Congressional Reform Act of 2011

[Speaking of corruption] I agree with this guest rant, via JWT:

The 26th amendment (granting the right to vote for 18 year-olds) took only 3 months & 8 days to be ratified! Why? Simple! The people demanded it. That was in 1971... before computers, before e-mail, before cell phones, etc.

Of the 27 amendments to the Constitution, seven (7) took 1 year or less to become the law of the land...all because of public pressure.

This is one idea that really should be passed around.

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Addendum: Corrections below, per Roadrunner's advice. That said, I posted this mostly for the (stated) goal of term limits and (unstated) goal of reducing personal enrichment based on power, whether in office or retired.

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Congressional Reform Act of 2011

1. Term Limits. 12 years only, one of the possible options below.. A. Two Six-year Senate terms B. Six Two-year House terms C. One Six-year Senate term and three Two-Year House terms
   
   
2. No Tenure / No Pension. A Congressman collects a salary while in office and receives no pay when they are out of office.*
   
   
3. Congress (past, present & future) participates in Social Security. All funds in the Congressional retirement fund move to the Social Security system immediately. All future funds flow into the Social Security system, and Congress [already] participates with the American people.
   
   
4. Congress can purchase their own retirement plan, just as all Americans do.*
   
   
5. Congress will no longer vote themselves a pay raise. Congressional pay will rise by the lower of CPI or 3%. [not true]
   
   
6. Congress loses their current health care system and participates in the same health care system as the American people. [not true]
   
   
7. Congress must equally abide by all laws they impose on the American people. [Not sure about this in the letter of the law, but there are some suspicious problems with the meaning of the law.]
   
   
8. All contracts with past and present Congressmen are void effective 1/1/11. The American people did not make this contract with Congressmen. Congressmen made all these contracts for themselves. [mostly true]

Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career. The Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators, so ours should serve their term(s), then go home and back to work.

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* This may imply pay for life, but I saw it as a type of pension based on pay while in office -- as opposed to contributions to a pension system -- which they DO receive, at the rate of $35-65k/year.