Replace Congress

The more I learn about Congress, the more I appreciate the joke about con being the opposite of pro so what's the opposite of progress? Apparently our elected officials think that obfuscation is better than honesty. The practice of earmarks (more affectionatly called pork) is just one of many practices that must be excised from the current practices of congress. Our government is supposed to exist for the common good (read the preamble to the Constitution of the United States of America) of the people of the United States. Pork puts individual interests above the common good and exploits the present at the expense of the future. Newsweek columnist Robert J. Samuelson recently wrote: "We face a choice between a society where people accept modest sacrifices for a common good or a more contentious society where groups selfishly protect their own benefits." Congress has definitely fallen into the latter category protecting their own self interests at the expense of the nation as a whole.

Combine the self serving attitude that members of congress seem to have adopted with the "need" to get re-elected and you have a formula for disaster. Basically Congress is for sale and the biggest contributor takes all. I propose that we skip terms limits and go straight to single terms. Then there wouldn't be any need to accept donations in exchange for preferential treatment. It would also help eliminate the current culture of pork. In fact, I propose we start this movement with a complete and total re-election of all of congress barring any incumbents from running. To keep the rotating schedule we have right now, some members would be newly elected for 2 years, some for 4 years, and some for 6 years.

Given that the above will never happen (what member of congress is going to vote himself out of a cushy job?), what is the next best alternative? I'm not sure but clearly there has to be a better way. Maybe the media should take back its role as exposer of the sort of self serving behavior that exists now and move away from the drama (Have you seen the front page of the Daily Herald's coverage of the Olympics? We now have drama awards by the paper? What next? Survivor as an Olympic sport? Puhleeze!) it tends towards. Maybe we should make deception in congress a punishable act? That way when some congressmen puts an earmark for some park in his own district into a transportation funding bill (what exactly does a park have to do with transportation funding?) we can throw that congressmen and all those that voted for it in jail! Yeah!

More on the elected morons later...