Last place in education first in minimum wage jobs...

[Minor Axis]

You're the ignorant one in this case. When was the last time you resided or worked in Texas?

Is that the only qualification? I've never lived in 44 U.S. States, but know quite a bit about them. BTW I lived here (Texas) when things were better for more people (1979-80) only 30 years ago and now I live here again.

This is good or bad depending on your alignment. Conservatives love this:

 

[Johnfromokc]

thats crazy i never studied in high school and got almost all As and a few Bs
and I was hardly there in my junior year

Dude...you're from Mississippi...Not exactly known as a bastion of challenging education.

 

[Minor Axis]

Meet Rick Perry- 7 ways he'd change the Constitution.

Ban Federal Income tax- now that is a way to fix the budget problem. No more election of U.S. Senators, instead have them appointed by the State Legislature. What exactly would that solve?

1. Abolish lifetime tenure for federal judges by amending Article III, Section I of the Constitution.

2. Congress should have the power to override Supreme Court decisions with a two-thirds vote.

3. Scrap the federal income tax by repealing the Sixteenth Amendment.

4. End the direct election of senators by repealing the Seventeenth Amendment.

5. Require the federal government to balance its budget every year.

6. The federal Constitution should define marriage as between one man and one woman in all 50 states.

7. Abortion should be made illegal throughout the country.

 

[Zorak]

Been reading up on Rick Parry.
No where else in the world would someone so obviously devoid of nouse, integrity or even charm get anywhere near running things.

The guy's a complete leach. It's unacceptable for the federal government to tax you, but it can be used to stop people marrying or getting abortions? Ridiculous.

 

[Minor Axis]

The guy's a complete leach.

Charismatic leach- He'd be following in the shoes of W. That's who American's like to elect in their quest for self destruction.

 

[Peter Parka]

I would comment on this but obviously unless you've ever lived in Texas, you're speaking out of your arse about it.

 

[Maulds]

Charismatic leach- He'd be following in the shoes of W. That's who American's like to elect in their quest for self destruction.

Opinions vary on what charisma is and who has it. I don't find Perry particularly charismatic.

I will comment on what little I know about the economy in Texas. The company I work for has 2 office/warehouses in Texas. The two of them have outpaced our other warehouses and home office in retail sales every year since their inception in 2004. We deal with boats, so choosing to deal with us is discretionary spending to say the least.

 

[Accountable]

1. Abolish lifetime tenure for federal judges by amending Article III, Section I of the Constitution. And bring politics even further into the courtroom?? No thanks.

2. Congress should have the power to override Supreme Court decisions with a two-thirds vote. Congress has more power than they can handle as it is.

3. Scrap the federal income tax by repealing the Sixteenth Amendment. Agree.

4. End the direct election of senators by repealing the Seventeenth Amendment. Agree

5. Require the federal government to balance its budget every year. Absolutely agree!

6. The federal Constitution should define marriage as between one man and one woman in all 50 states. The Constitution must never be amended to restrict rights or behavior of our citizens. It is for restricting & limiting the power of Congress.

7. Abortion should be made illegal throughout the country. Non-issue.

 

[Accountable]

I would comment on this but obviously unless you've ever lived in Texas, you're speaking out of your arse about it.

Yes, yes. You're a poor victim. Noted.

 

[Alien Allen]

Meet Rick Perry- 7 ways he'd change the Constitution.

Ban Federal Income tax- now that is a way to fix the budget problem. No more election of U.S. Senators, instead have them appointed by the State Legislature. What exactly would that solve?

1. Abolish lifetime tenure for federal judges by amending Article III, Section I of the Constitution. I would not be for that but I would like to see them have to be reappointed after a certain number of years. I don't think you will ever take the politics out of it Acc

2. Congress should have the power to override Supreme Court decisions with a two-thirds vote. If that can be passed as a constitution amendment I would accept it but not agree with it.

3. Scrap the federal income tax by repealing the Sixteenth Amendment. Agreed. We should move back towards a consumption and user fee system. There would be ways to get revenue that could be more equitable. There is something horribly wrong where there is a system that allows for almost 50% to not pay this tax.

4. End the direct election of senators by repealing the Seventeenth Amendment. Not sure I agree with this one. Acc give me your take on why it would be better than the existing way.

5. Require the federal government to balance its budget every year. Absolutely !!! With provisions for emergencies.

6. The federal Constitution should define marriage as between one man and one woman in all 50 states. As Acc said this is not something that should be in the constitution. It should be left up to the individual states.

7. Abortion should be made illegal throughout the country. Lousy idea. It is nobodys business except the people directly involved. And again this would be something the constitution was not meant to deal with. IMO

My comments in red

how about you Minor. Give us your reasons for or against. I would be curious

 

[retro]

1. Abolish lifetime tenure for federal judges by amending Article III, Section I of the Constitution.

I don't really know what the point would be.

2. Congress should have the power to override Supreme Court decisions with a two-thirds vote.

No fucking way. That basically eliminates checks and balances.

3. Scrap the federal income tax by repealing the Sixteenth Amendment.

I agree, but only if a consumption and/or flat tax system was enacted to replace it. We obviously need some serious tax reform, and this could be a step in the right direction.

4. End the direct election of senators by repealing the Seventeenth Amendment.

I don't know what the point of this would be... as the same people would end up being elected by the representatives that are elected by the people.

5. Require the federal government to balance its budget every year.

This speaks for itself. The government should be required to spend within its means.

6. The federal Constitution should define marriage as between one man and one woman in all 50 states.

Not only no, but hell fucking no. The Constitution (or Congress for that matter) doesn't exist to legislate morality. It's a human rights issue, and at the very least something that should be handed at a state level.

7. Abortion should be made illegal throughout the country.

See above comment for #6.

 

[pjbleek]

repeal what the Supreme court decisions? are you mad ?

 

[Accountable]

4. End the direct election of senators by repealing the Seventeenth Amendment. Not sure I agree with this one. Acc give me your take on why it would be better than the existing way.

It would go a long way to restoring the balance of power between Washington and the states. Senators would be obligated to consider their home states or risk not being reelected. The People are already well-represented in Congress by the House. State legislatures have been raped and pillaged since the 17th was ratified. While it's true that some state legislatures abused their power in the past, that's no reason to disenfranchise them any more than it would be right to disenfranchise the voting public for putting the likes of Bush and Obama in office.

 

[Accountable]

repeal what the Supreme court decisions? are you mad ?

I think the US Supreme court should not consider precedent when making their decisions. They should be restricted to basing their decisions on the Constitution alone.

 

[Kyle B]

It would go a long way to restoring the balance of power between Washington and the states. Senators would be obligated to consider their home states or risk not being reelected. The People are already well-represented in Congress by the House. State legislatures have been raped and pillaged since the 17th was ratified. While it's true that some state legislatures abused their power in the past, that's no reason to disenfranchise them any more than it would be right to disenfranchise the voting public for putting the likes of Bush and Obama in office.

By doing this, you would just give more power to state legislatures to keep crappy politicians in power.

 

[Accountable]

By doing this, you would just give more power to state legislatures to keep crappy politicians in power.

Yup, we'd all have our share of crappy politicians.

It would force, or at least encourage, voters to pay more attention to who they put in state legislature.

 

[Kyle B]

Yup, we'd all have our share of crappy politicians.

It would force, or at least encourage, voters to pay more attention to who they put in state legislature.

Maybe. But it would also just create more hoops for voters to get rid of a senator. They would have to vote out the state legislators that are keeping the lousy senator in place, and then hope that the new state legislators replace the senator with someone else.

 

[Alien Allen]

An interesting read on the election of senators

I can see both sides having merit

http://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/common/briefing/Direct_Election_Senators.htm

 

[Accountable]

Ain't it it interesting that the media played king maker during this change, too.

From the article:

After the turn of the century, momentum for reform grew rapidly. William Randolph Hearst expanded his publishing empire with Cosmopolitan, and championed the cause of direct election with muckraking articles and strong advocacy of reform. Hearst hired a veteran reporter, David Graham Phillips, who wrote scathing pieces on senators, portraying them as pawns of industrialists and financiers. The pieces became a series titled "The Treason of the Senate," which appeared in several monthly issues of the magazine in 1906. These articles galvanized the public into maintaining pressure on the Senate for reform.