Why do you want Congress to function? "The best government is one that governs least" (Who am I (mis)quoting?). If Congress doesn't do much, we're better off - especially if we had sunset clauses in every law... Assuming a government like ours, the problem I see with "eliminating 90% of the sitting legislature" is the question of who really rules? I favor term limits - only one term per position. I don't like the idea of professional politicians. But, where would the power reside? The bureaucracy and the political parties? -Sounds dangerous to me. Lee <standard disclaimers>
-----Original Message----- From: Ryan Anderson [SMTP:randerso@ece.eng.wayne.edu] Sent: Saturday, June 21, 1997 10:07 AM To: roy@scytale.com Cc: cypherpunks@cyberpass.net Subject: Re: New Laws in Oregon - "Land of the Legal betatest"
On Sat, 21 Jun 1997, Roy M. Silvernail wrote:
How do you propose to deal with such things as the Telecommunications Act of 1996 (which incidently included the CDA)? I can see a problem where one sentence or clause gets thrown out of a major bill (say a compromise budget, that someone screwed up one minor ammendment), and if you have that happen 3 times in 6 years, you've lost 90% of your senators! I'm not saying that your idea isn't without merit, just that it's got a few problems that strike me as somewhat major..
Please elaborate, as I can't see _any_ problem with eliminating 90% of the sitting legislature.
You've completely missed my point. This would be an on-going problem. Congress can only function with some idea of compromise in it. When you're passing budgets, especially the kind of budgets we have right now, they get big and complicated, I can't see that changing significantly, even with a massive turnover of members. But having no consistency in Congress at all, even for some "good" reps would be horrible.
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