Think Progress

How to fix Congress.

By Judd Legum on Sep 18th, 2006 at 10:23 am

How to fix Congress.

Tune into C-Span at 10:45AM to find out.



17 Responses to “How to fix Congress.”

  1. trueblue says:

    How to fix Congress?
    Get rid of them all?….


  2. budpaul says:

    I’m assuming that lynch mobs won’t be on the agenda?
    America’s Least Wanted


  3. Sharon Cox says:

    I’m with you trueblue and started with my vote in the primary last week..Blessings


  4. Badmoodman says:

    Does it involve a small neutron bomb?


  5. Jay Randal says:

    Only way to fix the Congress is for all the Republicans to leave and about half of the Democrats as well! The Senate is the worst, and either needs massive reform, or just abolish it completely!


  6. dlet says:

    #5
    bush is working on that.


  7. Bourgeois Deviant says:

    Two words: term limits. Didn’t see the piece. Didn’t have access to a TV. All would be much less entrenched if there were 1 term limits for both houses and maintaining the two term limit for the President.

    More turnover, less partisan hackery, less power for special interests, more diversity. How about them apples?


  8. ShamRockNRoll says:

    Term limits are inherently anti-democratic. There’s nothing wrong with having GOOD Senators and Congresspersons serving for decades, if that is what the people choose. Just as there is nothing wrong with voting someone out after one term if they suck. But I don’t want to hand over my right to re-elect someone that is serving me well. The problem is jerrymandering of districts, and the way elections are financed.


  9. Wayne A. Schneider says:

    Couldn’t listen to the program as I was on the road, but I would say that I disagree about term limits being the answer. I believe that a better-informed electorate would serve us much better. People need to understand that if we don’t keep constant watch on our government, if we don’t pay close attention to everything it’s doing, if we don’t learn about the issues, and if we don’t scrutinize who is paying for our elections, we’ll end up with a government as corrupt and without moral redemption as the one we have today. As a people, this is our fault. So, the challenge is to find ways to increase voter turnout and education. I believe that if we give our Members of Congress tetrm limits, voter turnout will continue to decrease, as people will stay home because whoever got elected “couldn’t do too much harm” in the short time they’re there. Don’t believe that. Believe instead that you have to get involved or somebody else who doesn’t have your interests at heart will.

    BTW, what did they say on C-SPAN?


  10. spyder says:

    The easiest and simplest fix, which of course is undoubtedly impossible, would be to end the practice of earmarking bills. When legislators can no longer append specific dollar amounts to line items, based on their perceptions of what is best for their constituents (perceptions most usually colored by lobbyist glasses and more directly corporate campaign contributions), then the corruptive direct influence of money is reduced significantly. Likewise, proving that all pieces of legislation be actually written by employees of the Federal government, and not lobbyist or thinktank contributors, will further reduce the influence of outside greed.

    Since neither of these will ever happen, then we are reduced to voting them all out over and over again.


  11. big+papa says:

    C-Span could use “fixing” too…

    …they’re squashing voices of dissent with technology and buzz words (or locations)…

    …when they ask where you’re calling from they’ll hang up when they hear certain locations…

    …I used to be very active in calling in to C-Span, and now I can’t get through…

    …even when I DO get through…

    …C-Span is “controlling” the debate, by “controlling” the participants in it…

    I’m very disappointed that the right wingers have apparently occupied C-Span too…


  12. big+papa says:

    Take the MONEY out of politics…


  13. Sharon Cox says:

    Wayne, it was about oversight comittees, check’s and balances..Good show.

    I’ve tried to call in several time’s on the talk program’s and never made it, some of the guests are a typical of politician’s and subject’s. Mostly not indebth enough to please me…Time limit seems to be a big problem like all Q&A show’s just when they get to the good stuff the reporters are cut off or the program end’s….Blessings


  14. Tobey+Tall says:

    President George Bush, betrayed by the neoconservatives whom he elevated to power and by his attorney general, Alberto Gonzales, who gave him wrong legal advice, is locked in a desperate struggle with the Republican Congress to save himself from war crimes charges at the expense of America’s reputation and our soldiers’ fate.

    Beguiled by neoconservatives, who told him that the virtuous goals of the American empire justified any means, and misled by an incompetent attorney general, who told him that the president of the U.S. is above the law, Bush was deceived into committing war crimes under Article 3 of the Geneva Convention and the U.S. War Crimes Act of 1996. Bush is now desperately trying to save himself by having the U.S. Congress retroactively repeal both Article 3 and U.S. law.

    Under the U.S. Constitution, retroactive law is without force, but desperate men will try anything.

    If Bush were a real man, he would fire Gonzales and the neocons. He would say he was given bad advice, and regrets that he didn’t know better than to follow it. He would order closed all the secret prisons, end the illegal policy of rendition, and order that all U.S. military detention facilities be run in strict accordance with the Geneva Conventions.

    This would serve Bush and America’s reputation far better than his attempt to legalize torture.


  15. Sharon Cox says:

    Great post Toby, Thank You!..Blessings


  16. Zooey says:

    Does it involve tar & feathers?


  17. big+papa says:

    Tobey Tall # 14

    …then “we the people” would STILL prosecute, convict, and punish him…

    …for treason, gross dereliction of duty, crimes against humanity, war crimes, corruption and a thousand other charges he’s certainly guilty of…



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