Forum Post: Throw ALL Of The Bums Out! Make All Newly Elected Federal Officials Sign A Pledge...
Posted 12 years ago on Dec. 12, 2011, 8:38 p.m. EST by DavidGilbert
(64)
from Tampa, FL
This content is user submitted and not an official statement
"If elected to the U.S. Congress, I will immediately support and pass legislation that will...
Stop the corruption of our government with public funding of federal elections.
End the "revolving door" of politicians and their staffs from ever becoming becoming lobbyists.
End the filibuster - the continued tyranny of 40, the number of senators who can block action—perhaps representing as little as 10 percent of the American public.
Create a ten-year federal program to create over 5 million jobs rebuilding America that includes infrastructure banks run by engineers, not politicians to extricate ourselves from the Great Recession now and increase national productivity later. Pay for it with a tax on all Wall St. financial transactions. A 1% tax would raise $400 billion a year
Pass Medicare For All. Allow Medicare to purchase drugs directly. Give the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MEDPAC) more authority to drive down medical costs. End fee-for-service in medical care.
Balance the budget over time by creating a progressive federal tax code. The marginal tax rate ought to be raised to 50 percent on income between $500,000 and $5 million, 60 percent on income between $5 million and $15 million, and 70 percent on income over $15 million. The estate tax should be 55 percent and kicks in after $5 million. Capital gains should be taxed at 35 percent. End the home mortgage deduction on first homes over $1 million. End the home mortgage deduction on all second homes. Eliminate corporate loopholes, unfair tax breaks, exemptions and deductions, subsidies and end offshore tax haven abuse saves $100 billion a year. End the wars and reduce the military budget by half saves over $400 billion a year. Corporations should be taxed by a variable amount based on the percentage of their payroll going to US workers. A small business employing 100% US workers should be taxed somewhere between 15-20% while a company that has completely shifted its production overseas should be in the 50% range. Expatriation of capital should be subject to a maximum tax-rate penalty with violation considered a felony act."
Throw them in jail for insider trading, problem solved.
They really need to be held accountable for stealing social security and pretending they need to cut off people's benefits now.
They shouldn't have spent the money on wars and tax cuts, and they sure as hell shouldn't be talking about another war in Iran.
That is how far out there Congress is, living in their bubble, removed from reality. And they couldn't get away with the lies without the complicity of the corporate media.
Someone needs to wake them up, and Occupy at the SEC and Occupy at the media demanding accountability is the perfect way to put them in their place.
i like it
Cart before the team of horses. Gotta change the lawmakers so you can change the laws. Either the current bunch do it or they'll be swept out and replaced. We give them a choice but it's their last chance. They betray us and nobody will ever support them again.
Help put the pressure on by either standing for position of delegate to the National General Assembly from your district or actively participating in the election thereof. Help your two delegates incorporate your ideas. Spread the word. Vote YES to put the down-payment for Philadelphia!!
https://sites.google.com/site/the99percentdeclaration/
"from rockets red glare down to brother can you spare another war, another wasteland, and another lost generation"
we can be saved
Will be. 202 days until The National General Assembly. Be a delegate. Picture yourself sitting in that assembly in Philadelphia with 875 others while 99% of the world watches...
http://www.the99declaration.org/
I agree we need to change lawmakers.
No need to change any laws, the fastest way to throw these bastards out is to demand they are held accountable for illegal insider trading.
Occupy the SEC! Congress is Illegally Insider Trading, but SEC Is too Busy Cracking Down on Kettle Chips http://occupywallst.org/forum/occupy-the-sec-congress-is-illegally-insider-tradi/
occupy the SEC!!!! I like it
Bingo! Public funding of elections will level the playing field by making one person = one vote instead of $1 = one vote, and will increase the possibility of other meaningful reform actually happening. Here's my 2 cents:
There are a lot of improvements that need to be made. The list reforms people Americans want to see is long and varied depending on who you talk to. That said, I believe there is one reform that would provide the American people the best chances of seeing other meaningful reforms actually happen - that is REAL, loop-hope free CAMPAIGN FINANCE REFORM! I have seen others on this site calling this the "fulcrum" or pivotal issue. Right now the current legalized bribery, pay-to-play system of campaign donations and paid lobbyists has disenfranchised the American voter. Until this is fixed, any other reform the politicians may try to placate us with (be it a change to healthcare, clamping down predatory school loans, new financial regulations, etc.) will be about as effective as a farmer putting a new roof on his CHICKEN COOP, but still letting the FOX guard it.
We need to go back to the original political currency. Instead of the current system of who can collect the most money from corporations and special interests it should be who has the BEST IDEAS to EFFECTIVELY RUN THE COUNTRY (we don't need "Wealth Redistribution," what we need is "Political Influence Redistribution")!
For the sake our our children and future generations of Americans, we need to take back our democracy from the rich and powerful who are using their vast sums of money to "speak" as if they represent millions of Americans. This "Corporate Personhood" that has crept into our laws is allowing them to manipulating our policies in their favor at the expense of the average American (the recent "Citizens United" Supreme Court ruling is a miscarriage of justice and must be reversed. The $50 or $100 a normal American may give to a political campaign becomes meaningless when corporations or other special interests are handing our millions to buy political access to the decision making process.
For decades now the corporations and special interests have had our "representatives" bought and paid for (both on the right and the left). Concentrating our efforts on getting the money out of our politics is the best way we can create an environment in which further reforms can be realized. Until we end the current system of legalized bribery (campaign donations) and paid lobbying our politicians will continue to be the LAP DOGS of the corporations and special interests. What we need first and foremost is real, loop-hole free CAMPAIGN FINANCE REFORM!!!! If the corruption is not dealt with first, the chance of any other meaningful reforms becoming a reality is almost zero - the special interests will just use their money to buy votes and put forward bills that create loop-holes or otherwise twist the law in their favor. If we want our children to live in a country where there vote matters, we need to get the money out of our politics, otherwise they will increasingly become the 21st century version of the "landless peasant." Spread the word - End the LEGALIZED BRIBERY!!! CAMPAIGN FINANCE REFORM needs to be THE main goal of the protests!!!
I like the ideas to a point.
all of these ideas are great!
Did you miss anything?
no, not really
I don't think so
I don't think so, either
Yes. Get rid of so called "progressive taxation". It has always been unfair. Flat tax is the only truly fair method of taxation. While I realize you leftists have a twisted view on what fairness means just try to look at it from another point of view.