We are putting decisions in the hands of people who pay no price for being wrong. Do you think if we let's say punished those who made an big mistake that hurt the whole country will they think twice before making an idiotic decision again?

By punished I don't mean throw them in jail or not being elected the next time.

In a word... no.

I think they should be held responsible for their decisions.

Something like: if the total losses (relative to the previous year) to the country, from all decisions of a particular politician in a year amount to more than X, that person should not be allowed to continue in that office for the next year.

Isn't this what happens in companies?... actually, people get fired in less than a year...

How would we define a big mistake given the divisive nature of politics? The practically useless American government would become even more stagnant due to each side trying to punish the other over every little decision. Just imagine the Republican behavior over Obamacare if we had a punishment protocol in place.

So, it would be nice to hold politicians more accountable, but the potential abuse of such a system would make it more harmful than good.

Yes. Corrupt politicians, greedy bankers, and psychopathic CEOs should be held responsible for their actions by at least being thrown in prison.

(August 20, 2013 at 8:32 am)Maelstrom Wrote: Yes. Corrupt politicians, greedy bankers, and psychopathic CEOs should be held responsible for their actions by at least being thrown in prison.

NO! NOT prison...community service!

Oh and freeze any assets and bank accounts and use those funds to aid the disadvantaged.

Do you know in which kind of countries the new administation starts it`s term by having all of the previous administration arrested, trialed and sentenced?
Not exactly the kind of countries that have the reputation of working.


Maybe you would like to try one of those countries by moving to them. You may like Liberia where one assistant to the former president who is now sitting at court in the Hague ate the previous president and other members of that cabinet.

(August 20, 2013 at 5:51 am)Big Blue Sky Wrote: We are putting decisions in the hands of people who pay no price for being wrong. Do you think if we let's say punished those who made a big mistake that hurt the whole country will they think twice before making an idiotic decision again?

It's a vague question. What kind of mistake are we talking about? Can you provide an example? Also, which politicians? Governors?Senators? All congressmen? The President? In addition, what makes you think whatever consequence we impliment will make them "think twice" before making a similar decision? Half of the stupid decisions that politicians make happen without our knowledge. They're very good at hiding them.

Would you, for example, have certain politicians face consequences for the NSA situation? But even that is up for debate. Many people were outraged by the leak. My personal opinion is that I'm not bothered at all by it and nobody should be held accountable for that operation. How would you distinguish between a decision you think is stupid and a decision that actually is stupid?

Politicians only seem to get recalled for waving their dicks around. Its not a perfect system.

This whole idea of punishing politicians sounds a lot like all the calls from conservatards to "impeach" Obama because they don't like his policies.

If a politician does something illegal, then punish him/her. But the way this country is supposed to work is that we pick the person with the best ideas in order to let them put their ideas into action. No, it's nowhere near perfect but far better than some idea of punishment for making the "wrong" decision. The trouble is who gets to decide what's right or wrong, which is what was supposed to be decided at election time. So what do we do, elect an overseer board to decide if politicians make the wrong decision? And what about them, do we punish them for failing to punish a politician?