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DC: District of Corruption

April 04, 2009

I've noticed something over the years studying politics and political history and that is the more things change, the more they stay the same. We've had Republicans ruling the roost in the House, Senate and Presidency (most recently from 2000 to 2006) and at other points the democrats have held power in the same manner. What we find at both ends is that with few variations, we end up with more debt and fewer liberties. Each of the players in this drama blame the other guy as they engage in dinner theater for the masses.

I liken the whole drama to one that occurs regularly on a host of channels to thrill the masses. This drama is known as Professional Wrestling. While I wrestled for seven years as a kid, I was never a fan of "Pro Wrestling" but it's the best match to illustrate what regularly goes on in DC.

In professional wrestling, you see two primed and ready opponents who go at each other like they're mortal enemies. The same can be said of politicians in DC. What normal people know is that while Pro Wrestling is a "sport", it's more like a highly athletic form of entertainment that, as long as the crowd is pleased, keeps its principal players gainfully employed. This is much the same with politicians in DC. Are the two opponents actually mortal enemies? Who really knows? It's not uncommon for them to hang out together at the same events. Given that, common sense dictates that there's a lot of acting in both DC and in Pro Wrestling, only the wrestlers are in far better shape.

This theater that occurs 24/7 on a multitude of stations is perhaps why it is our tendency to continue to elect the same actors over and over. For those that are tired of this, I have a few suggestions on ways we can unelect the ruling class we have running the show today in DC and welcome your thoughts and opinions. 

1) Make it illegal for a candidate currently serving to personally campaign while serving in office: Incumbents generally have the edge already, they have more money and generally have name recognition. This is why it's often hard to unseat them and allowing them to campaign only further assures they retain power.

2) We need degrees of separation laws: If your Mom, Dad, Sister, Brother, Husband or Wife held office, you should not be allowed to run for office. This is how we've created so many political dynasties and isn't what the founding fathers intended.

3) Get rid of payola: If an elected official, who received campaign funds from a company, eventually votes on legislation, either for or against, that financially benefits the company, make it law that the official has to pay back the campaign funds within 30 days of the vote.  

4) End the retirement benefits of any politician who has been found to have written pork into a bill. This should be done retroactively. Given that this will pretty well end retirement for all of them so maybe I should have just said that.   

5) Reduce the pay of elected and appointed government officials by the same amount percentage-wise that they run a deficit when compared to the budget. As an example, the latest annual budget is $3.45 Trillion. If the deficit is $1.15 trillion, elected officials could see their pay decrease by a third. Consequently if we ran a surplus, they would see their pay increase. 

6) Make congressional and senatorial pay increases be voted on by the masses.   

I have tons of other suggestions but would like your input.

LEX