The republicans have stated that they want to make the midterms about security, and the Democrats want to make it about ethics. I propose we make it about both and take the fight right into the heart of their talking points.
If they want to peddle the idea that it will make us safer to have 160,000 of our soldiers in a foreign country that has nothing to do with Al Queda, prior to us invading, let em. I say we should turn the tables, and insist we bring the troops home to protect us from an attack here in the United States as promised by Osama in his last audiotape.
Beat them over the head with this idea....
We need to bring our troops home to protect American lives. Imagine what we could do with even half of those deployed here in our homeland.
80,000 soldiers to guard our airports, fly on our planes protecting the pilots, inspecting containers, and patrolling our borders. We have the equipment already, and we can maintain it and house them for much less within the US. The rest of our forces can be training and preparing for disaster relief and spending time with their families.
Ask how the war in Iraq keeps those who learn how to make bombs from coming here to exercise those new skills? Even the simpleist voter gets that. Ask how does a soldier protect the plane you are flying in, the car you drive, the building where you work, or the school your children attend when he is not even here in the country?
The second part is to talk about true ethics reform. Why are we asking Congress to police themselves? The Police don't police themselves, they have ethics boards, and citizen committees do it. They rely on other law enforcement entities to investigate and report on possible wrongdoing.
It occured to me that while both parties are putting forward "ethics" plans, they are far to entrenched in the system to really reform it. Further, why are we letting congress police themselves? They are then accountable to themselves, and their parties. I propose making them accountable to the people again. I know this is farfetched, but hear me out.
establish a congressional ethics commitee. 9 randomly chosen voters from around the country. they are tasked for a two year term, and paid the same as a senator. The government provides housing and transportation in DC. Because they are in the service of the country, we do the same as service members at war, and require employers to hold their jobs for their return. Further we pay them an additional 2 years after they leave service. This will make them truly independant from bribes and pay them far beyond what the average american makes. We stagger the appointments so that current members can educate new appointees. We task them to do one thing, enforce the ethics of congress. We give them the power to call members of congress and their staff before the commitee, and allow them to fine them up to the a full years salary.
Now I admit its not perfect, their is the chance we could get all the members from one party in, but its unlikely. If you have done nothing wrong however, you have nothing to fear - to take a passage from the republican talking points. I think the average American is disgusted by the back door dealing however, and would relish the chance to not only eliminate impropriety, but eliminate even the appearance of impropriety. Just an idea, but its a starting point.