Perry Wants Part Time Congress

[Flopper]

A Part-Time Congress and Term Limits would solve most of our problems. They just meet too often and constantly over-reach. And they get too entrenched with the special interest groups. New & fresh faces every few years would be great for the country. That's how i feel anyway.

Congressional approval would drop from 9% to 1%.

 

[Avatar4321]

Funny thing, if a liberal had suggested changing the constitution the right wing would have seizure. Willow's head would probably pop.

That's only because they would suggest changing it for a stupid reason.

 

[Avatar4321]

A Part-Time Congress and Term Limits would solve most of our problems. They just meet too often and constantly over-reach. And they get too entrenched with the special interest groups. New & fresh faces every few years would be great for the country. That's how i feel anyway.

Congressional approval would drop from 9% to 1%.

I disagree.

Part time congress would keep Congress connected with their constiuents. They would have to remain connected with day to day activities of life.

It would also keep congress from meddling in our life more often.

Increase trust and less intrusion would make a happier people.

 

[Dont Taz Me Bro]

A Part-Time Congress and Term Limits would solve most of our problems. They just meet too often and constantly over-reach. And they get too entrenched with the special interest groups. New & fresh faces every few years would be great for the country. That's how i feel anyway.

We already have term limits. It's called Election Day. You get what you vote for.

 

[SAT]

I'm happy for them to get their salaries, if they'd just earn them. This is the worst do-nothing Congress ever. If it doesn't have to do with God or a fetus, they aren't interested.

 

[Toro]

Hell...he'd forget which part and what time.

I'm going to ignore the partisan shot and point out to you that Switzerland has a direct democracy that works extremely well and their elected representatives are part time.

Check this out. I love this part. Each member has to actually bone up on the new proposals. That sure beats the hell out of Pelosi's famous line "we have to pass the bill to know what's in it."

Being member of parliament is not a full-time job in Switzerland (at least they are not paid accordingly ...).

Formally, parliament meets four times a year for several weeks. In between, each member has to read proposals for new laws individually and to attend one-day conferences of commissions.

Here is a brief explanation of how it works:

Direct Democracy: Referendum and Initiative

* Frequent referendums on new or changed laws, budgets etc,
- some of them mandatory
- others "facultative" (only if 50,000 citizens demand for it)
* Ordinary citizens may propose changes to the constitution ("initiative"), if they can find a number of supporters (100,000 out of about 3,500,000 voters). Parliament will discuss it, probably propose an alternative and afterwards all citizens may decide in a referendum whether to accept the initiative, the alternate proposal or stay without change

While the federal system can be found in many other countries like the U.S.A., Germany, Austria etc., and separation of powers (government, parliament, courts) are common to all democracies (or at least should be), referendums are rare in most other countries. In Switzerland's long tradtion of Direct Democracy, frequent referendums do have a stabilizing influence on parliament and government.

* referendums will increase parties' willingness to compromise (otherwise a defeated party will call for a referendum)
* referendums favour big coalitions (shared power motivates compromise, exclusion from power motivates obstructive referendums)
* referendums increase stability (as extreme laws will be blocked by referendum, parties are less inclined to radical changes in lawmaking and voters are less inclined to call for fundamental changes in elections)
* The two chambers of parliament meet several times annually to sessions of several weeks and between them to preparing meetings of numerous commissions. Being member of parliament is not a full time job in Switzerland, contrary to most other countries today. This means, that Swiss members of parliament are closer to everyday life of their electorate.


Switzerland's Government and Politics

It's an interesting concept.

ETA: I thought it was important to highlight the last sentence.

Switzerland had a lot of great examples.

For example, their healthcare is provided by private insurance but basic healthcare is nonprofit, and no one can be rejected and everyone must buy it.

Swiss Model for Health Care Is Gaining Admirers - NYTimes.com

 

[tinydancer]

I'm happy for them to get their salaries, if they'd just earn them. This is the worst do-nothing Congress ever. If it doesn't have to do with God or a fetus, they aren't interested.

What a pantload. Tedious partisan bullshit.

What does this have to do with God or a fetus?

Bill filed to prohibit congressional insider trading

Washington (CNN) -- Members of Congress and their staffs would be prohibited from using insider legislative information for investment purposes under legislation filed Tuesday in the wake of a CBS News "60 Minutes" report.

On Sunday, "60 Minutes" aired a report highlighting instances in which congressional officials reportedly bought stocks around the same time Congress was discussing legislation affecting those companies or industries.

The show looked at the investments of various lawmakers -- including House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, House Speaker John Boehner and Republican Rep. Spencer Bachus of Alabama.

The bill filed Tuesday by Massachusetts Republican Sen. Scott Brown would make it illegal for elected congressional officials, their staffs and executive branch employees to use information about pending bills that's not available to the general public in making investment decisions. It would also forbid them from making such information public for personal gain.

Bill filed to prohibit congressional insider trading - CNN.com

 

[Toro]

I'm happy for them to get their salaries, if they'd just earn them. This is the worst do-nothing Congress ever. If it doesn't have to do with God or a fetus, they aren't interested.

What a pantload. Tedious partisan bullshit.

What does this have to do with God or a fetus?

Bill filed to prohibit congressional insider trading

Washington (CNN) -- Members of Congress and their staffs would be prohibited from using insider legislative information for investment purposes under legislation filed Tuesday in the wake of a CBS News "60 Minutes" report.

On Sunday, "60 Minutes" aired a report highlighting instances in which congressional officials reportedly bought stocks around the same time Congress was discussing legislation affecting those companies or industries.

The show looked at the investments of various lawmakers -- including House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, House Speaker John Boehner and Republican Rep. Spencer Bachus of Alabama.

The bill filed Tuesday by Massachusetts Republican Sen. Scott Brown would make it illegal for elected congressional officials, their staffs and executive branch employees to use information about pending bills that's not available to the general public in making investment decisions. It would also forbid them from making such information public for personal gain.

Bill filed to prohibit congressional insider trading - CNN.com

I should hope so.

Damn, those guys are frickin' clueless.

 

[SAT]

I'm happy for them to get their salaries, if they'd just earn them. This is the worst do-nothing Congress ever. If it doesn't have to do with God or a fetus, they aren't interested.

What a pantload. Tedious partisan bullshit.

What does this have to do with God or a fetus?

Bill filed to prohibit congressional insider trading

Washington (CNN) -- Members of Congress and their staffs would be prohibited from using insider legislative information for investment purposes under legislation filed Tuesday in the wake of a CBS News "60 Minutes" report.

On Sunday, "60 Minutes" aired a report highlighting instances in which congressional officials reportedly bought stocks around the same time Congress was discussing legislation affecting those companies or industries.

The show looked at the investments of various lawmakers -- including House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, House Speaker John Boehner and Republican Rep. Spencer Bachus of Alabama.

The bill filed Tuesday by Massachusetts Republican Sen. Scott Brown would make it illegal for elected congressional officials, their staffs and executive branch employees to use information about pending bills that's not available to the general public in making investment decisions. It would also forbid them from making such information public for personal gain.

Bill filed to prohibit congressional insider trading - CNN.com

That sounds great.

Do you understand that this is a newly proposed bill-as in filed today-not a bill that has passed? One Senator has proposed this.

The House has been obsessed with nonsense.

 

[paulitician]

I'm all for 'Do-Nothing Congresses.' We need more of em. Our Congress should absolutely meet less often. Then we would see less stupid things like banning light bulbs. They should only meet a couple times of year and for very short sessions. That way they can't mess the country up any more than they already have. The less we see of them,the better off our nation will be.

 

[SAT]

Yes, corporations should run America. Great plan.

 

[paulitician]

'Do-Nothing Congresses' sure do get a bad wrap from the usual suspects. 'Do-Nothing Congresses' are exactly what we need right now. Hasn't our Government screwed things up enough? Why the Hell do people want more Government? That's just so crazy. We have more than enough Government in our lives already. Congress meeting less often is a fantastic idea.

 

[uscitizen]

Hell...he'd forget which part and what time.

Part time congress? Heck if they worked any less they would have to quit.


The fact is that they are paid at least $165,500 a year, and they hardly show up at all. In 2006, for example, Congress was only in session for 103 days, slightly more than two days a week on average. Nice work, if you can find it.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,286235,00.html

 

[Inthemiddle]

Dude.....they would stick to the important issues and not make up so many such as making "In God We Trust" our official motto. I could go on and on with the trivial crap.

You really think they would? What does "sticking to the issues" do for a politician? NOTHING! It doesn't get them any votes. The "In God We Trust" shit is what gives them their motivation. They'll stick with that and say To Hell with the budget.

 

[Luissa]

Funny thing, if a liberal had suggested changing the constitution the right wing would have seizure. Willow's head would probably pop.

That's only because they would suggest changing it for a stupid reason.

But maybe they will suggest something they can constitutionally change. I would say party's answer is stupid because it could lawfully never happen under executive power.

 

[Rozman]

Is it really such a crazy idea....
Obama is hardly ever in Washington DC
He's always out on the campaign trail when he's not traveling over seas.
WTF is Congress doing on a daily basis anyway?
Unemployment is 9% for years now.
The housing market is in shambles.
There is plenty of work to be done and nothing is getting done.

 

[Inthemiddle]

Is it really such a crazy idea....
Obama is hardly ever in Washington DC
He's always out on the campaign trail when he's not traveling over seas.
WTF is Congress doing on a daily basis anyway?
Unemployment is 9% for years now.
The housing market is in shambles.
There is plenty of work to be done and nothing is getting done.

I would guess that most members of Congress could make a full time job out of reading the Obama HC bill the past three years and still not be done yet....

 

[Cammmpbell]

One of the better ideas any politician's ever come up with. The less they're all in session the less mischief they can get into on our behalf. Sounds like Rick would bring a little Texas to the cesspool that is D.C.

It's a HORRIBLE idea. We pay these people six figure salaries in taxpayer money. I demand they work a full time schedule for such pay. Congress is hardly capable of getting anything done as it is. Cutting back their hours isn't going to make anything better. Do we have a budget yet?

He said. cut their hours in half. cut their budgets in half, and cut their salaries in half.. that's just brilliant. although personally I'd cut their salaries to zero til they came up with a balanced budget.

Hey...it took Reagan and the Bushes 30 years to make this mess...you don't think anybody is about to straighten it out in a week do you

Reagan and Bush's daddy quadrupled the national debt. Clinton came along, raised taxes and before the end of his second term generated surpluses.

Along came Slow Walkin' Slow Talkin' George, cut taxes twice, started two wars and doubled the debt from $5.7 to nearly $12 trillion.

It's the tax rates folks...taxes are at their lowest rates in 50 years and the Republicans want to cut them more. This debt crisis will never be settled without the wealthiest Americans once again paying their fair share.

There were two things which continue to affect our way of life. When Nixon took us off the gold standard a $20 bill would buy a $20 gold piece. Now it takes about 90 $20 bills to buy a $20 gold piece.

The other thing is the draft. The wealthy worry about which ivy league school their kids will attend while the kids of the lower and what used to be the middle class travel to some godforsaken desert 10,000 miles away and fight their wars.

About the debt again...when Obama assumed office the annual interest on Reagan and the Bushes debt was almost a half trillion dollars a year...that's 500 billion dollars. For comparison the government spends about 100 billion dollars on education and less than that on the infrastructure.

 

[candycorn]

Hell...he'd forget which part and what time.

In fairness...the HOR (pronounced whore coincidentally) will be in session for just over 100 days in 2012. The Texas Legislature meets 90 days every 2 years. Not that big a difference.

Neither we nor Texas is served well by this model and obviously Perry would be an embarrassment as President so it all fits in with his tilted view of reality.

 

[candycorn]

The fools spend more time trying to keep their job (campaigning) than they spend actually doing their job. No budget, no solutions to jobs crisis, home values are still falling, the economy sucks, and the list of lack of accomplishments goes on and on.

I find it interesting how wealthy most of the members of congress are. Lots of them went to Washington without money. How does that happen?

Perry has been a State employee for 30+ years. He's now a multi millionaire. Gee, how did that happen?

I think he saved green stamps. LOL

But you're right; I'd be willing to give some sort of new legislative body a try. Obviously the system we have now is totally broken and it starts at the Congressional District level. The gerrymandering has ensured that there are completely safe districts for the two-party system that has been a total failure.

We need to select the district based on a lottery system where every rep in a state gets X number of zip codes to represent and they have to speak to the people in those zip codes. If they don't, they get voted out....what a concept.