Pay-per-vote may be the only way to get congress to work

The 112th congress was the least unproductive in recorded history, passing only 219 bills.

Tying productivity to pay is at the heart of capitalism. So why not apply the same rules to congress with a pay-per-vote incentive plan?

With lawmakers acting as verbal supporters of capitalism, is there a reason to pay them for not being productive workers?

Pay-per-vote really is a simple concept that most American understand. If you don’t work, you don’t get paid. If nothing else, it would send the message to a do-nothing congress, that laziness and free-money handouts from taxpayers will not be part of the budget or added to the deficit.

However, the incentive for do-nothing congressional pay-moochers must go a step further.
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Old school Republicans trying to control Tea Party government shutdowns

Since taking control of congress in 2010, the Tea Party wing of the GOP has wreaked havoc on the entire country. Now, old school Republicans are trying to limit future damage by the dysfunctional, radical conservative Tea Party Republicans through legislation.

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Republican move to repeal Obama health care just a show

Incoming republican House Leader John Boehner has pledged to make his first order of business the repeal of the health care reform law passed last year by the 111^th Congress. But the move is strictly symbolic.

In a recent statement, Rep John Boehner reaffirmed his pledge to bring ups a vote in the House to repeal ‘Obamacare,’ the controversial health care bill that President Obama and the democratically controlled Congress passed in the last session. 

While Boehner will be able to bring the measure up for a vote with his new republican majority, there is virtually no chance that the bill will pass, so the effort is more for show than anything else.

If the repeal of ‘Obamacare’ passes the House, it will move on to the Senate, where Majority Leader, Democrat Harry Reid is not likely to let the Senate vote on the measure. And even if somehow the Senate did pass the measure, President Obama would still have to sign it, which is also not likely to happen.

Republicans are aware of the fact that their efforts to repeal the health care from law has virtually no chance of passing, but will likely go through the motions as a symbolic gesture.

The GOP will likely continue to blame health care reform for everything from unemployment to global warming, in hopes of manipulation the minds of voters so they can win the White House in 2012. 

Misrepresenting Obama’s health care reform was a successful ploy during the year-long debate over the bill. However, since the bill passed, Americans have realized that it not only did not include any ‘death panels’ as republicans claimed, many are enjoying the advantages of the bill, like the end to exclusions for pre-existing conditions.

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Looking beyond the political revolution of 2010

If ever there was a year of political upheaval it was 2010. The Tea Party steamed into Washington with newly elected Kentucky Senator Rand Paul at the helm. The arch conservative is a political rogue who seems ready to rattle the foundation of the GOP, and he just may give Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell a few lessons on how far right the Republican Party can be pushed.

However, changes in the political environment go farther than Rand Paul. In the battle of ideologies, President Obama has been as much a victim of the GOP filibuster as the American public. But it doesn’t have to be that way and when America got a taste of what a productive Congress looks like, they liked what they saw.

In the last weeks of the Lame Duck Congress, years worth of legislative hopefuls were pushed through the republican blockade with blazing speed. In just one day, America saw the repeal of DADT, the START treaty and a bill that would provide health care for the heroes of the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center.

Clearly, people are happy when something gets done in Washington, even if it is not an exact fit with their party’s platform.

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