Political cures that may be worse than the disease Vol.3: Oversight

Gee, this whole Mark Foley scandal gives new meaning to the term "Politics makes for strange bedfellows", don't it?

For those of you keeping score at home:

The head of the Congressional Committee on the Enviroment belives global warming is "the greatest myth perpetrated on the American people." James Inhoffe R-OK

The man in charge of the committee that oversees regulation of the internet thinks the "internets" (his word) is a "series of tubes." Ted Stevens R-AK

The former House Majority Leader doesn't understand the fighting between the Shia and the Sunnis in Iraq because "They all look the same to me". Trent Lott R-MS

And now, the head of the Congressional Commission on Missing and Exploited Children has now resigned in disgrace because he was seducing 16-year-old boys in online chat rooms. Mark Foley R-FL


Think back ten years. At least the woman our president had sex with was 22 at the time (I'll take adultery over pedophilia any day), our vice president actually gave a shit about the environment (and could distinguish a seventy-year-old man from a game bird), and any military action we involved ourselves in came with an exit strategy (okay, to be fair, Somalia didn't work out like we planned, but at least we left when we realized it was a lost cause).


Here's my idea:

The trouble with politicians today is that their mantra is that it's more important to look like you're doing a "heckuva job" than it is to actually do a good job. What they state in press conferences is nothing like what they decide to do behind closed doors.

What's my solution? The same thing you do to a spoiled child. Take away everything they always get that perpetuates their arrogant behavior.

When a politician shows up at a disaster site, don't allow cameras and instead hand him a shovel and tell them to get to work.

If one of them visits Baghdad to see how swimmingly things are going, have him walk around outside the Green Zone with no security detail.

I've said this one before many times: Outlaw teleprompters. In addition to that, eliminate notes as well. Let's see these pricks wing it for a while.

Revoke all diplomatic parking privileges and car services. Have them drive themselves to work and find their own parking space like everyone they supposedly represent.

Call off all rules of conduct in on the Senate floor. There's nothing more pathetic than seeing these guys arguing back and forth and can't refer to each other as anything other than "the representative from the great state of (insert state here)". If they want to bicker like five-year-olds, let them do it without all this courtesy shit. This way, we'll see these nozzleheads for the cry-babies they really are.

Election day: April 15th. We decide who gets the job on the same day we pay their salaries.

The higher the rank, the fewer staff members they are allowed to have. Hey, with great power comes great responsibility. Act like it.