Government for the People, Represented by the People

Most of our Representatives and Senators come from money. One of the things I would suggest is putting an income limit on who can sit in office. I would propose that if someone made over $100,000 a year that they could not represent us. Most American citizens barely make $40,000 a year. Someone who makes $100,000 or more a year probably doesn't know on a day to day basis how it feels to pinch pennies, scrape to get by. By placing an income limit on the person who sits in office, the lower income families would be more represented. But one might see the problem here of the person being bought .

The person in the House would receive a $100,000 salary a year. The person in Senate would receive $125,000. This is more than enough to live on. They would live in a federally owned home while they serve their term. They would be required to pay all utilities, groceries, etc...The common daily expenses. We would supply them with a vehicle to drive back and forth to work, nothing expensive, something like a dodge neon. They would be allotted a meager gas allowance, just enough to cover what it would cost to make it to work a week. They would be required to pay for insurance though and all repairs to the vehicle. They would also be required to attend congress. Not just show up for votes. The reason for this is, if we don't show up for work then we don't get paid so they should not either.

Another problem in my opinion is how they have all these little perks. For example, taking a trip to Africa for a fact finding mission, when in all reality they were just taking a vacation on the tax payers expense. This would not be allowed to occur anymore. With the way telecommunications are nowadays they can do this by video conferencing. It would save the taxpayers a ton of money. We would also set it up so that they cannot be bribed.

Right now special interest groups can give little perks (like taking them out to lunch or trips to some exotic place) to persuade their vote. Lower government officials (like USDA employees) are not allowed to have anyone (except family members) buy or give them anything. The governments theory behind this is so they can't be bribed. Shouldn't that theory work the same for Congress. If we make it illegal for them to accept these little perks or for someone to offer them, then that would also increase the voice of the people. If you're going to make rules then the rules should be for all, NOT a select few.

I think we need to change the way a bill is voted on. We need to set up a voting place where people can go to vote on the bill themselves. When the House or Senate go to vote on a bill we have them set a date to vote on said bill. They are then required to send out legal notice using the media (TV, radio, and newspapers) to inform the people of the bill and when the vote date is. The voting would continue for a period of a few days. The votes would then be tallied. Then the representative would have to vote the way of the people. If he fails to do this then he would then be removed from office and face possible fraud charges for misrepresenting his people.

Right now if a Representative was to retire from congress they would still receive their pay until they pass away. They don't have to pay into Social Security or Medicaid. If we were to retire we wouldn't still be getting a check from our employer and neither should they. It should be made so that they are required to pay into Social Security and Medicaid. Upon retiring hand them their gold watch and say thank you to them and leave it at that. The taxpayer shouldn't have to pay them for nothing.

These are just a few things that I think could be changed. Change is good when it benefits the whole and not just they few. If people stood up more for their rights and tried to change things, then maybe we could have a better government.Our founding fathers, when they established the government, set it up so that the government would represent the common person. When it first started out it worked well. But as time progressed it has turned into more of a government for the few. Our representatives are more concerned with their rich friends and big business. I think it is time for reform. Following is a way where we can give the government back to the people.