SOMETHING I LEARNED FROM TRENT LOTT-- WE HAVE AN ALIGNMENT PROBLEM

I woke up this morning at 5, cognizant that I had sort of semi-promised last night to put forward the DWT solution to the mess in Washington, the one I thought of because of Trent Lott. Apparently the Art Department had sobered up enough before passing out around 2 AM to have finally done the art work for yesterday's story on Bush's reverse Robin Hood syndrome. (I'm sure if I had asked for another photo of Ohio right-wing crack-whore, Mean Jean Schmidt, I would have had that on time instead of a day late.) But I realized that the reverse Robin Hood art will work just as well for the D.C. solution thing since, just about all things between men, as philosophers from Karl Marx to Tom Gray insist, revolve around money anyway. I'm jumping ahead of myself and you're probably wondering how Trent Lott fits in with such distinguished thinkers like Karl and Tom.

Well, ever since I became aware that CNN had signed on to the Bush Regime propaganda operation to deceive the American public, I've been boycotting. These days I get all my news from my pal Jane. I don't get out much. But I happened to pass a TV set the other day when one of the friends asked me if I could come over and help her get a washing machine gone berserk under control until the plumbers arrived to put it out of its misery. I didn't even see Trent Lott, just a teaser about how pissed off he is at the insurance industry because of how his insurance company is responding to the problems caused him by Hurricane Katrina. I couldn't do much about the washing machine-that-would-take-over-Silverlake but a light bulb did click on in my head! Trent Lott-- pissed off? At the insurance industry?

The key words in that sentence were, of course, "his" and "him." Suddenly, ladies and gentlemen, Trent Lott found himself in a very bizarre situation for an inhabitant of a world known as Inside the Beltway: his interests and those of the people he represents (i.e., his constituents) were ALIGNED. Because God hates George Bush, Katrina had devastated much of the Gulf Coast, wreaking havoc and destroying property and lives. Lott, like so many in that region, had lost his house. His insurance company, like insurance companies do, was trying to out-do the hurricane in a contest to see who could bring more misery into his life. But Trent Lott isn't like most people in Mississippi. He's a senior Republican senator who can stop doing the bidding of lobbyists and other bribe-givers for a few minutes, and give the insurance company back a little of what they have been giving him-- (and his constituents). Now keep in mind that Trent Lott has always been the kind of fella-- the kind of legislator, the kind of Republicrook-- who thinks people are not supposed to do anything to corporations that fuck them over. Ole Trent, like all Republicans are 100% on the side of corporations and against consumers, workers, stakeholders. But this is his nice house in Pascagoula and this was him who was getting screwed by State Farm (not just a bunch of schnooks who vote for him 'cause he hates the coloreds as much as they do).

So the creaky old wheels in my mind started turning (creakily) and I thought, "Wow, what if there was a way to make the interests of those folks who live Inside the Beltway-- you know, the ones who control our lives-- aligned with the interests of the rest of us?" My neighbor, Cynthia, agreed.

Almost all the members of legislatures are millionaires. More than a few U.S. Senators have more than $50 million. Do they feel our pain? Did you look at the Bush Budget that will be routinely rubber-stamped by his pet Congress? (Take a look at the story just below this one for the details, but this is a budget-- and Bush's have been a series of budgets-- that would never be approved by working class or middle class legislators representing the interests of their constituents. These Bush budgets represent the interests of multimillionaires and corporations; no one else.)

So how do you bring the interests of the legislators and their constituents into alignment? You have practically unfettered interaction from the corporations and wealthy to make sure there is no alignment. (You heard about that whole lobbyist thing and the Tom DeLay/Rick Santorum K Street Project, right? That's the system for keeping government perpetually in the hands of Republicans (or-- if you fucking insist-- corporate or "business" Democrats occasionally) by bribing them with gigantic unimaginable amounts of money and goodies in return for ignoring the interests of their constituents. Well, not really ignoring as much as blatantly opposing.

Look who we elect: a bunch of rich, old white men. I'm not saying anything more than rich old white men are over-represented in the halls of our legislatures. There are some really good rich old white men there too-- like Ted Kennedy... and Kerry's a good senator is a noblesse oblige kind of way. Of course Frist, Shelby and DeWine are all incredibly conflicted nightmares from Hell but... Lautenberg is cool. But imagine if election campaigns were publically-financed and we weren't practically asking-- let alone permitting-- our elected representatives to spend most of their time and energy on fund-raising (see: Tom DeLay, Randy "Duke" Cunningham, Bob Ney, Rahm Emanuel, Conrad Burns, Jerry Lewis, Richard Pombo, Rick Santorum...). And, while you're in the imagining mood, image if we had representatives whose interests were automatically aligned with their district's citizens because their income was the same average income as that of the people who live in their district? I mean congressional salaries are HUGE ($165,200 year + immense benefits and perks). I mean when you get Republicrooks like John Doolittle (R-CA) and Ole Trent (R-MS) making excuses that bribery should be allowed because they can't be expected to either pay for their own meals or eat in (shudder) a Baja Fresh or a McDonald's (like their constituents do-- or wish they could!) you know the misalignment has gotten out of hand.


2 PM UPDATE: KERRY AND SALAZAR HAVE A GOOD IDEA IN REALIGNMENT: THE DUKE CUNNINGHAM ACT

This is probably mostly a political ploy-- it obviously has no chance of ever passing, no matter which party is in power, let alone with these Republicrooks in control-- but it is actually a really great idea. The Kerry/Salazar proposed legislation would deny taxpayer-funded pensions to members of Congress who are convicted of bribery, conspiracy (I guess that's in there for DeLay) or other serious ethics offenses. I like! Why should we pay millions of dollars to fund cushy retirements-- very cushy retirements-- for convicted criminals like Cunningham? Let's get this passed pronto so it's not ex post facto for Pombo, Ney, Doolittle, Boehner, Hunter, Lewis, Blunt, et al.