This "institution" has gone from citizen legislators to a "profession". Now people want to get elected and stay elected because the longer you're in office, the more you make (due to seniority, committee assignments, etc.)
Term limits would help immensely but there are 2 chances that will ever be enacted - slim and none.
How ANYONE could vote in the affirmative on this poll (with the possible exception of the Hawley family) is beyond me.
I'd like to see them knocked off their high horse and brought down to where most of us are. Start with $15.00 / hr., overtime after 40 hours, pay towards their health insurance with a $6,000 deductible, one week vacation after 1 year of employment, and the biggest one is if they want a pension, start saving because those days are long gone for most of us...... I almost forgot, must obey all the laws they enact including insider trading, safe act, seatbelt, cell phone while driving, and if they want some lunch and dinner, pay for it yourself like I have to.
sounds like I'm a little bitter towards these people.....
That's the thing that has caused me to scratch my head until I'm darn near bald, Bob. The NY legislature and the US Congress have approval rates around 10-12%, but 90 + % of incumbents get re-elected over and over. 35% - 40% of voters bother to vote. Driving me insane - OK more insane
Dave and Bob,
One word - gerrymandering. They get elected, they draw the districts to maximize the potential voters for their party and BAM. When the lemmings to into the voting booth they just pull the lever and you have what we call an "election".
And....of course they wouldn't think of mentioning something like a pay raise until AFTER the election.
Let us not forget that in way too many districts in America all a person has to do is get the nod of the dominant party and they are elected. The campaign is for show, the party put their candidate on the ballot line and they are de facto appointed by the machine. No new ideas, no choice. It's soviet "democracy".
If the voters in our cities actually had any choices in representation maybe they wouldn't be the educational and criminal dystopias that they are... But that would take an awareness of how badly they have been abused by their loving champions.
It is fact and true in Genesee County. But... Population centers rule a democratic republic. Our polity has become so divided and our electorate so insulated that the "other" has become "illegitimate" and "evil". The people of our cities live in an artificial world, figuratively and literally. Their "betters" control their choices and decide for them what is best.
Forget that the majority of urban blacks are law abiding and want the predators among their community locked up: The media has shoved a manipulative, self-aggrandizing "community leader" in our faces to tell us to hate the "other" for what happened to the ancestors of "the community".
Forget that the same "betters" have been in charge of these steaming hellholes for decades and have controlled the legislatures of the states containing these hellholes for decades.
Ignore the man behind the curtain.
A cynical person might suspect that our "betters" like it best when the denizens of our poorest neighborhoods just kill each other off. Wait. Did I just channel the spirit of Maggy Sanger?
No, you did not. Though I think that (maybe) your heart is in the right place, you channeled only your own misinformation, hyperbole, non sequiturs, and paranoia.
My impression, Kyle is not quite as bleak as yours but I can agree with a lot of what you have written. There is no question in my mind that the 2 main political parties are mainly concerned with fighting each other and getting the people riled up over one subject or another in order to keep attention away from the fact that 10 or 15% of the population makes the rules and controls the government and our money. The system needs to be upended, but the masses have to really want it, and I'm afraid that is not the case.
I will keep trying however much it feels like banging my head on a wall.
They are already overpaid.So
They are already overpaid.So are a lot of other states.
http://www.ncsl.org/research/about-state-legislatures/2014-ncsl-legisla…
Ethics reform. (insert snort
Ethics reform. (insert snort of derision here) Its all white noise from these jerks. The governor wouldn't know an ethic if it bit him.
The Governor is a strong
The Governor is a strong proponent of ethics reform...
As long as it doesn't cause any damage to him or his friends.
Not just no - HELL NO!! This
Not just no - HELL NO!!
This "institution" has gone from citizen legislators to a "profession". Now people want to get elected and stay elected because the longer you're in office, the more you make (due to seniority, committee assignments, etc.)
Term limits would help immensely but there are 2 chances that will ever be enacted - slim and none.
How ANYONE could vote in the affirmative on this poll (with the possible exception of the Hawley family) is beyond me.
I'd like to see them knocked
I'd like to see them knocked off their high horse and brought down to where most of us are. Start with $15.00 / hr., overtime after 40 hours, pay towards their health insurance with a $6,000 deductible, one week vacation after 1 year of employment, and the biggest one is if they want a pension, start saving because those days are long gone for most of us...... I almost forgot, must obey all the laws they enact including insider trading, safe act, seatbelt, cell phone while driving, and if they want some lunch and dinner, pay for it yourself like I have to.
sounds like I'm a little bitter towards these people.....
97% to 3%. Yet we keep
97% to 3%. Yet we keep voting the same people back in.
That's the thing that has
That's the thing that has caused me to scratch my head until I'm darn near bald, Bob. The NY legislature and the US Congress have approval rates around 10-12%, but 90 + % of incumbents get re-elected over and over. 35% - 40% of voters bother to vote. Driving me insane - OK more insane
Dave and Bob, One word -
Dave and Bob,
One word - gerrymandering. They get elected, they draw the districts to maximize the potential voters for their party and BAM. When the lemmings to into the voting booth they just pull the lever and you have what we call an "election".
And....of course they wouldn't think of mentioning something like a pay raise until AFTER the election.
They're all weasels!!
WOW Howard, as of right now
WOW Howard, as of right now 26 politicians and 917 "normal" humans are reading the Batavian
Let us not forget that in way
Let us not forget that in way too many districts in America all a person has to do is get the nod of the dominant party and they are elected. The campaign is for show, the party put their candidate on the ballot line and they are de facto appointed by the machine. No new ideas, no choice. It's soviet "democracy".
If the voters in our cities actually had any choices in representation maybe they wouldn't be the educational and criminal dystopias that they are... But that would take an awareness of how badly they have been abused by their loving champions.
Kyle, Your first paragraph
Kyle, Your first paragraph describes Genesee County pretty well. The second is a symptom.
Dave, It is fact and true in
Dave,
It is fact and true in Genesee County. But... Population centers rule a democratic republic. Our polity has become so divided and our electorate so insulated that the "other" has become "illegitimate" and "evil". The people of our cities live in an artificial world, figuratively and literally. Their "betters" control their choices and decide for them what is best.
Forget that the majority of urban blacks are law abiding and want the predators among their community locked up: The media has shoved a manipulative, self-aggrandizing "community leader" in our faces to tell us to hate the "other" for what happened to the ancestors of "the community".
Forget that the same "betters" have been in charge of these steaming hellholes for decades and have controlled the legislatures of the states containing these hellholes for decades.
Ignore the man behind the curtain.
A cynical person might suspect that our "betters" like it best when the denizens of our poorest neighborhoods just kill each other off. Wait. Did I just channel the spirit of Maggy Sanger?
" Did I just channel the
" Did I just channel the spirit of Maggy Sanger?"
No, you did not. Though I think that (maybe) your heart is in the right place, you channeled only your own misinformation, hyperbole, non sequiturs, and paranoia.
My impression, Kyle is not
My impression, Kyle is not quite as bleak as yours but I can agree with a lot of what you have written. There is no question in my mind that the 2 main political parties are mainly concerned with fighting each other and getting the people riled up over one subject or another in order to keep attention away from the fact that 10 or 15% of the population makes the rules and controls the government and our money. The system needs to be upended, but the masses have to really want it, and I'm afraid that is not the case.
I will keep trying however much it feels like banging my head on a wall.