Politicians' Work Habits

Discussion in 'Politics & Government' started by Frank Sanoica, Oct 15, 2019.

  1. Frank Sanoica

    Frank Sanoica Supreme Member
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    This evening I watched HAG-TV :House Hunters International". A Mexican Diplomat stationed in Washington for 16 years was moving back to Mexico City with American wife (I presume), three small kids. He was tall, trim, maybe 35-40, white skin, no Indian blood, spoke near-perfect English. Imagined he lost the last election, immaterial. Several imponderables came to mind (of course).

    Do we have such diplomats stationed in Mexico? Are politicians "employees"? (servants?). Employees are universally "kept in line" while on the job, yes? Sometimes with "time clocks", watchful fore-persons, even Management employees are kept track of.

    We had to "call in sick", explain absence on the job, tardiness, etc. Except in the case of "role calls" I think I've seen in Congress, (not sure on this ), who keeps track of politicians? They can almost without exception be off somewhere on behalf of their constituency, but how often just gallivanting about. They complain about how hard the job is, as though they regret getting into that business, but almost 100% of them seek re-election, to get to continue the jibs they "loathe" what sort of bullshit is this? How many hours do you suppose are actually "put in" on the job?

    Frank
     
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  2. Beth Gallagher

    Beth Gallagher Supreme Member
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    Diplomats are not elected, they are appointed and are not technically politicians. Yes, we have a diplomat in Mexico. Diplomats are typically known as ambassadors and serve at embassies around the world.

    I suppose politicians are pretty much the same as high-ranking private sector management; they are responsible for maintaining a presence but certainly don't punch a clock or anything. They are expected to produce results.
     
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  3. Al Amoling

    Al Amoling Veteran Member
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    There are 535 members of Congress. Of that number 429 are millionaires and a tidy number of them were almost paupers when they started. for instance Nancy Pelosi is north about 100 million. Not too shabby on pay which is currently 174k pre year. The perks are amazing best health care best pension, and you only have to be in DC 3 days a week.
     
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  4. Frank Sanoica

    Frank Sanoica Supreme Member
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    @Beth Gallagher

    So are CEOs, Community Leaders, Mayors, Prosecutors (especially)....... Which grouping produces the least viable results, ya think?
    Frank
     
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  5. Bess Barber

    Bess Barber Veteran Member
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    It just rarely occurs. :D

    I do agree with @Frank Sanoica in that they are still being paid by our tax dollars. It would be fun if all diplomats and politicians had to turn in an end of the year accountability and we could conduct a review on whether they may deserve a cut in salary or lose other benefits. I think a president and his cabinet/staff always work hard. But, there are a lot of others who really don't do spit.
     
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  6. Shirley Martin

    Shirley Martin Supreme Member
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    Most of the time, the politicians do nothing, thank God. Imagine what havoc they could wreak if the actually did something.
     
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  7. Bess Barber

    Bess Barber Veteran Member
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    There's a good point. :D
     
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  8. Frank Sanoica

    Frank Sanoica Supreme Member
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    @Shirley Martin
    If that be the case (and it surely is), then perhaps the tax burden imposed on US to pay THEM might be substantially reduced if their presence were.
    Frank
     
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  9. Bobby Cole

    Bobby Cole Supreme Member
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    Okay, I have tried in the past to sink my dentures into what a congressperson in the House of Representatives actually does to earn their keep but for the life of me, it’s hard to do.

    There are 435 representatives and each is sent by their state’s congressional districts to Washington D.C so that the state can be represented in Congress. There, that part is easy!

    Now it gets complicated. There are about 20 committees and each committee has 5 or so sub-committees that the representatives can serve on. Ya know, there’s a military committee, judicial committee, agricultural committee and so on.
    Each proposed bill is handed down by the House Speaker to the committee that is most closely associated with that bill.
    Just for kicks, let’s say the bill is something akin to agriculture. The House Speaker hands the proposed bill to the Ag committee and then having done her job gets to go have a cocktail.
    The ag committee gets the bill and sends it down to the sub-committees for research and whilst waiting for said research, the committee goes to play golf, goes to arranged lobbyist parties and also has cocktails with the Speaker.

    Side Bar: Do note that between the committee and the sub-committees there could be about 80 representatives + staffers involved.

    Once the sub-committees are finished with the research, the bill gets passed back to the hungover committee for review and since the research is finished, those congress people go play golf, go to lobbyist parties and again, have cocktails with the Speaker.
    Now that the bill has been reviewed and after a cocktail break,, vacation, Sabbaticals, lobbyist parties and a few more rounds of golf, the Ag committee takes a vote on whether the rest of the House gets to vote on the bill. The House, now faced with a potential game changer, then has to contact the House Speaker and tell her or him to sober up and come back from Las Vegas and set a date whereby the rest of congress can make arrangements to be in the House chamber to vote on the bill.
    Note: If a member of the House can’t make it to vote, it’s understood because one just can’t simply come back to Washington to vote when one is busy with a staffer in the Catskills, uh, discussing the problems in his or her own congressional district somewhere in Indiana, Arkansas, Illinois or wherever.

    Meanwhile, back at the ranch, the taxpayer, having paid for all the congressperson’s antics, is sitting around for a week, a month or even years for a bill which might potentially be a life saver to come to fruition but alas, the bill, once approved by the House of Representatives, now has to go through the same crap with the Senate.
     
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    Last edited: Oct 18, 2019
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