I was reminded today that our legislators are not always working in the house of government that they represent, whether they are state or federal lawmakers, and it crossed my mind that they should be paid like pro athletes are paid. If an athlete misses a game he forfeits a game's pay. So, I thought that if a senator, congressman, or assemblyman was to not be in their house of government on a work day than they should forfeit a day's pay.
Now with the way our representatives pass legislation I thought that maybe that's not such a good idea. Keeping these guys in their offices and on the floors of their respective houses may not be such a good idea.
So maybe their payscale should be reflective of an approval rating provided by their constituency. But that creates a host of problems without addressing the actual problem of rep's working for their own interests and not ours.
We need to find a way to make our officials' actions and associations more transparent and more public so that they can be held accountable for their actions.
Jason and Ruth, proud parents of the seven cutest kids in the world! Keeping busy and loving every minute of it!
3 comments:
I think that when they choose to not show up for a vote that kinda counts as a no vote because the house has to come to a majority vote of all representatives, not just all representatives present.
Kudos on remembering the republic, most people just forget the republic and call it a democracy.
There could be a drawback to a representative being absent and not being able to vote yes on something. However, I would just as soon have them stay home and work like the rest of us. I'm sure you agree we have enough laws.
True democracies never last of course. They are corrupted very quickly and bring themselves down.
How about making our representatives accountable by getting involved in the process before election day? The reason democracies fail is because citizens become lazy and apathetic and allow and even reward corruption because they want more goodies.
We saw what kind of effect we can have when prop 8 passed. Why don't we get involved when our other freedoms are threatened? Prop 8 didn't put the matter to rest, and I hope we can all learn from our victory that we're not helpless when it comes to government. It's in our hands.
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