My Sucky American Education

[Elizabeth Isabelle]

Please help me sort out the difference between a congressman and a senator, and what sort of initiatives each are responsible for. Here are some links that may help:
http://www.senate.gov/
http://www.buchanan.house.gov/grants.shtml

[Katy]

Please help me sort out the difference between a congressman and a senator, and what sort of initiatives each are responsible for. Here are some links that may help:
http://www.senate.gov/
http://www.buchanan.house.gov/grants.shtml

OK please tell me what you're specifically looking to learn here? I know (because I just recently took the test to teach) that our school system makes a huge friggen deal about bicameralism so I'll assume you're looking for something else and either not being clear or intentionally trying to provoke some answer... Is it just in vocabulary? I guess using "congressman" for house members could be confusing since senators get their own special label?

[Elizabeth Isabelle]

Okay, I pitched some ideas to Congressman Buchanan last week in one of his meetings about gang violence. He liked my ideas, and got me in touch with his press secretary. I submitted phase one of a plan through her, and essentially found out that I needed to understand better which level of government is appropriate to pitch which idea to in order to make progress in my world peace effort.

[Carl G]

You're barking up the wrong tree, but hey, seems you are caused to, so, knock yourself out.

The political system is made up of the corrupt and the naive.

[BMcGilly07]

Ditto, Carl. I don't think you'll ever offer an idea to any politician and end up with a negative reaction.

"Uh, yeah, great idea... I'll give you my secretaries fax (aka paper shredder) and I'll be happy to go over your ideas at length in my leisure (while I snort this 8-ball off the small of my secretary's back)".

[Elizabeth Isabelle]

I may or may not be able to do any good, but if i do not try, i definitely would not do any good. American attitudes like Bryan's and Carl's are exactly why good people are losing control of the American government.

[keenobserver]

I may or may not be able to do any good, but if i do not try, i definitely would not do any good. American attitudes like Bryan's and Carl's are exactly why good people are losing control of the American government.

Also, if you dont try, you definitely would not do any bad!

Frankly, its quite true that american politics is rife with incompetence and corruption, and usually the well meaning helpful female assistants go away with a good feeling of positive contribution, while all the while they are unaware they have contributed to poor harmful self-serving ideas and legislation.
If you had any idea how impenetrable and hopeless that body of people are you'ld have joined the peace corps already.

You want to help, then work on the problem. The best problem to tackle first would be the end of the two party dictatorship that excludes the best minds from contention and has single handedly squeezed out all fresh intelligence and adaptive growth. Our political system needs a major shake up, but chances are we'll have to wait until the ancients drop dead before things improve.

We keep changing and adding software without updating the equipment. And everyone knows that aint any good.

[Jamesh]

I submitted phase one of a plan through her, and essentially found out that I needed to understand better which level of government is appropriate to pitch which idea to in order to make progress in my world peace effort.

It is possible it was a low key fob off. Although the Australian and US governments are quite dissimmilar, I know that each of the three levels won't step outside of their roles, when approached by the public, and doubt the US would be different in this regard. Getting the Police, managed at the State level, to work with the Council (Community/State Electorate/Mayor-type level) on anything not already established would be difficult for an outsider, even more so if was not established in some other council within the state. Would take many months in Australia, even more if it was something involving schools, as the federal level might be needed to provide grant money. You'd either need to have an ally on the council willing to put effort into the job (I don't know what the equivalent of our Council Alderman is in the US), or use some respected charity-type organisation to promote it for you. I'd first try writing something the local paper could use as a story.

[ChochemV2]

Congress is comprised of both the House of Representative and the Senate. Each state has a certain number of congressmen in the House of Representatives based on the population of the state. Each state also gets two senators independent of the population of the state. Technically either can be called a "congressman" since they are both part of Congress, however, generally a representative is referred to as a congressman while a member of the senate is called a senator.

If you're going to send anything to anyone send it to your congressman because the House of Representatives presents bills.

[Elizabeth Isabelle]

Thank you Cho. I approached Congressman Buchanan first because he was holding a meeting on gang violence (a predicament that is within my field of focus) locally enough that I was able to get in and see him in person. Although I am still a bit confused as to what should go to congress or a more local level of government, I suspect I may have to stumble across that as I go through the grants programs, setting up and accomplishing this myself.

I will not waste my time arguing with the naysayers content to bitch about what this world is coming to and moan that nothing can be done, nor the male chauvinistic keenobserver insinuating that a female who tries to help is so dim-witted that she will just make it worse all the while deluded into thinking she's making things better. It is only worth my while to point out how herdly it is for sheeple to just bleat about how the world is and only run when the wolf is right behind them, and worse how evil it is to try to dissuade those with both the ability and intent to be helpful. That makes as much sense as attacking the sheepdog who is going after the wolf in the fold.

[ChochemV2]

It sounds like you did the right thing since it's an interest of his. The real problem isn't getting it to someone who can do something but to someone who cares and if he cares about the issue then he's the best person to present your ideas to. Everything else will come if the project develops.

[brokenhead]

The best problem to tackle first would be the end of the two party dictatorship that excludes the best minds from contention and has single handedly squeezed out all fresh intelligence and adaptive growth.

Hey keenobserver - you're mixing metaphors. A "two-party" dictatorship "single-handedly" does what?
Besides, it's what we've got.

Hey Elizabeth, you go girl, and please post what results you get. I've written to Congressmen in the past and it does seem like you're shouting into a void.

[Jamesh]

Gang violence. I'm a big fan of boot camps myself. The camps would be partly based on army methods to teach them they could be disciplined, but concetrate more on cooperation building exercises, with some philosophy thrown in.

[Carl G]

American attitudes like Bryan's and Carl's are exactly why good people are losing control of the American government.

You make me laugh. When did good people ever control the American government? How are Bryan's and my attitude causing this supposed loss? And, how do you define a good person, anyway?

[Elizabeth Isabelle]

You're a big fan of boot camps, eh James? Florida had those, but after 35 deaths, it was determined that this was a bad idea.

[Jamesh]

Yeah, camps like those are a bad idea. Not at all what I had in mind, mine wouldn't be under police control for a start. By military I really meant that they'd have no choice to refuse to do activities and the activities would be physical to some degree, using things like orientation courses, exercising, team building efforts and so on.

And as for the 35 deaths, it is quite possible that other forms of imprisonment would have resulted in double the number of deaths. We are talking Florida and Texas after all.

I'm basing my opinion on how, on TV at least, some of these boot camps, like here in Oz where we had some Lebs walk the Kokoda Trial, and others were taught bushlore, the kids seem to loose much of thier hostility and are more cooperative. It didn't take any violence to change them, just effort on their part, effort a lot of them will do because of peer group pressure for them to cooperate.

I approached Congressman Buchanan first because he was holding a meeting on gang violence (a predicament that is within my field of focus) locally enough that I was able to get in and see him in person.

Getting out of the house these days, are we.

[Elizabeth Isabelle]

Yes James, I'm doing fine now. And what you are describing sounds more like our Outward Bound program.

[keenobserver]

The fact is all politicians hide the truth from voters, less so for independents, and this fact alone should disqualify them from service. Our government has plans that it has no intention of getting our permission for, particularly Mr President.
This has put us all in great danger, truely, because our leaders are less ethical and less wise than at nearly any time in our history as a nation. Voters have voted by the heart and appearances the last few decades, far more so than before, when only the most serious and informed and intellectual men voted. So just about all legislators are crooks now.

This is why it is no longer ethical to participate in our political system, even if the citizens themselves are half-decent, the ones pulling the strings and controlling our greater lives are not making decisions, laws and policy, especially foreign policy, that are in the best interests of the human race. This has been going on for decades.

And our system permits them to get away with a great deal, before we can oust them. So the politicians have figured out a way to "beat the system" so to speak, and these days such an attitute is connected with cleverness which gives it strange credibility. This has been terribly damaging to our country and the world keeps trying to inform us, but we are helpless to improve the situation, we keep trying without knowing that we cannot improve the present system, not without a major restructure, not without a political revolution.