[Dean's World] Shay: A Chance To Change The Game?

[notify at powerblogs.com]

Posted by Shay:
A Chance To Change The Game?
http://www.deanesmay.com/posts/1167948075.shtml


   [1]In today's Washington Post, Sen. Barack Obama (D-Illinois),
   discusses the need for ethics reform in Congress:

     "We must stop any and all practices that would lead a reasonable
     person to believe that a public servant has become indebted to a
     lobbyist. That means a full ban on gifts and meals. It means no
     free travel or subsidized travel on private jets. And it means
     closing the revolving door to ensure that Capitol Hill service --
     whether as a member of Congress or as a staffer -- isn't all about
     lining up a high-paying lobbying job. We should no longer tolerate
     a House committee chairman shepherding the Medicare prescription
     drug bill through Congress at the same time he's negotiating for a
     job as the pharmaceutical industry's top lobbyist. But real reform
     also means real enforcement. We need to finally take the politics
     and the partisanship out of ethics investigations. Whether or not
     the House ethics committee has been covering for its colleagues,
     the secrecy with which its members have operated has led people to
     question why legislators who are serving jail time were not caught
     and stopped by the committee in the first place. It's led people to
     wonder why Congress cannot seem to police itself. I have long
     proposed a nonpartisan, independent ethics commission that would
     act as the American people's public watchdog over Congress."

   Call me very skeptical. Congresses - whether controlled by Democrats
   or Republicans - have been arguing for ethics reform for decades. The
   best way to increase ethics in Congress is a libertarian approach: cut
   federal government spending by 50% or more, and restore the federal
   government to the limited powers and responsibilities offered it in
   Article I, Section VIII of the U.S. Constitution and subsequent
   amendments. Per the 10th Amendment, all other powers are to flow to
   the states and to the people. Far less goverment spending, then far
   less lobbyists to covet these federal, taxpayer funds.

References

   1. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/03/AR2007010301620.html