Let's Write A New Amendment Together To Drain The Swamp! - part deux

[USFREEDOM911]

Hello and greetings,

Since we have so many great minds here, able to solve the problems of the world and all, what say we put our noggins together and come up with the wording for a new Amendment to drain the swamp of big money corruption in Washington DC?

We know that Citizens United greatly expanded the amount of big money being thrown at our government by the rich to buy influence.

A lot of that money has had the desired result.

The rich are getting a lot richer, taking almost all the wealth generated by amazing gains in productivity in recent decades, as workers are getting shoved out of good well-paying jobs and downgraded to lower paying work with fewer or no benefits. Working doesn't pay as much as investing big money, and it's taxed at a higher rate. The rich get richer, the rest find it increasingly difficult to make ends meet.

Where's the shared prosperity?

Clearly, our government is not doing a very good job of Promoting The General Welfare.

What can we do?

Well, if enough of us want to, we can amend the Constitution to make that illegal.

PoliTalker anti-troll thread thief disclaimer: If this thread is stolen, plagiarized, will the thief have the nerve to use the entire OP, word for word? Including this disclaimer? If you want my take on it, you'll have to post to this original PoliTalker thread. I refuse to be an enabler for online bullies, so I won't post to a stolen thread. I won't even read it. If you don't see me, PoliTalker, posting in this thread check the author. This might be a hijacked thread, not the original.

Let's see if we can write as few words as possible, make it succinct, that will accomplish the desired goal but be simple enough that enough Americans will agree it should be part of our Constitution.

We figure we know everything about our country, right? So this should be a piece of cake for us know-it-alls.

Here we sit, wasting time, and we could be putting our minds together and doing something for our nation. We have the perfect tool with this chat room. All we have to do is put our minds together.

OK? OK. Good. Let's get started.

First we need to jot down just what it is we are trying to accomplish. So we need to brainstorm about what this document should do.

Then, after we work that out, we can boil it down to the actual wording.

Then we send it out to the world, hope it goes viral, force our government(s) to ratify it, and we drain the swamp.

Long shot, I know, but you don't know what you can do until you try. One thing is for sure. It won't happen if we don't try.

This is not intended to be an arguing thread. It's a brainstorming thread. So how about drop your guard, accept that each participant really wants a better America, and let's just talk this out, OK?

Good. Alright. Let's work together:

All Congress and Senator's are only able to serve two terms and upon leaving, there will be no life time pension or insurance coverage.

Let them live like the rest of the citizens of the US.

 

[Sirthinksalot]

Doing away with defined benefit pensions for ALL public employees. It is ridiculous in a time when virtually no one in the private sector has such a retirement plan. Public employee pensions are going to bankrupt the state of Illinois.

 

[Nordberg]

Doing away with defined benefit pensions for ALL public employees. It is ridiculous in a time when virtually no one in the private sector has such a retirement plan. Public employee pensions are going to bankrupt the state of Illinois.

Not putting the money way like they promised to do is the problem. They underfinanced.

 

[Sirthinksalot]

Not putting the money way like they promised to do is the problem. They underfinanced.

The politicians cut deals whereby the bills wouldn't come due until they themselves were long gone. Taking loans against their children's future, kicking the can down the road, etc. Paying employees for 20 years after they retire is not sustainable. That's why the private sector did away with it long ago.

 

[Flash]

All Congress and Senator's are only able to serve two terms and upon leaving, there will be no life time pension or insurance coverage.

Let them live like the rest of the citizens of the US.

Members of Congress do not get a "life time" pension. They can collect beginning at age 62 and the amount depends on the number of years served. The average is about $60,000. A U. S. Senator serving one six-year term collects about $18,000 a year beginning at 62.

 

[USFREEDOM911]

Members of Congress do not get a "life time" pension. They can collect beginning at age 62 and the amount depends on the number of years served. The average is about $60,000. A U. S. Senator serving one six-year term collects about $18,000 a year beginning at 62.

What pension do congressmen get after they are out of office?

The amount of pension members of Congress have received has changed over the years. Under the current system controlled by the Federal Employees Retirement System, members of Congress are eligible to receive a pension only after five years of service. This means all senators who complete one term as well as representatives who complete three terms are eligible.

Pay is based on the number of years of service and the average of the highest three years' salary earned. Currently, regular members of Congress earn $174,000 per year. (Leaders earn up to $223,500). Members retiring before age 62 or with less than 20 years of service earn 1% of their three-year high average salary for each year of service. Members retiring after age 62 with 20 years or more service earn 1.1%.

Members of Congress contribute 1.3% of their salary into the FERS plan and pay 6.2% of their salary in Social Security taxes. The starting retirement pay cannot exceed 80% of a member's final salary.