The Senate is a Trough for Personal Ambition

By Rose Pedenko and Tanya Simon

Far too many people are under the misguided notion that a U.S. senator shepherds legislative policies that are best for Americans and this country.

We are going to try to describe what is actually required of a U.S. senator so that we all are au fait with the thin cloak of qualifications, especially when any of them decides to make a run at the Presidency.

The post of a United States senator has been, and always will be, a tax-subsidized ego trip – a position that thus far calls for no defined aptitudes other than a knack for schmoozing the right constituents and an ability to fill that abysmal pork barrel. The only true requirements are reaching the ripe old age of 30, being a citizen of the United States for at least nine years, and an inhabitant of the state they seek to represent, except if you’re Hillary Clinton.

Unlike most of us working stiffs, the position of senator has no enforced hours of work or standards of accomplishment. Senators rely solely on their ability to make John Q Public believe, through their gift of gab, their intentions to carry out campaign promises.

In actuality, senators, for the most part, are hidebound blusterers or bellicose busybodies who expect everyone to take them and what they say seriously. In addition, they readily acquire a sense of entitlement to hefty salaries (which they vote to increase), top-of-the line healthcare benefits, and a goody bag of perquisites – all subsidized by taxpayers. The six year term automatically ensures eligibility for lifetime benefits, to include a federal pension, health and social security benefits. Not too bad for a job you charm your way into.

Since we are on the topic of taxpayer extortion, in our opinion, they should not have the liberty to vote their own pay increases. A fairer method would be to appoint a non-partisan, independent oversight and compensation committee. It would act much like the Roman Censors. A Censor’s authority could include the following, based entirely on the ancient blueprint:

One of the primary functions of the Censors is to review the Senate rolls and expel members for improper practices … membership in the Senate could be stripped by the Censor if a Senator has been found guilty of disregard of the mores majorum (public morals, literally: the ways of the forefathers), e.g., corruption, disregard of a colleague’s veto, abuse of capital punishment, severe domestic violence … and bankrupts or is an adulterer, or if auspices demanded to.

The committee would have the power to conduct a yearly performance review of each senator (based on achievements and failures) to establish whether a pay raise, a pay cut, or the boot is given – a meritocracy that strips away indolence, incompetence or high-mindedness and reminds them that their reward is to be of service to their country, not to him or herself.

This would be ideal because Senators, for the most part, prove repeatedly that they are least expert when it comes to understanding or reading the pulse of the electorate on high-level political, economic and moral issues. Instead, they huddle in teams, drawing from each other’s weaknesses, then deliberate and caucus with their colleagues in that non-collegial rarified air of Washington – to appear like they really care, which they do not. As often as possible, they whore themselves in front of the media, and for the benefit of the sheep that voted them in, to claim they have the right answers to those complex issues, which is almost never.

On the infrequent occasions senators actually do comprehend the People’s will, they more likely refuse to bend to the will of the electorate in favor of some imagined sense of their place in history, and more importantly, their place in corporate America after they leave office. Case in point: The People’s collective and ear-shattering “No!” in 2007 to the Senate’s attempt to pass a scurrilous comprehensive immigration bill – Z-visas, free driver licenses, free medical, free social security benefits, and everything else under the sun to be handed over gratis – for the millions who crossed into America illegally.

In case you were not aware, and you probably are not because senators are sneaky little devils when it comes to withholding crucial information the People are entitled to know: the total per-year dollar amount to support these criminals exceeds the total per-year cost of the war in Iraq (which, by the way, we are winning).

Which brings us, would you believe, to the subject of the three presidential candidates, who are (by gosh, by golly) U.S. senators. Let us begin with Barack “Two Years in the Senate and I Know Everything” Obama, who is fast becoming a handful to his own party and, if elected, to the entire nation. Then there is Senator Hillary “Would I Lie?” Clinton and Senator John “These are God’s Children” McCain. As Senators they have accomplished little, save John McCain (who accomplished everything the Democrats had hoped for).

To be fair, there are more than a handful of faithful elected officials that deserve the title of “Honorable.” Unfortunately, you won’t hear their names in the mainstream media because those good public servants are busy actually serving the People.

http://www.lowdowncentral.com/feature-article/2008/3/27/the-senate-is-a-trough-for-personal-ambition.html