What would happen if for just one day Congress acted in OUR best interests?

[Blackhatjack]

IF they put aside reelection concerns, campaign contributors, those who provide them with opportunities to make millions, those who threaten to blackmail them, those who promote nepotism, etc.

Just think what statesmen operating in our best interests could accomplish in just one day.

It would be like the commercial where the fireman says 'this is the easiest job I ever had.'

Now .... BACK TO REALITY .... compare that with what we have today. It clearly shows Congress is hopelessly corrupted by those who block actions in our best interests, and should enrage every citizen as the public treasury is being unloaded out the back door to the private interests who really control Congress.

[AndyTiedye]

1. Would Immediately be Followed by a "Night of the Long Knives" and Martial Law

[Blackhatjack]

2. Just the thought of honest committed statesmen representing us in Congress seems so foreign today...

People have forgotten how our government was designed to operate, and what is possible if we stand together and no longer tolerate the status quo.

[KharmaTrain]

3. Depends On Who The "Our" Are...

There are 300 million people in this country with 300 million different interests. For many, right now, their prime concern is keeping a house, others its maintaining their health care, others are looking at high oil prices...so whose "intersts" are more important?

Reality also says politicians are creatures who depends on public opinion to maintain their jobs and careers...catering to the "interests" of his/her people that doesn't always jive with the "our"...and to maintain their careers they need to raise huge sums of money that is also a byproduct of the political system.

Sadly, you're looking for justice from a branch of government purely driven by politics and money and will always be. You can't get all the money out...you can limit it, but never remove it entirely. Now when that "special interest" results in building a new senior center or assistance for education or creates jobs in the district, is that also against "our" intersts? Just askin'.

[Blackhatjack]

5. There are numerous founding documents that describe 'our interests' ...

The oath of office, the Constitution and Declaration of Independence for a start --- phrases like 'to provide for the Common Defense and General Welfare' etc.

300 million people do have different interests --but 300 million have more important common interests which our government is created to address(and making sure wealthy individuals and corporations prosper is not in any of those documents).

One example, Congress is made up of the House based on geographical population representation AND the Senate based upon 50 states representation. Working together there was the hope that 'statesmanship' would trump 'special interests' among those to be governed.

Start with the easy questions like 'building a bridge to nowhere' or funding federal road projects to benefit real estate owners at taxpayer expense.

"Our interests" should be able to stand the scrutiny of independent public examination.

[KharmaTrain]

6. How Do You Get Independent From Politicians?

They all have a (D) or (R) after their names...representing 435 different constuencies. The founders tried to balance the interests through setting using a bicameral legislature, but it was still predicated on both bodies being both very political and designed to serve special interests.

The independence was supposed to be the Judiciary...the true arbeiters and defenders of the Constitution. These people, on the Federal level, were supposed to be above politics and that they were the ones who were responsible to maintain the balance of powers. You're asking the Congress to do the job of the Judiciary.

The problem with the "bridge to nowhere" is a different aspect to look at. It's easy to find a ton of pork that sure looks or sounds superfluous...and on occasion there is...but on the other hand, with closer scrutiny many are there to expedite economic growth or development for a specific district that can and does serve good. To expect a vote on each and every one of these requests would handcuff the legislative well beyond the constipation they currently have.

The key is tranparency...big money always clouds that...and I firmly believe that we need to closely examine the political/economic mess that has given so much power to lobbyists...but that's getting way off the track.

The problem in dire need is to re-balance the powers...and one branch can't do it alone. That's why elections matter.

[Blackhatjack]

8. There is nothing in the founding documents that provides for the role of political parties...

IT was debated and purposefully left out of those documents.

The power of the vote was deemed a huge restraint on the nefarious powers we face today --and those who would make 'our government' the instrument of special interests and corporations fully understand this. Look no further than the last 3 Presidential Elections and you see what attacks on the right to vote have been waged.

But don't get confused by equating 'representative government' and 'looking out for their special interests.' They are not the same.

IN fact, when Congress passes aid packages for disaster relief, those 'representatives' in areas outside the disaster zone are voting public taxpayer funds to people living outside their own representational districts. And the flip side of that is when representatives of lightly populated states insist on receiving 'anti-terror funding' equal to that received by heavily populated states with ports(ie. New York) --that kind of action puts the special interests of their district above the overall needs of the nation.

The responsibility of every member of Congress is dual --to protect and defend the Constitution and the interests of our nation at large AND to represent the interests of their constituents back home.

Today it appears that people no longer expect the former from their represenatives.

And each branch has an equal responsibility to uphold the ENTIRE CONSTITUTION, not just one branch. That includes each branch deferring power that rightly belongs to another co-equal branch which was designated to carry out that function.

[nancyr]

4. Hell would freeze over.

[Vickers]

7. I reckon I could finish that addition to my house

with all the bricks I'd be shitting.

[Solly Mack]

9. I'd immediately bend over and kiss my ass good-bye

[Breeze54]

10. I could stop posting and signing petitions and sending angry e-mails to them...

I could stop trying to reach the disengaged population about voting and being actively involved in helping to turn this ship around.
I could set my sights on other interests that have been neglected due to the terrible policies enacted by the * administration and the lack of action to stop them by the almost do nothing Congress. I could stop screaming for impeachment and to Bring Them All Home Now and I could stop reminding them to do their job and to remember to honor their oaths of office by defending the Constitution.

I could sleep at night, again..... :(