Rebane's Ruminations
August 2016
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George Rebane

A correspondent sent me this transcription from a Warren Buffett interview in which he assembled the whole list of things we have all heard piecemeal here and there.  This is something that I believe most Americans can get behind, and as history shows, when we overwhelmingly vote for something, it can come to pass in a hurry.  So when will we get off our fat butts?  Consider it, and then pass it on.

"I could end the deficit in 5 minutes," Buffett told CNBC. "You just pass a law that says that anytime there is a deficit of more than 3% of GDP, all sitting members of Congress are ineligible for re-election.

The 26th amendment (granting the right to vote for 18 year-olds) took only 3 months & 8 days to be ratified! Why? Simple!  The people demanded it. That was in 1971 – before computers, e-mail, cell phones, etc.  Of the 27 amendments to the Constitution, seven (7) took one (1) year or less to become the law of the land – all because of public pressure.

Congressional Reform Act of 2017

  1. No Tenure / No Pension. A Congressman/woman collects a salary while in office and receives no pay when they're out of office.
  1. Congress (past, present & future) participates in Social Security. All funds in the Congressional retirement fund move to the Social Security system immediately. All future funds flow into the Social Security system, and Congress participates with the American people. It may not be used for any other purpose.
  1. Congress can purchase their own retirement plan, just as all Americans do.
  1. Congress will no longer vote themselves a pay raise. Congressional pay will rise by the lower of CPI or 3%.
  1. Congress loses their current health care system and participates in the same health care system as the American people.
  1. Congress must equally abide by all laws they impose on the American people.
  1. All contracts with past and present Congressmen/women are void effective 1/1/17. The American people did not make this contract with Congressmen/women. Congress made all these contracts for themselves. Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career. The Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators, so ours should serve their term(s), then go home and back to work.
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9 responses to “Congressional Reform Act of 2017 a la Buffett”

  1. Russ Steele Avatar

    I can support the Congressional Reform Act of 2017. Let’s get on with enacting it. Trump would be the perfect President to sign the bill.

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  2. Scott Obermuller Avatar

    Well – it sounds great, but I’ve seen proposals for this going back decades. Obviously the health care aspect is new since the law is fairly new. Why does it go nowhere? Because the electorate are largely composed of the type of serfs people degenerate into after a few years of freedom. The founding fathers warned about this very thing. Folks (almost always on the left) really don’t want and can’t handle liberty and freedom.
    They really do think their leaders should be some kind of royalty that shouldn’t have to answer to the same laws that the proles do. The left has no problem with politicians and Hollywood stars and the uber wealthy living under completely different rules than those that these same people espouse. Clear examples of this are on view nearly every day. You can start with all of the ‘gun control’ laws passed by politicians who, (along with their families) are protected 24/7 with machine guns. “Guns have no place in schools.” Who said that? Why – the fellow that has his children protected by guns in their schools. Our lefty overseers tell us we should all drive electric cars, but I never see them in one. On and on. Sorry to be so dreary on this subject, but we’re talking about human nature here and it hasn’t changed a whit in however many millennia you care to ascribe to us people critters.
    It is a worthwhile subject and needs to be brought up once in a while as there are lots of new voters every year that will otherwise never hear about it.

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  3. MikeL Avatar
    MikeL

    I just heard that Trump said he is going to “beat” Hillary. First it was ordering the Russians to hack hillbillies 30000 deleted emails, second it was putting out a contract on Silleries life with the 2nd Amendment people, whoever they are and now he is gonna beat her…..

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  4. George Rebane Avatar

    MikeL 637am – Not sure whether you’re aware of what you said, but Trump ordered no such hacking of Hillary’s 30K deleted emails. As explained here many times, such order was never given and could not be followed by Russia or anyone else at the time. Try to understand that the 30K emails were already hacked long ago when they were hackable on Hillary’s unsecured servers. These emails were already stored by Russia and everyone else who compromised those servers. Trump merely asked Russia (or anyone who already had them) to sort through their stash, “retrieve” them, and share those “destroyed personal emails” with the American people.
    Is that so hard to keep straight?

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  5. Bonnie McGuire Avatar

    The Congressional Reform Act of 2017 is the way it should be. Common sense. Those who claim they’re serving the people setting their own pay, perks and retirements? No wonder America has a problem.

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  6. Scott Obermuller Avatar

    Well – yes, Bonnie. Unfortunately common sense isn’t quite as common as it used to be.
    How is it acceptable for the govt to seize folks’ money out of their bank account or right off of their person?
    No arrest or even a charge of anything criminal or civil. You then have to hire a lawyer to ‘prove’ it’s your money and even then the govt will simply keep a large percentage. Our new Atty General called this a ‘wonderful tool’. It’s completely un-Constitional and outright theft.
    Try to find any politician who will vote for the repeal of the enabling legislation. Try to find an American who even understands that this outrage occurs on a regular basis.
    We (as a nation) get the govt we deserve.

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  7. Bonnie McGuire Avatar

    Yes, as historians oft point out….government officials reflect the majority mentality of the society they represent.

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  8. Gregory Avatar
    Gregory

    The proposed Act would have the unintended side effects of transferring even more power to Congressional employees, and reducing the number of middle class would-be Congresscritters who would not be able to afford to the hit to their career unless they were, in effect, the landed gentry.
    Perks need to be dialed back, to be sure, but not by throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

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  9. George Rebane Avatar

    Gregory 905am – Can you be a bit more explicit about your concerns?

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