How to fix Congress, we need it now more than ever!

THIS IS HOW YOU FIX CONGRESS!

I know it's been around before but someone might have missed it, so please send it out again. We really need some action!!!

Warren Buffett, in a recent interview with CNBC, offers one of the best quotes about the debt ceiling:

"I could end the deficit in 5 minutes," he told CNBC. "You just pass a law that says that anytime there is a deficit of more than 3% of GDP, all sitting members of Congress are ineligible for re-election."

The 26th amendment (granting the right to vote for 18 year-olds) took only 3 months & 8 days to be ratified! Why? Simple! The people demanded it. That was in 1971 - before computers, e-mail, cell phones, etc.

Of the 27 amendments to the Constitution, seven (7) took one (1) year or less to become the law of the land - all because of public pressure. We are asking each addressee to forward this email to a minimum of twenty people on their address list; in turn ask each of those to do likewise.

In three days, most people in The United States of America will have the message. This is one idea that really should be passed around.

"CONGRESSIONAL REFORM ACT OF 2012"
It should have been done in 2011 but wasn't!

1. No Tenure / No Pension. A Congressman/woman collects a salary while in office and receives no pay when they're out of office.

2. Social Security. Congress (past, present & future) participates in Social Security. All funds in the Congressional retirement fund move to the Social Security system immediately. All future funds flow into the Social Security system, and Congress participates with the American people. It may not be used for any other purpose.

3. Retirement Plan. Congress can purchase their own retirement plan, just as all Americans do.

4. Pay Raises: Congress will no longer vote themselves a pay raise. Congressional pay will rise by the lower of CPI or 3%.

5. Healthcare: Congress loses their current health care system and participates in the same health care system as the American people.

6. Law of the Land. Congress must equally abide by all laws they impose on the American people.

7. Past & Present Contracts. All contracts with past and present Congressmen/women are void effective 1/1/12. The American people did not make this contract with Congressmen/women.

Congressmen/women made all these contracts for themselves. Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career. The Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators, so ours should serve their term(s), then go home and back to work.

If each person contacts a minimum of twenty people then it will only take three days for most people (in the U.S.) to receive the message. Don't you think it's time? THIS IS HOW YOU FIX CONGRESS!

Term Limits

It is time for Congressional term limits. I know this has been debated and promised by many candidates who just as quickly back down on the issue the minute they have the reigns. For the greatest part of our history there was a great deal of turnover in Congress because of "voluntary quits." the idea that a representative had to go back to his/her district and live under the rules that they had created. Today's representatives (both Democrats and Republicans) have seized the reigns of power and refuse to give them up. It is easy to pad their own cells because they have consistently made laws that apply to the common man, and have excluded themselves specifically. They have voted themselves raises, and given themselves a permanent retirement account. They will never have to live under the laws that they passed. Instead they can keep fleecing the public by drawing their 6 figure retirement income, and Cadillac health care plans until they die, all on the public dole. Do you realize that you, we, all the taxpayers are paying out of our pockets 6 figures per year for congressmen and representatives that are no longer representing us? And they also get to charge enormous engagement fees for speaking to groups after they are no longer in Washington. It is not unusual for them to charge another 6 figures to groups per year just to show up and make comments. Sounds like a real cushy life.

But just putting term limits will not put an end to this shameless pilfering. The congressional retirement benefit would also need to be limited to the time served, which unfortunately is currently around 10 years or more. "Between 1789 and 2002, 13.9 percent of House members and 21.9 percent of senators served 12 years or more, according to the Congressional Research Service. " In today's Congress, 42.9 percent of House members and 45 percent of senators have been in office for 12 years or more," according to data compiled by the authors of the textbook "Congress and Its Members." These people are so out of touch, they no longer represent us, as can be witnessed by the passage of health care reform. They think the people who put them in office (all those years ago) are too stupid to take care of themselves. Instead it is up to the government to know what is best for the people and make sure it becomes law, no matter how unpopular with the people it affects.

This is the very reason the Constitution was written in the first place. This is the reason for the American Revolution and the Declaration of Independence. Our founding fathers and the early American settlers were upset with the lack of input they had with the English Parliament, who had the idea that the colonists should just shut up and pay their taxes because they didn't understand that what Parliament was doing was for their own good. Sound familiar? The current administration would like us to just shut up and pay our taxes like good little law-abiding citizens and forget about the Constitution and the people's rights. They are after all, all knowing and altruistic; only they know what is in our best interest, and the electorate be damned. The Constitution begins with the words, "We the people," for a reason. It is because the government was meant to be truly representative. The members of the legislature and Executive Branch were to be elected by the people, in order to represent the people.

We have limited the terms that the President can serve, but why not the Legislature? Are they not also prone to corruption? Can they not also be out of touch with the people they represent? Our government was meant to be "of the people, by the people and for the people." It is time we the people take back our power and vote them out, and then ensure this level of tyranny never happens again by limiting the number of terms a representative and congressman can serve away from the people they are supposed to speak for.