Posted on 01/23/2019 1:31:16 AM PST by UMCRevMom@aol.com
Overdoe. And the lobbyists? They’ll have nowhere to go.
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Hmm. I didn’t think of that aspect. That alone would be a big plus.
Well, No. The lobbyists will just show up at the legislator’s front door and even be present during the debate and voting to make sure ‘things go as planned’ - something lobbyists can’t do now. Legislators will need a really big living/meeting room for all the company they will have all day, every day. Not to mention the catering service.
Blah blah talk
I’d like to see Congress and federal agencies split up among the 50 states. Put the Congresscritters back in their home districts. Put the EPA in hundreds of (better, shrink EPA and put it in a half dozen) farm communities where they see the harm their excesses inflict. Put every federal agency in our small towns, where they cannot succumb to Stockholm Syndrome.
Our three wealthiest counties are:
1 Loudoun County, Virginia $134,464
2 Howard County, Maryland $120,941
3 Fairfax County, Virginia $115,717
(Numbers are median household incomes)
Those counties got there by leeching off our tax dollars. The solution is to put the people who spend those tax dollars in the middle of those who pay, instead of surrounding them with those who benefit from FedGov bloat.
This is only the first part of what needs to happen. The second part is to double or triple the number of representatives in the house. Each house member now represents 700,000 or so people. The framers were thinking of 30,000 or so citizens per congresscritter. It is almost impossible for the average constituent to reach out to his/her representative because of the numbers.
Sunshine laws would make all communication transparent.
Maybe MSM would summarize &actually REPORT news TRUTHFULLY!
That’s why it will never happen.
Sunshine? News? MSN? There is only moonshine in MSN “news”. Truth is in the wind. Hold your finger up to determine the wind direction and hope it isn’t shot off by a MSN sniper.
Sunshine laws; transparent communication; nice ideas - but that’s all. Holding your breath would be more successful in finding the ‘truth’ ...
>Overdoe. And the lobbyists? They’ll have nowhere to go.
No, they’ll spread out to the 50 States of the Union (each capital should house their Reps/Senators along w/ their State-level members) instead of a singular district...it’ll just cost ‘em MUCH more (travel\time\etc.)
Course, if we could get “No interaction/donations+ w/from any entity/being/etc. that cannot pull the voting lever”...
I don’t like it, but for probably different reasons than many might.
On one hand, I fully agree with many that taking them out of Washington DC is a positive thing, and might save a certain amount of money.
But as someone who takes part in a lot of teleconferences, I find them to be useless from a perspective (not in all cases) for getting meaningful things done. I may be old school, but the demise of face-to-face meetings with whiteboards is not a postive thing, unless you are a fringe person who isn’t going to be much involved anyway.
I want to keep these people in each others faces and make it as uncomfortable and as inconvenient as possible to make them get things done.
That said, they don’t get anything done anyway for the most part, so...I guess it doesn’t make much difference in the long run.
If they did go to some kind of electronic presence in this fashion, I can envison a system where all citizens would have the ability to not only watch these things in real time, but participate in a way as well by providing non-binding input.
We as citizens would have the option of being able to stream the same feed the legislators see, configure our screen with the video feed from any key player (most likely our own representatives and maybe the committee chairs and others, but literally anyone), lining them on the top or sides of their screen or even a different monitor. We can have access to the full or summarized verbiage of the legislation or issue, which can be displayed as well.
Additionally, we would have feedback capability and a special feedback pane, and the representatives could have this too on THEIR screen. We as citizens would have the ability via an “Approval Level” input, to both provide and view how citizens view the ongoing debate or discussion.
This input would be completely non-binding, just informational.
There would be a configurable viewer pane. We would be able to show a graph over time showing the aggregated score, even tied to discussion points linked to parts of legislation or points being discussed, and could show the same data broken down by state, locality, or even other things (depending on how you are registered for this ability as a voter)
You could even break it down by sex, age, or...whatever.
Both you and the politicians could see instant feedback broken down in a variety of ways in real time. When the discussion veers off into stupidity, the disapproval level might rise dramatically (or might not, depending on why people are watching)
For example, if they are discussing a bill such as ethanol subsidies, the politicians (and knowledgable citizens) might configure their screen to show their own legislators and important chairs, but also would show legislators from states with a high stake such as Iowa or Nebraska. Additionally, their feedback panes could be configured with feedback from their own state and residents of those other states with a stake in the process.
What could it hurt? What we have now is not working.
I think I will mock up something tonight in Photoshop.
This is precisely how Congress was run at the time of our nation’s founding.
This should not happen. This leaves a larger door for corruption.
I have nearly got to the point of being like a little kid with two bugs forcing them together, trying to get them to fight as an analogy of how I want to force them to sit face to face in the same room and fight it out.
For my entertainment, if nothing else, for the tax money I have to throw into that grinder I want to see them at least have to occasionally look like they have a cat turd under their noses.
That I can completely agree with.
I’d like to see Congress and federal agencies split up among the 50 states. Put the Congresscritters back in their home districts. Put the EPA in hundreds of (better, shrink EPA and put it in a half dozen) farm communities where they see the harm their excesses inflict. Put every federal agency in our small towns, where they cannot succumb to Stockholm Syndrome.
For the Department of Energy, move a significant fraction of the management, including the Secretary, to Yucca Mountain in Nevada. Nothing brings the issue of safety to a bureaucrat's forebrain like having to protect ones self and family.
I think the state of Alaska has been doing this for many years.
I say NO !!!
The less time they “spend” thinking about ways to SCREW AMERICA the better.
Make the POS/SOB’s DRIVE from home to DC so the real life experiences for them can occur, just like real life. Get Gas, check oil and Tyres, use a Public Toilet, Etc...
IF they can handle that task (without a Driver, they must drive themselves) they must then check into a reasonable priced Hotel, Check in, tote their own baggage and park the car. Get up in the morning and go to the Breakfast Room, MAKE their own food, clean up the table and get their crap packed up and then haul it to the car, load it up and check themselves out.
AND KEEP ON DRIVING!!!
Let them get a taste of Rush hour, STOP Signs, Traffic Lights and Yield Signs all on their way.
Give them a taste of the REAL WORLD!!!
pelousy and upchuck wouldn’t make 5 miles on their own.
And toss in a few Moving Violations too so they get the whole experience of Life in FLYOVER Country.
DELETE THE epa !!!!
Ping!
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