Laws I’d Like to See [Reader Post]

1. No elected official may hold consecutive terms. (in regards to congress)

This would certainly do a lot to eliminate the power of incumbency and would not limit the number of terms that an qualified individual could be elected to an office. They’d simply have to return to their respective districts and live under the laws that they have enacted. They could run for office again the next election cycle. The idea here is to eliminate the career politician and reduce the amount of corruption that our current system seems to have fostered. It would hopefully end the era of elected nobility

2. No elected official may accept a campaign contribution of any kind while in office. (in regards to congress)

This would help to end the selling of favors to special interest groups that our current system has fostered.

3. The number of representative shall be one for every 30,000 citizens.

This is actually the representation ratio as set forth in the Constitution Article 1, Section 2. In todays world of technology it is not necessary that our representatives gather in a single place in order to cast a vote or debate a bill. They could all have a subscription for gotomeeting.com. More importantly any qualified candidate could quite literally mount a viable campaign without spending a dime. A little shoe leather and some time and a candidate could literally shake the hand of every voter in his/her district. The current ratio is somewhere in the vicinity of 600,000 to one and facilitates the ability of special interests groups to unduly influence policy. This is campaign finance reform at its simplest

4. Congress shall receive NO PENSIONS

Representing the interests of a Representative’s district or a Senator’s State should be a civic duty and not a career. Our military does not receive a pension for a single tour of duty and they place their lives in jeopardy for our freedoms. Why should a congressman recieve a pension for a mere two or six years of non-hazardous duty.

5. Congressional pay shall be set and approved by the State from which each congressman is a native. The States NOT the federal government shall pay the salaries of their respective Representatives and Senators.

5. Repeal the 17th Amendment.

The 17th Amendment allows for direct election of Senators by the populace. The purpose of the Senate is to represent the rights of States not the general population. Selection of Senators should be left to the individual State’s State legislators or whatever means desired by the individual State. Again we’d see a reduction of the influence weilded by special interest groups in contradiction to the interest of the States and their rights.

6. Repeal the 16th Amendment and institute a value added tax.

The individual’s privacy is compromised by the current system and the individual tax payer is unduly burdened by the expense of of tax preparation. The current system is incomprehensible. With a value added tax all citizens would have a stake in keeping our government as small as possible because no one would be exempt from the taxation that funds the largess of government.

7. Nationalize the Federal Reserve Bank.

8. No business is too big to fail and bailouts of private business entities shall be prohibited.

It is the responsibility of the stockholders through the selection/election of the board of directors of a corporation to exercise due diligence in ensuring that their interests are being protected. Failure to exercise such control shall warrant the loss of their investment through the bankruptcy process.

Concerning Publicly Traded Corporations – Since a Public Corporation is a construct of the State certain restrictions on the pay and compensation of corporate executives and employees should be enacted to preclude the looting of corporate assets to the detriment of stockholders, employees and customers.

A. Executive pay shall not exceed a multiple of 50 of the average compensation of all employees.

This would preclude executives from unduly benefiting by engaging in such policies that are detrimental to its employees such as moving factories to countries where wages are exploitively low. The logic here is that what executive whose salary is based on an average employees salary choose to move a plant/factory where wages are say $20 an hour to a country where wages are 20 cents an hour. Corporations have a duty not only to the stockholder but also to those whose life energy has been devoted to their place of employment. For an executive to increase his compensation he/she would be incentivized to raise all boats with the tide.

B. Executive bonuses/stock options etc. shall be be identical to the workers as a percentage of base compensation.

The rational here is that it takes all of the parts to create a whole. Executives are paid to make decisions, workers are paid to carry out those decisions. All are part of the whole and one cannot exist without the other therefore all should benefit from the rewards reaped from the symbiotic relationship.

Just food for thought… Please feel free to add laws you’d like to see in the reply or provide rebuttals to my rational.