The vice president tried to make himself palatable to women voters while promoting his new book. Instead, he scored a number of hard-to-watch own goals, writes Holly Baxter
This is maybe going about things backwards. We definitely need to get bribes out of politics, particularly those coming from corporations (aka PACs) because they make it more profitable to hold specific opinions hence it’s paramount to overturn citizens united. On the other hand if you reduce overall pay for politicians (I.E. money not tied to particular political stances) then that discourages anybody who actually needs money from holding political office thereby turning it into a game exclusively for the rich to play when they’re bored.
What we need is regular people holding political offices so ironically we probably want to make it more profitable to hold the office not less, but we definitely need to make that the only money politicians earn while in office. The tricky part here is how to kill the usual corporate lobbyist loophole where some corporation promises a politician a cushy job doing essentially nothing for high pay in exchange for voting a specific way.
I think every single elected representative needs to be under the direct scrutiny of a panel of seven people from their own constituency, made up of ordinary citizens from all walks of life. This panel has the mandate to scrutinize every expense, investigate every “donation”, question every vote that representative has made in the house/senate/etc… and ask “Does this representative continue to work for our district’s interest?”
If the answer ever becomes no, they have the authority to oust him immediately and have a recall election.
And yes, I’m fully aware that this was the original Marxist ideal of the concept of the Soviet before Stalinism purged that all away and went full authoritarian.
And have them chosen from a roster of elected council reps, based on a lottery system, so they can never know which ones are going to judge them.
That would take tens of thousands of people though, wouldn’t it? Maybe limit it to state senators and house reps.
Are we reinventing the republic? I don’t think so, more something like Athenian democracy. That one was flawed but had some solid solutions for the problems we’re facing.
I dont like the fact that 250 years ago, one senator represented roughly 40000 constituents or citizens. Today they represent around 600000.
They used to wield way less power, in absolute terms.
Elections proceed as normal for the Congressman/Senator/Member of Parliament, or whatever it is that is being elected. In that person’s riding/constituency.
7 Averge, working class citizens are drawn randomly from his/her constituency for a 1-year term with the mandate being that, once a month, that representative has to present himself in front of that panel to defend their voting record, their expenditures, and their conduct.
Declutter what is unnecessary. Ditch the senate. In Canada it’s an appointed useless position used for Cronyism, While in the states it’s nonfunctional for it’s supposed purpose (being a check and balance for the congress). With the representative now being directly answerable monthly to the people in their own constituency, the Senate is rendered moot.
I think there’s shit to work with here. I mean, for real, I think that if we are ever gonna get out of this hole, we need to have actual suggestions for solutions, you know what I mean? It’s not good enough to say that shit doesn’t work, you need to present shit that would work better, and I’m with you here, but we still need separation of powers.
I agree whole-heartedly about he separations necessary. But (to me) it all starts by getting power back in the hands of the people on the street, rather than the rich assholes and CEOs. Citizen councils at least take that first step.
I think you’re the one who’s got it backwards. you think $174,000/yr isn’t enough to motivate the average Joe? you think someone making a million a year is gonna take an 83% pay cut if they can’t take bribes and do insider trading on the side? closing the loopholes and leaving ordinary pay as-is seems like a great way to get rich people out and ordinary people in
I see both of your points. But in defense of politicians getting paid, I’ve considered running for my town council but it would be a huge pay cut with a massive workload.
This is maybe going about things backwards. We definitely need to get bribes out of politics, particularly those coming from corporations (aka PACs) because they make it more profitable to hold specific opinions hence it’s paramount to overturn citizens united. On the other hand if you reduce overall pay for politicians (I.E. money not tied to particular political stances) then that discourages anybody who actually needs money from holding political office thereby turning it into a game exclusively for the rich to play when they’re bored.
What we need is regular people holding political offices so ironically we probably want to make it more profitable to hold the office not less, but we definitely need to make that the only money politicians earn while in office. The tricky part here is how to kill the usual corporate lobbyist loophole where some corporation promises a politician a cushy job doing essentially nothing for high pay in exchange for voting a specific way.
I think every single elected representative needs to be under the direct scrutiny of a panel of seven people from their own constituency, made up of ordinary citizens from all walks of life. This panel has the mandate to scrutinize every expense, investigate every “donation”, question every vote that representative has made in the house/senate/etc… and ask “Does this representative continue to work for our district’s interest?”
If the answer ever becomes no, they have the authority to oust him immediately and have a recall election.
And yes, I’m fully aware that this was the original Marxist ideal of the concept of the Soviet before Stalinism purged that all away and went full authoritarian.
And have them chosen from a roster of elected council reps, based on a lottery system, so they can never know which ones are going to judge them.
That would take tens of thousands of people though, wouldn’t it? Maybe limit it to state senators and house reps.
Are we reinventing the republic? I don’t think so, more something like Athenian democracy. That one was flawed but had some solid solutions for the problems we’re facing.
I dont like the fact that 250 years ago, one senator represented roughly 40000 constituents or citizens. Today they represent around 600000.
They used to wield way less power, in absolute terms.
In my world, the council reps are like jury duty.
Elections proceed as normal for the Congressman/Senator/Member of Parliament, or whatever it is that is being elected. In that person’s riding/constituency.
7 Averge, working class citizens are drawn randomly from his/her constituency for a 1-year term with the mandate being that, once a month, that representative has to present himself in front of that panel to defend their voting record, their expenditures, and their conduct.
Declutter what is unnecessary. Ditch the senate. In Canada it’s an appointed useless position used for Cronyism, While in the states it’s nonfunctional for it’s supposed purpose (being a check and balance for the congress). With the representative now being directly answerable monthly to the people in their own constituency, the Senate is rendered moot.
I think there’s shit to work with here. I mean, for real, I think that if we are ever gonna get out of this hole, we need to have actual suggestions for solutions, you know what I mean? It’s not good enough to say that shit doesn’t work, you need to present shit that would work better, and I’m with you here, but we still need separation of powers.
Somehow.
I agree whole-heartedly about he separations necessary. But (to me) it all starts by getting power back in the hands of the people on the street, rather than the rich assholes and CEOs. Citizen councils at least take that first step.
I think you’re the one who’s got it backwards. you think $174,000/yr isn’t enough to motivate the average Joe? you think someone making a million a year is gonna take an 83% pay cut if they can’t take bribes and do insider trading on the side? closing the loopholes and leaving ordinary pay as-is seems like a great way to get rich people out and ordinary people in
I see both of your points. But in defense of politicians getting paid, I’ve considered running for my town council but it would be a huge pay cut with a massive workload.