A proposal to improve Congress

You, as I, probably suffer from a flood of e-mail. Often it is little more than junk that's been casually forwarded umpteen times, with all of the dozens of associated addresses left in. Perhaps we need some sort of an automatically-imposed limit on the number of messages we can send with "Fw:" in the subject line.

In spite of the time wasted in the process, I do scan most of the e-mails I receive, including even those of the dreaded "Fw:" variety. Sometimes I find a gem. Here's one of those, which, unfortunately I am unable to attribute to anyone, because the original author's name has apparently been lost in all of that thoughtless forwarding.

My friend wants to promote a "Congressional Reform Act of 2010." It would contain eight provisions, all of which would probably be strongly endorsed by those who drafted the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. I know many of you will say, "This is impossible." Let me remind you, Congress has the lowest approval of any entity in government; now is the time when Americans can join together to reform Congress, the entity that "represents" us. We need to get a senator to introduce this bill in the U.S. Senate and a representative to introduce a similar bill in the U.S. House. These people will become American heroes.

Congressional Reform Act of 2010:

1. Term limits: 12 years only, one of the possible options below.

A. Two six-year Senate terms.

B. Six two-year House terms.

C. One six-year Senate term and three two-year House terms.

Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career. The Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators, serve your term(s), then go home and back to work.

2. No tenure/no pension: A member of Congress collects a salary while in office and receives no pay when out of office. Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career. The Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators, serve your term(s), then go home and back to work.

3. Members of Congress (past, present and future) participate in Social Security: All funds in the Congressional retirement fund move to the Social Security system immediately. All future funds flow into the Social Security system. Congress participates with the American people. Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career. The Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators, serve your term(s), then go home and back to work.

4. Members of Congress can purchase their own retirement plan just as all Americans. Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career. The Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators, serve your term(s), then go home and back to work.

5. Members of Congress will no longer vote themselves a pay raise. Congressional pay will rise by the lower of CPI or 3 percent. Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career. The Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators, serve your term(s), then go home and back to work.

6. Members of Congress lose their current health care system and participate in the same health care system as the American people. Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career. The Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators, serve your term(s), then go home and back to work.

7. Members of Congress must equally abide by all laws they impose on the American people. Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career. The Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators, serve your term(s), then go home and back to work.

8. All contracts with past and present members of Congress are void effective Jan. 1, 2011. The American people did not make this contract with Congress; members of Congress made all these contracts for themselves. Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career. The Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators, serve your term(s), then go home and back to work.

I ran a quick check on the longer-serving members of Congress, and easily found more than a dozen who had held on to their cushy jobs for more than 35 years. The records were apparently set by Sen. Robert Byrd, 51 years, and Rep. John Dingell, 54 years. Seemingly, the term limits specified in the quoted material above make a lot of sense, as do suggestions to bring retirement, pay raises and fringe benefits in line with what the general population lives with.

Do you think we'll live to see anything such as this proposal made into law? Do you believe that Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi is a dedicated public servant; that replacing our old light bulbs with fluorescents will halt global warming; or that we will provide free health care to everyone without significantly raising taxes?