Congress Our Way

There is this email going around now, first time I've seen it anyway, titled: "Congress Our Way". I read it. I found it interesting. I have some amendments to it which I'll put in brackets.

Here it is:

This is not a Republican or Democrat thing.

 “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 -

[so true, or it should be]

This email has been totally cleaned of all other names and is being sent to you in hopes you will keep it going and keep it clean. This is something we can all fight for and I hope you will read it all the way through. I believe you will be glad you did.

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

[One should note that this was a special period in time for America and that the young were coming to awareness for the first time of a right to vote and the ability to institute changes during a time of high duress, and a knowledge of the top heavy capabilities of their youthful cohort.Something it would be nice, if the young now would take note.]

Of the 27 Amendments to the Constitution, seven (7) took 1 year or less to become the law of the land...all because of public pressure.

I'm asking each addressee to forward this email to a minimum of twenty people on their address list, in turn ask each of those to do likewise.

In three days, most people in The United States of America will have the message. This is one idea that really needs to be passed around.

[The proposed] 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.

[This sounds good, except for a few things. The issue isn't so much a problem with those few of the hundreds of millions of citizens in existence, who govern; but then this is a big benefit to get people into office as they don't get that much once IN office. The issue is more that they stay there for so long and have to strive to maintain their office or tenure. That means they tend to do what will get them voted in, and not necessarily what is right, or needed, that benefits the nation, but rather what benefits their keeping their office. It is good they represent their people, but it is bad that this is not always (or typically) the case.

So we have this unbalance of where our laws and efforts go and, have you noticed how corporations have taken over America? How the American workers are working harder, longer, for less? Why, do you think that to be the case? Because those in office are making the best decisions for their people? Then why aren't their people having longer vacations of a month or two per year? Or making more money? Or, why aren't we yet, working 6 hour days and 4 day work weeks?]

2. Congress (past, present and 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.

[I have to say, this one sounds good. Although I don't have a problem with them receiving retirement for having served, I do think they need to share the same pool and if they are peeing in it, they need to be getting the foul fluids in their mouths, also]

3. Congress can purchase their own retirement plan, just as all Americans do.

[Again, what goes around, really should come around]

4. Congress will no longer vote themselves a pay raise. Congressional pay will rise by the lower of CPI or 3%.

[I'm not sure this is the best solution, but I do think this is onto an interesting idea. ]

5. Congress loses their current health care system and participates in the same health care system as the American people.

[ibid]

6. Congress must equally abide by all laws they impose on the American people.

[ibid, kind of all goes without saying, doesn't it?]

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.

[Yeah, well this never really works, does it? Like everyone not buying gas one day a year, but hey, it's fun to think about. Still, it IS good to talk about these kinds of things, to write about them, and hey, who knows? Maybe some day, something WILL happen.]

THIS IS [kind of] HOW YOU FIX CONGRESS!!!!!

Anyway, as I said, it's all fun to talk about it....

What do we really need in America?

President FDR is reported to have said that no American, after taxes should have more than $25,000 (figure in today's terms, around $300,000). I would raise that somewhat considering how money is evaluated differently now (as you saw above) and have a buffer for problems, national crisis, etc., and say maybe $10 Million dollars.

But, can you imagine if that happened, as FDR thought, that the government should be using that extra money they would have to take care of the American citizens (including all the country's concerns, within and without its borders), its infrastructure, college for all kids, healthcare for everyone? When did we get so greedy? Why do we need $100 million? Or a $1 billion? Or even $10 million?

"In 1942, only a few months after Pearl Harbor, President Franklin D. Roosevelt proposed a 100 percent top marginal tax rate. At a time of “grave national danger,” the president advised that April, “no American citizen ought to have a net income, after he has paid his taxes, of more than $25,000 a year. Roosevelt was proposing, in effect, what amounted to a maximum wage—at an income level that would equal, in our contemporary dollars, about $300,000.

"Imagine, for a moment, what would happen today if John Kerry—suddenly inspired by FDR’s bold example—were to propose a 100 percent tax on income over $300,000 to help wage the war against terrorism. Kerry would be hooted off the political stage, maybe even tagged a terrorist himself for trying to disrupt and destroy the American economy.

"The opposition to FDR’s income cap proposal would go about its business behind the scenes. The mandarins on the House Ways and Means Committee would quietly refuse to give the president’s cap any serious consideration. But Roosevelt would not be deterred. Shortly after Labor Day, he repeated his call for a $25,000 income limit, “the only practical way of preventing the incomes and profits of individuals and corporations from getting too high.” Congress would eventually relent and tilt in the president’s direction. The Revenue Act of 1942 would leave America’s most fortunate paying taxes on income over $200,000 at a tax rate well over 90 percent. The war years would go on to become, notes historian John Witte, “the most progressive tax years in U.S. history.”

"Today, by contrast, we are waging a war amid what have become the least progressive tax years in modern U.S. history. Pulitzer Prize-winning tax analyst David Cay Johnston estimates that our nation’s wealthiest households are now paying federal income taxes at a mere 17.5 percent rate, after exploiting all available loopholes. America’s richest households in 1943, after exploiting all available loopholes, paid nearly 78 percent of their total incomes in federal tax."

From The Rational Radical

It just came to my attention, that one in 20 people in the US are agnostic or atheist and there are NO stated atheists in congress.

Really!

First of all, I don't think so.

Second, we need the first one, to stand up, say it, get into congress, and not be fearful to be so. As someone said, don't be afraid to say you don't believe in a talking snake. Or floating paranormal entities born immaculately of woman.

I also find it's annoying that religionists say they have "Faith" as if no one else, no atheist, has "Faith". Or they will say yes, you too can, but you have "faith" where we have "Faith".

Really!

How condescending. No?

Someone also said, why are the stated atheists saying they have have such a rabid fear of religionists, isn't part of being an atheist not giving a damn what they are doing? But someone does need to stand up against ignorance, stupidity, foolishness, important decisions that can get people killed based upon fantasy, satiating emotions and beliefs not based on hard facts.

 Not to mention, some atheists are simply afraid of "True Believers". And that on any and all sides.

Why do we now have empty houses with people crowding homeless shelters? Why are we kicking out some of those people who are losing their homes, rather than fix it so they can keep them, if its shown they didn't do something stupid to end up in that situation? Why do we allow people to lose their homes, so then the banks can sell them extremely cheaply to someone else?

Why not sell them extremely cheaply to those who have, perhaps, illegally, immorally, but to no fault of their own, lost their homes?

What are we doing? What are we allowing to be done? There are a lot of things going on we should put a stop to. But how? This reminds me of Thomas Jefferson. He thought every generation requires a revolution and its long overdue. Not a blood and gore one, but one that actually changes things to make them better.

We have too long gone along with the corporate mindset. Perhaps we should have made a corporation and entity, a person, when we did decades ago. But perhaps now is the time to end that. Times change, things change, we have to institute change. Corporations have too long run our lives and our government. No doubt about that. They need to be reigned in. And now is late in the game, we need to do it yesterday.

There is a lot of change going on in the world today. We have some momentum and we need to keep it going. The heavy weight is moving, keep pushing so it gains more speed in the right direction, which is people. There is a lot of talk about socialism. People, are social. If socialism is about making the world better for PEOPLE, then what is wrong with that? Perhaps what we need is to redefine some words.

Communism, isn't for me, I'm too solitary for that. Socialism, if it means, not allow people to be abused, might be for me. I don't think it means dole out to everyone, out of the community coffers, even the losers, the low lifes, but we should all have certain benefits of being a part of a country. And if this is the most wonderful powerful country in History, why are we working so damn hard just to maintain our lifestyle? Granted, some of our lifestyle is unsustainable and we need to be educated and make some changes there.

But, we should be getting more time off, not less. We should be making more money, not less. Some things we pay for, should even be free. Why, are people held in such low esteem in this country? Yes, it's far worse elsewhere, but does that make it okay? No, I don't think so.

Should we unionize? Force corporations to pay us more, give us more? That misses the point. It's how we think, how we spend our profits. A CEO gets $500 million as a bonus? Something is wrong when you have that kind of disparity between the highest and lowest paid wage earner in a company.

So, in the end, what do we need? We need a paradigm shift. The trouble is, usually there is only one way that happens. By way of damage: Natural disaster, revolution, economic crash. But why? Are we that damn stupid that we have to be forced to evoke change? Or, can we simply start a grass root change? Just, as Nike says, Do It.

It has to start somewhere. It has to start with you. No, really. You. Because if you can change, others can change and if others can change, then we can have a consensus. And if we have a consensus, we can have a movement; and a movement can lead to an alteration in how a country is run. And that is what we need. A country that is run differently. Better. More intelligently, with more thought to what is right and less to making a buck for mere greed. There is more than the stock holders. There are, the people.

Be one of the people so that the county can once again be, of the people, by the people, for the people; so that it shall not perish from the earth and will propagate the world over. We were once a great nation. We can be again.