01/21/2019
1/20/2019
My Letter to the Editors at NYT and WAPO
Shutdown Is Political Malpractice
The government shutdown by our legislative and executive branch is political malpractice. And the members of those two branches of government should have to feel some of the same financial pain that they are inflicting on U.S. citizens and the U.S. economy.
Individuals who commit legal and medical malpractice can be made to suffer financial repercussions. We need a similar recourse in the political domain, as well.
I propose a series of government accountability programs, GAP, that are either passed by the legislative branch or imposed by the U.S. citizenry at the polls by only voting for those who pledge in writing to vote for GAP measures.
GAP 1: U.S. Government Shutdown: Should the U. S. legislative branch and / or the executive branch cause the United States government to shut down, whether partial or not, and whether temporary or not, (a “Shutdown”), then effective on day 1 of the Shutdown every person receiving a U.S. government check in the legislative branch and the executive branch shall immediately forfeit their next U.S. government check. This includes every member of the legislative and executive branch including those elected and their staff (the “Parties”). The Parties shall not receive a Government payment during the Shutdown. The Parties shall forfeit five percent of their current fiscal period annual salary for every day (or partial day) of said Shutdown. And the Parties shall be considered “essential” and must work a 40 hour week at their Washington DC Capitol offices until the Shutdown is over.
Having the staff of these elected shutdown-creating officials suffer some of the same financial pain others are going through during a Shutdown will create a very, very strong lobby group on behalf of keeping the government open. Capitol Hill staff would then help to prevent the Country from future domestic terrorism like that which is now being committed upon the United States by the current members of the executive and legislative branch. You can bet there will be no more future shutdowns if the entire legislative and executive branches will suffer permanent financial loss by creating one.
GAP2 details how we prevent Congress from carelessly throwing money at any issue just to keep the government open.
David King Keller, PhD
Dr. Keller is a writer, speaker, business owner, campaign strategist, and author of 2 best-selling legal books for the American Bar Association. Above is an excerpt from Dr. Keller’s upcoming book, We Need To Do Better, 20 Ways to Improve America.
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For more on GAP1, GAP2 and other GAP measures go to you can email me at [email protected].
P.S. In support of my proposal I offer this comment yesterday from GOP Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-NY) ...if pay for Congress were to be cut off the shutdown would be over in 45 minutes.
