Political Venting

Some thoughts on the mess in Washington:

• All laws should apply equally to every citizen -- no matter economic status, or whether or not they hold political office.  This includes insurance, retirement, etc.  ALL laws.
• If members of the Senate and House want to see the President's tax returns, they should first publish their own.  Perhaps it should be required that all elected officials at the national level be required to publish their returns, including all sources of income, for the duration of their time in office.
• Compensation for office holders should be Indexed similar to what is done with Social Security.
• A 2/3 majority vote should be required for any bill to pass.  This would mean very few laws are ever passed.
• No lawmaker may serve more than 25 years in elected office -- all offices combined.  Term limits is a tricky area because we need experienced lawmakers, yet we need to limit the accretion of power over time.
• Some type of limitation on lobbying must be instituted.  This is another tricky area because lobbying serves the purpose of educating lawmakers, however, it must be restricted in such a way as to prevent the undue influence of the tremendous amount of money that is poured into lobbying efforts.
• No elected official can become a lobbyist after leaving office.  Ever.  Period.
• No elected official can join the Board of Directors of any firm for a minimum of 5 years after leaving office.
• No elected official can be paid a salary which exceeds that which they made in office for a minimum of 5 years after leaving office.
• Assets of anyone elected to the Senate, House, Presidency, or who serves in a Cabinet level position must be placed in Trust and managed independently, similar to what is required of the President.  There are too many officeholders who accumulate extraordinary wealth while holding office.  This could be done similar to a Mutual Fund for elected officials.  Such a fund should also be available for the general public to invest in so they receive exactly the same opportunity to benefit as do those elected officials.
• Except in times of war or national emergency, the federal budget cannot increase by an amount greater than the average inflation rate of the preceding year adjusted for growth in revenue due to economic growth of the country.
• Leadership of the House and Senate must rotate every 2 years with no individual serving more than 2 terms in the leadership role over the course of their 25 years (maximum) in office.  There must be a minimum of 2 years between terms.  This includes Speaker, President Pro Tem, committee chairmen and the majority and minority leaders of political parties.
• Except in the case of national security issues, any reports (such as the Mueller Report), or other information available to elected officials, must be made available to any citizen.  Note:  Officeholders are elected representatives, not our leaders.  How can they represent us if we are not able to be informed at the same level as them?  We cannot provide them appropriate input for them to represent us if we do not have access to the same information.  We, as taxpayers, pay for it all.  What we pay for is ours.
• Details of any litigation against any elected official must be disclosed to the public.  Any and all arrest records, traffic fines, parking tickets....anything...must be disclosed to the public if such occurred while campaigning for, or holding office.

I'm sure someone could poke holes in a number of the points above, but they at least point to areas where improvement needs to occur.  There also are many more items that could be added.  I'm just venting some of my frustration this morning.