Friday, October 16, 2009

Post #3: Power, Politics, A seat in the U.S. House of Representatives!




How precious a commodity is a seat the perennial power house know as the U.S. House of Representatives. Only 435 seats, and each one has acts as its own little power broker to vie for the interests of the people and the businesses in the United State of America. Getting a seat has its pre-requisites and is costly, but the payoff is huge and can be long lasting.

A seat in the house of Representatives can't be bought, per se, but the money that has to be "poored" into a political campaign in contemporary times is remarkably high. A person wishing to gain a seat in the House of Representatives must be 25 years old when taking office, per the U.S. constitution and should most probably have a bankroll in excess of $25 million USD to finance a credible campaign.

The payoff: When one takes office they pledge to be in pursuit of the interests of their constituents. Embodying roughly 650,000 citizens that congregate in their district is awesome, especially today.

Hyperpluaralism, lobbyist's, power to create and vote on legislation, high retention rates, and many other aspects of this job/commodity make it worth the investment of time and money.

This commodity interests me, because of its power and prestige. People who get elected to either house in our bicameral legislature are surely to be in the history books and can possibly have a career as a politician, because there currently is no term limit for congressional legislators, unlike the president. I also see a flawed upside down system that has little to do with the real "interests" of the citizens of the U.S. One very prominent example is that fact that the U.S. has been in a de facto state of war since WWII. Ike, told us to be critical about the military industrial complex, and we have not done so, in turn this "iron triangle" is taking the cake while the citizens of the U.S. fund the endeavors.

Erik Jacobsen

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