Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington has come out with its list of the most corrupt members of Congress for this year. Not surprisingly, 12 of the19 mentioned (63%) have Rs after their names. The new members who came in in 2010 did nothing to improve the tally.

http://www.citizensforethics.org/page/-/PDFs/Reports/Most%20Corrupt%20Reports/CREW-Most-Corrupt-Report-2011.pdf?nocdn=1

Why are the statistics on the most corrupt and not on all the corrupt? Could it be that they are all corrupt and it wouldnt make for very good information knowing all of them are open to corruption period?

"The president should take the long-overdue step of naming new FEC most commissioners . . . " I agree he should....wonder why he hasn't? Could it be that most politicians are corrupt including the messiah?

That's the kind of thing the Obama-haters like to say. It would be stronger if there was some kind of documented evidence. CREW doesn't deal in innuendo.

I don't hate the man, I just have lost respect for him. You, as a democrat, .... oh a never mind .... you'll blindly defend him like repubs defend Bush. Perhaps when people open their eyes an get out of this democrat and/or republican blame game, we can actually accomplish something.

I don't expect you to read all my posts. I'm with the huge ocean of Democrats who think Obama has done a miserable job of promoting progressive values. Of course I'll defend him from scurrilous and unfair attacks. He's the only Presidential candidate who's supposedly on my side. Now, make some credible charges, and that's a different story.

We need a three party system if for nothing else a tie breaker.

Obama has done a miserable job

Exactly.....foriegn affairs are in the toilet
The economy is in the toilet
credibility is in the toilet
inflation through the roof......and all he can do is come up with bills that cost more and spend more than any other administration in history.....I really do hope we have something new to run against this party system......and dont think that there should be two....think all members of each party should be allowed to run so they cant put their support behind one candidate in order to gain party control...

We can only hope. Then maybe we can vote for the best man for the job instead of the lesser of two evils.

Doesn't seem realistic to me. The fact is that the Republi policies did cause the bad economy. The fact is that Democratic politicians have done a miserable job of reversing those policies. It is policy malpractice that has caused our economic problems. How do you think the raise-taxes people and the recalcitrant eliminate-programs people are going to "work together" when there is genuine blame to be assessed? How do they find concensus when only one position is right and one is most definitely wrong?

It's a silly concept.

the fact is that it happened... for you to say it was "just the right" is a silly concept... didn't bush have a democratic led congress? so i can hardly think it was "just the republicans"...and it was clinton to blame for the housing crisis, not the repubs...so your statement, as usual, is false....

No he didn't. Not until 2008. Then, it was too late.



This myth just won't go away. All the documentation and all the proof and we still have the Faux News version. It is hopeless. The policies were all Republi, all the way.

I've been advocating having a third party for some 20 years now. Historically, after a decade or two, it would revert to a two-party system again, but the third party causes a shake up that allows the two-party system to change and evolve. Often, one of the old party's will fade into the history books as a new party emerges to endure. In the meantime, the old party that remains is forced to reassess itself and adapt to the new political environment.

There hasn't been a legitimate third party since Teddy Roosevelt won as a Bull Moose, and that was 100 years ago. It is the longest stretch in American history without the emergence of a strong third party. Ross Perot could have changed that, but he dropped the ball and botched it. Others have tried more recently, but without success. (Ralph Nader and Jesse Ventura to name two.)

Both the Republicans and the Democrats have existed since before the Civil War....about a 160 year run. That too is another record in American history, for no two major parties have ever survived longer than 60 years at the same time. Part of this is a by-product of the post-Civil War era when corruption in government began to rise during Reconstruction and the Grant administration. It then lulled for a bit before rising once again began WWI and WWII. Post-WWII opened a new era of globalism which had not existed previously, both politically and economically. Is it any wonder that corruption rose yet again as business sought to take advantage of the new situation? Add in the Cold War, and fear entered the mix as everyone was afraid of the Red Threat beyond the Iron Curtain and the possibility of thermonuclear war.

Once again, American businesses have opened the door to the next threat to American life by investing in China rather than investing here at home. Export goods allowed this nation to rise to its position, but now we import more than we export, undermining the very foundation of our economy. The goods we buy are typically inferior to the goods we once produced. We buy more and more from China, and American businesses are over there helping the Chinese build up their manufacturing. Meanwhile, work conditions, environmental and health hazards, and industrial maintenance are being neglected. When the costs add up, the manufacturers up and move to another part of the country, taking the jobs with them. Where are the ethics? It's rape and pillage economics, yet it will make China a force to reckoned with before they too collapse due to the business practices in place. America needs to become self-reliant again, and stop catering to the corporate pirates who have abandoned us.

American business lobbied for us to switch from the gold standard to a credit-based economy. They lobbied for the removal of tariffs. The idea behind both was to open American business up to a global economy, but once we gave them their way, they moved jobs out of the country so they could then IMPORT their goods to the U.S. rather than export to the world. Americans now pay higher prices for many of the same products being sold in other countries for less while at the same time the manufacturer is saving on taxes, tariffs, labor, etc. In essence, the American citizen is subsidizing the global economy whenever he goes shopping. Meanwhile, the government spends more than it takes in, asks us to bailout the banks and the auto companies, gives tax cuts to the wealthy, and wants to raise taxes on the middle class.

So are politicians corrupt? Of course they are. I'm not an isolationist, but the push for globalism is causing this country to fall apart. This is part of the reason why there should be Congressional term limits. Why should Congress limit Presidential terms but be exempt from the same?

My plan: extend Representatives terms to 4 years and Presidential terms to 5 years, then limit all federal elected offices to a two term limit. If a politician wants a long career, he has to start at the bottom then work his way up. He can then have a 20 year career in Congress by serving 4 terms, or he can have a 30 year career if he wins the Presidency after Congress. It's long enough to provide stability, and removes the focus from spending much of the term campaigning for re-election.

Modern globalism began during the 1960s, and a number of Reps. and Senators have served 30+ years in Congress since then. This would prevent people from serving as long as John Dingell, Daniel Inouye, John Conyers, Charles Rangel, Bill Young, Thad Cochran, Pete Stark, Don Young, Patrick Leahy, Mark Baucus, Chuck Grassley, Tom Harkin, George Miller, and Henry Waxman, all of whom are still serving in Congress after more than 36 years of service. Each one is in the all-time top 100 for Congressional tenure, all with the likes of Robert Byrd, Strom Thurman, Ted Kennedy, Ted Stevens, Joe Biden, Dan Rostenkowski, and Chris Dodd. That's just a portion of the top 100 tenures, but those are 22 names that are either still serving or who have served within the last 10 years.....each with at least 36 years in Congress. Some are just shy of 50 years of Congressional service. Remember, according to my plan, the longest service time in Congress would be 20 years....almost half that of the people I have named. Only by serving two terms as President would the 30 year limit be achievable.

To see the list for yourself, here is the link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_members_of_the_United_States_Congress_by_longevity_of_service

Actually we need to stop importing altogether and start manufacturing for ourselves again.......then if they want our products we can start exporting again.....I dont want there imported crap anyways.....we have enough farmers in the US to feed ourselves, we have enough oil, we have enough sugar grain, fish, and meat product...what exactly do we really need from other countries....name one thing.

I don't think so. Sadly, the President appears to be from the "can't we all get along" crowd. A good case study for those who want to "sit down together and work things out".

i was going to say lithium, but they found a huge site of it of Hawaii's coast

That's my point.

When big companies began the push for globalism in the 1960s, we began to export less and import more during the following decades. That's because government went along with what big business wanted. Business' original argument was that reduced tariffs and the repeal of the gold standard would allow them to sell American products to compete overseas by lowering prices. But the reality was that they began moving plants overseas to take advantage of cheaper labor, and then began shipping their products back to the U.S. And so, throughout the '70s, '80s, and '90s, America lost its manufacturing base.

I say, bring back the tariffs to curb imports and promote manufacturing in the U.S. That's what tariffs were meant to do: to protect home industry.

Imported goods generally were only for luxuries, or goods and resources which could not be found within the country itself. Now we import everything from t-shirts to flags to TVs to cars. We need to say &$@# globalism. Let's be self-reliant again.

I say kick all their big business Azzes out and start new companies withing the United Staes excluding them from exporting their products from other countries here and become self-sufficient again. The governemnt is willing to put trillions of dollars into jobs. Why not fund Americans to start American businesses within America and keep it there.

Wow, you are sooooo gullible .... you actually believe the show any and every president puts on for the limelight. (Gotta give you more fodder of mine to quote and refute since you love doing it so much.)