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Fri 2 Dec, 2005 12:09 am
'Pork barrel' occurs because locals vote for their representatives who accumulates seniority and privilege and using these try to benefit their own locality by bringing federal projects home.
The way to end 'pork barrel' is therefore to make half of Congressmen be elected by districts and half by at-large party vote. Then once the voter marks the party he may choose whichever candidate from a field within that party of that area. Only the at-large party member may be eligible for seniority for committee chairmanship. If a Floridian voter objects to a Alaskan Senator 'pork barrel' highway in Alaska, the new system will be prevent that Senator from doing that as he knows that it is not only Alaskans who voted him in.
The system should also apply to the Senate i.e. Alaskans will vote for one local senator but the other senator will be voted by the whole nation by party. Only this at-large senator will be eligible for committee chairmanships.
I like the idea of limiting por-barrel expeditures, but not your method. Congress is set up the way it to allow equal representation for each state. The House is based on population, Senate on equality. You seem to want to limit states rights in favor of federal.
Term limits and line-item vetos would go much further towards accomplishing your goal rather than gutting congress.
What I would like is proportional representation. I had described a rough idea created by the spur of the moment. Maybe a slight change(s) could be done. However, I would like a party to get funding if it acquires a minimum percentage of the popular vote say 10% thus leading to a multi-party system. Right now, the nation is swinging from extreme right to extreme left as the extremes of both parties control the selection process. It is like car buyers forced to buy only black and white models of cars. It really doesn't satisfy the car buyer. The voters aren't satisfied either. There are many who are not strictly Republican nor Democratic and they swing around from election to election choosing based on what the two parties promise and never deliver. Bettter to have your own man run and get bargains than a fake agent, don't you think?
Pork is more alive than Work ........Ok and Gay !
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