You mean vote them out, as in, end their term of service early? How will we know whether they are committing a crime if only their co-conspirators are present. Is misspending taxes a crime? Are corporate bribes (I mean campaign donations) criminal? How’s about creating bills that ultimately poison or injure your constituents? Show me an upstanding politician, one who lives up to his/her word, who has made positive reforms rather than reforms that protect and expand corporate greed.
Wendy -
My household income is on the high side, but I don’t have air conditioning. That’s a personal choice. But air conditioning is fairly new. Living without it is possible.
Now, I am not claiming that poor people shouldn’t have air conditioning. What I am saying is that, for this to be a meaningful discussion, we have to be careful about comparisons. Wendy and allies have been comparing the present to the post war boom years. And only in terms of income. This is just not a serious endeavor. The general standard of living throughout society has to be examined.
I think I understand that you, wendy, are living on $15,000 per year, which, again if I understand you, is your disability benefit. If that is all true and you are truly disabled, which many collecting the benefit are not, then I will say that an affluent society such as the U.S. can easily afford to provide you with a higher income. It’s an insult that your benefit is so small.
Likewise, there is no reason that minimum wage cannot be higher. In constant dollars, it has been higher in the past. The economy can handle that.
You shouldn’t have to pay $200 for health care. Plus copays. And I’ll agree that the U.S. healthcare system is an embarrassing mess and way too expensive for everyone.
But you say “No central air”. And this is indicative of part of the problem - expectations. No central air. That is an issue because it’s what many americans have come to expect, along with smart phones (of any type) and a whole host of luxury items as standard accoutrements of life. Because the overall standard of living in america is so high. Most poor people in the world would think of air conditioning and smart phones as magic.
So the system has its flaws. But it has tremendous benefits compared to much of the world. Income disparity is not a matter of poverty per se. It’s a matter of expectations.
Buy everyone a horse for X-Mas, Phyllo. I need land, a stable, and a ten year supply of hay/oats too. I’ll make my own saddle and horseshoes. 
I wish.
True, but I’m not a resident of the Saharan desert. I’m speaking to the country I reside in. Our welfare system is the worst of all civilized/industrialized countries.
Central air is more energy efficient than window air units so it saves poor people money to have central air and heat rather than space heaters.
Disparity within a country is a very different issue than disparity across the world. Differing races, cultures, landscapes, and dominions greatly alter affluence.
The rich, the smug, really don’t give a crap about their hard working, low income neighbors who do all the shit jobs that they would never stoop to do other than temporarily if ever at all. Why are the liberals the least affected, the least caring, when the poor are suppose to be part of their do-gooder platform?
The high side of what? What is it?
The North East coast and the West coast are like separate countries within the USA.
Wendy,
Please put the blame where it belongs. Congressional reps can be voted out. They can suffer a recall from their constituents. They can be sent to jail for crimes committed. Who controls this? We do. The bad representation is OUR fault. This is still a government of the people. The issue becomes one of getting the people to pay attention. This isn’t a left or right issue, it is our whole society. To lean on an old saw, “We get the government we deserve”.
Expulsion is the only way to oust them ahead of the end of their term limit. What are you talking about?
You are copping out, giving them the green light to be criminals in office, saying it is our fault that they take bribes behind closed doors. Have you taken a Quaalude? Has your rocker broken?
Uhh… you do know that a recall is expulsion, right?
Did I say that any of the possible remedies would be easy? Perhaps breaking all TVs or outlawing reality TV shows is the answer. It’s about getting people off their dead asses and participating in their own governance. Shining the big spotlight on the bad actors and then acting (lawfully) is the correct answer. No, it doesn’t happen overnight, but when the people rise up, then some sort of justice can happen.
Ludes? Did you actually say Ludes? That is so 70’'s!!! I think I remember those but it was looooong ago. And yes, my rocker is broken. It broke a long time ago. It’s called old age cynicism…
I haven’t heard of it being done other than by a Congressional vote which doesn’t happen all too often and no I’d never heard of a recall being called an official expulsion.
Who do you think you’re talking too…a spring chicken?
A recall only happens at the state level. A congressional vote has nothing to do with it. Congress can vote a censure (that has happened) but a recall can only come from the people who elected the crook/idiot.
Damn! I thought you were one those wet behind the ears kids. But if you remember ludes… Yeah, you’re a little long in the tooth. 
You do realize that poor people could not afford horses back then … Just as poor people can’t afford cars now.
That’s horseshit…an old nag was totally affordable…who are you kidding?
FTS
Tentative,
Where’s a good resource to figure out how to recall those sons-o-bitches and the plain 'ole bitches? I wonder if it can be all inclusive of both houses of congress statewide in one fail swoop or separate cases for each individual? Same for governors and mayors? Is there a way to place them on the inactive roster, where they are not allowed to participate while the recall process is transpiring?
The rules and regulations for a recall effort is different for every state So, it would be one at a time. But first, you have to obtain X amount of citizens to petition for a recall. It isn’t an easy task. Next, the list of petitioners have to be verified as legal. This usually takes as long as they can stall the process. After that, a referendum date for a vote has to be established. Assuming it goes that far, a congressman can be thrown out of office to be replaced by a person chosen by the governor of that state to be a representative until the next general election. The rules for recalling local officials may be different. It depends on the rules chosen by the state legislature.
Having fun yet? It is an ass pull with little chance of success. The most efficient method is through the ballot box at general election. Time, effort, and resources are better spent here.
I wonder if the process of petition verification can be sped up (streamlined) with technology, live recorded constituent faces acknowledging their signatures, on petition site photocopies of I.D.s, and e-signatures (recorded while happening) could enhance/speed up the process. People who have half a brain and a fire in their bellies need to attempt these things to outsmart the dirty government, beat them at their own BS game. Holes need to be blown into their ivory towers.