I received the below-shown email text from a friend and thought I’d share it—it’s a suggestion on how we can fix Congress. I definitely have an opinion about it, and I share my thoughts afterward.
What’s Good For the Goose
The 26th Amendment (granting the right to vote for 18-year-olds) took only three months and eight days to be ratified! Why? The people demanded it. [And] that was in 1971 before computers, e-mail, and cell phones. [The amendment was adopted in response to student activism against the Vietnam War and to partially overrule the Supreme Court's decision in Oregon vs Mitchell.]
Of the 27 amendments to the Constitution, seven took one year or less to become the law of the land all because of public pressure.
[This is what I now suggest to fix Congress:] Congressional Reform Act of 2011
1. No tenure/no pension—a Congressman collects a salary while in office and receives no pay when [he/she] are out of office
2. Members of Congress participate in Social Security. All funds in the Congressional retirement fund move to the Social Security system immediately.
3. Congress can purchase their own retirement plan, just as all Americans do.
4. Congress will no longer vote themselves a pay raise. Congressional pay will rise by the Consumer Price Index or 3% [whichever is lower].
5. Congress loses their current health care system and participates in the same health care system as the American people.
6. Congress must equally abide by all laws they impose on the American people.
[The author of this piece] is asking each [American] to forward this [message] to their [email and/or Facebook] lists and ask each of those to do likewise. In three days, most people in the United States of America will have the message. This is one idea that should really be passed around. THIS IS HOW YOU FIX CONGRESS!
I don’t believe the suggested solution will fix Congress, but it will certainly get the ball rolling. It’ll be an interesting social experiment to see if it goes viral and if it has any impact. If I were a congressperson, I’d be mighty nervous right now, especially when there is growing global dissent and outright intolerance of governments that pretend to be “of the people, for the people.”
Please know that Obama is not my focus here. Congress is my focus–all democrats, all republicans, and all tea partiers. They comprise the machine that is Congress. And this machine has grown into a parasite that feeds (profits) heartily off our fear. That’s why they keep us inflamed by blaming Obama and/or their opposing party for EVERYTHING. It keeps the focus off them as a powerful collective, while they wheel and deal in deception behind closed doors.
But what they don’t understand is that we are waking up from our sheeple slumber, just like the masses in the Middle East. In our fear, joblessness, homelessness, and hunger, as well as being under the threat of everything we’ve paid into for future security (Social Security, Medicare, 401Ks, etc.) we are being shaken awake, and we’re finally saying “Hey, wait a minute. What are YOU doing? Who do YOU think you are? Do you seriously think we are that ignorant?”
That’s why I believe Congress’ vitriolic rhetoric keeps escalating beyond what we could have ever imagined. The recent debt debacle is a glaring example. But the truth about this debacle is that it really reveals THEIR biggest fear, hence the puffing up and pounding of their chests. The senators in Congress are scared that the citizens of America will begin to critically look at the facts, think for themselves, and demand transparency and accountability. Yes, we tend to do this when our homes are being taken away from us, when our children go to sleep hungry, when our elderly parents can’t get the medicine they need, and when programs we have paid into for decades to secure our future are labeled as “entitlements” that Congress believes should be cut, while they receive their fat pensions for life, whether they are serving in Congress or not.
The politicians know that we are watching as the masses in the Middle East take their countries back from the despots and dictators. Some have done it peacefully, and some have risked their very lives for liberation. The people in Congress know that we are fully capable of getting to the truth—the truth about their smoke and mirrors and the dark, despicable deception that lies behind it. This information is easily accessible from credible, unfiltered news sources. With the internet, the truth can no longer be hidden. That’s why access to the worldwide web is often the first thing to be blocked by desperate, dying regimes.
It can be frightening to learn the truth. When we understand what is really going on, we WILL feel like the rug has been pulled out from under our feet; we WILL lose our bearings; and we WILL feel powerless. That would be the time when we would look to our leaders for guidance, protection, and security. But we won’t find leaders in Washington, DC. We will only find leaders within ourselves.
So my suggestion is to step back from the fear of what is happening right now in our government. Your anger cannot fix this machine. Your anger is actually what feeds it and makes it possible. So, stop playing their wicked game, and look at what is happening from a broader perspective. Simply see that Congress is so desperate to hold onto their power to enslave the people of America that they will do ANYTHING and say ANYTHING to keep you in paralyzing fear. However, they are the ones who are terrified. They know it is coming to an end. All they have to do is look back in history to understand the evolution of revolution. Tyranny can never be sustained. It is inevitable that it will collapse.
Again, I suggest, simply stand back in fearlessness and watch Congress implode from their own actions. Then, when that happens, the people can once again step-in to do what’s right for this country–the good people of America–the average citizens that came to the aid of Katrina victims, when our government abandoned them; the people who are helping rebuild Joplin, Missouri; and the people who generously give to the Red Cross to help people in Haiti, Japan, Somalia, and in our own country. I could go on and on about the multitudes of American heroes. We are proving every day who we can depend on. It is us—you and me. We are far more powerful that we realize, and now is the time to awaken to the truth of our power.
We have an innate wisdom to love and care for one another. Indigenous peoples lived for thousands of years in peace and prosperity on this principle alone. So, let this wisdom awaken in your heart; let peace and love guide your every thought, action, and deed because this is where we manifest our power.
Anything manifested in peace and love will result in peace and love—people like Gandhi, Mandela and Martin Luther King, Jr. proved this beyond a shadow of a doubt. Become a part of the unprecedented transformation of our great country and of our world. We are making history right now! One day, our children’s children will be reading about this Great Shift in Consciousness in their history books and will be very proud and grateful that we created a New Eden for them.
~Sherri Swanson Defesche
