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What change(s) would you make to our political process, were you granted the power?

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selmaborntidefan said:
I'm for the line item veto, which IIRC the GOP gave Clinton, but didn't SCOTUS rule it was unconstitutional?
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The line item veto is unconstitutional.

Having one member of one political party pick and choose which elements of a complex bill take effect is not how things should work.

The proper course of action is to not produce omnibus bills in the first place.
 
If I were Planetary Commander, I'd tend to not focus on limiting peoples' right but limiting politicians rights.
For example:
* A term limit of one term for each federal office and once one has held a federal elective office, he/she would be forever forbidden from entering the federal district for any purpose unless elected to another federal elective office. (No point in creating a new class of lobbyists ever two years).
* Federal office holders must remain out of office for five calendar years before running for any federal office (just like the Roman republic until Marius screwed up that venerable republican tradition). Go home and live under the laws you helped create so you feel the same pain as every other citizen.
* Every Congress that does not pass a balanced budget by 1 April for the fiscal year that starts 1 September (except during time of a declared war) is automatically prorogued and the incumbents expelled as if they had died. The states will fill vacancies in accordance with the states' laws. Expelled legislators would be forbidden from ever holding federal elective office again.
* All communications with elected federal office holders would be recorded and, unless classified for national security reasons, made public by the officer known as the Censor (just like the Roman republic), to be elected by the majority of the state legislators. The Censor would be responsible for the morals of federal office holders and have the power to indefinitely suspend from voting any federal elected office holder who declined to disclose his communications to the satisfaction of the Censor. Suspended officers could continue in office but not vote on any policy until the Censor removed the suspension.
* Legislators to live in a legislative dorm on Capital hill, without their families (who will remain in their home districts eagerly awaiting the legislators' return from public office) with rooms equal to the amount of square footage allocated to an E-6/Staff Sergeant in the Army, a shared bathroom and a dining facility. No one is allowed into the legislative dorm except legislators and maintenance/cleaning staff and only when the legislators are absent from the building. Constituents must visit legislators in their offices. And citizens not residing in a legislator's district have no legitimate reason to talk to a legislator and therefor are forbidden from doing so.
* When the majority of the state legislatures vote to overturn a decision by any federal judge (including Supreme Court Justices), the decision is reversed (if an appellate court, then the case is returned to the lower court. If original jurisdiction, then the decision is vacated. If 2/3 of the state legislators vote to overturn the decision, the judge is removed from office. If 3/4 of the states vote to overturn the decisions, then the former judge is forever forbidden from holding any federal elective office for the remainder of his life as if he had died and no pension or any federal payments will be allowed to him for life.

That would go a long way towards cleaning up the national cesspool.
 
crimsonaudio said:
It defeats the entire idea behind having two separate houses of congress - one was to represent the will of the people directly, one was to represent the rights of the states. 17A was one of the primary ways that 10A has been gutted, imo.
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Seeing how Montgomery runs this state, I’d rather them not select my senators.


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I would make myself King of the USA for life.
I would then kick out all Trump/Clinton supporters because I'm sick and tired of them all.
I would then reduce the number of games in the MLB season to 120 so, that the season doesn't start until May and ends in September with post season ending in October.
 
Thanks once again for sharing your thoughts thus far.

I've SINCERELY enjoyed reading everyone's thoughtful posts.


So here's something that I've had in my head for quite a few years....

It has to do with campaign ads. I've always been nasuseated by the obscene amount of money spent on political ads.

If I had the power - I would ban all campaign ads and just let candidates give interviews for various media outlets and give speeches - but no ads anywhere by anyone - not even PAC's or other political entities. Remember - it doesn't matter if it's possible to make happen - I have a magic wand - and I WILL make it happen! :)

The other thought I had is this: IF you were to allow any ads....whatever the cost of that advertising is......100 times that amount must be given to animal rescue and rehab facilities.
 
crimsonaudio said:
It defeats the entire idea behind having two separate houses of congress - one was to represent the will of the people directly, one was to represent the rights of the states. 17A was one of the primary ways that 10A has been gutted, imo.
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my biggest issue with this (based on living in alabama and georgia) is that we elect bigger morons to state legislatures than we do to the federal.
 
92tide said:
my biggest issue with this (based on living in alabama and georgia) is that we elect bigger morons to state legislatures than we do to the federal.
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On the other hand, I have met both my state legislator and my state senator.
I could never hope to meet my U.S. representative or my federal senators unless I'm ready to whip out a check for $100,000.
 
Republicans currently control 32 state legislatures and the Democrats control 14. There are four that are split.

So that would give us at least 64 Republicans in the US Senate. If the four states where it is split worked out a deal where each party got to pick one, the Republicans would control the Senate 68-32. No thanks.

I know it might not work out that way if we went back to the pre-17A method. But I don’t like the idea of one party (any party) having that much dominance.


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Crimson1967 said:
Republicans currently control 32 state legislatures and the Democrats control 14. There are four that are split.

So that would give us at least 64 Republicans in the US Senate. If the four states where it is split worked out a deal where each party got to pick one, the Republicans would control the Senate 68-32. No thanks.

I know it might not work out that way if we went back to the pre-17A method. But I don’t like the idea of one party (any party) having that much dominance.


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The 44th Congress was 47 Republicans out of 76, which would be the same as 61 today.

The 56th Congress was 54 Republicans out of 87, same as 62 would be (plus 2 more "Silver Republicans")

The 58th Congress was 57 out of 88, same as the 64 you're talking about now.

The 60th was 61 Republicans out of 90 Senators, which would be 67.


That's all under the old format.

The 73nd (began in 1933) was 59 Democrats out of 96, which would be the same as 61 now.

The 74th was 70 Democrats out of 95, the same as 73 now.

The 75th was 75 Democrats out of 95.


I'm not sure the evidence supports the notion that one is actually "worse" in terms of power than the other.

(Of course, the bigger issue is that corruption to become a Senator is MUCH easier when you only have to buy off the legislature's votes than the popular vote - which is why it was passed in the first place).
 
CrimsonNagus said:
I would make myself King of the USA for life.
I would then kick out all Trump/Clinton supporters because I'm sick and tired of them all.
I would then reduce the number of games in the MLB season to 120 so, that the season doesn't start until May and ends in September with post season ending in October.
Click to expand...

Yeah, but would you expand the college playoff from 4 to 8 games? That's what really matters. ;)
 
Until greed leaves our thought process, we will be stuck with corrupt elected officials. I'm sure it starts off innocently enough, but one thing leads to another and eventually many become stuck in the swamp.
 
Term limits at all levels of government

After leaving office, or governmental employment (including military), you cannot become a lobbyist until 10 years have passed

To vote, you must not be a convicted felon, and you must receive no payments from any governmental entity except:
- Social security retirement, not disability
- Medicare (Medicaid is a disqualifier)
- A pension derived from time as an employee of the government
- A military pension
- Salary from current employment with the government

Labor unions subject to anti-trust laws
 
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GrayTide said:
Not bad to be 48 and picking up an extra $7K a month for life.

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/16/how-paul-ryans-85000-pension-compares-to-the-average-americans.html
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We have let the foxes guard the hen house.

On topic to this thread - I would make all members of congress live under the same government policies - as non-congressional citizens.

That covers all benefits and compensation.

No special treatment.
Not even security. Let 'em hire their own. Or they can carry - if they can pass the new registration requirements... :)
 
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