Thursday, January 1, 2015

Issue 496 The Unelected Should Butt Out January 1, 2015

Every November we have an election in the United States, but the new people taking over the positions of the unelected do not do so until January (this is the case with the President of the United States and with the members of Congress).  Now this is potentially a problem, and I of course am going to tell you why.

The issue at hand:  The reason why this delay in transitioning over to the new members is bad is because the unelected individuals may still make laws.  They now can make and vote for any law they please without voters being able to un-elect them again.  You see the biggest fear of lawmakers is being un-elected, but once you take that away, they can pretty much do whatever they want.  This is obviously bad for now they can pass laws on increasing your taxes, creating more penalties and make it harder for the majority of Americans to afford to live in our own country.  You get the picture.

Solutions:  There are a few possible solutions.  The first is the un-elected members of Congress vacate their offices and no longer have any voting power.  Thus, a district will lack representation until January when the new members are sworn in.  Another possibility is to put Congress on vacation until the new members are sworn in after the New Year.  This means no laws will get passed, but it also removes the possibility of a Congressional district (and the people being represented) not having a say in the making and passing of a law.  Mind you these same ideas apply to Senators as well. A State may have two Senators, but that means the State will have one less person to represent them in comparison to the rest of the country.  As such it is unfair.  

The President's position is also one that is affected by such solutions.  We cannot have a President vetoing or passing laws of Congress without the possibility of a Congressional override or evaluation.  Not to mention, the President could try and claim emergency powers and maybe start a war.  But at the same time, we need a national leader to be there if there's an emergency.  As such, a President would and should be limited in their actions during this transitional period.  Basically, they would defend the country if attacked and that is it.

However, there is one real solution to this entire problem.  That is to have the new members of Congress, Senate and the President take up their positions as soon as they know that they have won the election.  Just because they do not have an office to sit in does not mean they cannot perform the duties they were just elected to do.  So this kind of makes the most sense to me than waiting a full month and a half for them to kick the old people out and bring the newer people in.


Conclusion:  Well my last solution makes the most sense.  I mean come on, do these representatives actually think they are worth waiting for?  Do we want to continue risking the possibility of a legislature gone wild?  So let us kick these bums out already and bring in the new blood.

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