Letter to the 110th Congress
To the 110th Congress,
On the 100 hour agenda: it’s a good start, but we need to go much further to re-establish our government as by the People and for the People.
The simplest, yet most difficult thing that needs to happen is to add one word to the 14th Amendment – changing “persons” to “natural persons”. This would codify the self-evident fact that a corporation is not a person. Public campaign financing, restoration of public interest regulation of the airwaves (including free access for elected officials and candidates), strict barriers on revolving-door hiring of public officials, and much tighter regulation and more transparency of the lobbying industry.
These are all what I call root issues – putting the voice of the people at the forefront of Congress’ attention and responsiveness. If it is in our interest that some particular legislation benefiting a corporation or industry should be passed, that industry can make its case to us directly and we will let you know whether we concur.
We must endeavor to remove “the near occasion of sin”, in this case meaning campaign donations, lobbying gifts and perks, plum jobs after leaving office etc. I don’t think we can ever hope to elect a Congress consisting entirely of saints, therefore we must do all we can to ensure that your interests coincide as closely as possible with the interests of the citizenry. Even a congress-person who has mainly his own best interest at heart will behave better if the prize he strives for is re-election instead of corporate dollars.
Had the above-mentioned reforms been in place, we most likely would not have had the terrible decisions that continue to plague us, including the war in Iraq, failure to transition away from fossil fuels, failure to recognize the onset of global warming, and the rash of corruption and scandal that has shamed us all.
Congratulations to the Democratic Party on the election results. Now, we will see if you are interested in real change or just another flavor of the status-quo.
We will know you by your actions.
florida adjuster
Funny part is that the Republican party was formed to FREE the slaves (which the Democrats opposed). Martin Luther King was a Republican. And now they have their own ‘Coffee Party” full of children of the rich and people (of all colors) are ready to fall at their feet. By the way, do you know the difference between the Republican and Democrat parties? Republicans are rich greedy company owners who never worked a day in their lives and Democrats are the children of the rich greedy company owners that are still rebelling against their rich greedy Republican parents. And until Mommy and Daddy stop taking care of them, they will continue to do so. The worse part about it is, the hard working Americans are the ones stuck in the middle because somebody has to work so the money can keep rolling in. Oh, that’s right, Clinton (another poor little rich boy) sent all the good jobs overseas when he signed NAFTA so all the rich, greedy, company owners could pay kids 50 cents a day in sweat shops. (It’s legal over there)
Pete Gaeta
Those are some pretty broad generalizations about people in the Democratic and Republican parties. I prefer to take people as individuals, and government officials based on their specific actions. I get a tone of discontent from your comment, do you have suggestions to improve things?