Last time I checked, it was the voters who elected people to Congress and the White House. It was not Nancy Pelosi, Barack Obama, Harry Reid or even Michael Steele. Our senators, representatives and president are not elected by a party, an agenda or special interest groups. They are elected by the people to represent the people and do the will of the people.
Yet, the POR Trio would have you believe the prime directive for a Democratic rep or senator is to blindly and unquestioningly fall in line with the trio’s agenda. Afterall, that’s what they were elected to do. Right?
Anyone who’s surprised by this tune wasn’t listening closely during the 2008 campaign. Obama summed up his view of a politician’s role in a speech that played to rave reviews in Iowa and helped him clinch the Iowa caucuses. “That’s why telling the American people what we think they want to hear instead of telling the American people what they need to hear just won’t do,” he said. While his words rang with rhythm and rhetoric, their true meaning was lost in the thunderous applause. No one questioned who would be the arbiter of what the American people NEED to hear.
Other fact-check failures from the campaign trail are coming back to bite the nation. As Game Change reminds us, the basic principles that shaped Obama’s campaign were a.) Americans were tired of divisiveness – they wanted a unifier; b.) they wanted an end to partisanship; and c.) they wanted leaders who would say no to special interests. Obama the candidate rode this rhetoric of change all the way to the White House. And yet, according to Washington Post vote tallies for the last Congress, his record in the Senate showed he was one of the most partisan, divisive voices there – coming in right behind Joe Biden. And his links to special interests ran deep.
Since the election, all we’ve heard from the POR Trio is strident partisanship as they demand that all reps and senators ignore the wishes of their constituents, who are too ignorant to know what’s good for them, and bow to the bidding of the all-knowing Democratic leadership and the special interests that fund their message.
This November, we need to show the POR Trio what change is all about. And in the meantime, remind your senators and representatives who they really answer to.
I’m Joey, and I want to bring real change to Washington.
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Saturday, March 13, 2010
Joey’s Take: A New Contract
You may remember 1994’s Contract With America with its sweeping reforms to shrink government, cut taxes and revive entrepreneurship. Well, it’s time to put out a new contract – a Contract on Congress that goes after the representatives and senators who are holding our nation’s prosperity hostage to their own political agenda.
This contract would:
1. Require a balanced budget constitutional amendment that would be strictly enforced. No more “pay it forward a few generations” or “pay as you go when you feel like it.”
2. Limit ALL bills to one item and 5,000 words. If it can’t be expressed in 20 pages, it’s not ready for a vote. Bills must be written in plain English, and they can’t be amended or stuffed with unrelated business.
We all heard Nancy bragging yesterday about the new inclusion of student loans in the deformed health care bill. How many more trees are the greenies going to cut down just to print this massive abortion of legislation?!
The sad thing is that some parts of the health care bill would have easily passed a year ago had they not been bundled into this colossal mess, and many Americans would have already benefited from the changes.
3. Practice zero tolerance on congressional misconduct and ethical breaches. No more cover-ups, slaps on the wrist, looking the other way, or saying “but he did it too.” Violators, and their offices, would be subject to the same laws as the rest of us, and the cases against them should be heard in a court of law – not a select committee of partisans and cronies.
4. Limit Congress to two 60-day sessions a year, and adjust congressional pay accordingly. Think of the money we would save.
5. Ban all taxpayer-funded political travel – for the president, his staff and Congress.
6. Make Congress live by the rules it imposes on others. For instance, if other government employees can’t fly first class or by private plane on the taxpayer’s note, then a senator or representative can’t either. (Reps and senators need to be reminded that they are government employees.)
7. Enforce the constitutional separation of powers.
I may be a dog, but even I know it’s way past time for us to make Congress an offer it can't refuse.
I’m Joey. And I endorse this Contract on Congress.
This contract would:
1. Require a balanced budget constitutional amendment that would be strictly enforced. No more “pay it forward a few generations” or “pay as you go when you feel like it.”
2. Limit ALL bills to one item and 5,000 words. If it can’t be expressed in 20 pages, it’s not ready for a vote. Bills must be written in plain English, and they can’t be amended or stuffed with unrelated business.
We all heard Nancy bragging yesterday about the new inclusion of student loans in the deformed health care bill. How many more trees are the greenies going to cut down just to print this massive abortion of legislation?!
The sad thing is that some parts of the health care bill would have easily passed a year ago had they not been bundled into this colossal mess, and many Americans would have already benefited from the changes.
3. Practice zero tolerance on congressional misconduct and ethical breaches. No more cover-ups, slaps on the wrist, looking the other way, or saying “but he did it too.” Violators, and their offices, would be subject to the same laws as the rest of us, and the cases against them should be heard in a court of law – not a select committee of partisans and cronies.
4. Limit Congress to two 60-day sessions a year, and adjust congressional pay accordingly. Think of the money we would save.
5. Ban all taxpayer-funded political travel – for the president, his staff and Congress.
6. Make Congress live by the rules it imposes on others. For instance, if other government employees can’t fly first class or by private plane on the taxpayer’s note, then a senator or representative can’t either. (Reps and senators need to be reminded that they are government employees.)
7. Enforce the constitutional separation of powers.
I may be a dog, but even I know it’s way past time for us to make Congress an offer it can't refuse.
I’m Joey. And I endorse this Contract on Congress.
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