how do we get our legislators to really listen ?

[cbc58]

the entire political process is a joke when it comes to our legislators working in the best interests of the American people.

it would be great if there was a way to get them all together, lock them in a room and have them slapped around so that they understand what citizens want vs. special interests. really... there is no way they are going to represent us and do the right thing the way the system is set up.

what is happening right now is criminal. pure and simple. yet no one will do a damn thing and they follow thier polite proper proceedure methods to delay, stall and cover up the problems. then... when there's a problem they pass the buck and try to put the blame on someone else.

how do we get our legislators to really listen? petition to reduce their pay and benefits? what do we need to do to turn this country around or is it too late?

[Vessol]

Stop voting for those who don't listen.

Stop the 98% incumbency rate.

[slothman]

Stop voting for those who don't listen.

Stop the 98% incumbency rate.

I still like my max 1-term method.
If reps are only able to be in for no more 2/6 years then lobeys(sp) won't spend as much on them.
It takes more money to "bribe" them if there are 1000's instead of just 500.

[Vessol]

Well we could amend the 17th amendment, but that'd raise a lot of controversy, most don't even know what the 17th amendment is.

[Njon]

Forget getting Congress to listen. Your state legislature is the place to focus. Check out http://www.committeesofsafety.org/ and http://thepatrickhenrycaucus.org/

Also, e-mailing members of your state legislature can also be effective, seeing as it appears that many legislators tend to read their own e-mails (unlike Congress).

[Epic]

Government as an institution necessarily doesn't work. It's an unaccountable monopoly. They make the rules.

[cheapseats]

the entire political process is a joke when it comes to our legislators working in the best interests of the American people.

it would be great if there was a way to get them all together, lock them in a room and have them slapped around so that they understand what citizens want vs. special interests. really... there is no way they are going to represent us and do the right thing the way the system is set up.

what is happening right now is criminal. pure and simple. yet no one will do a damn thing and they follow thier polite proper proceedure methods to delay, stall and cover up the problems. then... when there's a problem they pass the buck and try to put the blame on someone else.

how do we get our legislators to really listen? petition to reduce their pay and benefits? what do we need to do to turn this country around or is it too late?

Make life as unpleasant for their families as they are making it for YOUR families.

At the end of a day of marauding and pillaging, these wankers retire to well-manicured and well-protected homes and, when they venture out, Merchants and the Starstruck are polite-unto-obsequiousness.

It is astonishing to me that a well-lobbed over-ripe tomato doesn't occasionally land, splat, right in the kisser even as the next lie is being formulated.

LYING . . . THAT'S the epidemic.

[ScoutsHonor]

Make life as unpleasant for their families as they are making it for YOUR families.

At the end of a day of marauding and pillaging, these wankers retire to well-manicured and well-protected homes and, when they venture out, Merchants and the Starstruck are polite-unto-obsequiousness.

It is astonishing to me that a well-lobbed over-ripe tomato doesn't occasionally land, splat, right in the kisser even as the next lie is being formulated.
.

If only! :mad: :p

[ScoutsHonor]

I think a show of hostility by their constituents WOULD have some effect, as they are unprincipled and cowardly.

This would mean going to *where they are* and confronting them. We have to try to make them as uncomfortable as possible, and NO ONE seems to be impervious when facing those who are truly (and righteously!) angry.

They are no longer afraid of being voted out, that much is obvious. What that tells me is that our voting system is broken; thus they are left free to *run wild* (just as the FED has been doing.) . So, just as the FED is doing, they feel they are truly high and mighty, and above it all.

A HELLUVA problem :(

[LittleLightShining]

Buy them off?

[cheapseats]

I think a show of hostility by their constituents WOULD have some effect, as they are unprincipled and cowardly.

OF COURSE it would.

Consider the difference between:

"Good EVEning, Congressman So-and-So. PLEASE, let me escort you to this Power Table, so I can show you off to my other patrons. Your money is no good here. It's on the house."

and

"Congressman So-and-So, I own this joint and I reserve the right to refuse service to anyone. Your money is no good here. Your presence is not welcome."

Picket outside the private schools of their Trophy Children, with placards reading:

OUR KIDS WILL HAVE WHAT YOUR KIDS ARE HAVING

Toss pennies in the direction of spouses when they emerge from shopping and beauty treatments . . . "HERE, your greedy husband missed these."

Yeah, yeah . . . I KNOW there are women in Congress who are also skipping with alacrity down the Low Road. I am trapped in the Bermuda Triangle of Dianne Feinstein, Nancy Pelosi and Barbara Boxer. Throw pennies at their RICH husbands with the same taunt . . . perhaps as they head to the 19th hole.




A HELLUVA problem :(

Only where the will to fight fire with fire is lacking.

[ScoutsHonor]

OF COURSE it would.

Consider the difference between:

"Good EVEning, Congressman So-and-So. PLEASE, let me escort you to this Power Table, so I can show you off to my other patrons. Your money is no good here. It's on the house."

and

"Congressman So-and-So, I own this joint and I reserve the right to refuse service to anyone. Your money is no good here. Your presence is not welcome."

Picket outside the private schools of their Trophy Children, with placards reading:

OUR KIDS WILL HAVE WHAT YOUR KIDS ARE HAVING

Toss pennies in the direction of spouses when they emerge from shopping and beauty treatments . . . "HERE, your greedy husband missed these."

Yeah, yeah . . . I KNOW there are women in Congress who are also skipping with alacrity down the Low Road. I am trapped in the Bermuda Triangle of Dianne Feinstein, Nancy Pelosi and Barbara Boxer. Throw pennies at their RICH husbands with the same taunt . . . perhaps as they head to the 19th hole.


Only where the will to fight fire with fire is lacking.


I'm with you 100%. This is doable also because we have separated our targets into a managable ;) bite. It only requires the specific constituents for each specific politician to band together to harass them. Yes, it is good! ;):cool:

The only remaining problem is, as you pointed out, apathy. But the idea is
very sound, IMHO.

[cbc58]

i really like that idea. let's figure out how to do that on a national scale.... without getting arrested. there is probably a way to do this in a professional manner - not go crazy but get the message across firmly - and escalate if needed.

[mport1]

You can't, especially when talking about the federal government. That is one of the major flaws in this system. The best way to make change is by educating people and working outside the system imo.

[cheapseats]

You can't, especially when talking about the federal government.

There's always a reason why not.

YES WE CAN.

[cheapseats]

l


WHAT'S GOOD FOR THE GOOSED IS GOOD FOR THE GOOSERS
WHAT'S GOOD FOR THE FUCKED IS GOOD FOR THE FUCKERS

Man Up.

l

[cheapseats]

l


CAMERAS EVERYWHERE

l

[ScoutsHonor]

There is a time to ACT. We have NOT acted or protested. This is the BIG PROBLEM. The surest way to encourage a bully is to meekly submit.

[Ethek]

http://www.thirty-thousand.org/

[Dianne]

We have to target them to get them out of office. We have two use power to decide who the two or three worst and most corrupt Reps. are.. such as Charlie Rangel for starters; then we have to throw all our force and political power in seeing they lose their seats. Right now the peeps are just rolling over and playing dead, and allowing this scourge to continue robbing us blind. And NO, I am not a racist... and YES Rangel is a maggot who needs to get the hell out of Washington.

[cbc58]

the beauty of this approach (targeting individual legislators and possibly thier families) is that you don't have to wait to get them out of office, or, get them out of office. sure you continue to try and get someone else in there that will do what's right... but as we have seen with elections... its very difficult for the simple reason that most americans are apathetic and lazy.

with this approach they get the message... over and over and over again, that they need to act in our best interest and not theirs. it would also get alot of press. the key would be to do it professionally without coming off as nut jobs or crazy.

you also get their attention outside of the distractions of washington and i think this could get legs if organized properly. one things for sure... most politicians think more about re-election than anything else.

[ScoutsHonor]

Completely agree.

I like it very much too.:)

It's a sound approach which needs a real-life plan. That's the next step...

[yokna7]

Personally, I rickroll my representatives everyday.

[DapperDan]

Personally, I rickroll my representatives everyday.

Hah....too bad they may actually enjoy that song over and over

Vote them out. Inform people of true liberty minded candidates to replace the goons.



Or if you're daring enough, public humiliation.

http://www.history.org/Foundation/journal/Spring06/images/tar_24.jpg

I guess that would be assault huh :(

[ScoutsHonor]

Every little bit helps.

[SelfTaught]

I can understand targeting the representatives, but their families? C'mon, now. How about a little decency? I hope you guys wouldn't go as far as shouting at a preschooler, scaring the shit out of them.

I know some of you will say, "well, our families have to put up with their tyrannical activities." True, but there has to be something that separates the good from the bad. The good don't target people's families. That type of conduct is reserved for low-life thugs and gangsters.

[tangent4ronpaul]

You know those invisible fence systems for keeping your dog in the yard. You have sensors and put on a shock collar, so if they get too near - ZAP!

Yeah, well set up a system like that, and it could even go a long way to paying off the debt. Just set up some cell phone numbers and a threshold so that if so many people dialing in would trigger a ZAP! Have a second number to count against negative dials or even stimulate the pleasure centers of their brains. What with the charge per dial revenue, this country would be out of debt in no time!

;)

-t

[boat6868]

I saw a youtube vid of a guy approaching/confronting his rep. at the reps. home (because he was ducking the guy at his office) while the rep. was out doing something in his yard...the rep. looked very uncomfortable. The rep. told the guy who to call to set up a meeting at the office...I bet he gets a meeting.

[Dionysus]

Stop voting for those who don't listen.

Stop the 98% incumbency rate.

Bingo. Rand Paul. The OP's question is the essence of the Ron Paul revolution. Only 30 yrs of laboring in obscurity, integrity, and consistency produced Ron Paul, someone we could actually trust when the time was ripe. We also know we can trust his son, cause that apple didn't fall far from the tree.

[Austin]

http://www.thirty-thousand.org/

I really wish more people knew about this... Even George Washington wanted the number of people per representatives 30,000 instead of the 40,000 that was once proposed.

The country would look far different than it does today had the original amendment of the first been passed in its original form.

[Pericles]

http://i623.photobucket.com/albums/tt317/Pericles-photo/M16A1s.jpg

Did I get your attention?

[Bradley in DC]

how do we get our legislators to really listen?

For very specific things, such as cosponsoring legislation or a single issue, I've found that well-written, personal, moderate sounding letters to the editor or guest commentaries/op-eds in local papers tend to have a surprisingly big impact.

[Bradley in DC]

I really wish more people knew about this... Even George Washington wanted the number of people per representatives 30,000 instead of the 40,000 that was once proposed.

The country would look far different than it does today had the original amendment of the first been passed in its original form.

Ok, fine for the sake of argument, but how many can name their state legislators and the things they do? (for those of you who have them :p)

[IPSecure]

l


CAMERAS EVERYWHERE

l

YouTube - Texas Legislation (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eG6X-xtVask&fmt=18)


It Is All About Integrity...

[Working Poor]

I think some big "vote them out" signs needs to be made and held up near every precinct on election day.

[tangent4ronpaul]

I think some big "vote them out" signs needs to be made and held up near every precinct on election day.

Except the 14th Congressional district in Texas...

-t

[heavenlyboy34]

the entire political process is a joke when it comes to our legislators working in the best interests of the American people.

it would be great if there was a way to get them all together, lock them in a room and have them slapped around so that they understand what citizens want vs. special interests. really... there is no way they are going to represent us and do the right thing the way the system is set up.

what is happening right now is criminal. pure and simple. yet no one will do a damn thing and they follow thier polite proper proceedure methods to delay, stall and cover up the problems. then... when there's a problem they pass the buck and try to put the blame on someone else.

how do we get our legislators to really listen? petition to reduce their pay and benefits? what do we need to do to turn this country around or is it too late?

Talk to the people, not the legislators-for the legislators benefit from the misery of the people (a conflict of interest). Continue to work for the end of the State. Be peaceful and non-confrontational. Just my 2 cents. :cool: