Does anybody remember the 1994 Republican “Contract with America,” whereby all the GOP members of Congress elected that year pledged by their oath and signature to end Congress’s “cycle of scandal and disgrace,” and voluntarily submit to a 12-year term limit? Here is a little excerpt just to remind you:
“This year’s election offers the chance, after four decades of one-party control, to bring to the House a new majority that will transform the way Congress works. That historic change would be the end of government that is too big, too intrusive, and too easy with the public’s money. It can be the beginning of a Congress that respects the values and shares the faith of the American family.
“Like Lincoln, our first Republican president, we intend to act “with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right.” To restore accountability to Congress. To end its cycle of scandal and disgrace. To make us all proud again of the way free people govern themselves.
“On the first day of the 104th Congress, the new Republican majority will immediately pass the following major reforms, aimed at restoring the faith and trust of the American people in their government:
• FIRST, require all laws that apply to the rest of the country also apply equally to the Congress;
• SECOND, select a major, independent auditing firm to conduct a comprehensive
audit of Congress for waste, fraud or abuse; . . .
• EIGHTH, guarantee an honest accounting of our Federal Budget by implementing zero base-line budgeting.
“Thereafter, within the first 100 days of the 104th Congress, we shall bring to the House Floor the following bills, each to be given full and open debate, each to be given a clear and fair vote and each to be immediately available this day for public inspection and scrutiny.
“1. THE FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY ACT: A balanced budget/tax limitation amendment and a legislative line-item veto to restore fiscal responsibility to an out- of-control Congress, requiring them to live under the same budget constraints as families and businesses;. . .[etc.]
“10. THE CITIZEN LEGISLATURE ACT: A first-ever vote on term limits to replace career politicians with citizen legislators.
“Respecting the judgment of our fellow citizens as we seek their mandate for reform, we hereby pledge our names to this Contract with America.”
* * * * *
The co-author and main dynamo behind the Contract, Newt Gingrich, is long gone from Congress, having hurriedly left under a black cloud of numerous ethics violations. Looking through the list of signatories and oath-takers that made the pledge to the Contract with America, a few names stand out: DeLay, Cunningham and Ney, now in prison or on their way there for corruption, and Mark Foley, now in “rehab.” Funnily enough, many of those Republican members of Congress who pledged to bow out in 12 years (2006), due to agreed term limits, are still there and running for reelection, including Speaker Dennis Hastert. Two of them, Richard Pombo and John Doolittle, are right here in our neighborhood. Of course, his oath committing him to term limits isn’t the only part of the Contract that Rep. Pombo has violated. He was heavily involved with Jack Abramoff, having illegally accepted cash and other favors from the scandal-ridden lobbyist. He has interfered in Federal investigations. He skims his campaign fund in cash payments to his wife and brother. The list of ethics violations committed by both Pombo and Doolittle goes on and on. Did Pombo, Doolittle and the other Republican members of Congress read and understand the Contract that they freely signed and took an oath to?
What happened to the holier-than-thou, God-endorsed GOP? The current Republican-controlled Congress is the most corrupt ever in the history of our country, the majority party having violated many House ethics rules and every main undertaking of their Contract with America. It has proven to be more of a Contract ON America. Wasn’t the Contract really just a marketing tool to gain power and cash? It sure looks that way. You would think that if the 1994 Republicans were an honorable group, none of them would be running for reelection this year, mostly because of shame, but also because they voluntarily signed and pledged an oath to term limits.
For more on the transgressions of Congressmen Pombo and Doolittle, see the Mercury News editorial from last week.
Does anybody remember 1982’s Trickle down economics…..“Reaganomics?”
The entire GOP is a a disgrace. They have no connection to any bible…..they are being lead around like kindergartners by neo cons and Straussians like Karl Rove…..
and look what we get, We are about to hit the highest foreclosure rate ever, in history….
EVER
A few changes describes San Jose City Council
– “To restore accountability to ( San Jose ) Congress. To end its cycle of scandal and disgrace. To make us all proud again of the way free people govern themselves.
THE FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY ACT: A balanced budget/tax limitation amendment and a legislative line-item veto to restore fiscal responsibility to an out- of-control Congress ( City Council) , requiring them to live under the same budget constraints as families and businesses;. . .[etc.]
• FIRST, require all laws that apply to the rest of the country (public) also apply equally to the Congress9 City Council) ;
• SECOND, select a major, independent auditing firm to conduct a comprehensive
audit of Congress (San Jose government ) for waste, fraud or abuse; . . .
• EIGHTH, guarantee an honest accounting of our Federal ( City ) Budget by implementing zero base-line budgeting.
What happened to the holier-than-thou, God-endorsed ( Progressive-Labor endorsed ) GOP ( Democrats) ? The current Republican-controlled Congress ( ( Progressive – Labor Democrat-controlled City Council ) is the most corrupt ever in the history of our country (city) , the majority party having violated many House ( city ) ethics rules and every main undertaking of their Contract with America ( Promises to San Jose taxpayers / voters ).
Bush has been at the helm of more than one corporation that has ended up bankrupt. Now he’s on a fast track to bring this entire country to its financial knees and sell our collective souls to communist China, among other unsavory governments.
The GOP leadership in congress is behind him all the way.
Regime change now or it’s going to be too late. Starting with congressional elections in a few weeks. Pombo is a no-brainer but he’s in such a red-state district there’s a good chance we’re not done with him—or more appropriately, he’s not done screwing us—yet.
We all have to hope that between the screw-ups and the scandals, the arrogance and ideology of this adminstration, that the crossover sector of the electorate votes out the GOP. The religious right won’t deliver on this. They’d rather have more of the same than vote for a pro-choice candidate.
Partisan arguments will not cure corruption. We had partisan attacks against corruption in 1974 and 1976. We got a wave of young Democrats eager for reform.
By 1984, it was just as bad. By 1994, it was time for partisan attacks and a wave of young republicans eager for reform.
By 2004, it was just as bad. Maybe the wave of Democrats eager for reform will come early. I wish them luck.
But don’t think that by voting out (the bad party) everything will be cured. The hard work is keeping your own side clean.
Boy, Dennis #1, you have made me feel sooo stoopid. You said: “We are about to hit the highest foreclosure rate ever, in history….” and you blame it on the GOP.
Pleeeze explain to me in words of one syllable (clearly I could not understand polysyllabic words that you might employ) how the GOP, as a political party, caused that.
I don’t suppose the cause of the imminent foreclosure boom could possibly be ignorant people betting on the come by taking out low teaser rate adjustable rate mortgages because someone told them the rise in home values would surely last forever. Uh, like the dot.com run-up?
The history of the world tells us that we have had economic ups and downs consistently throughout time. Some people predict them (mostly blind luck, I’d contend) and some people don’t. It happens during Democratic administrations and it happens during Republican administrations.
Mostly, it’s the speculator jerks, like those who drive the price of oil up and down like a yo-yom, on rumors, innuendo, and sheer gambling. May they burn in hell, along with weak thinkers.
Mark T # 3 posts: “Now he’s [Dubya] on a fast track to bring this entire country to its financial knees and sell our collective souls to communist China…”
Whew! COMMUNIST CHINA???!!! Reminds me of the days of Fred Schwartz [so, how many of you early baby boomer bloggers rememnber him and the title of his book and speech campaign?] and Eugene McCarthy.
To echo Greg’s point, Jack’s prescription would leave us ten years down the road looking at the same show. Why not push for term limits, as Murphy Sabatino was doing here decades back, try to change the culture a tad, a nudge back toward a time when people had lives beyond politics?
Both parties are corrupt and morally bankrupt Politicians are interested only in re-election so they can continue to feed from the public trough; i.e. other peoples’ money. Kinda like Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson. Those two are the smarter ones—they don’t have to run for re-election, they can just suck off the people who support them with their dollars. Politicians raise millions to spend on ad campaigns to get re-elected. Brothers Jesse and Al need to raise far less money to support their extravagant lifestyles.
Sorry, Jimbo # 7—term limits have been a monumental failure to do what the people wanted them to do. We need a better system to terminate career politicians.
A few examples—MANNY DIAZ. Jeez, a morally bankrupt feeder from the public trough. He goes from one office to the next. God forbid he beats out Sam Liccardo because he signs up enough voters who believe the best qualification for the job is to have a Mexican surname.
The there’s Jim Beall—a great absorber of minute detail, with all the charisma of a box of rocks. He needs to be in the adminsitration, like a city manager’s office or something; not a policy maker. He was in Campbell, San Jose, Santa Clara County, and now runs for Assembly. All term limits jobs.
These bozos just trade offices and recycle themselves, so we get the same lame ideas moving from one jurisdiction to the next.
Jack, Jack, Jack…you really must read up on your history before making a fool of yourself.
From the wiki: “The Contract was revolutionary in its commitment to offering specific legislaion for a vote, describing in detail the precise plan of the Congressional Representatives, and marked the first time since 1918 that a Congressional election had been run broadly on a national level. Furthermore, its provisions represented the view of many conservative Republicans on the issues of shrinking the size of government, promoting lower taxes and entrepreneurial activity, and both tort reform and welfare reform.”
Those signatories to the CWA did not collectively vow to retire from congress six terms hence – they vowed to bring to a vote a constitutional amendment making sure that ALL house members (including themselves) serve six terms in the maximum should the amendment pass (see below).
The zero baseline budget was approached with the “Fiscal Responsibility Act,” an amendment to the Constitution requiring an actual balanced budget; it passed the house 300-132 (GOP 228-2, Dems 72-129, IND 0-1) but was barely defeated in the Senate 64-35 (GOP 50-2, Dems 14-33, Boxer and Feinstein both opposed).
The “Citizen Legislature Act” was an amendment to the Constitution setting forth 12-year term limits (six terms in the House, two in the Senate). That vote was approved by the house by a vote of 227-204, but having failed to achieve two-thirds majority, the amendment died. The GOP went for it 189-40 (with one present), the Donks opposed it 38-163 (with three not voting)
Some of the people to whom you direct your ire, namely Pombo and Do-little, voted in the affirmative on that particular measure. Some people who might stand out in Santa Clara County politics these days voted in the negative on that particular amendment, including Zoe Lofgren and Norm Mineta; perhaps you could question THEIR commitment to a “citizen legislature.”
Unless, of course, you don’t mind people being long-term fixtures in the House as long as they are members of a certain political party or hew to a certain political outlook.
Jack said, “The current Republican-controlled Congress is the most corrupt ever in the history of our country, the majority party having violated many House ethics rules and every main undertaking of their Contract with America.” I would remind Jack of the House bank in the early 1990s (Boxer again!), the activities of Dan Rostenkowski, the cover-up of the indiscretions of Representatives Studds and Frank, the current controversies surrounding Representative Jefferson of LA or Senator Harry Reid of NV, etc., etc., etc.
No political party has monopoly status on corruption or unethical behavior. And for anyone to suggest that corruption or unethical behavior rests just at the door of one party is, quite frankly, an insult to the crooks and liars inhabiting both parties.
You see, Jack, the problem we face now is not the particular party in power. The problem is that the party currently in power thinks it DESERVES to be in power and is acting accordingly. And as long as the congressional districts keep being gerrymandered to protect the incumbents, little will change unless there is a concerted effort to kick out each and every incumbent politician in DC.
JMO, I agree that foreclosure rate has little to do with who’s in charge in DC. Your assessment of that situation is right on.
As for #6, would you have preferred “Red” China? Last time I checked, it was still a communist regime in charge there, the same bunch that squelched Tianamen Square, and I’m not comfortable knowing they’re carrying the bulk of this nation’s W-incurred debt.
Can’t agree more or add anything to what you stated in #9. Let’s hope the people with some brains in D-3 go to the polls in larger numbers than those who will base their vote on surname. That goes for the mayoral race as well. And have you noticed that the sleep-inducing Beall has carefully plotted his every political move so he’s running unopposed for any office he’s chosen to seek? He knows if anyone ran against him, even a slug, they’d have more charisma and beat the pants off him. I personally find this to be blatantly self-serving and disgusting behavior on his part. THIS is what the money hungry Jesuits at Bellarmine turn out? Thanks but no thanks.
Liberalism is a mental disorder.
Exhibit A:
“…the coldblooded killing of 655,000 Iraqi civilians and injury to hundreds of thousands of others, the institution of torture in a system of concentration camps, and denying detainees due process. ”
JD
Thank you for extending the discussion. I am well aware of the legislative results you mention. I think you may miss my point.
When the Republicans pledged their oath to the Contract, they strongly implied to the American people that they accepted the document as a set of principles on which to base their future behavior as members of Congress. However, it was all a lie—a marketing tool presented with a wink and a nod. From day one they were abusing power and stuffing their pockets with lobbyist cash; they never had any intention of “cleaning up Congress” but cleaning up IN Congress. They knew that a Constitutional Amendment regarding term limits would have no chance to pass when they agreed to the provision’s inclusion in the Contract. Nevertheless, they had the opportunity to be examples of that which they professed to aspire to: citizen representatives who would pass the torch to other candidates in due course. The fools were the voters who fell for this ruse and who continue to vote for Rep. Pombo and his ilk.
I stand by my contention that this is the most corrupt Congress ever. Apart from the numerous scandals, corporate favoritism and pork barrel projects, they have corrupted and subverted the Constitution by enabling and supporting the murderous Bush regime in prosecuting a completely unjustifed war, the coldblooded killing of 655,000 Iraqi civilians and injury to hundreds of thousands of others, the institution of torture in a system of concentration camps, and denying detainees due process. And it’s not just the Republicans. There are plenty of colluders on both sides of the aisle who do not deserve to be reelected.
Novice
If you want to find mental disorder aplenty, visit 1600 Pennsylvania Ave, DC. Read the following if you want to face reality:
http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140673606694919/fulltext
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/curren-w-warf-md-/655000-iraq-war-deaths-_b_31843.html
Read 13 and 14 to get a sense of the problem. 13 will vote for a Republican, no matter how bad. 14 will vote for a Democrat, no matter how bad. Both have good reasons, from their perspective.
The result, unfortunately, is that bad democrats and bad republicans mostly stay in office, since they can rely on the votes of 13 and 14.
RE: #14, Go get ‘em Jack. Although I think your attempts at reason or logic are futile with anyone who defends the current regime in DC.
Ok. I admit I was wrong. I’m a believer now – Bush is Hitler and Al Qaeda are freedom fighters.
BTW, here’s some stunning research I just discovered that proves without a doubt that 9/11 was a sinister plot masterminded by the Bush administration so the US could go to war to get oil.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=kfTpv5Kf-JQ
http://youtube.com/watch?v=xFakSTXmvt4
http://youtube.com/watch?v=VLPDfGbWNUQ
The truth is out there.
Greg #16
How can you possibly know who I will vote for and who Novice will vote for? Your assessment couldn’t be more wrong in my case.
What is “the problem” you refer to and what is your solution if it isn’t voting for the candidate that comes closest to representing your viewpoint and working to make your voice heard whenever you can? There are lots of other choices out there besides Repubs and Dems—two factions of the same party in my view. Are you a Green? A Libertarian? A Democratic Socialist? A Utopian Anarchist? How do you decide who to vote for?
It is truly uncanny how Mark “Frontyard Mushrooms Rule!” T can be so on the mark time after time.
Uri Geller – who’s your daddy?
Jack, Jack, Jack…. you obviously missed my point as well – the corruption goes bone-deep in BOTH parties. The problem in DC is not whichever political party is in charge, it is the power structures in place surrounding DC that takes formerly honorable people with ostensibly good ideas (which is precisely what the CWA was) and turns them into power-saturated dunderheads. My own rep, Do-little, is Example A, B, and C in that particular puzzle.
Now then, regarding the Iraq War: You don’t really believe that Lancet study do you?
Check this link from some people who also vehemently disagree with the Iraq war, and have their own issues with the Lancet study – “http://www.iraqbodycount.org/press/pr14.php”.
From their conclusions: “We would hope that, before accepting such extreme notions, serious consideration is given to the possibility that the population estimates derived from the Lancet study are flawed. The most likely source of such a flaw is some bias in the sampling methodology such that violent deaths were vastly over-represented in the sample.”
Later: “All that has been firmly documented as a result of the Lancet study is that some 300 post-invasion violent deaths occurred among the members of the households interviewed.”
How Lancet extrapolated 655K from 300 actual reported deaths is easily explained – they took data and massaged it to get the result they wanted.
Irony of ironies: Lancet conducted themselves much like the people who got us into Iraq in the first place. Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.
Regrettably, this is not the first time that Lancet has gotten nailed for massaging the data to provide a given conclusion regarding the Iraq war.
The result, though, is that it has taken otherwise intelligent people like Jack (who for some reason believe the Lancet despite its track record) and made them read like dyed-in-the-wool, Kool-Aid-swilling Kostards.
Jack – I would add one caveat to your assertion of 65% of the nation opposing the war, that being that a significant chunk of those on the “right” stand in ostensible ‘opposition’ to the war based on the manner in which it was carried out – for want of a better word, too softly. Taking a culture based on malevolent dictatorship and suddenly loosing it on a parliamentary pipe dream was sophistry of the highest order.
And FWIW, most of the killing occurring in Iraq since combat has ended has not been by or for the United States, but instead for (someone’s interpretation of) the Greater Glory of Allah.
“But, in a larger sense, we who have opposed the folly of the Bush/Cheney regime also bear responsibility as accessories to these horrific crimes as they have been committed in our name, albeit against our will and on the basis of a fraudulent cause.”
Oh man.
Do you believe that moderate muslim states are less of a threat to the west than islamic states controlled by extremists?
Do you think there is any chance that moderate muslims can stand up to extremist islamic thugs without help from the west?
Were the feminists happy wrt to women in Afghanistan no longer being forced to wear burkas or being denied education?
Was the gay community in the US happy wrt to the Taliban no longer in power casting homosexuals off of 5 story buildings or burying them alive?
The very people in the US that would be the very first ones killed by islamic extremists, are the very same ones howling loudest about the treatment of the murderous animals held at Guantanomo.
Liberalism is indeed a mental disorder.
There are plenty of legitimate reasons to despise Bush, but his decision to depose 2 truly horrific regimes, attempt to seed democracies in the middle east, and give the people of Afghanistan and Iraq a chance is not one of them.
Recommended reading:
http://www.commondreams.org/views06/1018-30.htm
Jack #25 re your recommended reading: do you believe all drivel that you read? $650,000 deaths cause by America?????
650,000 deaths caused by tribal/Sunni vs Shia violence would be difficult to accept; but by our ill-advised intervention, I think not.
I remain opposed to our intervention in Iraq, despite my firm belief that a relatively small number of Islamic extremists desire to take over the world and establish repressive Islamic States in the same way Islam spread throughout North Africa, and east to Brunei after the death of Mohammed—by armed conquest.
I know Dubya’s not the sharpest knife in the drawer, but he has some sharp advisers. Can they really believe we can take a nation of tribal fanatics, wave a magic wand, and suddenly give them democracy—something even we don’t have, despite a few millenia of working on personal liberty and tolerance?
JD
You may be right. The Lancet/Johns Hopkins/MIT projection might be skewed (Lancet published the study which was carried out by a Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health research team utilizing a method developed at MIT). It might also be an underestimate. There are plenty of reputable scientists, doctors, statisticians, international organizations and others who support the method and the findings. I am a frequent visitor to Iraqbodycount.com and have read their critique. The trouble with their method is that their count relies exclusively on information gathered from the media, and that’s partly how we got to where we are in the first place. However, it’s no use arguing numbers because nobody really knows. The fact is, whether it’s 50,000 or 750,000, it’s a crime.
While I still believe that the CWA was an instrument devised and employed purely to defraud the people, I totally agree with your development of the “power corrupts” theory. The two party system and apparatus of power inside the beltway is practically impregnable and will remain so until enough of us get wise and stop it. Right now, the Republicans are completely in charge of our government with the collusion of many Democrats who have either stayed silent or supported the administration’s schemes. They and citizens that supported and continue to support this war are all responsible for this mess and the murder and maiming of those innocent people in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as our own soldiers. But, in a larger sense, we who have opposed the folly of the Bush/Cheney regime also bear responsibility as accessories to these horrific crimes as they have been committed in our name, albeit against our will and on the basis of a fraudulent cause.
So, where do we go from here? 65% of the country now professes to be against the war and that’s a start. But the killing in our name has to stop.
#23 Novice—“There are plenty of legitimate reasons to despise Bush, but his decision to depose 2 truly horrific regimes, attempt to seed democracies in the middle east, and give the people of Afghanistan and Iraq a chance is not one of them.”
Question to you Novice. Who said, “I don’t think our troops ought to be used for what’s called nation-building. . . . I think what we need to do is convince people who live in the lands they live in to build the nations. Maybe I’m missing something here. I mean, we’re going to have a kind of nation-building corps from America? Absolutely not.”?
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2004/03/02/once_against_nation_building_bush_now_involved/
Johnmichael
I have no reason not to believe the reults of the research published in the Lancet. They don’t suggest that 655,000 were killed by American forces, although that accounts for a significant number, but that the conditions created by the invasion and post-invasion policy, such as it is, caused the deaths through a variety of reasons, including sectarian violence. The civil war that is going on now has accounted for many of those lives lost as has lack of water, electricity and medical supplies, etc., etc. The details are all in the report.
I was skeptical at first because the number scared me, but every day more and more reputable people who understand the situation in Iraq and the methodology that resulted in the report are coming out in support of the findings. Thet are all over the web so youcan see for yourself. I hope to God they are wrong, but unless somebody comes up with something better, I have to believe it.
But why argue the fine point of the numbers? Maybe its only 250,000 and maybe its a million. Who really knows? This country has got to pull its head out of the sand. This crazy war is costing $250 million a day, hundreds of dead and maimed young US soldiers and thousands of Iraqi civilians every month with no end in sight. And the complete idiots that put us in this situation, with the advice of the old war criminal Henry Kissinger, are still in control. How do we stop this madness? It reminds me of the doomsday machine from Dr. Strangelove.
Pull our heads out of the sand?
How about the left pulling it’s head out of it’s narcissistic summer-of-love ass?
Islam is the fastest growing segment of the world’s population – bar none.
Europe, Russia, Japan, non-muslim India, and even China are in precipitous population declines.
The US is breaking even – barely.
Those are facts.
Now what flavor of Islam would you like to share the planet with Jack? Please hip me to the left’s plan for dealing with Islamic facism?
Going out and buying a Prius doesn’t count as a plan.
26 – Dubya has some sharp advisers?? Can you name them, because I can’t think of any?
#28 Novice
“narcissistic summer-of-love ass”? Someone has some anger issues. Perhaps if you took some yoga classes or tried meditation that might help. There’s also always herbal teas… oh and B-complex vitamins are good for stress. Perhaps just communing with nature. Or rent Bambi—have a good cry when the mother gets killed. Or listen to Enya…