Sen. Ben Sasse Proposes Camera Ban in Senate, Term Limits

Discussion in 'Latest US & World News' started by Seth Bullock, Sep 11, 2020.

  1. Seth Bullock

    Seth Bullock Well-Known Member Past Donor

    Joined:
    Dec 26, 2015
    Messages:
    13,625
    Likes Received:
    11,934
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Gender:
    Male
    Sen. Ben Sasse says cameras in Senate hearings result in showboating rather than meaningful debate. He also proposes that Senators serve one 12 year term and that the 17th Amendment should be repealed.

    https://www.foxnews.com/politics/sen-ben-sasses-big-idea-get-cameras-out-of-senate-hearings
     
    Texan and Eleuthera like this.
  2. fmw

    fmw Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Aug 21, 2009
    Messages:
    37,773
    Likes Received:
    14,565
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Unfortunately, he won't get away anywhere with that.
     
    Eleuthera, cirdellin and joesnagg like this.
  3. Kev12345

    Kev12345 Banned

    Joined:
    Jul 30, 2020
    Messages:
    1,219
    Likes Received:
    483
    Trophy Points:
    83
    Gender:
    Male
    Wasnt he also the one who added with that to have senators not voted on but picked by the states?
     
  4. fmw

    fmw Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Aug 21, 2009
    Messages:
    37,773
    Likes Received:
    14,565
    Trophy Points:
    113
    It used to be that way. I don't know why it changed.
     
  5. Kev12345

    Kev12345 Banned

    Joined:
    Jul 30, 2020
    Messages:
    1,219
    Likes Received:
    483
    Trophy Points:
    83
    Gender:
    Male

    I dunno how I feel about that. With how divided the two sides are and how much one is going left and the other right you know dang well there wouldnt really be any centrists left. We need ppl up on the hill that can actually work with the other side instead of just disagreeing because they are the other side. This goes for both parties it has gotten out of hand this decade.
     
    Plasticman and Mrs. b. like this.
  6. cirdellin

    cirdellin Banned

    Joined:
    Jul 11, 2020
    Messages:
    2,612
    Likes Received:
    1,329
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Gender:
    Male
    Public policy needs to be as publicly reported as possible.

    And it’s bad enough that senators serve 6 years.

    I’d like to see them run every two years like the US House
     
    Last edited: Sep 12, 2020
    Mrs. b. likes this.
  7. Kev12345

    Kev12345 Banned

    Joined:
    Jul 30, 2020
    Messages:
    1,219
    Likes Received:
    483
    Trophy Points:
    83
    Gender:
    Male

    Another thing I think should happen is if one of the chambers votes and passes a bill the other chamber has to put it up for a vote. This is primarily because of the scummy things Moscow mitch is doing in the Senate since he took over.
     
  8. fmw

    fmw Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Aug 21, 2009
    Messages:
    37,773
    Likes Received:
    14,565
    Trophy Points:
    113
    It is hard to imagine why having the state legislature determine federal senators would change anything meaningfully. For a long while, senators were appointed by the state government and representatives were elected by the people. Six of one and half a dozen of the other.
     
  9. 61falcon

    61falcon Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Apr 27, 2018
    Messages:
    21,436
    Likes Received:
    12,227
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Gender:
    Male
    We should install AGE LIMITS for all political offices and the Supreme Court No one should serve for life!! I think no one over age 65 should be allowed to seek their first term as president or vice president, meaning they would be 73 after 2 terms in office. We should also have upper age limits for the House and Senate members as well as the Supreme Court. I am saying this as a 79 year old, we have way too many serving that are too old for the job.
     
  10. Kev12345

    Kev12345 Banned

    Joined:
    Jul 30, 2020
    Messages:
    1,219
    Likes Received:
    483
    Trophy Points:
    83
    Gender:
    Male

    I agree but as with term limits that will never happen. Would you vote for your termination???
     
  11. TomFitz

    TomFitz Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Jan 9, 2013
    Messages:
    40,413
    Likes Received:
    15,902
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Hearings have always been open to the public. Television cameras, have been there since the early 1950’s. The newsreel cameras and the microphones were there before that.

    Besides, this is idiotic. There isn’t a Senator alive that doesn’t know that hearings can provide make or break exposure.
     
    Last edited: Sep 13, 2020
  12. cirdellin

    cirdellin Banned

    Joined:
    Jul 11, 2020
    Messages:
    2,612
    Likes Received:
    1,329
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Gender:
    Male
    Yes this senator is an idiot and is incidentally running for re-election.
     
    TomFitz likes this.
  13. cirdellin

    cirdellin Banned

    Joined:
    Jul 11, 2020
    Messages:
    2,612
    Likes Received:
    1,329
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Gender:
    Male
    Any US senator who wants things done in the shadows is suspect to me.
    And this senator is a Republican and needs to be called out on this and to those who say I am a Republican apologist let my statement about him go on the record.
     
  14. cirdellin

    cirdellin Banned

    Joined:
    Jul 11, 2020
    Messages:
    2,612
    Likes Received:
    1,329
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Gender:
    Male
    Yeah direct elections for senators started a hundred years ago in the US and I’m sure direct elections for president may come soon.
     
  15. cirdellin

    cirdellin Banned

    Joined:
    Jul 11, 2020
    Messages:
    2,612
    Likes Received:
    1,329
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Gender:
    Male
    The US Supreme Court is my biggest issue. There is literally no accountability as has been evidenced over and over and over again.
     
  16. fmw

    fmw Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Aug 21, 2009
    Messages:
    37,773
    Likes Received:
    14,565
    Trophy Points:
    113
    It will when the federal government is all democrat. As long as we can maintain some gridlock in congress we can at least delay it.
     
  17. fmw

    fmw Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Aug 21, 2009
    Messages:
    37,773
    Likes Received:
    14,565
    Trophy Points:
    113
    That assumes that you consider exposure a positive thing. I would prefer to have hearings be productive rather than theatrical.
     
  18. Eretria

    Eretria Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Jan 1, 2017
    Messages:
    496
    Likes Received:
    335
    Trophy Points:
    63
    Gender:
    Female
    That's why it should be on the ballot and be decided similarly as a Presidential election is decided. Then the people decide not the legislators.
     
  19. cirdellin

    cirdellin Banned

    Joined:
    Jul 11, 2020
    Messages:
    2,612
    Likes Received:
    1,329
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Gender:
    Male
    I think it best when both houses of US Congress are in the hands of the opposition party to the president.
    Nothing gets done and this is the best Americans can hope for.
     
  20. fmw

    fmw Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Aug 21, 2009
    Messages:
    37,773
    Likes Received:
    14,565
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Too easy to break a veto. The only hope is a split congress so no partisan legislation ever sees the light of day.
     
    cirdellin likes this.
  21. fmw

    fmw Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Aug 21, 2009
    Messages:
    37,773
    Likes Received:
    14,565
    Trophy Points:
    113
    In the old days the idea was to have the House answer to the people and the Senate to answer to the states. There was less vitriol I think when both houses had different "bosses." Legislators don't elect the president. The people in every state do that through the electoral college.
     
    Seth Bullock and Eretria like this.
  22. Seth Bullock

    Seth Bullock Well-Known Member Past Donor

    Joined:
    Dec 26, 2015
    Messages:
    13,625
    Likes Received:
    11,934
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Gender:
    Male
    @fmw @Kev12345 @61falcon @cirdellin

    Senators used to be elected by the state legislature. The nice thing about that was that they were truly your state's senator. They were accountable to no one except your state legislature, a body that is elected by the state's people. A senator never had to have campaign cash. A senator didn't need a campaign staff. A senator didn't even have to watch the polls. A senator didn't even have to vote with his own party! What that senator had to do, if he wanted to keep his job, was to vote with the wishes of the majority of his state's legislature.

    Theoretically, your Senator could even belong to the party opposite of the majority in his state legislature, as long as he followed the wishes of that majority in the legislation he supported and with his votes.

    As it is, Senators vote along party lines, rarely, if ever, crossing them. Whoever the ranking, leading member of their party is in the Senate is their boss, not the voters who elected them. Worse yet, they may accept campaign cash from interests that have nothing to do with their states, and those interests expect that Senator to vote for their interests if he ever hopes to see any more of that cash in the future. Having a state legislature elect your Senators takes all that corruption and strict party loyalty away. His only real loyalty will be to your state and the majority of voters who voted in the state legislature.

    Under a system like that, term limits are not really necessary for Senators because a state legislature can elect a new Senator whenever it so chooses.

    Term limits should be imposed on the House. I think 3 terms is enough - 6 years.

    And I agree with Sen. Sasse that the TV cameras ought to be out of the Senate. It just creates speechifying, showboating, and a circus-like atmosphere in what should be a fact-finding mission and a respectful, deliberative process.

    Seth :oldman: :flagus:
     
    Texan likes this.
  23. cirdellin

    cirdellin Banned

    Joined:
    Jul 11, 2020
    Messages:
    2,612
    Likes Received:
    1,329
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Gender:
    Male
    And I want full sunlight on political entities.
    No parasitic organism can survive full sunlight!
     
  24. fmw

    fmw Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Aug 21, 2009
    Messages:
    37,773
    Likes Received:
    14,565
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Make it a single six year term for reps. You can replace 1/3 of them each election cycle.
     
    Seth Bullock likes this.
  25. Seth Bullock

    Seth Bullock Well-Known Member Past Donor

    Joined:
    Dec 26, 2015
    Messages:
    13,625
    Likes Received:
    11,934
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Gender:
    Male
    All hearings ought to be open to the press and public with a transcription of all of it. In this internet age, that ought to be plenty of access to what happened in a hearing.
     
    cirdellin likes this.

Share This Page