Straighten Out Congress

[HUSKER55]

Require that the president and his cabinet and the senate have had to been in the military to serve.

That would straighten out a lot, IMHO.

[Robert Goren]

Require that the president and his cabinet and the senate have had to been in the military to serve.

That would straighten out a lot, IMHO. Bush was in the military and it did not help him. So was Carter and did not help him either.

[Tom]

Make it a rule that they have never been community organizers.
That should keep out the worst trash.

[HUSKER55]

maybe Robert, but neither are as bad as BO

[fast4522]

Well folks how about telling a lie on television while serving on the federal level, with a penalty of 10 years in prison.

[Tom]

It would cost too much to build all those new prisons, and we would have to release a lot of other felons to make room.

[TJDave]

Pass a constitutional amendment whereby, in case of war, all congressional member's, sons, daughters, grandsons and granddaughters be required to serve in the military...On the front lines.

The only exemption would be if a legislator volunteered to go in their place.

[reckless]

Is obviously a lot easier said than done. That is because what is good for career politicians is what is bad for the general citizenry. These same goofballs must make these changes, and we all know that isn't going to happen. But, we can dream, can't we?

If I could get my way this is how I could change the corrupt, vulgar, cess-pool we call our government.

1-Term limits. And I'd also restrict the number of years one is in office as well.

It's done like this:

President -- One term only, six years.

Senator -- Two terms max, four-year terms, not six.

House -- Three terms max, three-year terms, not two.

Once their political days are 'over', a law requiring they cannot work in a lobbying position or in any corporate or industry Association that has done work for the government. No feather bedding while in office.

2-Within the 'hallowed halls' of each house:

The top 'leadership' posts, Speaker, Whip, Majority/Minority leaders, etc., have become power houses with near-zero grass roots accountability. In our new Senate, the peer vote/election of these leadership positions will be every year with a three-year max. Same in our new House, a vote/election will happen every year with a two-year max in tenure.

No one person should ever become so powerful as these 'leaders' are now. Jerks like Reid, McConnell, Boehner, Pilosi, and too many more, sad to say, aren't capable of running a hot dog stand at a high school football game, yet are more powerful in many ways than the President.

I'll end it there; I could on and on and on but I won't do that to you. :)

[mostpost]

Is there a correlation between military service and success as a president? Yes and no.
The first thing I did was to google "Military service by US Presidents." Then I googled "greatest US Presidents and came up with several lists of the ten best and ten worst presidents. I picked one of those lists pretty much at random after determining it was not the opinion of just one individual. This is what I found.

Of the ten best Presidents, three, Clinton, FDR and Wilson had no military experience. Seven, JFK, Truman, Teddy Roosevelt, Andrew Johnson, Lincoln, Jefferson, and Washington served in the military.

Of the ten worst presidents, two had no military service. Those were Obama and Harding. The other eight served in the military. They were GW Bush, Nixon, B, Harrison, Grant, Buchanan Pierce, Taylor and Tyler.

It must be noted that only 12 presidents in American history did not serve. So take that into account when analyzing those numbers.

I am not interested in discussing the validity of the above lists. I don't agree with all of the rankings either.

[tucker6]

Is there a correlation between military service and success as a president? Yes and no.
The first thing I did was to google "Military service by US Presidents." Then I googled "greatest US Presidents and came up with several lists of the ten best and ten worst presidents. I picked one of those lists pretty much at random after determining it was not the opinion of just one individual. This is what I found.

Of the ten best Presidents, three, Clinton, FDR and Wilson had no military experience. Seven, JFK, Truman, Teddy Roosevelt, Andrew Johnson, Lincoln, Jefferson, and Washington served in the military.

Of the ten worst presidents, two had no military service. Those were Obama and Harding. The other eight served in the military. They were GW Bush, Nixon, B, Harrison, Grant, Buchanan Pierce, Taylor and Tyler.

It must be noted that only 12 presidents in American history did not serve. So take that into account when analyzing those numbers.

I am not interested in discussing the validity of the above lists. I don't agree with all of the rankings either.
I see your bolded, but must say that any list with Andrew Johnson as top ten is out to lunch. I have a problem with a few on both lists, but historically speaking Johnson was a bottom feeder.

[Robert Goren]

maybe Robert, but neither are as bad as BOYou have a very short memory!

[Robert Goren]

Is obviously a lot easier said than done. That is because what is good for career politicians is what is bad for the general citizenry. These same goofballs must make these changes, and we all know that isn't going to happen. But, we can dream, can't we?

If I could get my way this is how I could change the corrupt, vulgar, cess-pool we call our government.

1-Term limits. And I'd also restrict the number of years one is in office as well.

It's done like this:

President -- One term only, six years.

Senator -- Two terms max, four-year terms, not six.

House -- Three terms max, three-year terms, not two.

Once their political days are 'over', a law requiring they cannot work in a lobbying position or in any corporate or industry Association that has done work for the government. No feather bedding while in office.

2-Within the 'hallowed halls' of each house:

The top 'leadership' posts, Speaker, Whip, Majority/Minority leaders, etc., have become power houses with near-zero grass roots accountability. In our new Senate, the peer vote/election of these leadership positions will be every year with a three-year max. Same in our new House, a vote/election will happen every year with a two-year max in tenure.

No one person should ever become so powerful as these 'leaders' are now. Jerks like Reid, McConnell, Boehner, Pilosi, and too many more, sad to say, aren't capable of running a hot dog stand at a high school football game, yet are more powerful in many ways than the President.

I'll end it there; I could on and on and on but I won't do that to you. :)Just what we need. More lame ducks.

[mostpost]

I see your bolded, but must say that any list with Andrew Johnson as top ten is out to lunch. I have a problem with a few on both lists, but historically speaking Johnson was a bottom feeder.
It turns out the problem is not with the list, but with the dummy reading the list. That should be Andrew Jackson, not Andrew Johnson. My error.

[HUSKER55]

Is obviously a lot easier said than done. That is because what is good for career politicians is what is bad for the general citizenry. These same goofballs must make these changes, and we all know that isn't going to happen. But, we can dream, can't we?

If I could get my way this is how I could change the corrupt, vulgar, cess-pool we call our government.

1-Term limits. And I'd also restrict the number of years one is in office as well.

It's done like this:

President -- One term only, six years.

Senator -- Two terms max, four-year terms, not six.

House -- Three terms max, three-year terms, not two.

Once their political days are 'over', a law requiring they cannot work in a lobbying position or in any corporate or industry Association that has done work for the government. No feather bedding while in office.

2-Within the 'hallowed halls' of each house:

The top 'leadership' posts, Speaker, Whip, Majority/Minority leaders, etc., have become power houses with near-zero grass roots accountability. In our new Senate, the peer vote/election of these leadership positions will be every year with a three-year max. Same in our new House, a vote/election will happen every year with a two-year max in tenure.

No one person should ever become so powerful as these 'leaders' are now. Jerks like Reid, McConnell, Boehner, Pilosi, and too many more, sad to say, aren't capable of running a hot dog stand at a high school football game, yet are more powerful in many ways than the President.

I'll end it there; I could on and on and on but I won't do that to you. :)


I agree and I think we need to add some new features.
1. The states collect the money for the federal government and the states pay the checks and that will keep those damn hands out of the kitty. And I mean both sides of the aisle.

2. make the states responsible for their expenses and that way they can be monitored and impeached by the state.

[reckless]

Just what we need. More lame ducks.

I take it that you prefer lifelong, institutionally corrupt career politicians.

I don't. I think if these elected officials know their time is limited, they'd actually have the country's best interest at hand. And, if they show that they don't, it will be much easier to correct a bad voting decision on our part, sooner rather than later.

I hate it that under the current system, House members on both sides begin running for re-election just days after winning election! I also hate it that clowns like McConnell, Graham, McCain and some 'blue dog' Democrats, run as a conservative, get re-elected, but then show their true liberal colors for 6 long years and we can't do anything about it. Four is better than six, and limited three year terms are better than what we have, imo.

[rastajenk]

Lincoln and Jefferson served in the military? Short stints in militias, maybe, but I think that would be a big stretch to include that in their resumes.

[thaskalos]

Pass a constitutional amendment whereby, in case of war, all congressional member's, sons, daughters, grandsons and granddaughters be required to serve in the military...On the front lines.

The only exemption would be if a legislator volunteered to go in their place.

The only chance that we have of ever seeing world peace.* :ThmbUp:

*(Assuming, of course, that this amendment catches on in other parts of the world.)

[fast4522]

The only chance that we have of ever seeing world peace.* :ThmbUp:

*(Assuming, of course, that this amendment catches on in other parts of the world.)

Every once in a while I enjoy pulling out a dusty thread, what you doves fail to see when necessary means facts not available to the public.

[zico20]

The only chance that we have of ever seeing world peace.* :ThmbUp:

*(Assuming, of course, that this amendment catches on in other parts of the world.)

Sorry, but the only chance we have of seeing world peace is if all the Muslims die off or were converted.

[zico20]

Pass a constitutional amendment whereby, in case of war, all congressional member's, sons, daughters, grandsons and granddaughters be required to serve in the military...On the front lines.

The only exemption would be if a legislator volunteered to go in their place.

Sorry, but this is not practical. Do you have any idea when the last time Congress declared war. It was during WW2. Every other military incursion is/was considered a police action by definition. So you would have to define war.

If the president unilaterally sends troops to battle against Congress's wishes would they still have to send their kids if a constitutional amendment were in place? Just wondering!