For those unfamiliar with the term: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Net_neutrality
Now, here's what I'm griping about:
http://www.crunchgear.com/2009/09/22/att-linked-to-gop-senators-who-have-proposed-anti-net-neutrality-bill-in-congress-pretend-to-be-shocked-please/
And for those who do not want to read the links, here's the short short version: Net Neutrality is the best option for customers, you pay what ever for your connection, and your ISP doesn't get to say anything about what you download or upload. FCC is looking to mandate this policy for all ISPs. 6 GoP Senators have proposed a bill that would suspend any funding for such an action by the FCC. Those 6 senators turn out to have major contributions from AT&T, a very large ISP that shapes internet traffic so that using it's VOIP system will give better results than using any other independent VOIP, even if that other group has better software etc.
Political corruption sucks. Again.
Monday, September 28, 2009
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Political Corruption, aka, let's fire 'em all.
Our current political structure is now, and has been for a while, unfortunately rather corrupt. And I only see one solution: get rid of them all. And here's how we do it, if you're willing. It's not very hard, but does require a little bit in the way of hard decision.
From now, until certain conditions I will describe below, every time we vote for a federal position, we vote out the incumbent. Preferably, you'll even aim for third party people, rather than Republicans or Democrats. This is a hard thing to decide to do for a lot of people, but it's OK for the liberals to vote for liberal third party people, and conservatives to vote for conservative third party people. Break the two party system, and get people from outside the system, into power. For one term. And then they are outed, get the next guy in. Don't let any one sit in power long enough to get comfortable. keep them all on the hot seat.
And here's the conditions under which we relent, when ALL are met:
A) All of Congress has a 2-term limit. This forever limits their power. If they jump between the senate and the house, they can get a total of 4 terms, for 20 years (2 x 6 years + 2 x 4 years). If they aren't ready to take a shot at the presidency by then, they should retire. It won't be perfect, but it should limit entrenchment of power.
B) Congress's pay scale becomes attached the American economy, say, twice the average American salary. Or possibly something else, but still attached to what non-government officials are getting, or at the very least, putting themselves into an existing pay-grade for the government. GS-15 is already over 100K/year, that seems generous enough to me, especially with benifits. After all, they have the privilege to work for us as our represenatives. Let's remind them that it is a privilege we have the power to revoke.
C)Also, the president should have the power to veto any discretionary spending on the part of congress, such as purchasing new planes.
D) There are no Czars or equivalent positions in place in the executive branch, and there is law in place declaring there never will be again. They are already unconstitutional, but that doesn't seem to be good enough.
Now personally, I'm going to add some more conditions. I will discuss those in a later post most likely. Limiting the power of congress in such a way as to squeeze out some of the corruption, should give them the focus to keep the president in check, which is after all, a very important part of their job. One they've been ignoring ever more it seems, as they let president after president claim ever more powers for himself.
From now, until certain conditions I will describe below, every time we vote for a federal position, we vote out the incumbent. Preferably, you'll even aim for third party people, rather than Republicans or Democrats. This is a hard thing to decide to do for a lot of people, but it's OK for the liberals to vote for liberal third party people, and conservatives to vote for conservative third party people. Break the two party system, and get people from outside the system, into power. For one term. And then they are outed, get the next guy in. Don't let any one sit in power long enough to get comfortable. keep them all on the hot seat.
And here's the conditions under which we relent, when ALL are met:
A) All of Congress has a 2-term limit. This forever limits their power. If they jump between the senate and the house, they can get a total of 4 terms, for 20 years (2 x 6 years + 2 x 4 years). If they aren't ready to take a shot at the presidency by then, they should retire. It won't be perfect, but it should limit entrenchment of power.
B) Congress's pay scale becomes attached the American economy, say, twice the average American salary. Or possibly something else, but still attached to what non-government officials are getting, or at the very least, putting themselves into an existing pay-grade for the government. GS-15 is already over 100K/year, that seems generous enough to me, especially with benifits. After all, they have the privilege to work for us as our represenatives. Let's remind them that it is a privilege we have the power to revoke.
C)Also, the president should have the power to veto any discretionary spending on the part of congress, such as purchasing new planes.
D) There are no Czars or equivalent positions in place in the executive branch, and there is law in place declaring there never will be again. They are already unconstitutional, but that doesn't seem to be good enough.
Now personally, I'm going to add some more conditions. I will discuss those in a later post most likely. Limiting the power of congress in such a way as to squeeze out some of the corruption, should give them the focus to keep the president in check, which is after all, a very important part of their job. One they've been ignoring ever more it seems, as they let president after president claim ever more powers for himself.
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