Is it time to reoorganize Congress?

While the current system is all mucked up by political polarization, that doesn't mean the system is the problem. The system is designed as nearly perfectly as imperfect man, influenced by a righteous God -- which the founders were, imperfect men under God's guidance -- can make it.

The House is a representative "people's house" that gives reality to the principle of "one man, one vote." The Senate was organized as a representative body of each state's local interests, which varied widely at the time the nation was founded. It is still a good idea, but we should never have gotten away from the method by which senators were elected, which the Constitution specifies as a legislative selection process, not a direct vote of the people. in that respect, the suggestions made in the OP is valid, and it wouldn't hurt at all to return to that methodology, provided we could remove power politics from the mix.

That was the problem in the first place, and eliminating that problem was the purpose of putting senatorial election in the hands of the people. The problem is, the collective electorate is more susceptible to corruption from the media and the way the polticial parties use them, than the legislators ever were to back-room, under-the-table hackery.

I agree with term limits, but still think Congress should come up for election, or "reaffirmation," every two years for the House, four years for the presidency and six years for the Senate as they do now. Give a man or woman nine years in a position without being accountable to the legislature that selected that person, and you open him/her up to graft, corruption, thievery and perhaps even treason in a fashion heretofore unseen. Just limit the House to three terms, the Senate to two, and the White House to two.

I don't agree with the unicameral legislature at all. Nebraska has one, and it seems to work well, but Nebraska doesn't have the broadly divisive issues facing it as the cross-section of the country does in each and every legislative session. Nebraska's legislature only meets for 90 days in odd-numbered years and 60 days in even-numbered years. Imagine trying to get the work of the nation done in such a short expanse of time. Then again, perhaps the arguing, haranguing and nonsense seen in a year-round legislative process would disappear.

The best thing about the Nebraska system is that it is (allegedly) nonpartisan. There are (supposedly) no political parties represented in the unicameral legislature. I say "allegedly" and "supposedly" because there is nonetheless a decided political flavor and atmosphere to the legislative process in Nebraska, and simply refusing to all the members to identify theselves with a political party doesn't keep them from exercising the platforms of the political parties anyway.

I've said for years the president needs a line-item veto power, and I like that part of the proposal. But leave the make-up, methodology and politics of the House and Senate alone. They aren't perfect, but nothing else will work any better.

 

It's time to fire every nationally elected official, redraw districts based on population size with no ability to attribute to voting patterns, institute a ban on soft money contributions and ban lobbyist contact with elected officials. Then revote.

 

However the national census counts citizens.

 

Senators need to be elected by the state legislatures, not the population.

 

I agree with this.

 

You always have interesting concepts for reform. I certainly agree with 7-11. Also, I think Senators should be elected by state legislatures. Beyond that, I think the present structure of government is fine with the two houses. What we need is voters with backbone enough to throw this collection of clowns out, like we can do one year from now. We do not need term limits, we need voters to hold Congress's feet to the fire. We the people must demand they govern and serve, not take and loot. That would result in Congressmen and women that have some sort of leadership ability and morality.

Another point, political parties have nothing to do with structure of government. It is time to get rid of both of them. We need a Constitutional type party vs a libertarian type party. Although I am in favor of Senator election through the state legislatures, I cannot see it ever happening.