I don’t like Jeb Bush. He’s not just a RINO, but he’s everything I don’t like about politicians rolled up one big fat burrito that the GOP may try to choke us with. He’s another Big Government RINO and we’ve more than enough of those.
The GOP is so completely full of fail that I’d be laughing if this wasn’t happening in my own country.
I am really seeing less and less of a distinction between the two parties. I’m quite disappointed in both… but especially the Republicans.
It’s going to come down between Jeb Bush and Chris Christie… Just watch. Or worse – they are The Ticket.
I tell you what, I keep hearing about Belize… Belize is sounding better and better all the time. Because the USA is looking more and more hopeless.
The fact that I am even thinking like that just pisses me slam off. Because I love this Country. I love America. But America is making some really bad decisions… our Government needs a Factory Reset.
1. We need Voter ID laws passed in every state.
2. We need Closed Primaries. Only Party Members should vote for party candidates.
3. We need Congressional Term Limits. 4 years, 2 Terms Max.
4. We need Congressional Pay, Benefits, and Pensions dramatically cut. Pay should be capped at 80,000, Benefits limited to only during their term of service, and Pensions – no – No Pensions at all. Because serving should be a Service and not a Career.
We do those 4 things… And I believe the Government will clean its self up as the Rats will seek out other ships.
I can’t think of ANY president that has left the office and the government was smaller than when he got there. Sick of RINOs though. The party keeps shoving dems down our throats, then complains about Tea Partiers.
Sir:
The Honorable Calvin COOLIDGE.
He was the last true conservative ever elected to the office of President. And he had lots of easy targets to downsize the federal government since he followed that proto – fascist dick head Woodrow Wilson.
The President’s term should be increased to six years, and there should be a one-term limit. That way, the President doesn’t spend his first term trying to get a second term, and his second term paying out on the favors that got him the second term.
$80k? Nope. They should not be paid. Service should be the goal, not what they do for a paycheck. In NH, we pay our legislators $100/year, and the result is that ordinary folks run, rather than professional politicians.
Although Mike Williamson proposed an interesting idea, where politicians had to amass a large personal fortune (thereby demonstrating competence), and then donate it all to the government, to live thereafter as ordinary folks (thereby demonstrating a willingness to sacrifice on behalf of society). I’d get behind that, but it’s not exactly realistic. Requiring them to post a performance bond might be more likely to actually be possible – various fines could be established for various offenses (having a law you sponsored ruled unconstitutional in whole, or in part, or amending a bill in such a way that it becomes unconstitutional, or voting in favor a bill that’s ruled unconstitutional, etc.). If they exhaust their bond, and cannot replenish it, they are out of office. Allow individuals or groups who are harmed by unconstitutional laws to bring suit against the legislators who sponsored or voted-for that law, under the same terms – pay for the damages, or go home.
Amendments which are not topical to the bill should be absolutely prohibited. That, alone, would have a bigger effect than any other change that could be named. Those voting on a bill should be voting on /that/ bill, not that bill, plus a bunch of pork and/or restrictions on freedom. That way, legislators can be held directly accountable for their actions – none of this, “but I had to support that bill that banned guns, because that was just an amendment to a bill that kept starving orphans off the street.” One bill, one subject.
End all “campaign finance reform” nonsense. They’re going to take money, so it’s better that it be in the open. One caveat: absolute transparency, and if you fail to disclose /any/ donation, or accept a donation through an intermediary without disclosing the real source if you know that the intermediary is acting on someone else’s behalf, then there should be a mandatory fine equal to your entire net worth, payable into a fund to be used for charitable purposes.
Agree with it all, Ogre, except the term limits thing. I struggle with that. Seniority may not be the best way for the majority party to select committee chairs, but we could do a lot worse, if we are not careful.
Personally, I would favor abolishing the 17th Amendment. That would fix most of the problem. That amendment provided for direct popular election of U.S. Senators, rather than having them elected by the legislatures of the respective states.
We need a democratically elected House of Representatives as the Founders envisioned, and as we presently have. But we also need the respective states, through their legislatures, to control the Senate, as the Founders also envisioned. This gives the states a huge check on federal power and size of the federal government. This would largely solve the term limits issue, as anyone who turned into big government, either RINO or Demo, would not stay in office more than one term.
The simplistic “return to the people” direct election of Senators has proven to be the mechanism by which federal power has been dramatically increased. There is NO state check on federal power and this has directly led to its unfettered expansion.
The best thing to have would be Senators with lots of experience, but beholding to the legislatures of their respective states for re-election. They would be the most sensitive to keeping federal power in check and in the key positions, through seniority to make sure it downsized, reduced spending and stayed small and lean.
Seniority wouldn’t matter if everyone was short termed.
Think of the pay off. No more Dynasties.
Congress is almost irrelevant at this point. We need a way to
term limit the bureaucracy.
I too cannot abide Jeb Bush. All good comments too BTW, so far. The entire concept of states’ rights was neutered with the passage of the 17th amendment. While we’re at it, let’s do away with the one that authorizes the personal income tax and the IRS as well. I’ll be happy to write a check to whatever agencies of the government I think are doing a good job and the rest can suck wind.
There’s no Amendment that authorizes the personal income tax. That was already authorized by the wording of the Constitution. The Sixteenth Amendment merely allowed the Federal government to tax incomes without apportionment.
Now, if we’re talking about an Amendment, anyway, one expressly prohibiting the taxation of personal income (by any level of government) would definitely be a good thing.
Make Congresscritters live in their districts and telework. That way, they have to carry the people’s message to Washington vice carrying Washington’s message to the people.
A Constitutional Amendment requiring a National 1 issue ,yes or no vote on April 15th every federal election cycle. Should any incumbent be allowed to stand for reelection in the fall ? The national popular vote would cover every serving Rep. Sen or Pres.We would be voting with one vote on every incumbent. If the vote was no they would be banned from any federal elected office for 20 years. Follow this with a national partisan local primary on 2 July. Any candidate with less than 35% of their party’s vote is out. Labor day second partisan local primary to determine who runs for Nov election. This would make any elected rep accountable to the whole nation. Would I give up a Ted Cruz to get rid of piglosie , reid, and their ilk? You betcha!
Thats good thinking guy, let’s run another Bush… More to the point, why are you (RNC) going around tossing around names to see who can rally enough votes to beat Hillary in 2016, when you haven’t really given me much reason to vote for your candidates in 2014? The present election, its this November, you all know that right?
Don’t just point at the Dems and say, “they f-ed up, vote for me!” Why? Quite frankly, it’s because you suck, and we hate you. Convince us to vote for you in November, then prove that its worth voting for you in 2016. It’s really that simple.
I like the idea of term limits in Congress, but the reality is that the shorter the term limits the more power you put in the hands of staff and bureaucrats. I think this is worse than seniority. We need to join, and then speak up at party meetings. Force the so called powers that be to listen to their employers. I don’t like the way that our government operates now, but I HATE the other forms of government worse. Don’t forget power hates a vacuum and something will fill it.
Thats a good argument.