The Smith’s can’t save us from Washington in fact, we need to save them!
By; The Speaker in the House
Claudia Roazen
Voting for new representation to try and change both the tone and direction of Washington is unfortunately never going to work without systemic change to the institution itself. Two major problems face newly elected congress men and women from the moment they are sworn into office. One, they are freshman, green and naïve and without any independent advocates. The party leaders take them under their wing and explain to them that they will never get anything done in Washington unless they play ball with the senior membership. That means they will never be appointed to any of the prized legislative committees or be able to have bills sponsored unless they ask how high when asked to jump. Two, they are immediately made aware of the need to fund raise their political war chest if they expect to ever become a senior member of congress and contribute anything useful to their constituency. The cynical truth is that Washington’s corruption is institutionalized and ubiquitous.
It is no wonder why voters continue to re-elect the same old faces knowing that they have attained power and stature in Washington while a new Senator or Representative would be powerless and ineffective regardless of their good intentions. Equally sad is that by the time these new representatives get the opportunity to make their voices heard they sound eerily similar to the old representatives. When we the people try and change the old guard, the system corrupts and indoctrinates the new blood in the ways of Washington and it becomes “meet the new guard, the same as the old guard.”
The real problem here is that in order to change the system we must rely on the fox guarding the hen house to make changes. Does anybody really think true campaign and systemic political reform will come out of Washington? No, nothing will change in Washington unless we outfox the fox. Our forefathers did think of everything because we do have a way around a corrupt legislature and that is the right of States to call for a Constitutional Convention to propose Amendments.
It appears to be our only option given that congressional corruption is so entrenched and the power so usurped from the people. We need to assert States’ Rights and speak with serious voice to our State legislatures about either repealing the 19th Amendment (federal income tax) or proposing another Amendment to the constitution that limits terms, length of time and money spent campaigning as well as making committee selection be more equitable by drawing straws as oppose to kissing backsides. We know that the mere thought of a Constitutional Convention in the past has caused Congress to keel to the will of the people. We have repealed Amendments in the past as in the 21st amendment that supplanted the 18th allowing us to toast one another with our glasses filled with our favorite libation. The mere threat of the 19th Amendment being repealed should hasten Washington to get the budget and debt under control. If we really want systemic change and a return of Washington back to being the people’s house then we need to scare away the fox and protect Mr. and Mrs. Smith.
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Monday, February 8, 2010
SHALL WE AT LEAST SHAME THEM WITH THE BILL?
SHALL WE AT LEAST SHAME THEM WITH THE BILL?
By; The Speaker in the House
Claudia Roazen
Why does Congress spend our money so frivolously whether they claim to be Liberals or Conservatives? All Americans know that both Democrats and Republicans pork barrel equally to help buy votes back home. Both parties campaign on fiscal responsibility but never do they cut the size of our government or appreciably downsized the budget. American business has learned to run leaner and meaner while Congress continues to grow ‘biggy and piggy’.
Why? Simple! They have little motivation because it’s not their money! When we don’t have personal responsibility or liability we act differently. When it is someone else’s money or property we operate with less prudence. We all know that when the company is paying for our lunch we order Lobster but when we have to reach into our own wallet, we’re satisfied with the tuna melt. When we rent a car and take out the cheap Insurance policy, we drive more recklessly because we don’t own or car about the vehicle. Therefore we know why Congressional politicians and government procurement offices spend and waste our money without guilt or reprisal and there is little we taxpayers and Americans can do about it. Voting them out of office only works temporarily to scare those not up for re-election but then Washington quickly returns to ‘business as usual’.
However, there may be an interesting alternative solution to the problem. When there are scandals in Washington involving the president and or his Administration they always call for an Independent Council. To avoid a perceived or real conflict of interest by the Justice Department and to assure all that the investigation was thorough and unbiased. We Americans need an Independent Budget Oversight Committee consisting of people who pledge to go through the Congressional budget looking for programs that are fraudulent, wasteful, and redundant or just plain corrupt to give American voters knowledge.
NBC NEWS has being doing a series that others have done called the “Fleecing of America” in which its news reporters expose government waste and fraud. What if we promoted to Congress that it adopt and allow this Independent Tea Party Panel to review the nation’s budget and then report back to the American people how much is being wasted and how much could be saved. They could alert Americans by using a grade system for Programs and expenditures that would scale from A to F thereby requiring politicians to either rescind the worst graded programs or be held accountable at the ballot box. This would give the taxpayer knowledge and targeted voting power to put political pressure on both Democrats and Republicans to be more judicious in creating and keeping government programs.
This Independent Budget Oversight Panel would revolve every four years changing out members to ensure that both Lobbyist and Congress does not corrupt the members and that the members themselves don’t develop a ideological bias to grade bad policy or programs with high marks. Its members should be retired professionals, business people, and homemakers in an eclectic mix of a cross section of the average American citizen. There would be no salary except that the Tea Party would help pay for their room and board while working in Washington. It could work as a Jury works in that all twelve or ten members would have to unanimously agree on the grade of any program. They could ask for expert advice from other retired accountants, lawyers, bankers or use other knowledge gathering and fact finding consultants to help them with their assessments.
Now, I know that there are already a number of groups out there commenting and watch dogging for the American taxpayer but this idea would be different in two ways. One, it would get the acceptance, approval and credibility of Congress and two the panel would revolve and involve average non-activist citizenry. People could sign up much like a Jury pool and have their names be randomly picked to serve.
Both parties are out of control. The Spendocarats and the Shoplicans have both used the American taxpayer’s wallet with reckless abandon. If we can’t cut up their credit card, shall we at least shame them with the bill?
By; The Speaker in the House
Claudia Roazen
Why does Congress spend our money so frivolously whether they claim to be Liberals or Conservatives? All Americans know that both Democrats and Republicans pork barrel equally to help buy votes back home. Both parties campaign on fiscal responsibility but never do they cut the size of our government or appreciably downsized the budget. American business has learned to run leaner and meaner while Congress continues to grow ‘biggy and piggy’.
Why? Simple! They have little motivation because it’s not their money! When we don’t have personal responsibility or liability we act differently. When it is someone else’s money or property we operate with less prudence. We all know that when the company is paying for our lunch we order Lobster but when we have to reach into our own wallet, we’re satisfied with the tuna melt. When we rent a car and take out the cheap Insurance policy, we drive more recklessly because we don’t own or car about the vehicle. Therefore we know why Congressional politicians and government procurement offices spend and waste our money without guilt or reprisal and there is little we taxpayers and Americans can do about it. Voting them out of office only works temporarily to scare those not up for re-election but then Washington quickly returns to ‘business as usual’.
However, there may be an interesting alternative solution to the problem. When there are scandals in Washington involving the president and or his Administration they always call for an Independent Council. To avoid a perceived or real conflict of interest by the Justice Department and to assure all that the investigation was thorough and unbiased. We Americans need an Independent Budget Oversight Committee consisting of people who pledge to go through the Congressional budget looking for programs that are fraudulent, wasteful, and redundant or just plain corrupt to give American voters knowledge.
NBC NEWS has being doing a series that others have done called the “Fleecing of America” in which its news reporters expose government waste and fraud. What if we promoted to Congress that it adopt and allow this Independent Tea Party Panel to review the nation’s budget and then report back to the American people how much is being wasted and how much could be saved. They could alert Americans by using a grade system for Programs and expenditures that would scale from A to F thereby requiring politicians to either rescind the worst graded programs or be held accountable at the ballot box. This would give the taxpayer knowledge and targeted voting power to put political pressure on both Democrats and Republicans to be more judicious in creating and keeping government programs.
This Independent Budget Oversight Panel would revolve every four years changing out members to ensure that both Lobbyist and Congress does not corrupt the members and that the members themselves don’t develop a ideological bias to grade bad policy or programs with high marks. Its members should be retired professionals, business people, and homemakers in an eclectic mix of a cross section of the average American citizen. There would be no salary except that the Tea Party would help pay for their room and board while working in Washington. It could work as a Jury works in that all twelve or ten members would have to unanimously agree on the grade of any program. They could ask for expert advice from other retired accountants, lawyers, bankers or use other knowledge gathering and fact finding consultants to help them with their assessments.
Now, I know that there are already a number of groups out there commenting and watch dogging for the American taxpayer but this idea would be different in two ways. One, it would get the acceptance, approval and credibility of Congress and two the panel would revolve and involve average non-activist citizenry. People could sign up much like a Jury pool and have their names be randomly picked to serve.
Both parties are out of control. The Spendocarats and the Shoplicans have both used the American taxpayer’s wallet with reckless abandon. If we can’t cut up their credit card, shall we at least shame them with the bill?
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