I think that if this proposal was pitched just right, it could gain some momentum among the chattering class:
I’d like to go Friedman one better. Not only do we need a third party, but how about a third branch of congress? Tricameralism if you will. This body, which would be appointed—for life—by, and possibly include, Tom Friedman and David Broder, would consist mainly of wise, public-spirited billionaires, ‘above party’, the class to whom, if we were only capable of realizing it, we owe everything. Its powers, well I’m not sure what they should be, but perhaps the decision should be left in the hands of its members, who know so much more and are so much better intentioned than the rest of us.
Hunter Gathers
Interesting idea. Although cutting taxes and killing muslims is the only thing our existing Congress seems to give a shit about, I don’t think it’s needed. Besides, the amount of money spent on Depends and mustache combs would triple the national debt.
Kiril
I like this idea. Get all those fuckers in one place.
Ash Can
I don’t think this would be necessary. These pompous, tiresome gasbags already see themselves as the true ruling class; to give them their own chamber would be redundant.
On the other hand, I can see the convenience of getting them all together in one room. It would then be easy to lock them in and cut the power to their mikes.
MattF
And anyone who disagrees will be… persuaded to change their minds. Re-educated. Liberated from their petty, selfish, partisan concerns and foolish anxieties.
Wag
And we can call it The House of Lords.
And the House can be The House of Commons.
And the Senate can be The House of Corporations.
KG
Don’t we already have this body, called the Senate, no?
Tecumseh
It should be easy for them to do things as all they’d do is to take the Republican proposal, then take the Democratic proposal and then come up with something right smack down in the middle and if either party protests, they’ll penalize the Democrats for not being bipartisan enough.
jeffreyw
tomato pesto pizza
jurassicpork
Well, it’s been almost a year but I’ve brought back Assclowns of the Week. #84: Midterm Madness edition highlights some of the worst GOP/Tea Bagging asshats running for public office. On the spit this week: Christine O’Donnell, Jan Brewer, Sharron Angle, Rand Paul, Rick Sanchez and much, much more (including an unPhotoshopped lead picture of Sarah Palin that alone is worth the price of admission)!
henqiguai
Yeah, what Wag at #5 said, with a bit of KG at #6. We got that already, it’s the Senate with life-time appointments; just rename it The House of Lords.
rootless_e
Ballad of Broderism
oh golly populism is tiresome
and the rubes will never learn
our nation wants a Leader
strong and tough and very firm
people say our love of servitude
is proof of some perverted yearn
but we’re wise or wizened
and still how we hotly burn
how we tingle how we beg
for a master hard and stern
BombIranForChrist
I agree. I think we need a Friendly Mustachioed Dictator for Life. It would be nice if he Knows All and has pleasing looking children.
arguingwithsignposts
I already have the logo/animal for the new Radical Center Party. Thoughts are appreciated.
Martin
Interesting inside baseball look at the Senate, in the context of what happened to climate legislation.
maya
Why would billionaires travel all the way to Wash DC, especially during the summer months? I further suspect that they probably hate each other with a passion that can be refocused into a cohesive body only when one of them becomes a trillionaire.
Their poker nights would be fun to watch on B-span, though.
Loneoak
@arguingwithsignposts:
I like the koala as a symbol for this party — it eats only one low-nutrition food that essentially poisons it to the point that it moves extremely slowly.
But who is that dude in the blingee?
MikeJ
@Loneoak: And 75% of them have chlamydia.
Calvin Jones and the 13th Apostle
Cole is going to be cranky the rest of today!!
KG
@henqiguai: how often to incumbents actually get defeated in the Senate? If the seat changes hands, it’s usually because of retirement, isn’t it? I mean, once you win, you’re pretty much set until you want to go, with very, very few exceptions.
El Cid
How about another Supreme Court, this one the Supreme Arbiter of Legislative and Executive Benevolent Center-Right Upper Classism?
arguingwithsignposts
@Loneoak: it’s eminem. i think. thug life of the radical centah.
The Grand Panjandrum
Let us not forget Taibbi’s takedown of the Friedman as noted by Cole. But, yes, that Modest Proposal is just what we need: our betters providing guidance to us little folks.
Short Bus Bully
Thanks to Bobo and The Moustache I think I now finally have the ultimate rebuttal to Plato’s “Philosopher Kings” theory.
stuckinred
Braves WIN!!!
ruemara
I will only support this notion if the proposed group meets in one specific asteroid, that we can then nuke from orbit, just to make sure.
Shalimar
Wouldn’t it be easier to just amend the Constitution so that only the wealthiest 1/10th of 1% of the population are eligible to be Senators? Then we would have the House of Lords we need while preserving most of our current system.
Dennis SGMM
@Shalimar:
The wealthiest 1/10th of 1% of the population have better things to do. Besides, their front men in the Senate are doing a yeoman-like job of looking out for their best interests.
Roger Moore
@Shalimar:
FTFY. The Supreme Court has already ruled that they’re free to try to buy elections, so why not save them some cash by making the whole matter academic? Though if Meg Whitman is anything to go by, voter turnout might be even worse than it is now.
Martin
If the Supreme Court is going to block all efforts to reform spending, then the only solution is to block earning – which they won’t be able to step in front of.
The solution to the rich buying elections is to eliminate the rich. Turn on that 90% tax rate and call it the campaign reform tax.
James E. Powell
As we certainly expected, Friedman neglects to mention how often his Billionaire Old Boys’ Club is disastrously wrong about major policy decisions.
How much better off would all Americans be right now if we had not:
1) Repealed Glass-Steagal,
2) Passed the Telecommunications Act of 1996,
3) Passed the Bush tax cuts, including the estate tax cuts,
4) Allowed Wall Street to run wild, and
5) Invaded Iraq.
Friedmans’ Chosen Few chose all these policies, over the objection of the horribly partisan interest groups that represent people with little or no money.
But the problem is not really Friedman, Broder, and others like them. The problem is the huge chunk of Americans who think that this sounds like an excellent idea.
Seven years ago, Californians enthusiastically supported the idea that a rich person with no experience in government was just what the state government needed. Friedman’s Chosen Few were absolutely ecstatic.
Arnold did no good at all. Arnold made things worse.
Still, the Billionaires Old Boys’ Club and about half the voters in California apparently believe that what we need is another rich person with no experience in government.
Can anyone explain this to me? I really am very confused.
El Cid
@James E. Powell: Had not passed the Commodities Futures Modernization Act, hadn’t had Phil Gramm’s wife as the head of that agency, hadn’t let Reagan fully deregulate the Savings & Loan industry so that collapsed, needing another several hundred billion dollars in bailouts…
Roger Moore
@Martin:
You’ll have to eliminate corporations, while you’re at it. Not that doing so would necessarily be the worst thing ever, mind you.
El Cid
After the populace failed to rush to a Lexus-Olive tree paradise
The Moustache of Understanding
Repeatedly published columns in the Paper of Record
Stating that the people
Had forfeited the confidence of the government
And could win it back only
By redoubled efforts.
Would it not be easier
In that case for the government
To dissolve the people
And elect another?
KG
@James E. Powell: in (partial) defense of Arnold, electing someone governor (or president at the federal level) who is determined to change things isn’t going to matter much if the assholes in the legislature are still there opposing every attempted change out of their own self interest.
Voters don’t like “career politicians” and like the idea of “citizen politicians”. And many think that success in the private sector can translate into success in the public sector (the evidence is inconclusive). When people perceive problems with government, they naturally tend to blame those already in government. So, if the perceived problem is with government, and the blame falls on those already in government, then the logical solution is to vote for those currently outside of government.
catclub
@KG:
But aren’t you glad that Rick Santorum was an exception?
Martin
Wow, that generic congressional ballot is all over the map. Newsweek has Dems +6, Zogby/Ras/Fox has GOP +6 (yeah, I know, but that’s no reason to discount 3 polls). Gallup has it tied.
The GOP has a lot more work on their hands here than the narrative is making clear. Let’s assume that TPMs average of GOP +2 is correct. And let’s assume that the margin is distributed uniformly across all races, then the race is very nearly a draw, and the GOP won’t win many seats at all. The reason that it’s a draw is that incumbents, based on name recognition, tend to do better in the actual election than in a generic ballot. And everyone tends to consider their own incumbent as an exception to the broader rule: “These guys get into office and then do nothing, however my congressman is doing a good job.” That’s local issues coming into play, and that’s always the hazard when we frame electoral projection as incumbent backlash. Most of the time we talk about issues, even issues by proxy (abortion policy’s relationship to the two parties, for example) and those are easier to draw predictive results from. But while 70% of the public wants term limits, a Senatorial incumbent has a 90% chance in the general election to keep their seat. We only want term limits for everyone else’s senator, not ours, and that’s a very different thing than the relationship between the public’s policy preferences and who they vote for.
The senate and governor races are one thing – there’s polling on every competitive race so accurate models are simple to build. But that isn’t true for the House. There’s literally hundreds of races with no public polling. Internals, sure, but that’s it at this stage. I wouldn’t draw too strong conclusions one way or another.
The Pale Scot
Stolen from Tbogg
http://tbogg.firedoglake.com/2010/10/01/masturbation-cloning-a-jedi-craves-not-these-things”/
“This week, questions were raised about whether Christian O’Donnell had falsely suggested on two online business networking sites, LinkedIn and ZoomInfo, that she had attended Oxford University in England, when in fact she had simply attended a summer program there under the auspices of the Phoenix Institute.”
So, as anyone would, I assumed they meant the online college, University of Phoenix®;
they do have certification here in the states,
Er.. not quite;
“From the instructor Bruce W Griffin, official college instructor at…what college was that again?
In the summer of 2001, I was a doctoral student in classics at the University of Oxford, and looking for summer employment. I signed on with a group called the Phoenix Institute to do a tutorial at Oxford on postmodernism and natural law.
This was my second summer with the Phoenix Institute. The Phoenix Institute was a group of Jedi academics; rebels and renegades against the evil empire of politically correct university life. Their summer school at Oxford ran three weeks, and was intended to give intellectual alternatives to the philosophical morass of postmodern moral relativism.”
• Remember that in a poll taken recently 20% of Brits listed their religion as “Jedi”
best comment;
• Ok, I’ll bite: what the hell does a doctoral student in classics know about postmodernism?
Yutsano
@Martin: Notice how most Republicans are running from the narrative of a total Congressional takeover now? I also observed that the trend lines in the Feingold election are favoring him considerably. I don’t think it will be quite the bloody mess everyone thinks it will be.
KG
@catclub: in all honesty, I like it when any incumbent loses, regardless of party.
Linda Featheringill
At least you didn’t suggest eating Irish children.
Or does that come later?
Dennis SGMM
@Yutsano:
My thought is that everyone doesn’t expect a bloody mess, just the emessem which can’t resist hyping Götterdämmerung because that’s much more exciting than “majority party likely to maintain majority.”
Cat Lady
@Martin:
Independents are waking up, looking around, seeing nothing but whackadoodle Republicans on their tee vee and in the newspapers, and are ever so slowly and painfully coming to the realization that not only have Republicans not learned their lesson, they went all in on the crazy. If there were actually such a thing as generic Republicans, we’d see the numbers firming up and pointing to gooper landslide. It’s going to be close though, and it’s going to be local GOTV efforts that will make the difference for the House races. I think they peaked too early, and believe their own nonsense.
Linda Featheringill
@Cat Lady:
Always dangerous.
Although the Republican leaders seem to be pulling back quicker than the MSM.
I don’t know how the sheep will deal with this, though.
Edit:
I still see comments on other sites from some right wing nut along the lines of “We’re going to really whup yo ass on election day. And then that smile will be coming out of the other side of your face.”
Yutsano
@Linda Featheringill:
Because Fox is still selling that line. And will continue to do so until November 3rd where they’ll either crow about the results or start the election fraud accusations. Me personally I’m buying popcorn for Rossi’s third concession speech.
Roger Moore
@Yutsano:
Who are they going to blame now that ACORN is defunct? Will it be SEIU or The New Black Panther Party?
Yutsano
@Roger Moore: Or invent a Demon of the Week out of whole cloth. These people are already making their own reality, so as long as there is some outside source to blame their failures on they will continue to do so.
Upon further consideration, I bet the Tides Foundation gets mentioned in any teabagger losses. Call it a feeling but they’ve been whipped by the rodeo clown lately so that makes the most sense.
PanAmerican
@Yutsano:
I have it at a 89% confidence that Nate Silver and Chris Bowers are full of shit.
Of course that’s just a snapshot of today. So don’t call me on it Nov 2.
me
I have a modest proposal. How about we take Friedman, Brooks etc and feed them to the poor.
Cat Lady
@Linda Featheringill:
As a lifelong Red Sox fan, I learned long ago to never ever ever count your chickens before they’ve hatched. Be careful counting them even when they’ve hatched, because shit happens then too.
James E. Powell
@El Cid:
Everything you said and probably a few more that don’t come readily to mind.
Can anyone list any policies or programs the Billionaire Old Boys’ Club foisted on America that has benefited Americans generally?
James E. Powell
@KG:
On your first point, Arnold was, from the very first, a fraud. Other than putting a right-wing wish list of ballot issues out there, he hasn’t proposed any solutions. Other than on social issues, which aren’t part of the problem here in California, he’s been a generic Republican. Whitman will be the same or worse.
On your second point, voters are ignorant. Getting rid of “career politicians” has been the battle cry for years, but it hasn’t produced any better policies. And each wave of “throw the rascals out” only creates a new generation of rascals.
The only solution I can think of is for political leaders to educate them. I don’t see anyone even trying.
Corner Stone
@Dennis SGMM:
I’m just not sure there has ever been something I have wanted to type more than this word.
I mean, even typing, “Hold on peeps, a Hooter’s Girl wet T-Shirt contest has just broken out in my house.” Is a close run for getting the chance to use Götterdämmerung.
Martin
@PanAmerican: Well, Nate has far and away the best models out there. His Senate and Governor models are as good as you’ll find, IMO, and I wouldn’t second guess those.
His House model is very good given the information we have. Problem is, the information we have on House races is much worse than what we have on Senate and Gov, and as a result his model is much worse. But it’s still as good as anyone elses.
My problem with most everyone else’s approach (Cook, etc.) is that they also rely on on-the-ground information and interpretations of other trends (Dems are pessimistic, GOP is optimistic – dollars raised, etc.). That’s created a lot of campaign jobs that are the political equivalent of gaming PageRank. With the amount of money in politics now, and the visibility of all the information, I’m VERY leery of anything subjective. What I like best about Nate is that he’s not trying to interpret his own individual numbers. He’s not saying that so and so is up 6 in the poll, but we shouldn’t trust that because of this and that subjective reason.
I still wouldn’t trust anyone but Nate, but that House model isn’t nearly as good as his others. Everyone is a bit in the dark on the house – that’s just the nature of running 400+ campaigns at once.
Corner Stone
@Calvin Jones and the 13th Apostle: Maybe his “brothers” will give him a good, sweet hugging.
IM
In the Otherland series of Tad Williams, set in the 2050 or so, there is a third branch of congress in The US, a industrial senate.
Davis X. Machina
Boehner’s having the skids greased under him, in anticipation of his not leading The Faithful into The Promised Land.
That leak re affair-with-lobbyist is just a dry run.
Gingrich didn’t deliver the Promised Land and he lost everything, Speakership, seat and all. These boys hate to lose.
Bruce (formerly Steve S.)
I’ve been vegetating in front of flickering television images all weekend and haven’t been Juicing. I assume it’s already been pointed out multiple hundreds of times that Friedman’s dream (mildly progressive reform tempered by centrist compromise on the home front, continuation of the Empire overseas under the rubric of a more realpolitik approach) is perfectly embodied by the Obama administration? So his plea for a rich white man with old money to save us all is pointless?
J Edgar
@The Pale Scot: • Ok, I’ll bite: what the hell does a doctoral student in classics know about postmodernism?
When you’re a
teabaggertea partier everything is about you. He’s just doing his part.roshan
What Digby said.
LMAO.
Wannabe Speechwriter
According to Beck U, slavery wasn’t bad until the government got involved-
http://www.examiner.com/political-buzz-in-national/glenn-beck-claims-slavery-was-not-really-bad-until-government-got-involved
Because owning people as property is all fine and good. Sadly, this probably won’t cost him any of his jobs or endorsements.
Wannabe Speechwriter
@Wannabe Speechwriter: Sorry, meant to put this in the open thread. Mixed up the links.
Paris
We could call the new branch of government the Aspen Institute.
Hubertus Bigend
I’m not certain Tommy F. is a billionaire these days. His wife’s family’s commercial real estate company was the source of their wealth, and it crashed big-time. I’m sure they diversified before the fall, but I doubt they’re still in 10 digit territory.