Congressional Reform Act of 2011

“The Constitution is not an instrument for the government to restrain the people, it is an instrument for the people to restrain the government - lest it come to dominate our lives and interests .”
- Patrick Henry -

The 26th amendment (granting the right to vote for 18 year-olds) took only 3 months & 8 days to be ratified! Why? Simple! Because the people demanded it. That was in 1971...before computers, before e-mail, before cell phones, etc.

Of the 27 amendments to the Constitution, seven (7) took 1 year or less to become law of the land...all because of public pressure.
In three days, most people in The United States of America will have the message. This is one idea that really should be passed around.
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.

If each person contacts a minimum of twenty people then it will only take three days for most people (in the U.S.) to receive the message. Maybe it is time.

THIS IS HOW YOU FIX CONGRESS!!!!!

Patricia, Thanks for your contribution!

The Court of Pubic Opinion

The Court of Public Opinion

I am never disappointed by the ignorance of the American People -

For three years we were hammered with daily updates on the Casey Anthony murder trial. The deluge of information, interviews and opinions became a dull hum, background noise to other more important things going on the world such as the budget battle in Washington, the economic implosion in Greece and political revolt in the middle east.
Yet this murder case hummed along and finally went to trial.

I tried to be indifferent about it at first but my fascination with the law and the court eventually captured my attention.

Towards the end of the trial I started to watch some of the live courtroom coverage and quickly became hooked. I also acquired an opinion as to how the case would end.
It's easy to let that happen, almost a natural process.

I could see the prosecutions case unraveling slowly as they tried to make their points with no real hard evidence. They did not have enough to make me believe "beyond any reasonable doubt".
In my heart I felt that Casey was involved in something or did something that caused the death of her child but I could not say that there was no reasonable doubt that she did it.
Casey is getting out in a few days and I expect the next chapters to unfold. My guess is that 60% of the public believes she is guilty. They have found her guilty in the court of public opinion using mostly emotion and outrage over the death of a child to convict her. Her life going forward will undoubtedly be pure hell.
Even with my gut feeling that she is guilty of something, I still think our legal system worked. I believe it is still the best legal system in the world.
I think just about everyone could be found guilty of something in the court of public opinion. It's easy to convict someone else on circumstance and emotion but we should all ask ourselves how well would we fare in that situation? Are we so ignorant and ignorant to believe that we are smarter than the best legal system in the world?

The End Game

I can remember a time when our elected officials would use debate as tool to find common ground and ultimately agree on matters before them. The end game of that process was to continually improve the lives of constituents. The take away for the politician would be re-election.
Something has changed. Congress is no longer able to find enough common ground to keep the process moving forward, even when the stakes for the constituents are higher than ever.
I suspect that one side is using the "Party of No" philosophy to gain as much political gain as possible before ultimately agreeing. That's fine as long as we don't lose sight of the goal, approving a realistic budget before we default. I have no doubt that our country would suffer in some way if we are unable to meet the budget deadline. Anyone that denies this reality is uninformed. This is a crisis that must be resolved.

Our elected officials were sent to Washington by the voters to do a job for the American public yet all they can find to do is bicker about principles and ideas that have no direct bearing on the looming crisis before us.

Is the Congress willing to continue on a course that will undoubtedly lead to default?

On June 30th the State of Minnesota had to begin shutting down state services as they had no approved budget. All but the most critical Minnesota services will shut down for the first time since 2005, including state parks for the July 4 weekend.

Is this where Congress is taking our nation?

We have two and a half weeks to get this settled. If the congress refuses to it's job the only winners will be the people that don't like our country.
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I remember what my father-in-law always said at election time. We should vote out every incumbent and vote in the newcomers. Don't let anyone get too comfortable in their position.
We need to let the politicians know that they are not getting the job done for the people.
Think about it!

Congress is running our country into a ditch!

Government Too much or too little?
I can remember a time when our elected officials would use debate as tool to find common ground and ultimately agree on matters before them. The end game of that process was to continually improve the lives of constituents. The take away for this political would be re-election.
Something has changed. Congress is no longer able to find enough common ground to keep the process moving forward, even when the stakes for the constituents are higher than ever. Our elected officials were sent to Washington by the voters to do a job for the American public yet all they seem to do is bicker about principles and ideas that have no direct bearing on the looming crisis before us.
Is the Congress willing to continue on a course that will undoubtedly lead to default?

On June 30th the State of Minnesota had to begin shutting down state services as legislature couldn not agree on a budget. All but the most critical Minnesota services will shut down for the first time since 2005, including state parks for the July 4 weekend.

Is this where Congress is taking our nation?

I remember what my father-in-law always said at election time. We should vote out every incumbant and vote in the newcomers. Don't let anyone get too comfortable in their position.
We need to let the politicians know that they are not getting the job done for the people.

Vote them ALL out in the next election and ekect someone who cares.