Could we replace the entire Congress with DP members and get better results?

What if we replaced every member of Congress with someone who posts here at DP? It would be done in exact proportions to political lean -- a Democrat for a Democrat, a Republican for a Republican, etc., resulting in an entirely new and totally freshman Congress. The plan would be to get a Congress more willing to compromise and find common ground to get things done and make the country better.

This poll isn't about whether or not this could happen. It's about whether it would work if it could somehow be done.

Luna Tick said:

What if we replaced every member of Congress with someone who posts here at DP? It would be done in exact proportions to political lean -- a Democrat for a Democrat, a Republican for a Republican, etc., resulting in an entirely new and totally freshman Congress. The plan would be to get a Congress more willing to compromise and find common ground to get things done and make the country better.

This poll isn't about whether or not this could happen. It's about whether it would work if it could somehow be done.

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Given that DP includes Reps, Dems, socialists, fascists, commies, anarchists, libertarians left and right, independents, moderates and 'others', how do you see that working out?

Luna Tick said:

What if we replaced every member of Congress with someone who posts here at DP? It would be done in exact proportions to political lean -- a Democrat for a Democrat, a Republican for a Republican, etc., resulting in an entirely new and totally freshman Congress. The plan would be to get a Congress more willing to compromise and find common ground to get things done and make the country better.

This poll isn't about whether or not this could happen. It's about whether it would work if it could somehow be done.

Click to expand...

The problem with government in the United States isn't the political parties.

Rather, it's the entire system of government.

The composition of Congress is mattering less and less as time goes on and the office of the Presidency is becoming more and more imperial. Which is just as Congress wants it. Because it means they can still get the perks of being a member of Congress - namely kickbacks from lobbyists - without having to be responsible for what the government does since the President effectively is the government.

So, in a few decades from now, the office of President will be essentially one of a temporary dictator with Congress as a sham to give the illusion of populist representation.

I think a much better system would be that of a parliamentary system. That way, the executive and the legislature are tasked to function with each other rather than independently of each other. Also, our representatives in both branches are directly beholden to constituents, thus forcing politicians to be responsible for what the government does.

This way the President can't be blamed for everything that government does, since a lot of it isn't his responsibility. Which is bull**** for the American people do.

Andalublue said:

Given that DP includes Reps, Dems, socialists, fascists, commies, anarchists, libertarians left and right, independents, moderates and 'others', how do you see that working out?

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As I said, it would be done based on political lean. If a member of Congress is a conservative Democrat, he's replaced by a conservative Democrat -- a liberal Democrat gets replaced by one of those, a conservative Republican by one of those. Therefore no anarchists would go in. We would have the same political makeup, but different people.

It would never work. The creme de la creme here at DP are not Americans. :2razz::lol:

Luna Tick said:

As I said, it would be done based on political lean. If a member of Congress is a conservative Democrat, he's replaced by a conservative Democrat -- a liberal Democrat gets replaced by one of those, a conservative Republican by one of those. Therefore no anarchists would go in. We would have the same political makeup, but different people.

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Yeah, that would solve everything.

In the short term I think there would be some improvement, as most would be honest in their intent to do right, but human nature would eventually settle in, and, well... power corrupts.

Better yet, replace congress with unaffiliated DP individuals who won't be beholden to party interests. Could use political ideology instead of a D or an R next to their names.

I do not believe it would lead to significant improvements. DP members for the most part (some exceptions) have the same flawed idea about the country and that is that it is the Federal Government should be the dominate governing power. DP seems to have a pretty balanced mix of left and right members much like the country as a whole. This leads to neither side really getting the system they desire and a largely unhappy outcome for all. I feel we should follow the constitution and only allow the Federal government powers granted by the constitution. I believe that if this was done we would eventually see the country divided almost equally with left and right style state governments. This would enable citizens to find states that better suited them and their more ideal government making for an overall happier populous.

they all vote based on political parties, not about what is right for the people. it is all republican vs. democrat republicans refuse to vote with a democrat and vise versa. I have faith that all people on DP would vote on bills based on how they like it, not who proposed it and whether they have a "D" or a "R" before their name.

yes

Luna Tick said:

What if we replaced every member of Congress with someone who posts here at DP? It would be done in exact proportions to political lean -- a Democrat for a Democrat, a Republican for a Republican, etc., resulting in an entirely new and totally freshman Congress. The plan would be to get a Congress more willing to compromise and find common ground to get things done and make the country better.

This poll isn't about whether or not this could happen. It's about whether it would work if it could somehow be done.

Click to expand...

You could take homeless people off the street and get better results than what our Congress has been getting for the last 30 years.

Manc Skipper said:

It would never work. The creme de la creme here at DP are not Americans. :2razz::lol:

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That's the truth. And how could anyone have DP congress without me being involved? :mrgreen:

Luna Tick said:

What if we replaced every member of Congress with someone who posts here at DP? It would be done in exact proportions to political lean -- a Democrat for a Democrat, a Republican for a Republican, etc., resulting in an entirely new and totally freshman Congress. The plan would be to get a Congress more willing to compromise and find common ground to get things done and make the country better.

This poll isn't about whether or not this could happen. It's about whether it would work if it could somehow be done.

Click to expand...

Who would Tigger replace? I don't think there are any facists in Congress.

Well, I doubt DPers could do worse. But better? Bwahahahahaha! After reading the partisian bile from both sides for years, a congress made up of DPers would be doing nothing more than our current congress: Bickering and gridlock. The worst part would be that there wouldn't be mods available to issue time-outs for our more adolescent anger-management challenged members.

I vote no.

MrVicchio can replace Michelle Bachman.

Hahaha just kidding boo.

rocket88 said:

Who would Tigger replace? I don't think there are any facists in Congress.

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He could be in a supporting role.....maybe put in a dress and say he is Michele Bachman's mistress.....

I don't think swapping members with DP members would change anything. Sure, I think there are some DP members who would be more open-minded and respectful as congressmen, but I think Congress changes a person and not the other way around. People go to Congress and their respective party tries to "keep them in line" and direct their votes. People in Congress are tempted by lobbyists for kickbacks. The power of governance in many cases corrupts individuals.

I think there are definitely some moron's in congress that shouldn't be there, but there are also some intelligent congressmen and women that are there and due to their experience allows them to make better decisions. Congress members join committees where those congress members tend to be "experts" on a given issue. Through time and experience these members formulate educated opinions on what the best course of action is. Removing all of our experienced congressmen and replacing all of them with members from DP who have never had experience in these issues would be unwise in my opinion.

Congress corrupts people. DP members are people too. I think Congress may corrupt members here just as it would corrupt those who are elected to serve as Congressmen and women.

HELL YES! I could fix this budget, create new jobs and make sure to create more social programs to help the people so fast it would make your head spin:2razz:

Luna Tick said:

What if we replaced every member of Congress with someone who posts here at DP? It would be done in exact proportions to political lean -- a Democrat for a Democrat, a Republican for a Republican, etc., resulting in an entirely new and totally freshman Congress. The plan would be to get a Congress more willing to compromise and find common ground to get things done and make the country better.

This poll isn't about whether or not this could happen. It's about whether it would work if it could somehow be done.

Click to expand...

Hell no...! Have you not read some of the various people who post here? Some of them will find themselves on the FBI's most wanted list before being able to lead anybody much less the country...

Kali said:

HELL YES! I could fix this budget, create new jobs and make sure to create more social programs to help the people so fast it would make your head spin:2razz:

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Vampires move really fast... that is for sure.

More social programs? Lord have mercy that is what we need...
a Bigger government and more wasted money. :lol:

You will probably win knowing how the average voter thinks...

Not a lot of faith in democracy around here...

It's a lot harder than people assume to be a senator especially or representative. They need to be able to do all kinds of things that not too many people do well. For example, a senator has to manage a team of about 100 people. That alone filters out the majority of potential candidates. Managing people well, especially that big of an organization, is a fairly rare ability. A lot more people think they would be good at it than actually are good at it. Then they need to be able to speak competently about virtually every subject that might come up off the cuff on camera or in front of sometimes crowds of thousands of people. Most people can't do that. Then you need to be able to negotiate with people you loathe without ever losing your cool. Also quite rare. You need to have a great memory for names and facts. You need to have at least a basic proficiency in all areas of policy- even those you find boring like pesticide policy and zoning issues in your district and whatnot. And so on. Just the baseline of skills required to do the job eliminate most people.

But, even putting that aside, we have a whole process of elections. The people in office are the ones that we thought would be the best at it out of an entire country of 311 million people. To believe that they really aren't turning out any better than random people off a discussion board seems awfully pessimistic. IMO the real issue is that the way the media and everybody talks about politics it's easy to get the impression that they're all idiots and the job is super easy and whatnot. That isn't the reality though. In reality most of them, even those I completely disagree with, are still exceptionally bright, informed, people with a rare combination of skills.

okkkkkkkkkkkkkk

rocket88 said:

Who would Tigger replace? I don't think there are any facists in Congress.

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I think his speeches would be the most entertaining. :2razz:

Anyway, just elect me benevolent dictator and all your problems will be solved. eace

teamosil said:

It's a lot harder than people assume to be a senator especially or representative. They need to be able to do all kinds of things that not too many people do well. For example, a senator has to manage a team of about 100 people.

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Run that past me again. A Senator will have a staff of 100? What for? Assuming a (very low) $30,000 average salary, that's 10,000 people, costing $300,000,000 just to service members of the Senate??? Are they paid for from the public purse, in which case... wtf? Or from the Senators themselves which either means you have to be very wealthy (plutocracy, or what?) to keep a staff costing $3,000,000 a year, or from campaign contributions, in which case half of that 100 staff are going to be spending their working lives fund-raising... in order that they can be paid... to fund raise!

What am I missing here?

Now, let me see... it would be a heck of a lot easier, just so long as I'm the dictator. :lol: