If I had one wish this is what it would be
- Thread starter Rob Roy
- Start date
undertheice
Well-Known Member
though i know it is entirely impossible, i've always had one regulation i would love to see become a requirement for all elected officials -
once elected they must divest themselves of all their financial holdings and give up control of any for profit institutions. upon leaving public service they must exist on a meager government stipend til the end of their days and donate the proceeds of any venture they may engage in to a reputable charity.
once elected they must divest themselves of all their financial holdings and give up control of any for profit institutions. upon leaving public service they must exist on a meager government stipend til the end of their days and donate the proceeds of any venture they may engage in to a reputable charity.
CrackerJax
New Member
No government agency or employee can be unionized. None.
P
PadawanBater
Guest
Mine would be similar to this. Basically make conflicts of interest impossible for politicians to exploit for their own greedy gain, from the Mayor of a small town all the way up to the president, and everyone in between. Make public service their only legal means of profit. If they enter into the world of politics, make sure it's to improve the public good, not work the system to make more money for themselves. That would be great.
robert 14617
Well-Known Member
states rights to be upheald
damnbigbudz
Well-Known Member
i would totally vote for this.
Airwave
Well-Known Member
That's a great law. I've been thinking the same thing for years.
But as you've stated - It will never happen, because those same people are the one's that make the law in the first place.
doobnVA
Well-Known Member
In other words, redistribution of wealth.
Isn't that socialism?
Funny how so many people here say they agree with this, but vehemently oppose having to give THEIR OWN money away.
undertheice
Well-Known Member
no, it is a voluntary trade-off of monetary wealth for the privileges of power and a safeguard for the people against temptations of the use of that power for nothing more than personal gain. the vile agenda you espouse is the theft of personal property under penalty of imprisonment with nothing in return but the threat of even more theft. no one holds a gun to the head of any man and demands he run for public office. the personal agendas of elected officials are impossible to eradicate, but the temptations of simple greed are another matter. with nothing but a limited term in office and a meager stipend to look forward to, those that aspire to public office could at least be trusted to be interested in the business of running the country. bringing the accusations of graft and the building of private empires to an end would winnow out those who's goal in representing the public is only to enrich themselves. i do believe there are men and women out there who, if given the chance by the great political powers, would be more than willing to actually work for the good of this society. the machines that have been built to fill government with their lackeys would have little to offer if the prize was only the satisfaction of self-sacrifice.
your uninformative little barbs have gotten a bit old. though you make an excellent foil for even the meanest of your opponents, i can't help but wonder how well thought out your posts are. i suggest you take a little more care in deciding what you go up against. i don't think you are quite up to playing with the big boys.
doobnVA
Well-Known Member
Hmm... kind of like nationalized industry, aka "socialism". Just FYI, it is not "voluntary" if it's a requirement for holding office.
Yeah. Nobody is holding a gun to your head making you live in the United States. If you really don't like paying taxes that much, then move to a country with no income tax, like Andorra or Monaco.
Members of Congress make less than $200,000 per year in wages. The bulk of their money comes from LOBBYISTS. That's what needs to be addressed. Lowering their salary or requiring them to donate parts of it to charity is laughable. They'll still make a fortune in "donations" and payoffs from corporate lobbies.
undertheice
Well-Known Member
why is it that today's liberal can make no distinction between government and industry? is it such a difficult concept to grasp? government produces nothing, there is no risk, no investment, it is strictly the manipulation of power. government does not bow to the demands of the marketplace, it seldom even recognizes the needs of the people it is designed to represent. there is no real regulation of government, it regulates itself. the lie of the ballot box may lead the ignorant to believe that the people have some control over their representatives, but that illusion wears thin when elected officials campaign on a set of promises and quickly break them once in office. industry has no such luxury, broken promises lead to falling sales and bankruptcy in the marketplace.
there is always the alternative of not seeking the power over others that public office affords and taking one's chances in the world of business with the rest of us. it is called "public service", as in being of use to all the people. entering the workforce is not a voluntary act, it is born of the necessity to survive and prosper. entering government service is outside of that marketplace, it is making a choice to place one's self in a position of power over the marketplace without being subject to its rules. it is a free choice (and occasionally an honorable one), a voluntary application for service to the people. bowing to any requirements for such a position would then be voluntary as well.
no, i'm free to leave at any time. but why should anyone be forced from their home for the profit of others when they have always abided by the rules of that society? well; not all of the rules, but who among us is that model citizen. by what right does any group suddenly decide to arbitrarily change the rules, giving any dissident voice the choice of either falling in line or abandoning what it took a lifetime to build? the protections for the individual built into the laws of this land provide for relief from such a situation and those are the very safeguards the liberal establishment seems determined to erase for the enrichment of the mob and the growth of their own power.
there are, of course, those who do just pack up and leave. liquidating their assets and retiring to sunnier climes or moving entire industries to more business friendly locales, where there is no requirement that the successful provide for the indigent with an exorbitant portion of their hard won wealth, and their contributions to our society are now lost. the increased socialization of a society cannot help but cause such defections.
i know folks that would consider half of a congressman's salary to be a fortune, but that is hardly the point of my little regulation. the point is that those who seek to regulate the market from the outside should not be in a position to profit from those manipulations. separating government from the marketplace is far from laughable, it is a key component of a workable capitalist system.
government's prime duty is the protection of its citizens, not the invention of new rights or the equalizing of wealth. such pursuits demean the respect due those who are actually trying to perfect the union created over two hundred years ago and expand on its tenets. they are the tools by which greedy men curry favor with the churlish mob.
of course, none of this really matters to me. my interest in such matters is little more than intellectual curiosity, derived from a certain dread of the end of the individual freedoms i have so enjoyed and the beginning of a universal acceptance of slavery to the authoritarian. as i have stated many times before and as should be made even more obvious by my user name, i exist under the ice. the frozen indifference of the liberal establishment that hides behind their mask of parental concern is of little consequence to me. i am a hair's breadth away from falling completely off the grid and joining those wise enough to escape the greedy mob. my few contributions to this society will come to an end and, though you may not believe it, those contributions may be missed. the sum of all those contributions lost by forcing so many to exist outside of your great society most certainly will.
soon enough, once my working usefulness is at an end, i will happily leave the pettiness of these socialistic times. quietly liquidating my meager assets and investing them far from the greedy clutches of your masters, i will sail off and deprive the mob of the the pleasure of scavenging my remains for tawdry treasures to lay at the feet of whatever demigods they have chosen to create. though i do plan on surreptitiously endowing what little family i have, my son and only heir, with the remains of my material wealth, in the end we all die alone. afterward it will be up to him whether to live a life contrary to the whims of the avaricious mob or to join with the puling herd.
who is john galt? certainly not me.
soon enough, once my working usefulness is at an end, i will happily leave the pettiness of these socialistic times. quietly liquidating my meager assets and investing them far from the greedy clutches of your masters, i will sail off and deprive the mob of the the pleasure of scavenging my remains for tawdry treasures to lay at the feet of whatever demigods they have chosen to create. though i do plan on surreptitiously endowing what little family i have, my son and only heir, with the remains of my material wealth, in the end we all die alone. afterward it will be up to him whether to live a life contrary to the whims of the avaricious mob or to join with the puling herd.
who is john galt? certainly not me.
CrackerJax
New Member
Uhhh.... the wealthy are leaving the states.... the wealth pool from which to steal is growing smaller, as is wealth building.... socialism always ends in tears of inefficiency.