This is my list of things I (We) need.
1. An easier way to put on fitted sheets for a king-size bed.
2. Twelve year limits on Supreme Court appointments. Our founding fathers and follow-ups had no idea how decisive, overwhelming, and ineffective on our social and political structure, life-time appointments of the land’s highest judicial would be
3. A form of ethics for all courts, especially the Supreme Court, due to a slew of current and past court atrocities and conduct.
4. Term limits for the U.S. Senate and Congress. No more than 4 terms for the senate and six terms for congress.
It has become scary how many politicians retire with high pensions and always seem to retire as millionaires.
5. Limits on PACs (Political Action Committees) for political candidates. In the United States, a political action committee (PAC) is a tax-exempt 527 organization that pools campaign contributions from members and donates those funds to campaigns for or against candidates, ballot initiatives, or legislation. The legal term PAC was created in pursuit of campaign finance reform in the United States. It sounded like a good idea at the time, but has gone wacko crazy. It not only pads the reelection accounts for politicians, but oh those non-monetary perks.
At the U.S. federal level, an organization becomes a PAC when it receives or spends more than $1,000 for the purpose of influencing a federal election, and registers with the Federal Election Commission (FEC), according to the Federal Election Campaign Act as amended by the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002.At the state level, an organization becomes a PAC according to the state’s election laws.
Contributions to PACs from corporate or labor union treasuries are illegal, though these entities may sponsor a PAC and provide financial support for its administration and fundraising. Union-affiliated PACs may solicit contributions only from union members. Independent PACs may solicit contributions from the general public and must pay their own costs from those funds.
6. Limits on Political influences through lobbyists. Much the same as PAC contributions. It not only pads the reelection accounts for politicians, but oh those non-monetary perks. These special interest people represent the cancer in politics as every tom, dick and hairy business, political interest group and even foreign countries push special interest on elected and non-elected officials with an edge to influence (bribe) to sway voting patterns.
Don’t believe me? Just log the amounts of money floating around Washington. Corporations and trade organizations spend tens of millions of dollars every year to influence public policy. Ever wonder why gun legislation hadly budges?
According to data from OpenSecrets, a watchdog website that tracks money in politics, here are some of the biggest spenders on lobbying in 2018.
Defense contractor Northrop Grumman spent $14,303,000 on lobbying efforts in 2018.
Boeing, the largest airliner manufacturer in the world, spent $15,120,000 on lobbying in 2018.
Telecommunications giant AT&T spent $18,529,000 on lobbying in 2018.
The American Medical Association, which is the largest trade associations for physicians, spent $20,417,000 on lobbying in 2018.
Alphabet, which is the parent company of Google, spent $21,740,000 on lobbying in 2018.
Business Roundtable is a group of CEOs who push for public policy backing their interests. They spent $23,160,000 in 2018.
The National Association of Realtors spent $72,808,648 on lobbying in 2018.
The US Chamber of Commerce spent a whopping $94,800,000 on lobbying in 2018. The group is the largest spender in 2018, focusing on pushing business-oriented public policy.
These are only some of the legally reporting lobbyists. There are more behind the scenes using money to influence political and social decisions.
Since the beginning of time, there have always been ‘special influence peddlers’. It has just gotten way out of hand.
