Extreme Congressional Makeover

I was in the middle of writing my own post (seriously) congratulating the pResident for his handling of the Christmas terrorist (man made disaster attempt) when this popped intomy e-mail box. This is exactly the type of reform I think we all can agree would put Capitol Hill back in the hands of the people which means that they will never do this as long as current leadership runs things unless Americans were acting much more like the Iranian young people are towards their government.

We as a nation are not at that point yet, but looking back at our own past, in the early 1770's, the population of the British colonies that later formed the early United States considered themselves loyal British Americans. Look at how fast that changed because of government that did not listen to the people and kept pushing and pushing its way into peoples' lives.In just a few years, laws preventing new property ownership by moving west,increasing taxes and forcing homeowners to house and pay for the British Army. Then as now, early protests started peaceful gatherings, boycotting of British goods etc. People were meeting in other's homes or local taverns to talk politics, and occasionally gathering in larger groups to to protest to the British installed governor. I have recently been attending local meetings of a very similar nature in peoples' homes, restaurants and bars of variousgroups that are either directly related or indirectly related to the 9/12 project. Knowing how history repeats itself, I can see how this movement could very rapidly morph into something far differentand I sense in those gatherings an attitude that the clock is set for the 2010 elections and if big changes don't happen with and soon after the midterm elections, tensions in this country will boil over very quickly. So enough history and check out the idea for how to begin fixing Congress the right way this time.

THIS IS HOW YOU FIX CONGRESS

"I am sending this to virtually all my close friends
and relatives and that includes conservatives, liberals, and everybody in between. Even though we disagree on a number of issues, I count all of you as friends. The proposal is to promote a "Congressional Reform Act of 2009." It would contain eight provisions, all of which would probably be strongly endorsed by those who drafted the Constitution and the Bill of Rights (but not the incumbants).

I know many of you will say, "this is impossible."Let me remind you, Congress has the lowest approval of any entity in Government, now is the time when Americans will (I say must at the expense of our freedom without action such as this) join together to reform Congress - the entity that represents us.
We need to get a Senator to introduce this bill in the US Senate and a Representative to introduce a similar bill in the US House. These people will become American heroes.. Please add any

ideas on how to get this done.

Thanks,
A Fellow American"
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Congressional Reform Act of 2009

1. Term Limits: 12 years only, one of the possible options below.

A. Two Six-year Senate terms
B. Six Two-year House terms
C. One Six-year Senate term and three Two-Year House
terms

Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career. TheFounding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators, serve your term(s), then go home and back to work.

2. No Tenure / No Pension: A congressman collects a salary while in office and receives no pay when they are out of office. Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career. The Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators, serve your term(s), then go home and back to work.

3. Congress (past, present & future) participates in Social Security: All funds in the Congressional retirement fund moves to the Social Security system immediately. All future funds flow into the Social Security system, Congress participates with the American people.

Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career. TheFounding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators, server your term(s), then go home and back to work.

4. Congress can purchase their own retirement plan just as all Americans..
Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career. TheFounding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators, serve your term(s), then go home and back to work.

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

Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career. TheFounding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators, serve your term(s), then go home and back to work.

6. Congress loses their current health care system and participates in the same health care system as the American people. Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career.. The
Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators, serve your term(s), then go home and back to work.

7. Congress must equally abide in all laws they impose on the American people..

Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career. The Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators, serve your term(s), then go home and back to work.

8. All contracts with past and present congressmen are void effective 1/1/10.

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, serve your term(s), then go home and back to work.

Please Keep this Circulating

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This is a very good foundation on what should be the "new Contract with America."The first contract failed because it did not focus on reforming the rules allowing corruption within Congress itself. Instead it focused on what the new party in power would do differently. The rules of what could and couldn't be done did not change, so the same corruption that forced the Dems out in 93 slowly infected the Republican party then in power. Then those very Republicans became so drunk on their own power, that they tried to impeach a popular sitting President rather than waiting until he was out of office in two years to press charges, causing the loss of the leadership that was keeping things in line and from there, the Republicans started acting more and more like Democrats, why? Because they could and there was a pervasive attitude that the only other choice was voting for big government Democrats and the American people would NEVER do that...so here we sit today with two Democrat parties and a plurality of Americans as registered independents who in polling want a third party and are very dissatisfied with the direction the country is going. As for myself, I think that the Republicans could become that third party by first apologizing to the American people for the mistakes while in power which opened the door Dems and their current attitude that they can do whatever they want and not be noticed by the American people. The other part of the necessary formula for the Republicans to become that party would be to adopt and enact a rules package such as this to not onlmistakes while in power which opened the door Dems and their current attitude that they can do whatever they want and not be noticed by the American people. The other part of the necessary formula for the Republicans to become that party would be to adopt and enact a rules package such as this to not onlychange their actions but prevent corruption from creeping in again in the future. I believe I have presented what is winning strategy to unify the currently split independents, libertarian leaning "Reagan Republicans" and more socially conservative Republicans for the 2010 midterms. I just hope that there are others who feel the same way.