NationStates Jolt Archive

I am so sick of being lied to and mislead by politicians of whatever stripe, that I'd like to propose my own Constitutional Amendment:


Article XXVIII

Section 1. The right of citizens of the United States of America to be fully informed of acts, functions and behaviors of the government shall not be abridged for any reason other than for reasonable and verifiable national security purposes.

Section 2. Any person holding any elective office, appointive office, and/or Civil Service office of departmental level or above, in the government of the United States of America, or in any political subdivision thereof, shall, upon proof of their having violated the public trust by lying to, misinforming, deliberately misleading, obfuscating, or otherwise being less than truthful and honest with the American public, be removed from office and incarcerated for a term of not less than ten years and up to and including life, and shall repay any and all monies or other remuneration paid to them while in the office from which they have been removed.

Section 3. The Congress shall establish an independent Public Trust Commission of five members to determine whether a particular office holder should be charged with having violated the public trust, the members of which shall be elected at large by all eligible voters in the United States of America. Members of this independent Commission shall hold office until voluntary retirement or until removal from office for high crimes and misdemeanors, including knowingly allowing a case without merit to proceed.

Section 4. Appeals from the decisions of the Public Trust Commission shall be made directly to the Supreme Court of the United States, which may reverse the decisions of the Public Trust Commission only for decisions made in violation of the terms and stipulations of this Amendment and for no other reason.


I'm just sick of seeing all the lying and misdirection by members of both political parties and want to see it stopped! And I wanted TEETH in the punishments! :D

Well ... waddaya think?

I think it's sad that we even need to discuss this topic... it'd be nice if the people in charge were honest, law-abiding citizens. Doesn't happen very often tho. I think there's something fundamentally wrong with politics which attracts dishonest people to it.

I'm all for it.

i vote yes

I'm just sick of seeing all the lying and misdirection by members of both political parties and want to see it stopped! And I wanted TEETH in the punishments! :D

Well ... waddaya think?


Good ideas, but honestly all politicians are liars. Let's just arrest all of them after 4 years in office, this will definately keep the worse candidates away from government.

It would be a bloodbath as Democrats and Republicans use this to wipe each other out. I'm all for it. :D

Its a Two Party System!

It's an interesting post. But it wouldn't really change things considering there is the Freedom of Information Act, and whatever people want to know, that's as far as they can get. This article wouldn't really make things better, especially with a few wordings as this:

...verifiable national security purposes.

...elected at large by all eligible voters in the United States of America.

...including knowingly allowing a case without merit to proceed.

The easiest groups to buy out or corrupt are the smaller ones. How do you propose spending on the election? It costs money to organize, to provide enough materials in order to carry out such an election; are we to do this each time a congressman is deemed under suspicion of doing something wrong? It costs money to hire people to watch over the polling booths, and to advertise its very existence. And then there will be commercial advertisements for or against such and such... sounds like a regular election where almost half the voting nation doesn't vote, doesn't it?

As for the first quote, do you realize it's begging to be abused? If the government doesn't want you to know something, it won't disclose information. They do that when people make extreme requests with the Freedom of Information Act.

And saying that congressmen would let a case continue if it has no merit is basically saying we have to create another elected board to watch over the first board to make sure they aren't trying to screw over their political enemies or drop a case for their political friends.

Besides, there are commissions to deal with corrupt politicians. An elected board would get the same amount of flak, and do the same, minimal justice as the unelected commissions.

Quoting Gargantua City State
I think there's something fundamentally wrong with politics which attracts dishonest people to it.

I don't think so. Politics is a forum of power for those who have the cunning or the diligence to perservere. It can certainly attract the wrong type of people, but it can also corrupt the idealists and the naive who realize that the purpose of politics is power.

I think the words paddle and paddling need to be inserted somewhere as well. :D But what do we do when the five go bad? Bribery or something and the next thing you know ... :rolleyes:

now THAT is an ammendment i can support.

i guess that means it wouldnt have a snowball's chances in hell.

I like the Ecksian way.

"We put all our polticians in jail the moment they're elected, it saves time."

Huzzah!

Eutrusca '08!!!

Now choose a running mate.

Even if you got the truth you wouldnt believe it anyways. Americans are cynical and untrusting...it is just part of their culture.

Wouldnt it truely rock your world if you werent being lied to right now? I mean the government looks like an amazingly stupid machine to me...how the hell can something that stupid hide anything?

So...you're saying you actually want to hold politicians accountable for their misdeeds the same way we prosecute normal people?

...Don't get me wrong, hell I love the idea! Problem is...where are we gonna find even one honest politician to help convict the dishonest ones?

Ted Kennedy? I think not. Rick Santorum? Uh uh! Tom Delay? Fuck off! Can't find anyone in Congress, what with their 96 percent incumbancy rate!

It's gonna be difficult...But hey that's half the fun!

It would be a bloodbath as Democrats and Republicans use this to wipe each other out. I'm all for it. :D
ROFLMFAO!!!! :D :D :D

ROFLMFAO!!!! :D :D :D

That my friends...is the sound of a man that can now die happy.

It's an interesting post. But it wouldn't really change things considering there is the Freedom of Information Act, and whatever people want to know, that's as far as they can get. This article wouldn't really make things better, especially with a few wordings as this:

The easiest groups to buy out or corrupt are the smaller ones. How do you propose spending on the election? It costs money to organize, to provide enough materials in order to carry out such an election; are we to do this each time a congressman is deemed under suspicion of doing something wrong? It costs money to hire people to watch over the polling booths, and to advertise its very existence. And then there will be commercial advertisements for or against such and such... sounds like a regular election where almost half the voting nation doesn't vote, doesn't it?

As for the first quote, do you realize it's begging to be abused? If the government doesn't want you to know something, it won't disclose information. They do that when people make extreme requests with the Freedom of Information Act.

And saying that congressmen would let a case continue if it has no merit is basically saying we have to create another elected board to watch over the first board to make sure they aren't trying to screw over their political enemies or drop a case for their political friends.

Besides, there are commissions to deal with corrupt politicians. An elected board would get the same amount of flak, and do the same, minimal justice as the unelected commissions.
Sigh. I know. I know. Politics is the art of the "possible," and often one of the results is to make the military do the impossible. Surely there's some way to make this happen. GROAN. Back to the drawing boards. :(

Although I like your idea I think, there is a better way to take care of it. First is term limits, no more than four terms or seven years for the House and no more than two terms or seven years for Senators. And, no retirement for Representatives or Senators.

Huzzah!

Eutrusca '08!!!

Now choose a running mate.
Hell, old man ... I couldn't get elected Dog Catcher! Ah been a baaaad boy! LOL! :D

Besides, I learned a long time ago that I am pathologically honest. Politicians would have me for LUNCH! Heh!

Sigh. I know. I know. Politics is the art of the "possible," and often one of the results is to make the military do the impossible. Surely there's some way to make this happen. GROAN. Back to the drawing boards. :(

It seems we always got the impossible done, it just took us a little longer than the possible. :D

Although I like your idea I think, there is a better way to take care of it. First is term limits, no more than four terms or seven years for the House and no more than two terms or seven years for Senators. And, no retirement for Representatives or Senators.
I'm afraid all that would accomplish is provide incentive for many of them to make the most of their limited terms by catering to people who could either line their pockets or to those who would hire them for outrageous salaries as soon as their terms were up. :(

It seems we always got the impossible done, it just took us a little longer than the possible. :D
True. When I was in counterinsurgency ops, they gave us missions that made me faint! Heh!

I remember a quote from Shakespears's Henry VI

"...Let's kill all the lawyers."

Just replace "lawyers" with "politicians" and I think we might just get something going!

Although I like your idea I think, there is a better way to take care of it. First is term limits, no more than four terms or seven years for the House and no more than two terms or seven years for Senators. And, no retirement for Representatives or Senators.
im not fond of term limits but i would like to see NO RETIREMENT FOR CONGRESS. so they cant afford to stay there forever. or some minimal retirement that means they can afford a used trailer in florida in their golden years.

I am so sick of being lied to and mislead by politicians of whatever stripe, that I'd like to propose my own Constitutional Amendment:


Article XXVIII

Section 1. The right of citizens of the United States of America to be fully informed of acts, functions and behaviors of the government shall not be abridged for any reason other than for reasonable and verifiable national security purposes.question... reasonable and verifiable by who's standard?

Section 2. Any person holding any elective office, appointive office, and/or Civil Service office of departmental level or above, in the government of the United States of America, or in any political subdivision thereof, shall, upon proof of their having violated the public trust by lying to, misinforming, deliberately misleading, obfuscating, or otherwise being less than truthful and honest with the American public, be removed from office and incarcerated for a term of not less than ten years and up to and including life, and shall repay any and all monies or other remuneration paid to them while in the office from which they have been removed.ok... so after getting rid of ALL POLITICIANS, BEURACRATS, LAWYERS, and anyone else who has to campaign to get elected.... who's left in office.

Section 3. The Congress shall establish an independent Public Trust Commission of five members to determine whether a particular office holder should be charged with having violated the public trust, the members of which shall be elected at large by all eligible voters in the United States of America. Members of this independent Commission shall hold office until voluntary retirement or until removal from office for high crimes and misdemeanors, including knowingly allowing a case without merit to proceed. hmmm... lifetime appointment... sweet. and will this give birth to another post where it must be campaigned across this nation... [sigh] more elect me commercials... and if there is no party, how is the Election fund split among these commission holders... then there is the campaign spending rules...

Section 4. Appeals from the decisions of the Public Trust Commission shall be made directly to the Supreme Court of the United States, which may reverse the decisions of the Public Trust Commission only for decisions made in violation of the terms and stipulations of this Amendment and for no other reason.something wrong here... can't quite see it tho... unless it's the fact that evey ruling by the commission will be appealed... thus holding up Government from doing any work at all, as well as placing more work on SCOTUS...

I'm just sick of seeing all the lying and misdirection by members of both political parties and want to see it stopped! And I wanted TEETH in the punishments! :D

Well ... waddaya think?I can just see the floodgates of all the accusations as soon as this is passed... and every little lie/cover-up/skeleton will then come out. Seems to me that this will be used as a weapon more than a deterant. newspapers will have a field day as they will use this to print anything and everything reguardless if they are secrets or not. anyone refusing to disclose information on anything will probably find themselves placed before this commission because it will seem like they are "hiding something" from the public... even if its a decision to redecorate the press room.

the opportunities to abuse this is soo huge, it will backlog the commission, hold up the nation (as evey Senetor/Congressman/Officeworker...etc) finds themselves placed before this commission. (according to section 3 they have to make sure that the case really is nothing before moving on.)

careful with the teeth, it can bite your own tongue as easlily as those that tresspass.

I can just see the floodgates of all the accusations as soon as this is passed... and every little lie/cover-up/skeleton will then come out. Seems to me that this will be used as a weapon more than a deterant. newspapers will have a field day as they will use this to print anything and everything reguardless if they are secrets or not. anyone refusing to disclose information on anything will probably find themselves placed before this commission because it will seem like they are "hiding something" from the public... even if its a decision to redecorate the press room.


Are you suggesting this, if passed, could end up in something resembling McCarthyism or the Salem witch hunts?

I'm all for it.

i vote yes

You do realize we both just agreed with Eutrusca..lol

I vote YES as well. :eek:

I am so sick of being lied to and mislead by politicians of whatever stripe, that I'd like to propose my own Constitutional Amendment:


Article XXVIII

Section 1. The right of citizens of the United States of America to be fully informed of acts, functions and behaviors of the government shall not be abridged for any reason other than for reasonable and verifiable national security purposes.

Section 2. Any person holding any elective office, appointive office, and/or Civil Service office of departmental level or above, in the government of the United States of America, or in any political subdivision thereof, shall, upon proof of their having violated the public trust by lying to, misinforming, deliberately misleading, obfuscating, or otherwise being less than truthful and honest with the American public, be removed from office and incarcerated for a term of not less than ten years and up to and including life, and shall repay any and all monies or other remuneration paid to them while in the office from which they have been removed.

Section 3. The Congress shall establish an independent Public Trust Commission of five members to determine whether a particular office holder should be charged with having violated the public trust, the members of which shall be elected at large by all eligible voters in the United States of America. Members of this independent Commission shall hold office until voluntary retirement or until removal from office for high crimes and misdemeanors, including knowingly allowing a case without merit to proceed.

Section 4. Appeals from the decisions of the Public Trust Commission shall be made directly to the Supreme Court of the United States, which may reverse the decisions of the Public Trust Commission only for decisions made in violation of the terms and stipulations of this Amendment and for no other reason.


I'm just sick of seeing all the lying and misdirection by members of both political parties and want to see it stopped! And I wanted TEETH in the punishments! :D

Well ... waddaya think?

A plague o!n both my houses!? My summer place too?

Yes the people are slowly being pushed further away, the government has become like a secular world we seem to have no right to pry into.