By Rev. Wayne Perryman
August 20, 2009
Did you know that Article XX (20) Section 2. of the United States Constitution suggest or implies that Congress should be a part time job and not a full time job? The article states the following:
“The Congress shall assemble at least once in every year, and such meeting shall begin at noon on the 3rd day of January, unless they shall by law appoint a different day.”
The early members of Congress were merchants, inventors, ministers, lawyers, businessmen and farmers. They all had full time jobs and because many of the jobs were associated with the farming industry, they assembled after the harvest to do the nation’s business.
Today, modern politicians not only see politics as a full time job, they see these positions as long term lucrative careers. Based on history, I don’t think this was the intention of our founding fathers, many of whom were only paid a per diem because they all had jobs and businesses back in their own home states and/or colonies. Under the earlier system, the politicians spent more time in their home states with the citizens that voted them into office than they did in Washington. Unlike modern-day politicians, the politicians of yesterday seem to have had a better feel of what the people they represented wanted because they spent more time with their people than they did with their political colleagues. Isn’t this the true meaning of the phrase: “The government of the people?”
Question: Should the positions of Senators and House of Representatives be full time positions?
Before you answer that question, can you name 10 laws that this legislative branch of our government have passed in each year during the past five years? In other words, do you really know what they are doing and what they have accomplished for the $174,000 a year that you are paying them?
The following are my recommendations and suggestions to take the money out of career politics and to assure the American citizen, that Congress is really the government of the people and by the people and not merely the government of career politicians.
1. Institute term limits – maximum of four years only.
2. Congress will only meet three months out of the year to do the people’s business – even though Article XX only require Congress to meet at “least once in every yea r.” Note: Most state legislatures do not meet year around. And states are merely miniature countries within a country (having their own constitutions, legislative systems and military).
3. Candidates for Congress must have full time jobs (and have worked for that employer for five years) before running for office and like the jury duty system, their employer will give them paid leave for the three months while they are in Washington doing the nation’s business.
4. Members of Congress will live in dorms (Condos) supplied by the government while doing business in Washington D.C.
5. Members of Congress are required to read every Bill before signing it and must fully understand every aspect of that Bill before signing such a measure. Failure to do so will be considered “Fraud’ which will be grounds for immediate expulsion plus a $5,000 fine.
6. There will be random testing of each member of Congress by an authorized non-partisan citizen watchdog group, to determine if a member of Congress have read and fully understood the legislation that they voted while serving in Congress.
7. No legislation will exceed 25 pages and must be written so the average citizen can understand it (except in technical legislation dealing with science and other high tech subject matters).
In the current Health Care Reform proposed legislation, no one can understand it and most have not read the 1017 pages. If no one can understand the legislation – can it be representative of a government of the people, by the people and more importantly for the people? If the bill is as simple as they say it is i.e. keeping our own doctors; lowering the cost insurance; insuring 47 million un-insured and covering those with pre-existing illness, that should only take 10 pages. What’s in the other 1007 pages?
What are your thoughts?
Rev. Wayne Perryman