At least according to Rasmussen:
A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey shows that 45% of likely U.S. voters now think a group of people selected at random from the phone book would do a better job addressing the nation’s problems than the current Congress. That’s up 12 points from October 2008, just before the last congressional elections. Thirty-six percent (36%) disagree, and another 19% are not sure.
White or yellow pages?
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OK. This sounds partisan, but count me in.
William F Buckley said this a long time ago, and the country is catching up to him.
Not me. I’d rather have qualified people running the country.
I don’t like the odds of a random phone book pick. For one, they haven’t figured out how to remove their name from the phone book.
Three words: internet direct democracy.
Problem here is that we DO have government of and by the people. We DON’T have professionals, we have “us” and we’re stupid. How can I say this? The House has 97% re-election rate, and a 23% approval rating. You whining gits in the public are happy to drone on and on and on about how bad Congress is, but you ALMOST ALWAYS re-elect YOUR representative over and over and over. YOU’RE the problem! Most of the public (you) are lazy and stupid and want endless tax cuts, and more services at the same time. You care more about electing fake representatives who proclaim love Jesus more and be more ‘godly’ than the next guy (course they aren’t) instead of electing the BEST person for the job. What if the best person to run our country happened to be an atheist lesbian? NO CHANCE she’d get elected. You (the public) are dumb and would vote for some sleazy cheap politician with shinny white teeth and a cute smile who promises to protect your “family and morals” (whatever the f**k that means). YOU’RE the problem! Until you stop it, we’ll have the same results.
Doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results…insanity.
45%? Isn’t that number of people that are too stupid to vote anyway?
Well said, #5. Anyone who voted for an incumbent in the last election (or didn’t vote at all) has no right to complain about the current congress.
I do think it is time for a lot of the critters to retire without much regard for which party they disgrace.
If the nation had the chance to vote on which three congress critter got bared from office with all congress critters listed that might be a good thing.
So, Americans would prefer a congress that is like the average jury? Even if it was like the OJ Simpson jury?
Really?
I, personally, have not lost sight that most Democratic representatives tried to do the right thing with health insurance reform but where blocked by a recalcitrant, conservative minority who say “no” to everything.
# 5 Crazy Smart
Sage words my friend.
It’s not the individuals… it’s our electoral system that’s the problem.
If you flushed every single congressperson out and replaced them with new ones, most would be soon corrupted by the money thrown at them.
If you are honest, you’d probably get corrupted too! It’s insane that it costs millions of dollars to get elected.
#5 Well said!
The problem is, everyone wants other people’s representatives booted out. Ours, well, he brings home the bacon to our district so we’re keeping him.
Reminds me of that classic Onion article: “98% of Americans Think Mass Transit Is A Good Idea For Other People”
I’d be more impressed with people like deowll and bobbo if they vote their own representatives out.
We announce a lottery to pick all the Congressmen, Senators and President.
Everyone who enters the lottery is put to death.
Repeat.
Eventually people will stop entering.
At this point, hold elections as usual.
The current congress is already picked from the Yellow Pages. The entire system has been corrupted by corporate influence, owing to the high cost of running for re-election. Before we pick from the phone book, let’s remove corporate influence, cap campaign spending or move to public financed campaigns. The current congress only represents the interests of the corporate elite and defense industrial complex (including defense contractors and mercenary armies).
#5 I assume your screed is directed toward yourself as well or is it the proletariat you are addressing?
#9
What a load of BS. Your Democrat tools have the majority. They simply needed to convinced their own people about health care reform and did not the Republicans.
Har!
>> # 16 Thomas said, on January 8th, 2010 at 7:31 pm
>> #9 What a load of BS. Your Democrat tools have the majority.
The “BS” is this claim that liberals have the majority.
We do have a majority in the House and they have done some pretty-good work.
But in the Senate? We simply don’t have 60 decent senators.
ALL whole GOP are dysfunctional do-nothing anti-Americans. Add to this a handful of CONSERVATIVE Democrats who are just as bad.
This is more than enough to block the progress America needs to succeed as a country.
#18
Your boys (and girls) are so scared of a filibuster that you wouldn’t even try. You own the House, most of the Senate and Presidency. Frankly, if you can’t do it with that, it shows a dire lack of leadership. That IMO is the real fallout from the health care debate. It has illuminated the fact that Democrats have a severe lack of leadership skills from any Democrat including and especially Obama.
#19 Absolutely, Thomas — the Democrats are gutless wimps, and that’s the only thing the Republicans have going for them. Lucky Republicans.
Thomas,
You remind me of those city folk who blame the police more than the people who actually commit the crimes.
The criminals in the Senate are those who block every damn thing.
Yes, I too, blame the Dems for not kicking the asses of the conservatives who are hell-bent on blocking everything and anything that helps the average person.
But you have lost sight of WHO are the bad guys in government — it’s the bought-off, block-everything conservatives… most are Republicans and a few are Democrats.
But, as I said earlier, the real problem is the money in the system rather than just the conservatives or even the filibuster.
We need 100% public financing of the elections — absolutely no private or corporate money allowed. Not a dime.
It would be the best-deal ever for our tax dollars.
I think Crazy Smart is on to something. We can’t hope to have a functional democracy if the population is simply incapable of choosing competent representatives. At least monarchs are too rich to accept bribes.
Greg Allen, jury’s are almost never random. Yes, people are called in to jury selection via a random notification process but the judge and attorneys use cross-examination to weed out the undesirables and the biased.
The O.J. trial jury was absolutely not random. It was stacked heavily with African American women. The defense attorneys knew that these women would be quick to defend an accused black male while the stupid state prosecuting attorneys thought that the facts would win them over and didn’t protest they final seated jury. End result, a show trial with a hung jury and a double homicide murderer went free.
Yes, I would trust a true randomly selected congress over the hacks we currently suffer under. But only if it were truly random and a big enough sample to assure it.
Mark T,
I suppose you have a valid point when it comes to high-profile juries.
The jury I was on had minimal screening (I don’t remember any) and the demographics where about what you expect from your average Cosco, football game or state fair.
Is that really who Americans want leading our country?
Not me! I want above-average people at the helm of our country.
But, I’ll say it again — the huge amount of money needed to get elected is the problem.
Without public financing, you could swap every congressman out and they’d be corrupted before the end for their first term.
#21
The sign of a good leader is their ability to convince people to follow them. The conservatives brought to light serious issues with the types of health care reforms being proposed especially in light of the spending spree the Democrats (or should I say liberals) went on with the porkulus packages. There were many better solutions for health care reform that did not require tearing down the entire health care industry to do it. That wasn’t good enough for the liberals. If the Democrats cannot convince their own party members when they have a majority it shows that they have no leadership and that points directly at Obama.
The first category of bad guys in government are the people that are not fiscally conservative and that is mostly Democrats and some Republicans. The second category of bad guys are the ones bought by lobbiests such as the banking industry and in that category, I’d call a tie between the Republicans and Democrats.
Thomas,
I understand, now, that you have been suckered by lies of the conservatives.
There was never EVER any proposal to “tear down the entire healthcare industry.”
This is just absolutely a bold-face GOP lie — just like the “death panels” and all the other crap those guys made up.
As long as you let the conservatives sucker you that way, you’ll never correctly understand what is going on in Washington.
I don’t know. Would you rather have someone in office whose lifeline goal is to gain maximum power and notariety then retire with accolades and millions of $$$ in the bank or would you rather have an average joe that simply wants to get the job done with the least amount of hassle then get home to the wife/husband and kids in time for dinner.
I would rather take an average joe over a power hungry prima donna any day.
I would make one change to this hypothetical scenario, though. The selection pool would not be a random person from the phone book but, rather, a random voter from the registered voter pool. At least, that way, you would end up with a person with an actual opinion instead of someone that simply owns a telephone.
Not a bad idea!
Didn’t the Repukes PROMISE TO PASS A TERM LIMITS AMENDMENT ??? ***THEY LIED, DIDN’T THEY???*** Can’t TRUST A REPUBLICAN !!!
Thomas,
I gotta get off-line but one more thing..
It is crazy-talk to claim that the GOP are fiscal conservatives.
Think about it man… the wage a WHOLE FRIGGIN’ WAR off-budget!
They NEVER EVER told us how they where going to pay for the Bush tax-cuts or Medicare Part D.
Think about that, man… a HALF TRILLION DOLLAR program with not plans on how to pay for it?
Or a TWO OR THREE TRILLION DOLLAR (who knows!) war… totally off-budget with no funding source?
Or 2.5 TRILLION dollars in tax cuts with absolutely no proposal on how to pay for it? Nothing at all. Not consideration whatsoever?
How can you possibly consider that fiscally conservative?
This claim by conservatives that they are more fiscally responsible than liberals has absolutely no basis in reality.
And there is no stopping the GOP — listen to them now. They want to build a GIGANTIC wall between Mexico and the US. As them how much it will cost — they have absolutely no idea! How will we be pay for it? No clue whatsoever!
This is not fiscally conservative! These conservatives are about as restrained as Amy Winehouse in Amsterdam.
Well, I gotta go. You seem like you are honestly interested in doing the right thing… just don’t let they conservatives sucker you from it.