Constitutional Amendment 27

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4 responses to “Constitutional Amendment 27”

1. 

   Laura Miller

   2009-09-04

   I don’t understand what this one is for???

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   1. 

      David

      2009-09-04

      Essentially if Congress votes for a pay raise for themselves we have the opportunity to vote those particular representatives out before the raise can take effect. Of course Congress gets around this by making their raises automatic unless they vote to suspend the pay raise for the year.

      Reply
2. 

   Scott Miller

   2009-09-05

   I had the same thought when I learned this was with the original Bill of Rights. When I think of an agrarian society with representatives truly functioning as citizen reps then this makes sense to protect those representatives and senators from economic reprisals–similar to life-time judges. But by 1992, when they had become professional politicians, this becomes incredibly self serving. Should we really be surprised?

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   1. 

      David

      2009-09-05

      The point in 1992 was not to protect them from having their salaries lowered – we had history to show that this was unlikely to happen. When the amendment passed in 1992 it was meant as a check on allowing Congress to raise their own salaries.

      Reply