There is an issue with lobbying, and political parties which make any call for it to be banned more than problematical. Just as a reminder, the First Amendment states
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. Political parties fit quite nicely into the right of the people peaceably to assemble and lobbying is definitely within the aegis of being able to petition the Government for a redress of grievances Unless people are willing to rewrite the Constitution, then it is not going to happen. And if it did we would not be a democratic republic or a democracy. On Wed, Nov 21, 2012 at 6:51 PM, Eric Roberts <[email protected]> wrote: > > My problem with getting rid of parties it that doing so benefits the > loonies. One of the reasons I won't vote republican is because they all > vote together regardless. Rarely do they break ranks. So if a republican > was running and we didn't have parties, I think people may vote for him > because his claims to issues sounds good, but when push comes to shove, he > is still going to vote with his fellow republicans (even if they are not an > official party) > > ------------------------------------ > Three Ravens Consulting > Eric Roberts > Owner/Developer > [email protected] > tel: 630-486-5255 > fax: 630-310-8531 > http://www.threeravensconsulting.com > ------------------------------------ > > -----Original Message----- > From: Jerry Barnes [mailto:[email protected]] > Sent: Wednesday, November 21, 2012 5:42 PM > To: cf-community > Subject: Re: Now this is truly scary > > > "And as I've said before, make political parties, PACs and lobbying > illegal." > > I am with you except for parts of this sentence. > > I don't like political parties, but making them illegal infringes on the > right to associate with people who believe in similar idea and ideals. I'm > all for eliminating straight ticket voting and making all ballots party > free. This along with term limits would take a lot of bite out of political > parties. > > Lobbying is a tricky issue as well. People should be allowed to lobby. > They just shouldn't be allowed to pay for results. This is where it breaks > down. There needs to be 100% transparency in the finances of lobbyist, > congressmen, and congressmen's families. That's a start. > > PACs again are tricky. I would support squashing them if all races became > publicly funded. Until then, it won't matter. As can be seen by President > Obama readily taking money from foreign donors during the last two > elections. > > > J > > - > > In matters of conscience, the law of the majority has no place. - Mohandas > Gandhi > > > > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Order the Adobe Coldfusion Anthology now! http://www.amazon.com/Adobe-Coldfusion-Anthology/dp/1430272155/?tag=houseoffusion Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:358738 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/unsubscribe.cfm
