenue representative gets a $500 bonus for something? Their income the rest of the year now has to be no more than $26,113 from Atlanta.
You're not going to attract the brightest on such low income. You want someone beyond competent for the job.
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