Posted at November 6, 2006 11:58 AM

» Anju Chandel, New Delhi, India. | Permalink

That Live and Let Live....To reign in their imagination and not look for something which does not exist (e.g., WMDs) and not destroy nation(s)....To not create demons like Osama bin Laden...

Posted at November 6, 2006 12:08 PM

» Salamon, Canada | Permalink

The most important issue is economic. The hardship in future facing the USA in the long term is the unsustainable debt both within the country and that owned outside. When Canada has been at a similarly high balance of payment deficit the international pressure forced the Government to tighten its belt. We the citizens [except for the top 5 percent or so] have suffered with cutbacks on services and rising taxation regime. 15 yeaars later the inflation adjusted net income was still static.

The problem for the USA will be greater when the crunch comes, for your income level [barring the top echelons] is static in inflation adjusted terms for the last 5-6 years. Moreover, your demographics are more advanced for old age then Canada was 17-18 years ago, with the consequential greater social cost [medical and retirement].

The economic costs related to global warning will have a serious effect on both public and private ability to deal with other economic and political issues. While I am ware that the present Adminstration does not believe that his issue is of compelling interest - contrary to all scientific arguments; such short sightedness does not effect the future costs [except possibly make them more demanding].

Further your government has entered into two unwinnable wars [whose solution escapes me] with long term costs attributable to this waste of human life and wellbeing and economic wealth. Whatever solution will forthcome in months ahead, the USA faces great expenses relating to this issue [vet's medical and pension plans, rebuild the armed forces' equipment, possibly reparations for an illigal war etc].

Finally when a state carries such great and GROWING external debt, her ability to influence the world is greatly deminished, for the foreign bankers [mostly China, Japan and EU] can and will intervene when their self-interst is dissimilar to USA's [perceived] national priorities.

So in my opinion whether Congress or Senate or President is Democratic or Republican the follwoing steps will have to be taken:
1., Taxes will rise, services will shrink.
2., Disposable income will shrink.
3., Stiff measures will be enacted relating to global warning.
4., probably the millitary industries will see serious cut-back, for other pressing issues will put great strain on the present $700 billion spent on wars and defence.
5., Foreign adventurism will cease, for the bankers will tell the state no more credit for foolishness.
6., Palestine Israel issue either will be solved, else Israel will be told that the USA can not supoort its present couprse.
7., Atomic energy sourced electricity will be greatly increased, for there is no other way in the short term to cut CO2 production.
8., Suburbia will be in decline, for transportation will be too expensive for the working stiff.

Thanks for your interst in my views.

Posted at November 6, 2006 12:09 PM

» David, Grapevine, TX USA | Permalink

Each party should dump the wedge issues and the party in power must commit to creating every committee with bi-partisan representation (and respect).

Posted at November 6, 2006 12:19 PM

» ORPEA, Indiana,USA | Permalink

Please do not divide our great American Society into different segments to gain personal benefits. Please remember that you barely passed in meeting the constitutional requirement by securing 51% of the vote. You become a true leader only when you work sincerely to the betterment of EVERY CITIZEN. Satisfying one group by dissatisfying other group will only make you a manipulator. Satisfying the needs of all groups will make America a great democratic country in the world.

Posted at November 6, 2006 12:27 PM

» Dinkar Koppikar, Tallahassee, Florida | Permalink

Get out of Iraq fast. Avoid making martyr out of Saddam Hussein. Let Iraqis themselves handle that tyrant. You would have a crowded agenda due to mess created by Bush Administration during the past six years. There is no time to lose.

Posted at November 6, 2006 01:33 PM

» Joy Roy Choudhury, Calcutta. India | Permalink

The most important recommendation to US House and Senate is to stick with the Democrats inspite of anti-Bush campaigns simply because given the situation in the world politics, its better that tried and tested person gets another chance to do better rather than bringing someone new with more conservative thoughts. After all, its a time for revision of what President Bush has done and bring about necessary changes in a dew direction with focus on education, employment and cultural upliftments not only in the US but all over the world.

Joy Roy Choudhury
South Asian Journalists' Association

Posted at November 6, 2006 01:37 PM

» yknot | Permalink

Enact legislation that will make it a criminal offense for a citizen of the United States of America to hold "dual citizenship and/or passports".

Posted at November 6, 2006 01:45 PM

» Joy Roy Choudhury, Calcutta, India | Permalink

The one who is good at shooting does not hit the center of the target.- Zen Saying
The most important recommendation to US House and Senate is to stick with the Democrats inspite of anti-Bush campaigns simply because given the situation in world politics, its better that tried and tested person gets another chance to do better rather than bringing someone new with more conservative thoughts. After all, its a time for revision of what President Bush has done and bring about necessary changes in a new direction with focus on education, employment and cultural upliftments not only in the US but all over the world. Its often better to stick to a person who has learned the process of taking big decisions and also its consequences because as they say " in the beginner's mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert's mind there are few ". ( Shunryu Suzuki )

Joy Roy Choudhury
South Asian Journalists' Association

Posted at November 6, 2006 04:01 PM

» Gunther Steinberg, Portola Valley CA | Permalink

My very strong recommendations would include:
Overhaul the Rules by which you conduct business - both House and Senate
1. Outlaw "Earmarks".
2. Do not permit voting on bills that most have not read or understood. Require that everyone voting
sign or indicate understanding of the bill, just like everyone who uses software has to agree to
terms. That should outlaw omnibus bills which most members have not read nor understood.
3. Toss the Seniority system for Committee Chairmanships in favor of merit and intelligence.
4. Adopt a rule that prohibits anyone voting on a bill which benefits a campaign contributor -
In other words, redefine "Legal Bribery" as what it is - Bribery.
5. Do not allow unrelated amendments to a bill.
6. Outlaw "log rolling" to pass bills.
7. Ask for every appropriation bill - Do we NEED this?
8. Change the oath of office that each member is sworn to serve the nation first, the party last.
9. Remember that the two major parties only have 35-40% of the electorate. The Independents and moderates on both sides may end to be the majority in a bi-partisan, rational government, which we need.

Posted at November 6, 2006 04:21 PM

» D. Hodara - Monaco | Permalink

The new congress should take into consideration the general interest of the American people rather than selfish personal or partisan interest and try to find the right solution to stop the war in Iraq and bring back the US soldiers, who were never prepared for such a war.
In fact, the word war cannot describe anymore the conflicts which we are witnessing. The last real wars were World War II and Korea.
A war is between states and the fight is between regular armies. Today we see states and regular armies fighting against armed groups who do not represent their countries and who are more snipers than soldiers. Example US in Iraq and lately Israel in Lebanon. A regular army can never win such a conflict.

Posted at November 6, 2006 04:37 PM

» Zathras, Sun Prairie, WI | Permalink

The current Congress has effectively abandoned its oversight responsibilities, spends much less time than its predecessors in session, and has a serious corruption problem. These are the most important failings the next Congress will have to address.

Policy challenges, for example the restoration of budget discipline, reform of the tax code, and ratifying (or if need be imposing) a change of course toward Iraq, are numerous. There is little chance of meeting them successfully, however, if Congress does not face squarely the fact that it has decayed as an institution during the last couple of decades. This is not the first period in our history in which the executive branch has sought to get away with more than it should or the judicial branch has felt able to legislate in the guise of interpreting the law. It is the weakness of a Congress preoccupied with the permanent campaign that has removed the check on executive and judicial overreaching.

The next Congress will need to restore the resources committee staffs require to enable effective Congressional oversight of executive branch activities. It will not be able to perform either legislatively or in terms of oversight if the typicial Congressional work week continues to begin no earlier than Tuesday afternoon and end two hours before the last flights leave Washington on Thursday night. And the plain -- and, disturbingly quite accurate -- public perception is that many Congressmen and Senators can be bought, either with campaign contributions, money inserted in appropriations bills with no notice to the relevant authorizing committees, jobs for members of their families or even their staffs, or direct payments and gifts. A complete list of remedies for this problem would be too long to include here, but it would start with an Ethics Board for both houses of Congress to replace the existing, moribund Ethics Committees, a two-year appropriations cycle and reduction of the discretion of the appropriations committees in the House and Senate, and restrictions on the lobbying Congressional staff can do after they leave their jobs on Capitol Hill.

The legislature is at the core of American democracy; there are many good reasons why the first article of the Constitution dealt with Congress, not the Presidency or the courts. The national legislature right now is sick as an institution; it is more important for members of the next Congress to fight that sickness than it is for them to do anything else.

Posted at November 6, 2006 05:09 PM

» Andy T. Pham, Dunnellon, Fl, USA | Permalink

Remember that people put you there; God has nothing to do about it. So if you cannot live up to their expectations, apologize then quit. Do not wait until they find out and kick you out; it is too late then to apologize.

Posted at November 6, 2006 06:19 PM

» Shawn, Arlington, VA, USA | Permalink

Real simple...

Re-read the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and the Declaration of Independence and put it before your party.

Posted at November 6, 2006 07:36 PM

» M.K. Berry, Bethesda | Permalink

The only bit of advice I would offer to the new Congress if, as seems likely, the Democrats regain control of at least the House after November 7th is: Remember, this only lasts for two years. This is a cautionary note mostly to the Democrats, many of whom suffered the loss of 1994, and wistfully recall the Golden Age that was: Do not become the Bourbon Kings, who forgot nothing, and learned nothing. Learn the lesson of the Republicans, who came to absolute power and found it absolutely intoxicating: Do not regain it simply to have it – you have to use it to DO something other than to maintain and increase it.

Democratic control of the House offers real opportunities for the party to serve the country. The first order of business is, of course, the prosecution of the war in Iraq. The last thing the new majority should do is start howling for Rummie’s head – however emotionally satisfying, this will be seen as vindictive. Even if the Secretary resigns, the House has no say in the confirmation of the next Secretary, so it behooves the House to be careful – particularly if Vice President Cheney holds the tie-breaking vote.

When it calls hearings on the conduct of the war, those hearings should focus on what’s next, not what was. Democrats were not elected to assign blame – the fact that they were elected in the first place did that – they were elected because the country felt that a one-sided view of the war is largely to blame for why we’re in the mess we’re in. It’s the Democrats’ job to help the NATION – not the Bush administration – figure a way out of this. This cannot be done in an adversarial environment; all that brings is more American and Iraqi deaths as a result of partisan fighting on the Hill. It won’t take long for Americans to see this either – one of the other of the parties will be sure to point it out as 2008 approaches (which approach begins November 8th, by the way).

The Speaker has control of the agenda. Speaker Hastert was middle-term smart in allowing only those bills onto the floor that had the support of the majority-of-the-majority – insuring that the Democrats would only be seen as opposing, and more importantly, obstructive. This worked, but only until the ‘Do-Nothing’ brand was burned into the Congressional hide. A new Democratic Speaker (OK, Speaker Pelosi) can change the rules to allow any bill that has a certain percentage of support from the full House to come to the floor for debate. This has two advantages. It shows the Democratic majority to be confident enough to allow such a debate, and it gives the country the opportunity to better understand the positions of the two parties. The Democrats should not be afraid of inviting such a comparison, if what they want is what’s best for the country.

There is another, deep-in-the-weeds political calculation in this as well. Democrats come to power on the backs of a significant number of newly elected Congressmen who are often culturally and socially more like Republicans. This is the wedge that can be driven into the new Republican minority to bring some (doesn’t need to many) of them on board with Democratic legislation. But if that Republican minority is smart (and while they may have been arrogant in the majority, they were/are NOT dumb), the first thing they will try to do is to start flaking off some of the more conservative Democrats to cut into their majority. Speaker Pelosi must know that to go haring off on a liberal agenda is likely to lead to the loss of her majority when it comes to a vote.

In sum, the Democrats are going to have to behave in a manner that says they recognize the consequences of their coming to power. This is a recognition that the Republicans failed to see in 2006, and that the Democrats must know will face them in 2008 – the American people will hold them accountable…

Posted at November 6, 2006 09:14 PM

» Srikanth Raghunathan, Washington, D. C., USA | Permalink

My number one recommendation would be:

1. Be American (really) and put America first.

Others include:

2. Be nonpartisan, when dealing with even mundane issues.
3. Treat others just the way you wnat to be tresated by other.
4. Separate the State from Religion.

I especially liked what Shawn, Arlington, VA, USA said concisely:
"Reread the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and the Declaration of Independence, and put it before your party."

Posted at November 7, 2006 12:06 AM

» People in the Sun, http://peopleinthesun.com/ | Permalink

Now, being a busy man, I'm afraid I didn't have time to write recommendations for Tuesday's election, so instead, I cut-and-paste the recommendations I made in the previous elections. I hope that's okay:

Dear Sir/Madam,

It has been a great pleasure to see you in your hour of victory.

Now listen: I know it's hard to be a part of a system; a giant bureaucracy. I also know you may have to make some hard choices, at times vote against the immediate needs of the people. That's understandable. I will also look the other way when you support or oppose legislation along party lines if you believe that in the long run it will benefit the state, the country, and even the world. Go ahead, take a golf trip with a lobbyist; if you're going to talk business, you might as well do it in style, that's what I say. If you oppose the war but feel that going public with your opinions might be bad for your Party, rethink your opinions. Anyway, your opinion about the war is just an opinion, and nobody cares what you think--you represent the people, not your own personal ideology, and pollsters say your voters support the war, so you may as well be silent. It's not like you know anyone serving in Iraq, so what do you care anyway?

The next advice is not for all of you, so if you're straight feel free to talk amongst yourselves. Now, all you closeted lawmakers, nobody will ever know. This is the same advice I give Evangelical leaders, so you know it's a good one. Feel free to shout in public that gay people ruin America and that marriage is a holy institution given to us by God for some reason. Take a megaphone and drive around town calling homosexuals depraved sinners. It's for the good of the country. Trust me.

Now, about immigration... I know a large society is built on the sweat of cheap labor. The biggest open secret no one cares about. And I know you know about all that and I know you don't care. Still, for the sake of your party make an effort. Call for a fence. An electronic fence, what the hell. Don't worry, it's impossible to stop illegal immigration, so spreading xenophobia must be a victimless crime.

Sell your office to the highest bidder, lie your way to leadership posts, ride on the backs of people with dying family members and give them false hopes, support an endless war, look the other way when civil rights are taken away to be replaced by propaganda and media consolidation, let the eagle soar. If Bush and Chaney say it's good, that's good enough for me and should be good enough for you. No one ever achieved anything by being contrarian. Look what happened to Jesus, for Christ's sake.

And most importantly, have fun. After all, this won't last forever.

Posted at November 7, 2006 12:43 AM

» reporter, USA, http://theclearsky.blogspot.com/ | Permalink

We Westerners do not currently have enough resources -- economic wealth and military might -- to fix all the problems in this world. We must expand our resources by growing the club of Western nations.

Along those lines, the new Congress should immediately encourage Tokyo, Canberra, and Wellington to form the Asia Pacific Union (APU), which shall be structured along the lines of the European Union and NATO.

http://theclearsky.blogspot.com/#116046305894729134

The APU shall Westernize Southeast Asia.

Currently, we Americans have compromised our Western values by partnering with the Indians (in South Asia). New Delhi gave Washington an ultimatum: the Indians will support the strategic American objectives of promoting democracy and human rights if and only if Washington (1) gives nuclear technology to India and (2) agrees to greatly increase the number of Indian laborers (in the form of H-1B workers) that are allowed to enter the United States. Washington agreed to the terms of the ultimatum. The Americans will now violate the NPT (which Washington signed) by giving nuclear technology to India: catering to Indian ruthlessness drastically undermines American attempts to prevent the Iranians from developing a nuclear bomb.

Instead of partnering with the Indians, we Americans should be investing in the future: the APU. The new Congress should immediately cancel the nuclear deal between Washington and New Delhi and shutdown the H-1B program. At the same time, the new Congress should aggressively steer Japan, Australia, and New Zealand into forming the APU.

Posted at November 7, 2006 08:38 AM

» Yassin abdillahi ahmed, Hargeisa,Somaliland | Permalink

The most important recommendation to US House and Senate is to review the current foreign policy of America, and indeed,
It is a high time for the Democrats to prove and ensure for Africa and the whole world at large that they are more competent than the current incompetent administration;

The situation in Dafur, Israele/palastine confrontation,
And many other issues are still pending and democrats must
Force Bush Administration to solve them, sooner than later.
Try to find the right solution to stop the war in Iraq and bring back the US soldiers, who were never prepared for such a war, and encourage, build and emphasize peaceful solution to the Nuclear power of both, Iran and North Korea.

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