defense bill, earmarks included

[hi_im_god]

Originally Posted by Danzig

politicians that aren't beholden to anyone, won't allow their votes to be tainted. can't run more than once or twice and they won't have to worry about re-election campaigns.

and how do they get elected in the first place?

where it's implemented, the unintended consequence of term limits has been to strengthen the hand of lobbyists who, by default, are the only guys and gals that know what's going on when each new class of rookies appear. they are the institutional memory that each short termer has to lean on. who is state representative joe yokel going to hire as his staff for his 4-6 years? even if he doesn't hire them, who does he talk to for expertise on the myriad of obscure issues he has to vote on that he has no expertise on?

if you want corporate interests to rule, you definitely should support term limits. those interests can afford to spoon feed the doofus newbie legislator for his 4-8 years and by the time the sap has figured out what's going on, he's term limited out.

i'll take the bad that comes with professional politicians. it's not a perfect system but at least you occasionally get the good one's along with the bad.

if you want to eliminate politicians groveling for campaign funds from people that have an interest in legislation they vote on support public financing, not term limits.

[Cannon Shell]

Originally Posted by hi_im_god

and how do they get elected in the first place?

where it's implemented, the unintended consequence of term limits has been to strengthen the hand of lobbyists who, by default, are the only guys and gals that know what's going on when each new class of rookies appear. they are the institutional memory that each short termer has to lean on. who is state representative joe yokel going to hire as his staff for his 4-6 years? even if he doesn't hire them, who does he talk to for expertise on the myriad of obscure issues he has to vote on that he has no expertise on?

if you want corporate interests to rule, you definitely should support term limits. those interests can afford to spoon feed the doofus newbie legislator for his 4-8 years and by the time the sap has figured out what's going on, he's term limited out.

i'll take the bad that comes with professional politicians. it's not a perfect system but at least you occasionally get the good one's along with the bad.

if you want to eliminate politicians groveling for campaign funds from people that have an interest in legislation they vote on support public financing, not term limits.

This is funny. As if every member of Congress that comes in is like a country bumpkin on his first trip to the city. It wouldnt be that way without "professional politicians". Perhaps if these people had a limited shelf life they may actually live up to the platforms they were elected on and be LESS influenced by special interests who gain power mostly by helping influencing elections. The groveling for legislation is just the cherry on top.

[Danzig]

Originally Posted by hi_im_god

and how do they get elected in the first place?

where it's implemented, the unintended consequence of term limits has been to strengthen the hand of lobbyists who, by default, are the only guys and gals that know what's going on when each new class of rookies appear. they are the institutional memory that each short termer has to lean on. who is state representative joe yokel going to hire as his staff for his 4-6 years? even if he doesn't hire them, who does he talk to for expertise on the myriad of obscure issues he has to vote on that he has no expertise on?

if you want corporate interests to rule, you definitely should support term limits. those interests can afford to spoon feed the doofus newbie legislator for his 4-8 years and by the time the sap has figured out what's going on, he's term limited out.

i'll take the bad that comes with professional politicians. it's not a perfect system but at least you occasionally get the good one's along with the bad.

if you want to eliminate politicians groveling for campaign funds from people that have an interest in legislation they vote on support public financing, not term limits.

how do they get elected? the party of course...that's why they're leaning on paterson not to run, so their pick of cuomo can run and most likely win. it's the system, and the system needs to change. a lot of people go up to d.c. with the best of intentions, and quickly find how the game is really played.
i think there could be some legit campaign finance reform...but i doubt those guys-the pols- will really and truly cut off the hand that feeds them. that would be like expecting tort reform from them.