Seat for Sale, Seats
for Sale
Let this post be a harbinger of things to come. The good (read that as
poor) people of Collier and Lee Counties in southwest Florida are in the midst
of primary elections for the 19thCongressional District. We elected Trey Radel, a freshman
congressman, last election. His
most pertinent experience was that of a Conservative radio talk show host. He resigned his seat when a cocaine
using scandal was about to go to the House Ethics Committee. Well in our district, the only race
that counts is the Republican primary.
There are four bona fide candidates in the race. Three of them and some Super PACS have
jammed our TV with venomous attack ads.
One has said nothing, but he does stuff envelopes and send out campaign
information aka the 1950’s. God
bless him! Besides the
mudslinging, the only message I have heard during the campaign ads of all three
candidates is that, “I will repeal Obamacare!” I believe this is a reference to the Affordable Care
Act. Now these candidates are
running for a seat in the House of Representatives. I might have lost track, but hasn’t the House of
Representative voted over fifty times to repeal this “law of the land?” Perhaps they are confused and think
they are running for the Senate? Forgive
me for I have seriously meandered.
Be aware, the upcoming midterm elections will ruin TV watching for
almost all America.
But to complain, and not offer any alternative solution is not the
Pondit’s way. I want to use this
space to present a framework of an alternative. It is sketchy, but forgive me for not thinking it through
fully. If the plan gains any
traction, I will gather some of my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to
fill in any gaps.
I want to propose a Fantasy Congress. The focus will be a more efficient and effective manner to
chose our House representatives.
Except for the serious negative impact on broadcasting advertising
budgets, I believe this might be the best thing since sliced bread. Keep in mind; this plan is only a
framework. Here are some key
points of the plan:
- There is no election with voters going to the polls. This might ruin a day out for the 38% of potential voters that actually cast a ballot each election plus the even fewer even who turn out for primary elections (less than 20%). Hey, no pain no gain. $KACHING$: It costs districts millions of dollars to hold an election. Without these elections, all taxpayers are saving money.
- Each Congressional district will hold an auction for its Congressional seat. Lobbyist and other special interest groups will bid (A televised auction with paddles will make better TV than CSpan could ever hope for.) $KACHING$: I can only begin to imagine the amount of money the Federal, or make it State, governments will make from these auctions. I do not believe $10,000,000 per seat is beyond reach. If that were indeed the number every two years would bring in $4.35 billion.
- Each successful bidder would have to make a matching donation to pay down our national debt. $KACHING$: That is another $4.35 billion.
- Like before Congressional districts will be allocated by states with each district being equal in population. Most districts will be in the shape of the winning bidders choice. Many might be outlines of elephants or donkeys. But it is easy to imagine major corporate logos such as: Target, BP, Shell, Nike, UPS, Coke, Disney, FedEx, CitiGroup, DuPont, AT&T, Ford, Mercedes Benz, Boeing, GM, McDonalds, IBM, Apple, GE, Kraft, … Perhaps major lobbying group logos such as: American Bar Association, Institute for National Gas, the coal industry, Citizens United, Marijuana Legalization, Green Peace, NRA (perhaps a district in the shape of a 45 Colt Automatic), Halliburton, BBB, Cruise Ship Industry, … We might even consider foreign bidders: Saudi Arabia, Chinese Manufacturing Association, French Wine Industry, … And even individuals: Koch Brothers, Bloomberg, Bill Gates, Warren Buffet,… $KACHING$: All political maps in print, online or on TV would have to include these symbols. A price of $5,000,000 per symbol seems reasonable.
- All expenses of the new congressmen including salary, staff, traveling, housing and other are paid by the organization that appoints the congressman. Congressmen cannot live in or about Washington, DC. Fulltime residence must be in their home districts. House sessions, committee meetings, sub-committee meeting all will be done via video conferencing. $KACHING$: These savings are hard for me to estimate, but we have to be looking in $100,000,000 range.
This might not be a perfect solution. Consider what we have now? Does this sound any worse?
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