All I Want For Xmas Is To Reform Congress

Warren Buffet recently offered a great perspective regarding the debt ceiling:

“I could end the deficit in five 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 (7) took 1 year or less to become the law of the land…all because of
public pressure.”

Warren Buffet

Given the connections created through the Internet, it shouldn’t take long for everyone in the US to read and get behind this concept.

*Congressional Reform Act of 2011*

1. No Tenure / No Pension. A Congressman collects a salary while in office and receives no pay when they are 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 are void effective 1/1/12. The American people did not make this contract with Congressmen. Congressmen 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.

What this act would suggest is that congressmen and women are part of our society, not above it. How can they manage a health plan, pension or social security, when they do not participate in the model? How can you understand the fear and uncertainty regarding the job market when you sign on to a gravy train?

Probably a great guy to hang with in a cafe

My favorite line is: Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career. It is an honor to be entrusted by the people with such responsibility. It is time Congress acknowledged and respected this honor.

——————————————————————————————————

Alon Shalev is the author of The Accidental Activist (now available on Kindle) and A Gardener’s Tale. He is the Executive Director of the San Francisco Hillel Foundation, a non-profit that provides spiritual and social justice opportunities to Jewish students in the Bay Area. More on Alon Shalev at http://www.alonshalev.com/ and on Twitter (#alonshalevsf).

 

American Revolution 2.0 – A Blood Bath (Roger Ingalls)

The following iconic phrases are no longer valid.

“…Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed…”, Declaration of Independence.

“…government of the people, by the people, for the people…”, Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address.

It is painfully clear to half the American population that we are now governed by corporations.

Yes, we can still vote but our political choice ultimately goes to the one who can buy the most media sound bites via funds received from corporations, political action committees, and the rich. When the chosen ascend to their thrones, the big funders get their rewards and we, the people, are forgotten.

The American Middle-Class is becoming a thing of the past. Men, women and children are suffering. With all the hurt and pain inflicted on Main Street by the irresponsible actions of Wall Street and the Big Banks, conservative politicians are still accelerating the transfer of our remaining wealth to the rich and big corporations by providing them with unprecedented lower tax rates and loop-holes.

Options to stop Middle-Class genocide are limited. The law no longer sides with real people due to recent decision by the conservative members of the Supreme Court. Artificial persons (corporations) have been granted the same rights as real people. These recent decisions have, essentially, created a super artificial person with constitutional rights, big influential corporate wealth and the players behind these corporations have the added bonus of being protected against legal action.

Out of options and desperate, Americans may be forced into a second revolution.

Listening to the political sound bites of the day, I wondered what an American Revolution 2.0 would be like. Then it hit me, this would be a very bloody affair. This would be American against American. Upon further thought, I realize a new revolution would be unlike the original war against the British and more like the French and Russian revolutions where the desperate targeted the wealthy ruling class.

I’m inclined to believe that a real and bloody revolution is unlikely but the escalating chatter on social media is worrisome.

Big time CEOs, Wall Street executives and their political cronies may want to think long and hard before driving the stake further into the heart of Main Street America.

Who would be first in line to face the guillotine?

——————————————-

Roger Ingalls is well travelled and has seen the good and bad of many foreign governments. He hopes his blogging will encourage readers to think more deeply about the American political system and its impact on US citizens and the international community.

The Supreme Court: An Untouchable Whorehouse

There seems to be something beyond the Constitution, legal intent or precedent creeping into Supreme Court decisions.

Is the Judicial arm of our government the last branch to turn to whoring? A few of the Supreme Court Justices appear open to corporate influence.

It’s been reported that prior to one of the most controversial decisions in Supreme Court history, Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas attended a private event hosted by Koch Industries. The purpose of the Justices’ attendance has not been forthcoming—disclosure has been requested but the parties aren’t talking. The Koch Brothers and their companies are legendary for political and agenda financing. It has also come to light that these two Justices attend political fund raising events linked to the Koch Brothers.

Based on recent Supreme Court decision, the impartiality of Justices Scalia and Thomas is extremely suspect, especially considering their unclear participation at think-tank and fund raising events.

With all the favor-spending by special interests, PACs and lobbyists, people today have little faith in the Legislative and Executive branches of government. Our last pillar of hope was the judicial branch. And now, the Supreme Court – the deciders of right and wrong, the final stop – appears to have fallen into the outhouse of corporate influence.

What would the Founding Fathers think of this apparent Supreme Court whoredom? During the initial years of our country, corporations were despised and if they tried to influence any branch of government a heavy hand would come their way. The Founding Fathers did not anticipate that ultimate power would land in the hands of Big Business. The signers of the Declaration of Independence are probably trying to crawl out of their graves to start a new revolution.

There may be truth to the old adage that judges wear nothing beneath those imposing black robes.  Perhaps it’s to give Big Business easy access to slide in from behind.

Will this insidious behavior filter through all levels of the judicial system?  And how long will we allow this backdoor alliance between Big Business and the Justices continue?

-Roger Ingalls

——————————————————————————-

Roger Ingalls is well travelled and has seen the good and bad of many foreign governments. He hopes his blogging will encourage readers to think more deeply about the American political system and its impact on US citizens and the international community.