Any ideas? Here's where I would start:
My biggest problem is the debt. While I generally agree that society is broken and I think that our liberty is in constant jeopardy I don't think it matters if we fix that but neglect the debt. I think our country is in serious trouble. The kind of trouble that threatens our existance. I want to stop spending money. I want us to cut the budget by 30% across the board. Why? Because I don't think that compromise will ever result in any substancial cuts. Compromise is a dirty word. It is exactly why we will most likely never get out of the situation we are in without some sort of financial collapse.
I have been thinking and actually I want to change my plan of action to fix this country.
1. Raise the pay of congressmen to $1.5 million a year. With a pension that includes 500k/yr after they leave congress. After they are done in congress they should be permenantly retired. If they perform act for which they receive compensation after that, they immediately lose their pension and all of their retirement benefits. The idea is that you go to congress, you serve and you are not for sale. I know, that seems wasteful at first but I want congressmen paid well enough that they are not for sale. Paying a billion or two annually for congressmen is peanuts compared to getting rid of the wasteful spending/social handouts. Abandon the idea that there are 535 altruistic people running this country. Don't let congress give themselves raises... that should be done by the states. Also, don't start that policy until the next congress comes in.
2. Increase representation to the point that no representative represents more than 100,000 people. More, well compensated, representation makes it harder for someone to be bought. For a large corporation with lobbysts to buy 200 people in the house and 40 people in the senate, when they are paid less than 200k a year isn't that difficult. When it is buying 2 or 3 times that number of people at 5-10 times the ammount... THAT is a huge investment that becomes harder to hide.
3. Reduce congress to 1 session every other year unless called in for special sessions which are never to be longer than 10 days unless authorized by a majority of the state executives (governors).
4. Cut all spending 30% across the board.
5. A Constitutional Amendment that prohibits congress from increasing the budget in any year that a national debt exists. If the country needs to spend money on an emergency situation, then the emergency should be important enough to cut funding to somewhere else. If more money is needed when we are in debt then it should be important enough to receive the blessing of 75% of the states (legislatures or executives, I'm not sure about that yet).
6. Repeal the 17th amendment. (I know you can't repeal one, so we'll have to reamend the Constitution.)
7. Amend the Constitution to allow the States to recall supreme court justices with a 2/3 majority vote.
That is a start.
Mike
My biggest problem is the debt. While I generally agree that society is broken and I think that our liberty is in constant jeopardy I don't think it matters if we fix that but neglect the debt. I think our country is in serious trouble. The kind of trouble that threatens our existance. I want to stop spending money. I want us to cut the budget by 30% across the board. Why? Because I don't think that compromise will ever result in any substancial cuts. Compromise is a dirty word. It is exactly why we will most likely never get out of the situation we are in without some sort of financial collapse.
I have been thinking and actually I want to change my plan of action to fix this country.
1. Raise the pay of congressmen to $1.5 million a year. With a pension that includes 500k/yr after they leave congress. After they are done in congress they should be permenantly retired. If they perform act for which they receive compensation after that, they immediately lose their pension and all of their retirement benefits. The idea is that you go to congress, you serve and you are not for sale. I know, that seems wasteful at first but I want congressmen paid well enough that they are not for sale. Paying a billion or two annually for congressmen is peanuts compared to getting rid of the wasteful spending/social handouts. Abandon the idea that there are 535 altruistic people running this country. Don't let congress give themselves raises... that should be done by the states. Also, don't start that policy until the next congress comes in.
2. Increase representation to the point that no representative represents more than 100,000 people. More, well compensated, representation makes it harder for someone to be bought. For a large corporation with lobbysts to buy 200 people in the house and 40 people in the senate, when they are paid less than 200k a year isn't that difficult. When it is buying 2 or 3 times that number of people at 5-10 times the ammount... THAT is a huge investment that becomes harder to hide.
3. Reduce congress to 1 session every other year unless called in for special sessions which are never to be longer than 10 days unless authorized by a majority of the state executives (governors).
4. Cut all spending 30% across the board.
5. A Constitutional Amendment that prohibits congress from increasing the budget in any year that a national debt exists. If the country needs to spend money on an emergency situation, then the emergency should be important enough to cut funding to somewhere else. If more money is needed when we are in debt then it should be important enough to receive the blessing of 75% of the states (legislatures or executives, I'm not sure about that yet).
6. Repeal the 17th amendment. (I know you can't repeal one, so we'll have to reamend the Constitution.)
7. Amend the Constitution to allow the States to recall supreme court justices with a 2/3 majority vote.
That is a start.
Mike
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