What are you ideas to help the country turn around

It was during the Clinton years that lending restrictions were loosened up ridiculously that caused the mortgage and banking crisis of the last few years. Blame the administration or Congress if you want. They all worked together.

I will concede that congress has more blame than any of the presidents for a lot of our problems. My trust in elected officials, particularly the career politicians, is very low. They are the true high dollar hotties of our nation - bought and paid for.

How do change an oligarchy? Originally Posted by J.G. Wentworth

DING DING DING!!!! Yes, repealing Glass-Steagall was a very bad proposal by the R congress and very bad signing by a D president who had line item veto authority.

You change it by voting out the bastard career politicians. If we did that every election cycle, we might actually start getting real people into the beltway and not these bought and paid for politicians.

You have no credibility when you can't even see what's happening right now. Originally Posted by DFW5Traveler

See above Douche, the rest was the time WAS a Republican congress. The Democrats said we'll fix the spending and that is why the Republicans lost congress during the Bush administration. They fixed it all right, it's been exponantially increasing. Originally Posted by DFW5Traveler

You can't seem to follow the discussion very well. Ironic for someone who claims credibility is based on following what's happening now.

Nobody said anything about a Democratic congress. The only claim i was addressing was your claim that the Republican congress, and not Bill Clinton, was the fiscally responsible party when it came to balanced budgets. Oh, and your claim that having blinders was, i think the term you used was, "disgusting".

By the way, you're sounding more and more like Marshall every day. Funny that it seems when he posts heavily, you're nowhere to be found. And when you post heavily, he's nowhere to be found. Though me thinks he'll show up soon after you read this. Just a hunch.

Repealing the 17th amendment? I looked it up and it seems to be simply replacing the election of US Senators from election by State Legislatures to popular election by the people of the State. It would seem to me that under the initial law, if a State Legislature elected the States Senator, the elected Senator would always be of the same (Democracrate or Republican) party as the Legislature. Changes in the Senate would be delayed somewhat depending on changes in the Legislature and the electoral process would be less responsive than the current method under the 17th Amendment. How would repeal of the 17th Amendment be beneficial.

Repealing the 17th amendment? I looked it up and it seems to be simply replacing the election of US Senators from election by State Legislatures to popular election by the people of the State. It would seem to me that under the initial law, if a State Legislature elected the States Senator, the elected Senator would always be of the same (Democracrate or Republican) party as the Legislature. Originally Posted by Jdriller

Probably

Changes in the Senate would be delayed somewhat depending on changes in the Legislature and the electoral process would be less responsive than the current method under the 17th Amendment. Originally Posted by Jdriller

Exactly!

How would repeal of the 17th Amendment be beneficial. Originally Posted by Jdriller

It would make the central government weaker and increase the power and strength of state legislators; thus, reinvigorate the Republic as established by the Founding Fathers. Repealing the 17th Amendment would slow change. Contentious legislation, like ObamaCare, would not pass as it was passed. 27 states - representing 54 Senators - brought suit against the law after it was passed. The "Blue Dog" Democratic Senators were looking out for "themselves" as elected officials on the Hill when they conceded to do Obama-Reid's will in the Senate. If they had been appointed by state officials, Obama and Reid's control would have been significantly less, because these Blue Dog Senators would have been directly accountable to the state legislators at home. The Founding Fathers realized that a true democracy soon degenerates into mob rule. That is why they established a Republic.

However, by the time the 17th amendment was passed, many of the individual States had already changed State Law to change from selection to the Senate via the Legislature to election by the people of the State. And the trend historically was towards election by the people. If the 17th Amendment was repealed but the election of Senators continues to by in most States by the people rather than Legislative selection how would that change anything?

Reduce the power of Public Schools - make it more competitive - how else would the younger generations learn to compete.

Reduce the 96 weeks of unemployment benefits and invest some of that money into retraining and skill building assistance - I personally witnessed the laziness of employable people immediately after Katrina... "No, I don't want to work for you, I'll sit here and wait for my FEMA check."

Work to counter the double (or triple) standards of admissions and hiring due to Affirmative Action. For example... when a managerial objective is to retain all female employees in the company, several males were fired for the same infractions that several females were promoted for.

Create a foreign aid fund, and make contributions to that fund VOLUNTARY! I enjoy helping those in need, but the government has no right to force me to do so.

I also agree with a lot of other ideas previously posted, however I believe that subsidizing uneconomical technology (solar, ethanol, etc) should not fall under the government's umbrella. If those programs were economical, they wouldn't need to be propped up.

However, by the time the 17th amendment was passed, many of the individual States had already changed State Law to change from selection to the Senate via the Legislature to election by the people of the State. And the trend historically was towards election by the people. If the 17th Amendment was repealed but the election of Senators continues to by in most States by the people rather than Legislative selection how would that change anything? Originally Posted by Jdriller

Only seven states had changed state law to authorize the popular election of Senators before the 17th Amendment was ratified. I did not realize this until you posted. BTW, in some states, the governor appointed the Senators.

IMO, if the 17th Amendment is repealed, it should be the state legislators that choose the Senators. Consider this, has there been a really viable, third party movement since the ratification of the 17th Amendment? No. IMO, repealing the 17th Amendment would also weaken the apparatus of both political parties at the national level, and that might be the breach a viable third party need to organize and offer alternative policies and candidates. It's the way the Populist did it in the late 19th Century, and the Populist grew to be so powerful that the Democratic Party co-opted its platform and much of its leadership. Of course, one of the planks in the Populist platform was the popular election of Senators. The 17th Amendment, again IMO, was necessary at the time, but I feel its time for the pendulum to swing back the other way for a while.

Per your last question, the Constitution and federal law are the supreme law of the land; thus, preempting conflicting state and territorial laws in the fifty U.S. states and in the territories.

The 17th amendment has absolutely nothing to do with the predicament this country is in and we need to stop dicking around with that red herring.

The core problem has been that this country has simply been consuming more than it has been producing.

Because of very poor leadership, we are facing many problems at once and we need to cut back on wasteful spending and end the idiotic wars we are in.

We can't do that with a scalpel anymore, we need to use a chainsaw and trim the ridiculously high military spending among others.

We have too many people in prison that are expensive to maintain and a serious drain on the budget. We need to find innovative ways to better educate people and substantially reduce the prison population.

. . . We need to get people back to work!

The 17th amendment has absolutely nothing to do with the predicament this country is in and we need to stop dicking around with that red herring.

The core problem has been that this country has simply been consuming more than it has been producing.

Because of very poor leadership, we are facing many problems at once and we need to cut back on wasteful spending and end the idiotic wars we are in.

We can't do that with a scalpel anymore, we need to use a chainsaw and trim the ridiculously high military spending among others.

We have too many people in prison that are expensive to maintain and a serious drain on the budget. We need to find innovative ways to better educate people and substantially reduce the prison population.

. . . We need to get people back to work!
Originally Posted by Fast Gunn

Fabulous! Your argument: bad leaders making bad decisions have created an untenable economic situation. Your solution: leave the system the same, and eventually things will be just hunky-dory. Sounds rather fishy . . . have you been smoking that “red herring”?

Counter argument: bad leaders making bad decisions have created an untenable economic situation. Whoops! That’s not so “counter” is it? But here’s a difference – we’re arguing that the 17th Amendment is helping to foster and perpetuate that bad leadership. Currently, Senators are more responsive to a national party apparatus than they are to either the electorate or the states they are supposed to represent. The result is that the central government is growing more bloated and has assumed a role more akin to taskmaster rather than servant of the people.

It is actually You who are totally off base, sir and by the tone of your talk, I would guess it was you who was ingesting something that has you babbling the way you are.

No one mentioned anything about keeping the same leaders.

In case you missed the election, we now have new leadership.

Anyway, I would rather converse with someone who actually sounds lucid if not quite coherent and if you are the best that your side can produce,
I'd best walk away from this fiasco and let Ching and Chong make fools of themselves with little prompting from me.

Simply spouting off articles of the Constitution does not give your argument any legitimacy, but it certainly adds pomposity to your tirade. Originally Posted by Fast Gunn

It is actually You who are totally off base, sir and by the tone of your talk, I would guess it was you who was ingesting something that has you babbling the way you are....

...Anyway, I would rather converse with someone who actually sounds lucid if not quite coherent and if you are the best that your side can produce,
I'd best walk away from this fiasco and let Ching and Chong make fools of themselves with little prompting from me.
Originally Posted by Fast Gunn

Although your own pomposity is quite perverse, there is something that is worse...

http://www.eccie.net/showthread.php?t=16447


Your hypocrisy.

Who in the hell are Ching and Chong?

1. Legalize and tax non-man made recreational drugs.

2. Replace income tax with federal sales tax.

3. Sell all federal assets not directly needed to fulfill only those functions specifically enumerated in the Constitution for the federal government. Use the proceeds to pay current commitments in SS and Medicare/

caide, and discontinue the programs.

4. End all foreign aid.

5. End all "humanitarian" missions for the US military outside the borders of the US.

6. Mothball six carrier battle groups. De-emphasize development and deployment of manned combat aircraft in favor of unmanned combat aircraft.

7. Publicly and officially proclaim our willingness to use both tactical and nuclear weapons to re-establish their deterence.

8. Face up to the fact that all world currencies, de facto, are on the petroleum standard and remove all unreasonable obstacles to becoming a next exporter of oil.

9. Return all armed forces from advance bases and re-task them to patrol our borders.

10. Impose import tariffs on all trading "partners" who do not open their markets to US goods and to those who use what is essentially slave labor.

11. Re-establish the republic by repeal of the 17th amendment.

12. Combine and streamline the command structure of the US military away from the separate branch system toward a unified defense force model.

13. Repeal Obamacare, eliminate HUD, DEA, Education Dept, BLM, BATF, Fannie, Freddie, and the Federal Reserve. Forcefully reacquaint EPA and FDA with their core missions. Originally Posted by Iaintliein

I agree with all thirteen points. I would also say that we don’t need to “turn our country around” as stated by the OP, but rather to re-establish the Republic as you stated in your item #13. Repealing the 17 Amendment is not enough. We need to:

1. Pass a constitutional amendment that limit terms for all legislators to two terms for posts four years or more and four terms for two years – at the local, state and federal level.

2. Pass a constitutional amendment that addresses the egregious attack on the Republic when the Supreme Court determined that corporations could give to their hearts content to a political candidate.

3. Limit or eliminate private budgets and imposes guidelines for public monies to be given to “legitimate” (To be defined by a certain number of signatures or some other such method) candidates for local, state and federal campaigns.

4. Pass federal laws that prohibit predatory lending practices by banks. Such as eliminating pre-approved ad campaigns for credit cards; establish a minimum 20% and go up from there on equity positions in home loans; limiting the number of years one can borrow for a car. (If one needs to finance a car for four years, then you can’t afford it.)

5. Tax the ever-loving shit out of ANY entity that sends a job overseas. And bring our jobs home.

6. Revoke charters for corporations that move their headquarters to Dubi or some other such fake country for the purpose of income tax evasion.

7. Audit, audit and then fine companies like GE for failing to operate at a profit on paper when they sign a $0 tax return.

8. Freeze budgets at the local, state and federal levels.

9. Freeze the debt limit and not borrow any more money for unsubstantiated expenditures and wars we have no business being in.

10. Eliminate special insurance programs and pension plans for federal congressmen and senators and reduce their salaries by 25%.

11. Make plaintiffs financially responsible in frivolous lawsuits.

12. Create oversight for corporations that have heinous safety records or knowingly produce dangerous or faulty drugs, equipment, products or operate dangerously. Civil suit fines are not enough.

13. See that our children are educated in line with other industrialized nations.

@OH & Iaintliein

I disagree with most of what you said.

Having said that, you failed to address the financial hole that DOD and its concomitant defense contracts have created.

4. Pass federal laws that prohibit predatory lending practices by banks. Such as eliminating pre-approved ad campaigns for credit cards; establish a minimum 20% and go up from there on equity positions in home loans; limiting the number of years one can borrow for a car. (If one needs to finance a car for four years, then you can’t afford it.) Originally Posted by OliviaHoward

Gosh, that sounds an awful lot like an egotistical, elitist, i-know-what's-best-for-you attitude.