the good news is there's already a drafted proposal to remedy this... write your Congressman

The model of governnce we had in place worked well in te past, but I don't think it can overcome this level of apathy and dysfunction. And there will never be enough political will to overhaul the constitution which is becoming more and more exposed by the day. We now have extreme hardline minorties like the tea party dictating terms and holding the country and its economy hostage like they did in the debt ceiling "crisis".

We are toast.

EMS

Some excerpts from an Opinion article in the Wall Street Journal by none other than Sarah Palin titled:

How Congress Occupied Wall Street
Politicians who arrive in Washington as men and women of modest means leave as millionaires. Why?
Novemebr 18, 2011

".......The corruption isn’t confined to one political party or just a few bad apples. It’s an endemic problem encompassing leadership on both sides of the aisle. It’s an entire system of public servants feathering their own nests…..

The moment you threaten to strip politicians of their legal graft, they'll moan that they can't govern effectively without it. Perhaps they'll gravitate toward reform, but often their idea of reform is to limit the right of "We the people" to exercise our freedom of speech in the political process.

I've learned from local, state and national political experience that the only solution to entrenched corruption is sudden and relentless reform. Sudden because our permanent political class is adept at changing the subject to divert the public's attention—and we can no longer afford to be indifferent to this system of graft when our country is going bankrupt. Reform must be relentless because fighting corruption is like a game of whack-a-mole. You knock it down in one area only to see it pop up in another.

What are the solutions? We need reform that provides real transparency. Congress should be subject to the Freedom of Information Act like everyone else. We need more detailed financial disclosure reports, and members should submit reports much more often than once a year. All stock transactions above $5,000 should be disclosed within five days.
We need equality under the law. From now on, laws that apply to the private sector must apply to Congress, including whistleblower, conflict-of-interest and insider-trading laws. Trading on nonpublic government information should be illegal both for those who pass on the information and those who trade on it…

No more sweetheart land deals with campaign contributors. No gifts of IPO shares. No trading of stocks related to committee assignments. No earmarks where the congressman receives a direct benefit. No accepting campaign contributions while Congress is in session. No lobbyists as family members, and no transitioning into a lobbying career after leaving office. No more revolving door, ever.

This call for real reform must transcend political parties. The grass-roots movements of the right and the left should embrace this. The tea party's mission has always been opposition to waste and crony capitalism, and the Occupy protesters must realize that Washington politicians have been "Occupying Wall Street" long before anyone pitched a tent in Zuccotti Park." ---ends---

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204323904577040373463191222.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
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I'm impressed that Sarah Palin would come out so strongly against the political establishment and the Wall Street wealth. What is written here is so true and yet most people just shrug it off thinking, well what can I do about it. Perhaps there will be a unification of the Far Right (Tea Party) with the Far Left (OWS). Both groups are seeking change from the corruption in Gov't and Big Business/Wall Street. This is actually part of the change happening throughout the world. Dictators, despots, corrupt regimes are being protested against and overthrown. People are tired of being suppressed.

arkrud wrote:

Markji wrote:I posted this on the OWS thread but I think it belongs here. Bip, Loweyecue, Ramtour, Earthman, Martin etc - When I see this in the Wall Street Journal, I think there is hope.

Some excerpts from an Opinion article in the Wall Street Journal by none other than Sarah Palin titled:

How Congress Occupied Wall Street
Politicians who arrive in Washington as men and women of modest means leave as millionaires. Why?
Novemebr 18, 2011

".......The corruption isn’t confined to one political party or just a few bad apples. It’s an endemic problem encompassing leadership on both sides of the aisle. It’s an entire system of public servants feathering their own nests…..

The moment you threaten to strip politicians of their legal graft, they'll moan that they can't govern effectively without it. Perhaps they'll gravitate toward reform, but often their idea of reform is to limit the right of "We the people" to exercise our freedom of speech in the political process.

I've learned from local, state and national political experience that the only solution to entrenched corruption is sudden and relentless reform. Sudden because our permanent political class is adept at changing the subject to divert the public's attention—and we can no longer afford to be indifferent to this system of graft when our country is going bankrupt. Reform must be relentless because fighting corruption is like a game of whack-a-mole. You knock it down in one area only to see it pop up in another.

What are the solutions? We need reform that provides real transparency. Congress should be subject to the Freedom of Information Act like everyone else. We need more detailed financial disclosure reports, and members should submit reports much more often than once a year. All stock transactions above $5,000 should be disclosed within five days.
We need equality under the law. From now on, laws that apply to the private sector must apply to Congress, including whistleblower, conflict-of-interest and insider-trading laws. Trading on nonpublic government information should be illegal both for those who pass on the information and those who trade on it…

No more sweetheart land deals with campaign contributors. No gifts of IPO shares. No trading of stocks related to committee assignments. No earmarks where the congressman receives a direct benefit. No accepting campaign contributions while Congress is in session. No lobbyists as family members, and no transitioning into a lobbying career after leaving office. No more revolving door, ever.

This call for real reform must transcend political parties. The grass-roots movements of the right and the left should embrace this. The tea party's mission has always been opposition to waste and crony capitalism, and the Occupy protesters must realize that Washington politicians have been "Occupying Wall Street" long before anyone pitched a tent in Zuccotti Park." ---ends---

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204323904577040373463191222.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I'm impressed that Sarah Palin would come out so strongly against the political establishment and the Wall Street wealth. What is written here is so true and yet most people just shrug it off thinking, well what can I do about it. Perhaps there will be a unification of the Far Right (Tea Party) with the Far Left (OWS). Both groups are seeking change from the corruption in Gov't and Big Business/Wall Street. This is actually part of the change happening throughout the world. Dictators, despots, corrupt regimes are being protested against and overthrown. People are tired of being suppressed.

"sudden and relentless reform" is called Revolution. Isn't it?
This is how Lenin said when "People do not want it any more and power cannot do it any more..."
Take the wealth from 1% and give it to 99%.
Worked in Russia in 1917.... Not sure that most of this 99% will like the result.

Markji wrote:
I'm impressed that Sarah Palin would come out so strongly against the political establishment and the Wall Street wealth. What is written here is so true and yet most people just shrug it off thinking, well what can I do about it. Perhaps there will be a unification of the Far Right (Tea Party) with the Far Left (OWS). Both groups are seeking change from the corruption in Gov't and Big Business/Wall Street. This is actually part of the change happening throughout the world. Dictators, despots, corrupt regimes are being protested against and overthrown. People are tired of being suppressed.

It is sheer naivette bordering on ignorance to believe the Tea Party is anti big business, the tea party is funded by billionaire owners of big business like the Koch Brothers. The money is recycled through fronts like Americans for Prosperity - stated goal of AFP is to restrain Government and SUPPORT businesses. As far as I can tell the TEA party has never come out with a single position against Big business, now that there is this movement gaining strength all of a sudden the hypocrites are going into "spin mode" overdrive.