Congressional Reform Act of 2011

I've copied and pasted the text of an email sent to me.  

See this link for formal debunking.

My comments are below in red italics. I skip the debunking and proceed to the guts of the issue.

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Very important   

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, before e-mail, before cell phones, etc.

Texas adopted the 26th Amendment on April 27, 1971. I was 9 years old and don't recall whether "The people demanded it" or not.  It sounds like a good idea but I disagree with allowing anyone under 21 to vote.

Hitting the 18th birthday doesn't make one a voter.  This is a responsibility I've too often seen teenagers treat unfairly. A few more years of exploring humanity and its implications is usually necessary to vote wisely.

Q: Lebsack, We 18-year-olds can drink alcohol and fight wars - You don't think we should vote?

A: Darn tootin', Bucky, you're too young. 

Children have been drinking heavily and defending themselves against aggression since we walked out of the Garden - this doesn't mean they're smart enough to vote.  I say Let's give the squirts a few more years of seasoning to learn to make wise decisions ....and about the drinking age (We don't really enforce the drinking age, we enforce age modified alcohol sales/possession plus we've got laws against drunkenness... make that public drunkenness.) - it should be repealed - whether a child drinks should be a parental responsibility.  I disapprove of ever giving more power to the state.

Your argument about war fighting is silly.  The United States typically sends immatures to fight wars but that doesn't make it right. 

Anyone of any age has the right to defend themselves and their freedom against foreign aggression but you're not referring to self-defense. You're talking about joining the military for lack of any better option then being sent to fight a synthetic war.  This is both another issue for another day and it doesn't translate to a privilege to vote for public policy/public officials.

 

Of  the 27 amendments to the Constitution, seven (7) took 1 year or less to become the law of the  land... all because of public  pressure. 

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 2011
1.  Term  Limits.
 12 years only, one of the possible options  below..
   A. Two Six-year Senate terms

Disagree - 

One Six-year Senate term... plus the 17th Amendment should be repealed.

The founders meant for the Representatives to represent the people.

The founders meant for the Senators to represent the states.

Representatives should be elected by majority vote.
Senators were originally chosen by any method that state chose - voting, appointment, rock/paper/scissors (method is not important) - they went to the Senate to cast votes not according to their own desire but as INSTRUCTED by their state.  Since the states sent them to Washington DC the state could easily recall them if they failed their duty.  Often the governor or state legislature chose the senators.  Same story, if the governor or state legislators failed their duty they could be recalled.  
It's not so easy today with Senators being elected by popular vote for multiple terms.
Little term/ little damage.
Lots of terms/ lots of damage.






   B. Six Two-year House terms

Disagree - two two-year terms max.

 Plus - No Representative should be eligible to ever be in the Senate and vice-versa.

   C. One Six-year Senate term and three Two-Year House terms
You're just asking for trouble.

2. No Tenure / No  Pension.
 A  Congressman collects a salary while in office and  receives no pay when they are out of  office. 

I'll leave this up to the individual states which should decide for themselves how to compensate those they send to the U.S. Congress.  

The federal government should pay them NOTHING.  The states send them to D.C. - let the states pay them.


3. 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.

see item #2 above
4. Congress can purchase their own retirement plan,  just as all Americans do.

copy/paste
5. Congress will no longer vote themselves a pay raise.  Congressional pay will rise by the  lower of CPI or 3%.

control C/control V
6. Congress loses their current health care system and participates in the same health care system as the American  people.

7. Congress must equally abide by all laws they impose on the American people.
Do you really want to make this happen?

See item #2 above.  

Let each individual state provide for their own Congress persons while they are in D.C.


Salary
Staff
Housing
Junkets
Office
Research
all of it
The federal government supplies Congress with a roof ONLY - the U.S. Capitol building.
Talk about a cost cutting measure - turn in some faulty accounting to the folks back home and you're looking for a new job - as it should be.

8. All contracts with past and present Congressmen are void effective 1/1/11. The  American people did not make this contract with  Congressmen. Congressmen 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. Maybe it is time.  THIS IS HOW YOU FIX CONGRESS!!   If  you agree with the above, pass it on.   If not, just delete it.
Please keep it going.

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