Article. 1. of the Constitution establishes the three branches of government. Section. 1. establishes Congress. It is first because it is most important among the 3. It is divided into 2 parts, the Senate and the House of Representatives. They are to be equal in the enactment of laws, but different in other aspects.
Section. 2. establishes how the House of Representatives is to be established and chosen. There are several things very important here.
1. The entire body is to be chosen every two years. They are to be elected from the states in which they reside by the citizens within their respective districts. Terms are relatively short. But that also means that they must remain responsible to the people that they represent lest they be replaced. This is the original form of term limits.Section. 3. establishes how the Senate is to be established and chosen. There are several things very important here.
2. The House of Representatives was designed to be the largest of all the branches of government. This is because they directly represent each division or district within their state. They were apportioned based on the population of the country and their state. They are the one group of government who are directly responsible to the people they represent. When vacancies occurr, new elections are to be held so that the Representative remains loyal to his constituency.
3. No politcal party was mentioned. No retirement benefits were mentioned.
1. Each State gets 2, and they were to be chosen by the legislature of each state, not directly elected by the people.Section. 4. establishes that the elections are to take place in the states, and that Congress is to meet at least once a year. Notice that it does not say continuously, but at least once a year. Congress was not meant to be a full time job.
2. They are elected for 6 years. One-third of the Senate is elected each 2 years causing the terms of all the Senate to be overlapping. If vacancies happen, the governor of the state shall appoint an interim Senator until the legislature convenes and can elect a replacement.
3. The Vice-President of the United States is the President of the Senate, but he cannot vote unless there is a deadlock because of a tie vote.
4. No politcal party was mentioned. No retirement benefits were mentioned.
Section. 5. states that each House is to judge their own elections, set their own rules, judge members’ qualifications and keep journals. It also says they have to meet at the same time so that business will be done expeditiously.
The Constitution establishes Congress first, before the Executive or Judicial branch. It does this because it intends for Congress to be the most important of all three branches and for a very good reason. Congress is responsible directly to the people and the states. And the authority of the people and of the States are to be protected. Remember the Preamble and “We the People”.
Notice that the Senate was to be elected by the State Legislatures, not directly by the people. The 17th Amendment changed that.
17th Amendment
Passed by Congress May 13, 1912. Ratified April 8, 1913.
Note: Article I, section 3, of the Constitution was modified by the 17th amendment.
The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each State, elected by the people thereof, for six years; and each Senator shall have one vote. The electors in each State shall have the qualifications requisite for electors of the most numerous branch of the State legislatures.
When vacancies happen in the representation of any State in the Senate, the executive authority of such State shall issue writs of election to fill such vacancies: Provided, That the legislature of any State may empower the executive thereof to make temporary appointments until the people fill the vacancies by election as the legislature may direct.
This amendment shall not be so construed as to affect the election or term of any Senator chosen before it becomes valid as part of the Constitution.
The two main political parties, the republicans and democrats dominate our election process. The Constitution did not arrange that. Money did. Money also made our Congressional offices desireable to “professional” Congressmen and Senators. That is not what the founders had in mind. FEDERALIST No. 53. states
No man can be a competent legislator who does not add to an upright intention and a sound judgment a certain degree of knowledge of the subjects on which he is to legislate. A part of this knowledge may be acquired by means of information which lie within the compass of men in private as well as public stations. Another part can only be attained, or at least thoroughly attained, by actual experience in the station which requires the use of it. The period of service, ought, therefore, in all such cases, to bear some proportion to the extent of practical knowledge requisite to the due performance of the service. The period of legislative service established in most of the States for the more numerous branch is, as we have seen, one year. The question then may be put into this simple form: does the period of two years bear no greater proportion to the knowledge requisite for federal legislation than one year does to the knowledge requisite for State legislation? The very statement of the question, in this form, suggests the answer that ought to be given to it.I would suggest that Publius is more correct than most members of Congress would like to admit. If one has become a professional Congressman, how does he become knowledgable of the subjects on which he is to legislate? The argument against this two year term was for a shorter term to further restrict professional office holders and to allow more citizens to participate.
Another problem is that once the Congressman becomes a professional office holder, he prioritizes incorrectly. First is keeping his job, second is garnering power within Congress, third is what he can do to look good for reelection or what is best to make him look good and stately to his constituents. All three of these items are about government and power, and they lead to the government becoming more powerful. The more powerful they become, the more things they have to oversee leading to them becoming more ingrained in our every day lives. Somewhere along the way, they forget that their first priority is to protect us from the government. In the bigger scheme of things, the government does not help people. It harms them. It takes their hard earned money. It continually increases the number of government jobs through ever growing bureaucracies, jobs that do not create wealth, but rather destruct it. Ronald Reagan once said that the worst thing you could hear was someone knocking on your door and announcing that they are from the government and there to help you. Government is basically bad, taking our treasures and diminishing our personal wealth. Some of it is necessary, but it must be held to the bare minimum. That is why our founders made it so hard to get a law passed, and it is why they set up the House of Representatives to be directly elected by the people with a two year term so that they had to seek office regularly answering to the people in their districts.
The first job of the House of Representatives is to protect the people from the federal government, not the other way around. That means shrinking government, cutting government jobs, reducing bureaucracies and getting the goernment out of our every day lives. This is contrary to what a professional office holder wants to do. It runs contrary to his quest for power within his chosen profession. We elect them. But we cannot oversee them except to express our unhappiness with their actions, and we cannot bring them home until election time. Once they become professional office holders, their loyalty lies with the office or government, not the populace that they represent. Lately there has been much talk about term limits and how to better control the professional office holders. How do we get back to a citizen Congress?
The issue has become much more serious now that Congress has become a home for professional office holders. Originally, Congressmen received $6.00 per day. Today they get $174,000 per year. The Speaker receives $223,500 and the Majority and Minority Leaders receive $193,400. They set their own salaries. There are expenses that are covered as well as all of their health care. They get Social Security benefits, and they can pay into the Federal Employees Retirement System. That will allow them to receive up to 80% of their 3 highest years of salary after 20 years of service. This counts military service, too, before they ever held an office in the government.
Congressmen are allowed over $2,000,000 annually for staff and office expenses. Additionally, they receive expenses for domestic travel, stationary, newsletters, overseas telephones, foreign travel, postage, etc. Their outside employment is limited to 15% of their salary, but they cannot receive compensation for employment in real estate, insurance sales, the practice of law, medical practice, or service as an officer or board member.
One path toward correcting this flaw would be to stop the retirement benefits, cut the expenses and limit their pay. We need a path that returns the Congress to a part time job. By reducing their influence on our lives and returning to part time, the amount of money will shrink as will the amount of money flowing through the political parties. This will lead to less influence by the parties. A good plan, one that would ensure term limits would be to:
1. Reduce Congressional pay to a per diem of something like $1,500 or even $3,000 per day for each day that they are present while the Congress is in session. This includes all expenses; no other amount is to be paid. Reduce their office space. They will not need as many people in Washington once they are part timers.
2. Allow Congressmen to continue in their respective careers while serving in Congress. When Congress is not in session, they are free to engage in whatever business they wish for whatever amount of earnings to which they are entitled. One would assume that the highest proficiency of any individual is in his chosen and professional career. (See FEDERALIST No. 53 above) That should properly be the drive that causes him to aspire to a Congressional position in the first place. That is where his requisite knowledge for doing his job originates. He should be allowed to pursue that and hone it for whatever benefit it will provide him and the United States of America as a Congressman.
3. Allow no retirement benefits from the federal government. This will encourage all Congressmen to return to private enterprises rather than government service. Even if the Congressman has a strong desire to serve, his tenure will not be permanent.
Citizen 2010
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