U.S. Congress by random draft #DraftCongress

In the service of the United States young men over the age of eighteen were at one time called to don uniforms, carry guns, and storm hills in the face of gunfire and bombshells. They were chosen from a random pool of boys who voluntarily registered their names and Social Security numbers, knowing they could be called to die for their Congress's and President's chosen path of bloodshed and disaster.


U.S. Congressmen, holed up in their cushy offices, far from gunfire or danger, called this process fair. It wasn't fair.  There were loopholes in selection that any well connected, white, college-aged man could avail himself of. See, for example, Dick Cheney and George W. Bush.


Nonetheless, many good men whose impact on the planet, its people and its fortunes will never be known, answered the call. They got suited up, shipped out and got killed. True, many came home just fine. Many never left the US. But many came back, broken. Badly. 


But it was mostly fair. Fearsome, unimaginably violent, dubious in origin, but fair. There is a current and far better use of that kind of random selection process now.


The U.S. should adopt a public service draft, by Constitutional Amendment of course, for Congress. All representatives would be chosen by a staggered, random drawing from all U.S. citizens between the age of 35 and 65. The single term of service would be four years with half of Congress replaced every two years. All who served would get DC dormitory housing for when Congress was in session and would be paid a daily stipend for their attendance at Congressional gatherings, which, I would bet, would be a whole lot less often than they are now. I estimate a drafted congress might meet once every three to six months and only for a week or so at a time. They could get reimbursed for constituent communication and events too. But only out of their district's tax payments.


Lobbyists would be mostly powerless. Committee assignments would be loathed and not coveted. Nobody would be out hunting for re-election support, so no company, cabal, or Netanyahu could consistently buy influence. There would be no lavish pensions, no junkets to foreign lands, and probably no more military-industrial complex. There would be a continued need for career specialists and administrative employees and agencies, but no more elected official class and its grossly ignorant buffoonery.


It is quite possible that with regular Americans in office, some meaningful, humane and relevant policies would be adopted. I would imagine quite a few bad laws would be stricken too. A drafted Congress would be efficient. There would be little to none of the "we have to do something" nonsense we have now. That fluff would disappear. There would be no patience for being away from home, family and work to vote for spending on National Broccoli Day recognition or some such.


Imagine. Members of the governed, called to govern, without a promise of influence or power, who just want to go through an agenda of pressing items and go home. Certainly if it was fair enough a process to choose young men to face death for the whims of their leaders, it is fair enough to choose citizens to make far less fatal and final governance decisions.  #DraftCongress