[EricH]

Originally Posted by orangemoore

I'm sure that this sort of thing would't happen if their paycheck was on the line. Everything is fine when it doesn't affect them but it is a huge problem when it does.

Which is a good point to make.

Somewhat related: California for YEARS had trouble getting a balanced budget (required by state constitution--dunno why the U.S. constitution can't be amended for that!) on time. Voters got fed up and passed an amendment to the state constitution saying that if the budget wasn't on time as well as balanced, the state legislators wouldn't get paid, not even retroactively. Couple years back, the budget was on time but not balanced. No pay for lawmakers--they complained, the folks that cut the checks stood firm...and a balanced budget passed shortly thereafter, I want to say about a week. Haven't had any issues like that since that I can recall.


But for the U.S. Congress, there's a couple of things that might help. For example, if your friendly local representative or senator were to receive letters from a large number of constituents that if they didn't do something, they would not be getting your vote next election, that might get them moving. Telling them which direction you wanted them to move to get your vote would help them in negotiations ("My constituents want X. That is why I am voting the way I am voting. Would you care to join me at the next town hall when I tell them why I had to vote for Y?").


So far, hasn't affected me. Admittedly, the government is a customer of the company I work for, but they are not the only customer by any means.