Congratulations! You are now a member of Congress! What is your top priority?

I left off:

Have lunch with the guys from Citicorp.


also known as the Biden Clause.

If you get the investigations done, you discredit the Repugnicans to the point that they won't be able to obstruct the rest. Investigate first, it leads to all the rest.

maybe they should give the minority repukes a few extra votes each time so they don't feel so left out

and raise more money

Until we take the huge gobs of money out of the picture, we will never get true representation. All the free trips, meals, flights, golf, etc. has got to stop. We all have the right to petition our elected leaders to be heard. We do not have the right to take them on a four-day, all-expense paid trip to a golf resort with the entire family coming along as well. All meetings between politicians and lobbyists should take place during regular business hours, at the politician's office. Period. That's what I would have to do if I wanted a few minutes of the guy's time. (Of course I would never get in the door because I'm just a regular joe). All gifts and contributions from lobbying groups should be banned. We need to ensure that our leaders are doing what is best for us, not what is best for themselves and their lobbying cronies.

and so much money is required to run a campaign now that legislators have little choice but to get in bed with lobbyists

we HAVE to get the money out of politics.

I've heard that re-election becomes priority No. 1 the very first day in office. It's all about raising the millions of dollars necessary for the next go-round.

Our elected leaders should get a decent salary commensurate with what top execs get in the public arena. And that's it. Seriously -- if a lobbying group donates half a million to you, can you be sure that your vote is going to be totally independent? We need to remove all doubt, or at least all appearances of doubt.

It's been at the same floor for over 10 years. That is a scandal.

I think we should institute a maximum income that is indexed to the minimum wage. Any income more than, say, 40 times the minimum wage is taxed at 100%.

That would do more to raise the minimum wage and keep it reasonable than hoping Congress can raise it a few cents every decade or so.

That or you could start to redistribute all private property. History doesn't judge very kindly those who try to redistribute wealth.

Oh, and the investigations.

You are so wrong. :rofl:

and keep making reforms until they are happy.

Getting re-elected and securing a stable power base for Dems. And enforcing some pragmatic organization and discipline within the party. That will require action that positively impacts everyday Americans. Political reform and investigations can wait until there is a stable power base. Primaries are quickly approaching and Dems do not currently have enough seats to either successfully impeach or override vetoes at this point. Government is about what works - as opposed to idealogical pursuits. That said, every issue listed is worthy of pursuit - but such pursuit should be secondary to maintaining and stabilizing the power base.

My head says cover things like:
Tax reform (in the words of FDR: "SOAK THE RICH!!!!!")
Health care
Minimum wage
defund the war

what would you do?

the greatest threat against humanity, not just a national security issue but a global one as well.

oops

and then all the other items in this poll will be taken care of in due course.

And a 30-hour work week.