The "Definately Nothing Pertaining To The Buffet Act" Thread... Mostly pointless bickering
clearlysuspect
Everyone, Registered Users Posts: 1,750
I did a quick search of the forum and saw that no one has posted this before. I love this. In an interview with CNBC last year, Warren Buffet said he could fix our national debt in 5 minutes if these following ideas were adopted as an ammendment to the constitution. It's not listed below, but he also stated an additional rule which states that "any time the deficit exceeds 3%, all sitting members of congress will be ineligible for re-election!" I really think this needs to happen for our country to be successful in the long run. Each side of the two party system constantly point at each other calling each other elitists. The fact of the matter is, they're both right! The real "Elite" in this country is Congress. Half our laws don't apply to them. They constantly abuse their powers and insider knowledge to pad their own pockets. They never have to worry about money or healthcare ever again! If this isn't the real definition of "Elite" then I don't know what is!
1. No Tenure / No Pension. A Congressman/woman collects a salary while in office and receives no pay when they're out of office.
2. 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.
3. Congress can purchase their own retirement plan, just as all Americans do.
4. Congress will no longer vote themselves a pay raise. Congressional pay will rise by the lower of CPI or 3%.
5. Congress loses their current health care system and participates in the same health care system as the American people.
6. Congress must equally abide by all laws they impose on the American people.
7. All contracts with past and present Congressmen/women are void effective 1/1/12. The American people did not make this contract with Congressmen/women.
Congressmen/women 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.
1. No Tenure / No Pension. A Congressman/woman collects a salary while in office and receives no pay when they're out of office.
2. 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.
3. Congress can purchase their own retirement plan, just as all Americans do.
4. Congress will no longer vote themselves a pay raise. Congressional pay will rise by the lower of CPI or 3%.
5. Congress loses their current health care system and participates in the same health care system as the American people.
6. Congress must equally abide by all laws they impose on the American people.
7. All contracts with past and present Congressmen/women are void effective 1/1/12. The American people did not make this contract with Congressmen/women.
Congressmen/women 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.
Comments
Additionally, the last paragraph was also distinctly different. It did not include the first line; "Congressmen/women made all these contracts for themselves. ", and the last line; "The Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators, so ours should serve their term(s), then go home and back to work." was the first line of the proposal, just before item #1.
That is considerably different language than what you've posted. I am suspect of the actual orgin of this "proposal", and of the motive behind it.
I really like the idea Mr. Buffett put forth but did you also find this on the net? Click Here
The only thing Citizens United did was recognize that corporations and unions were entities with free speech rights, allowing them to donate to elections. Take a look at all the "outrage" from the Left; it's always against corporations being allowed to donate, never against unions. I wonder why that is?
So enough bickering among ourselves about left and right. They're all part of the same team in the end! Who thinks this is a good idea? Why? Who thinks this is a bad idea? Why?
Corporations and Unions (funny how you never once mentioned unions in your soapbox) aren't people, but they are entities - entities with rights. They aren't the equivalent of a "person" but they do have a similar set of rights, such as the right to sue and be sued, the right to protect their interests, etc. Your interpretation, that corporations aren't anything, would leave them unable to protect their interests.
Secondly, money is speech. If you don't have money, you can't get your message out; you can't buy airtime, you can't schedule lectures, you can't buy radio or tv spots - money enables a person to get their message heard, so it IS speech.
A union is an organization, so they were mentioned. I never said that corporations "aren't anytrhing". I said that they are businesses, not people, which is exactly what they are.
The Supreme Court can declare that money is speech, or that a Black Man is not a human being, or that the sale of Alcohol should be illegal, or that abortion sdhould be legal,but that does not make it so. The Court has made an error.
Money is not speech, it is currency. Speech is the expression of an idea or thought by a human being. Currency is used by human beings to purchase material goods and services.
If money is speech, speech cannot be free, because those with more money will always be allowed more speech than those with less money. That does not describe the American Democratic Republic that I have lived in, nor does it describe a country in which I would choose to live in, either.
Haha , me too . I thought they were going to make you step on the scales and weigh before you headed down the buffet line . Depending on what you weighed determined how much you were allowed to eat haha .
You'd think that this would be the common-sense view of all Americans claiming to believe in the principles of a democratic republic. Sadly, common sense isn't that common anymore!
Personally, I don't care if Bush, Obama, Hitler, the KKK, or a grand collaboration of them all is behind this. If any or all of them came up with this, then good for them. I approve of this message!
The fact is, money is endemic in every election in every country. So when you say, "That does not describe the American Democratic Republic that I have lived in, nor does it describe a country in which I would choose to live in, either.", you really are describing "utopia", a word which translates to "nowhere"
Again, this is the biggest difference between liberals and conservatives - liberals believe they can legislate utopia - "if we can word the laws just right, we can legislate bad things away".
Conservatives realize this is a pipe dream - you can never legislate mans darkside away - there will ALWAYS be people with money and people without money who want to sway elections, and the best way to keep the worst excesses in line is to allow EVERYONE to participate, instead of a select few.
Your idea, that only individuals can participate and only in limited contributions, would result in candidates not being able to get their message out, to reach voters. Ron Paul would NEVER have been as big as he is if not for wealthy donors who believes in his message and gave him the money to get his platform out and make people aware of it; on the liberal side, Barack Obama would NEVER have been able to challenge Hillary Clinton's name brand recognition and warchest if not for wealthy donors who believed in him.
When libs like you whine about campaign finance, you only think of "those evil Republican" - you never think of the money that elects YOUR candidate, or how the guy YOU like would never have been able to tell you about his platform if not for his money
Lastly, keep in mind that just because someone has money, doesn't mean they're going to win - when was the last time a commercial changed your mind about anythign? When was the last time a stump speech make you change your vote? I'm gonna bet never - money is speech, it allows a candidate to tell people across the country what their platform is, so that people like Ron Paul and Barack Obama, newcomers, don't get crowded out by the old timers, by the people who've been around for decades. conservatives accept mans dark side and try to constrain it within reason
Macro, your view is skewed by your own personal opinions and feelings----which is fine, but I hope you realize that. You are lumping indivduals into groups "libs/consrvs" when it is more basic than that. I think its simply a desire for fairness and equality for all people. Not eqality of wealth or power, but true equality in the pursuit and drive toward obtaining it.