Do you think your government is and has been corrupt?

The Problem

Over the last 100 years, monetary donations (i.e. campaign donations) and favors from Corporations, rich individuals, special interests and other organizations to our federally elected officials have been destroying the America our founders designed. It is the root of control that Politicians, Corporations and special interests have over America. If you want proof just follow the monetary donations and favors to politicians and you will see how nearly every political decision is arrived at, even a few of the good decisions, which there are far to few of. Later I’ll post the web sites that list these financial facts, if you happen to not believe, that there is corruption in America. If you should happen to think that either the Democrats or the Republicans are exempt from this behavior you are sadly misinformed, they both are the problem. With the system as it currently exists, politicians are given every incentive to be corrupt. I gurantee that if you don't fix this first before you address your social issues, you will never get a good honest decision in America ever again. Your government lies to you everyday. Futhermore you will all fight each other over these lies, never knowing the truth until America's greatness comes to an end. If you don't want to do it for yourself how about the generations to come?  They will have only you to blame because you had the chance to fix it and you did nothing.

The following is a 1st draft blueprint to put an end to this practice of corruption, create Statesmen out of politicians and give the government back to the people as it was intended, regardless of your social leanings. Once you here this plan I invite your comments and suggestions.


Your political leaders, corporations, wealthy organizations and very rich Americans (lets call them the big 4) will fight this with every ounce of their strength, as this amendment would put an end to their life blood to wealth, power and control in America. You can make this happen by requiring any candidate you plan on voting for, sign an oath of support for this amendment. That is the plan of action and only “We the People” can do this. It’s time to throw them out, limit their monetary power and return statesmen, into the service of America. Your favorite representative may even sign the oath. If not he or she is a leach not worth giving a second look to.
 

It’s very possible to do with the Political Honesty Act (P.H.A.)  Let me get right to the point ..

The Fix

The 1^st draft of The Political Honesty Act – An Amendment to the US constitution.

Main points:

1) Political donations.

2) Political favors

3) Politicians wages

4) Term limits

5) Political media bias

6) Heated social issues and states rights

 

On Political Donations..

Simply stated, politicians will no longer receive unbalanced private political contributions, favors or 501C – 527 money, (That’s mostly hidden donations), otherwise ever again. This is not anything like the McCain Feingold campaign finance reform, which is a 1^st amendment issue for some. It's a real legal change, not a bogus cover up. Keep in mind those donations are all government approved bribes. Private donations will not be made directly to a candidate anymore, only to a qualified political party. Those funds can be released to the major candidate of each party for campaigning, but only to the limit of the amount available in the bank account of the party with the least funds available. Along with small, even portions from a government distributed taxpayer fund if it they don’t reach a certain amount. That begins to level the campaign finance playground. No more winning elections just because the politician has payoff & advertising money. Any American Corporation found to be donating to a politician in or out of the United States, the CEO, the politician and any co-conspirators would automatically be tried for bribery and or treason depending on the depth of the matter. The corporation will also be tried for the same offence and possibly be fined out of existence. In addition any politician, corporate CEO's, individuals and organization leaders will also be fined to the point of bankruptcy. If a foreign entity is involved, their right to import their products or services directly or through a go around distribution system to America will be halted for 50 years or taxed at such a great rate it won’t be worth their while, regardless of how much we depend on it. Our new statesmen who write political books while in office must donate their book proceeds to charities etc.. It would be presented as a tax. Remember they are on our payroll with good pay and lifetime benefits. This can easily be enforced as will be explained further ahead. We shall prevail with the P.H.A.

No More Favors

First, no more will politicians own companies that benefit from political decisions. That will be difficult for them to do but will keep them honest. On favors.. The politician and the immediate family members of politicians cannot receive any compensation, jobs or other benefits from corporations or groups benefiting from the political decisions made by the politician or his associates for the time the politician is in office and up to 20 years after exiting office. Remember this is a conflict of interest and is an ethics issue. Of course a connection must be proven. To prevent these corruption violations, a special corruption task team will be paid, mainly by the incentive to find the links or agreements made involving the big 4. That means a bonus to the entire task team if a link is found. This job has a term limit of 4 years and the 100 positions will be chosen by a lottery system of qualified law student graduates. Any links found including favors from one politician to another and proven in a court of law with a jury, will cause the receiving parties and the politicians instant jail time and a fine. Of course this being an ethics violation, the politician if convicted will not receive lifetime benefits and their salary will be discontinued. Ignorance will not be tolerated as an excuse as it will be there job to self-police their affairs. In family and friend associations the politician will be alerted and have 5 days to correct the action if possible. If it is correctable but happens twice with family or friends the politician will step down with the same previously mentioned penalties. Anyone who reports this activity to the corruption task team, and if the activity is found to be true he or she will also be rewarded. If it's a lie he or she will suffer the same fate, as would be the accused. Lets keep them all honest. All this forces a politician to be very very careful of his or her associations and decisions. You would really have to be a patriot to run for office, as it will be no longer be easy to enjoy corruption. We shall prevail with the P.H.A 

New Wage Guidelines

To keep the incentives for statesmen and the learn-ed to seek office and to keep corruption from seeping in, politicians will have new wages.  Their current annual salaries of $160,000 plus are plenty of incentive for bright minds. That's 12 times the minimum wage and shall never be more, nor less than 12 times the minimum wage. Their benefits will end if they move out of the country. This is to keep them from making deals with corporations outside of America. Politicians will not vote for this. Have they ever voted themselves a pay cut, limited their power or have they ever cared more about America then their own personal interests? Not since before Lincoln. We shall prevail with the P.H.A.

Terms limits for the Congress & Senate.

4 terms maximum.  No more career politicians. The Congressman or Senator leaving office will continue on as an assistant for 6 months to help the newly elected official adjust and get up to speed on ongoing projects to keep continuity. Once an official has finished their service they will be part of an advisory panel, available to assist future politicians upon request for up to 10 years after leaving office. That’s 40 hour weeks for 10 months each year if so required after leaving office with partial pay, based on the hours. A return to office will not be accepted and a realistic retirement program will be instituted being their job opportunities will somewhat be curtailed. Now the politicians can enjoy the profits of their books. That will be their only loophole of profit, which will also be monitored for corruption. Imagine getting paid 4 billion for a book deal? Think it can happen now? You bet it does. We shall prevail with the P.H.A.

 

Media Bias

Fair media coverage can be allowed without instituting any 1^st amendment limits, a fairness doctrine or other unlawful practice. A special bipartisan pre-election publication & website will be paid for and provided by the government to give the qualified hopeful politicians equal factual exposure. Genuine newspapers, as a public service, will have to insert this in their papers and websites by law with government compensation. This is a way to institute an inkling of honesty in their publications. Genuine radio news programs will have to do the same by running a government compensated fact announcement commercial giving a fair shake to politicians of all parties. The so-called fairness doctrine is not necessary, as it is an infringement on the 1^st amendment. News outlets will have to declare their program a commentary entertainment program or a genuine news broadcast, before each show is broadcasted, so viewers will understand what they are watching or listening to. Nearly all news outlets are a mixture of commentary, news and entertainment. Furthermore the so-called genuine news media will be under extreme scrutiny for favors to or from politicians. A bi-partisan lottery selected government paid panel, will access the particular slant of media outlets and this will be published in a government news release on a regular basis and must be identified by the broadcaster before each broadcast, issue, web page etc. This is to let the public be aware of who or what the slant is for, so you'll know what you’re watching. The spin goes in all directions. 1st amendment rights are not infringed but enhanced. We shall prevail with the P.H.A.

 
Heated Social Issues
When a Controversial Social Idea divides Americans by anything close to a 50 - 50 split, then the people should have the chance to vote, as to if the decision on that matter should be given back to individual states. Thus giving back the Rights To The States, which have been slowly eroded away. Statesmen (no longer politicians) will also have the ability to vote for or against wars, as they will now mostly be trustable to do the right thing. Citizens all must take an 8th grade level, bi-partisan course by voting age, to teach them basic constitutional history, their rights and civic responsibilities. This and voting will now have tax advantages to encourage this. We shall prevail with the P.H.A

Congress will not vote for this.

As I mentioned earlier they would fight this with every ounce of their strength. –  Politicians may even sign the oath and not enact it when put in office. That’s why I suggest “We the people” may need many non-corporate owned folks to run for office just to change this law. We’ll need good, honest, bright Americans to run for the new congress and senate seats just to add this amendment. Everyone has skeletons of sorts in their closets. May I suggest if you decide to take up this effort that you open the doors to your closet and get it out in the open. Honesty is so important. If your skeleton is not everyone’s business like having sex with an intern, then say you made a mistake, but the details are not the publics business. Anybody who runs for office must sign an agreement saying they will vote for this in it’s final legal form or we the people will not even consider you at the ballot box. These ideas are just a first draft and if others with better ideas would like to contribute and discuss this, I would love to here from you. Once completed we will need a constitutional lawyer to help write this. Politicians must be held to higher standards. If a politician has been convicted for a misdemeanor crime involving dishonesty he or she will not be allowed to ever serve in the House of Representatives. Let us measure their deeds not their words. Politicians are not like us. They represent many of us and should be better than us. Just like we expect a police office to not rob banks. So how do we get this done, have it still be good for America and yet give politicians the incentive to want to serve us? We have to state that we will only vote for those politicians who agree to do this no matter what party they affiliate themselves with. They must take an Oath to enact the Political Honesty Act as their first official act once in office, to get my vote.
We shall prevail with the P.H.A.