Quote:
Originally Posted by pan6467
Finally, I believe Reps should be required to have monthly or at most bi-monthly town hall meetings and spend no less than a week in their district office meeting with those they represent. Senators should be obligated to the same only with a 3 or 6 month time frame to have the town hall and 2 weeks at their office in the state they represent. During those office times, NO LOBBYISTS should be allowed, only constituents.
|
I'm still not sure what you think this will accomplish (outside of you feeling better because your "voice was heard"). If a rep is at his home office for a week, and 50 people come in supporting gay marriage and another 50 people come in opposing it, then regardless of the Rep's decision on the matter, half of the citizens will feel like they're being ignored. My guess is that over time, the face-to-face meetings would line up pretty well with the state polling numbers.
Quote:
|
Laws such as abortion, gun control, gay marriage/rights, drug legalization, etc..... should be given the states and the federal government should have no right to impose any law except in the case of interstate disputes.
|
I disagree again. Let's start with abortion; for the sake of argument, let's say that this November, all 50 states placed the question "Should abortion be legal in our state?" on their general ballots, and that the Blue states voted "yes" and the Red states voted "no". In December, a poor, 14 year old girl in San Antonio, TX gets knocked up and wants to get an abortion. Should she have to figure out how to travel hundreds and hundreds of miles just to get to a state where it's legal?
As for gay marriage rights, what if a gay couple get legally married in Massachusetts, but then their company transfers them to Alabama? Does Alabama have to recognize their marriage and the legal rights conferred under the marriage contract?
If you legalize drugs in some states and not others, you better beef up your local and state police forces along state borders, as drug smuggling will become a big time industry.