Posted on 07/20/2009 5:51:28 AM PDT by Mobile Vulgus
We are speeding headlong toward a time when our Congress will have become just like Mad King George's Parliament, that body from which in 1776 the American colonists separated with the rallying cry of "no taxation without representation." Our national government is fast becoming just as unrepresentative of the people as far off Briton was when we went to war to become the United States of America.
Does that seem like a hyperbolic statement to you? At first blush, it might. But a considered look at the direction in which we are quickly heading will prove that, compared to the British Parliament that raised the ire of our forefathers so long ago, today's Congress shows many signs of the same, oppressive, haughty, disinterested politicians that considered their national government more important than the local's interests and needs.
Representation is the key word, here. What does it mean? What did it mean then? Of course, the problem was that it meant two different things to the opposing sides of the Revolutionary era, hence the conflict. In England, representation meant that Parliament "represented" the whole of the country and that each member of that body was elected from their home to go forth and become a member of the whole. British politicians generally did not imagine that they were representing their hometown when they went to Parliament.
Read the rest at Publiusforum.com...
The lack of term limits makes this so. We cannot directly vote out the people in Congress like Pelosi, Kennedy and Waxman whose constituents keep putting them back in to do the damage to all of us.
The pendulum can only swing so far before it comes back the other way much faster.
This is exactly the point I made last week. It feels like we are fighting against the Lords and Barons of what we fought the Revolutionary war against.
And Obama and his Marie Antionette are the same that the French fought against.
People are struggling to keep their homes and he spends HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS on ‘date nights’.
Nope. Our elected "representatives" in Congress have long since abandoned the concept of representing their constituents, their state and America and, today, are far more interested in representing the agenda of the ruling party!!
Everything old is new again and history is, indeed, repeating itself!! We truly do have "taxation without representation".
When the House votes on a bill which results in costs to the taxpayer, and the Reps don’t have a chance to look it over prior to voting, THAT is taxation without representation. It’s also malpractice.
With or without representation, I’ve had enough. All I see is theft and tyranny. And disaster.
Repeal the 17th Amendment. We’re not supposed to vote for Senators anyway. Let the State Legislatures choose the two Senators. Right now, it might make a lopsided Senate, but in the long run, the Senate will end up being closer to 50/50. The PEOPLE will chose their State Legislatures much more carefully. AND the Senators are only in the Senate for one term, most of the time.
AFTER ALL, originally, a man was elected to the House for one or two terms and then had to get back to his business. Congress was a PART TIME JOB with NO BENEFITS because the Congresspeople were supposed to have benefits at their ‘real’ job. Senators were chosen for what they could do for their States and were directly responsible to their State Legislatures who were directly responsible to the voters. If a Senator didn’t represent his State, he was not appointed to serve a second term. And Senators had to get back to their ‘real’ jobs, as well.
Congress should have NO INCOME and NO BENEFITS and be ACCOUNTABLE to their States not to lobbyists and the banks.
Dick Durbin was being candid when he stated: The Banks Own Us.
If the Senators were chosen by their State Legislature . . . lobbyists and banks would be scrambling and their influence would be minimal as their money wouldn’t go far enough to persuade 50 State Legislatures to choose “their” candidates.
Someone once said that “When legislation determines what may be bought and sold, the first thing bought and sold is legislators.” — I find it to be a wise saying.
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