I'm not knowledgeable enough to comment on the fine points of congressional law, but in the current climate a platform of Impeach Fucking Everybody sounds like it would be a winner with the base.
"Elect me, and I promise to raise one head on a pike every week for the duration of my term."
I think it would be great; ultimately you bump into the issue that, at some point, people need to stop playing politics and "defecting" (a la prisoner's dilemma) and actually "cooperate", for the good of the country and for the sake of the big picture, and not their own niche concerns or interests. Easier said than done! No getting around the lack of virtue in those offices....
With the impeachments, I fear that Congress would go after someone who actually does good and important work and not after the most egregious - just like it's somehow the most useful and valuable, cost-effective programs that seem to lose budgets, and not the money-suckers.
This is actually why regulatory solutions to problems with companies don't work quite how we'd like them.The hammer of anti-trust, for example, is just as - and even more so - likely to come down on a more virtuous and honest business than the biggest and best-connected (and evil) corporations.
On the other hand, perhaps we're at the point where heads need to sort of roll indiscriminately (metaphorically)?
That is an interesting issue, targeting the important people as the most salient political footballs.
I suspect it might not be too critical, as the problem with useful and functional programs getting budget pulled seems to be that they are functional because they don't have much loss through graft, or are not 100% graft like most programs. The worse programs might be more heavily targeted as ways to punish one's opponents, taking away their goodies, but I am not super optimistic about that. Politicians seem to cooperate really well to keep the money flowing into their pockets, and mostly just bicker over who's pockets.
My guess is that the functional programs and bureaucracies, or those above a minimum level at least, would be largely ignored as they don't get the electorate's hackles up. More like posts in places like the Department of Education, Energy, EPA, intelligence agencies and Attorney General would be where the most pikes would need allocated, as too many of the decisions there are highly political and blatantly stupid (to one side or the other).
I'm not knowledgeable enough to comment on the fine points of congressional law, but in the current climate a platform of Impeach Fucking Everybody sounds like it would be a winner with the base.
"Elect me, and I promise to raise one head on a pike every week for the duration of my term."
Hope you're feeling better soon!
I'd vote for that. A chicken in every pot, and a head on every pike!
I think it would be great; ultimately you bump into the issue that, at some point, people need to stop playing politics and "defecting" (a la prisoner's dilemma) and actually "cooperate", for the good of the country and for the sake of the big picture, and not their own niche concerns or interests. Easier said than done! No getting around the lack of virtue in those offices....
With the impeachments, I fear that Congress would go after someone who actually does good and important work and not after the most egregious - just like it's somehow the most useful and valuable, cost-effective programs that seem to lose budgets, and not the money-suckers.
This is actually why regulatory solutions to problems with companies don't work quite how we'd like them.The hammer of anti-trust, for example, is just as - and even more so - likely to come down on a more virtuous and honest business than the biggest and best-connected (and evil) corporations.
On the other hand, perhaps we're at the point where heads need to sort of roll indiscriminately (metaphorically)?
That is an interesting issue, targeting the important people as the most salient political footballs.
I suspect it might not be too critical, as the problem with useful and functional programs getting budget pulled seems to be that they are functional because they don't have much loss through graft, or are not 100% graft like most programs. The worse programs might be more heavily targeted as ways to punish one's opponents, taking away their goodies, but I am not super optimistic about that. Politicians seem to cooperate really well to keep the money flowing into their pockets, and mostly just bicker over who's pockets.
My guess is that the functional programs and bureaucracies, or those above a minimum level at least, would be largely ignored as they don't get the electorate's hackles up. More like posts in places like the Department of Education, Energy, EPA, intelligence agencies and Attorney General would be where the most pikes would need allocated, as too many of the decisions there are highly political and blatantly stupid (to one side or the other).