Blog: Fixing Our House

This is a critical time in our country's history.  So many issues must be resolved and our government is broken.  We read headlines each day about bi-partisan back-stabbing and petty behavior by our elected representatives.  How can they possibly come up with solutions to our problems when they can't even be civil to each other?  There is no way they can handle problems such as immigration reform, the lack of a cohesive energy policy, gun control, entitlement spending, national security, veteran's issues, an Arab Spring which has spread and engulfed the entire middle east, nuclear threats from Iran, delusional behavior of North Korean leadership, re-writing our tax code, the huge deficit, the sickly economy as well as social programs and job creation.

It might be time to try an experiment to see if we the people can effect some positive change to our Constitutional Republic and have our voices heard, for once.  Attrition of members of the House of Representatives -- members who retire, must take a medical leave of absence or are under investigation for possible criminal behavior, or for any other reason (death, of course) will eliminate that seat from the election process.  That seat will be filled within that congressional destrict by a citizen legislative replacement drawn from a lottery pool.

We would need to create a database of all landowners who are registered voters in relatively good health.  They must work and live in the community and be willing to volunteer their services to serve in the House of Representatives for a period of two years without pay, perks or pension.  They would need to have enough resources to pay all their own expenses, including transportation to and from Washington, DC, as well as all costs involved in living and working there.  Five names would be pulled from the lottery pool.  The first person would become the House member.  The second person would observe domestic policy, the third international policy, the fourth would focus on federal policies such as the creation of bills, laws, taxation and spending.  The fifth person would act as an alternate for all of the other four.  The final four could set their own hours and time spent in observation.  All five would report back to the community every so often to issue updates.

After the two-year term is up, a new team would be picked from the lottery.  There would be no gender-specific or party affiliation rules -- open to all stakeholders within the particular district.  The names of people who have served would then be deleted from the pool to allow for more diversity.

This idea is described in our Constitution as our citizen legislature -- part of our bicameral legislative process.  These people could find out why our government is broken, why there is fraud, corruption and duplication in programs.  They could tell us if it's true that lobbyists congregate at a coffee shop across from the White House waiting to pounce on anyone who will help spread their influence.  We could find out why our politicians continue to hound us for donations constantly.  We can finally have a voice and some control over what happens in our nation's capitol and federal government

This would be an experimental program open to all communities.  I think it's time we gave it a try, don't you?