Let's Make It Illegal For Politicians To Profit From War

[rrrevolution]

This has bothered me for some time.

Politicians go around spouting the patriotic lines that this war is about freedom and democracy, not about oil.

Well let's take it one step further. Let's require all elected officials, and appointed Federal Officials, to divest themselves of all profits that might devolve to them as a result of their decision to go to war. So if a war is declared and they own shares of Halliburton, Bechtel, Oil companies, etc., or companies receiving millions in warprofiteering contracts with the government, then the profits they would earn by owning that stock should be paid into the Public Treasury to help offset the cost of the war -- AND SHOULD NOT GO IN THEIR POCKETS! (Are you listening Dick Cheney??).

One step further, any person or company who benefits should not be allowed to make a campaign contribution to any elected or appointed official for a period of five(5) years after the contract or benefit ends. This would take care of the benefits for my friends deals.

[mopaul]

1. george bush's grandpa violated the sedition act & financed hitler

i believe that it technically is illegal, but you'd never know it.

[whistle]

2. Let's make it illegal for corporations to also profit from war....

...I believe that during WWII company profits were regulated and in fact production was diverted almost totally over to the war effort.

[Totally Committed]

3. As long as ANYONE profits from war,

wars will never stop. No one should profit from war. Period.

[FtWayneBlue]

10. If war had zero profits, the number of wars would be zero.

If only legislation could make it so, what a fine thing that would be.

[MADem]

4. Here's an even BETTER idea!!!!!

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/08/14/INGHQE6CBJ1.DTL&type=printable

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Old soldiers to the front
The resentful anger of aging males must be put to good use

....After all, how much youthful vigor does it require to fire lightweight weapons from the back of an armored-personnel carrier? How much strength does it take to press the trigger on a grenade launcher, or to redirect the turret on a tank? When soldiers are being driven to the various scenes of conflict, why is it necessary for soldiers to be young? And, because youth is no longer the requisite quality for struggling, and because the U.S. military is having difficulty finding enough young people willing to fight and die in this struggle, it would, therefore, be wise to consider that vast pool of potential warriors at the other end of the age spectrum.

Tapping that pool of warriors should be easy. Aging males are easily the most gung-ho of all warriors.

From Rush Limbaugh and Karl Rove right on down to the guys who write letters to the editors of the nation's newspapers, the fiercest warriors are men over 50, men with expanding waistlines and receding hairlines who would tear the enemy a new one if only they could get up off the sofa in less than three tries.

Besides, many of these older men work out regularly and eat sensibly. The popular wisdom now has it that 60 is the new 40, and 40 is surely young enough to serve in the military. Guys like Rep. Tom DeLay, for instance, look to be in fine shape and would make good soldiers, I'm sure. ...

The whole piece is a pantwetter, well worth reading. Just the thing to clip and send to your favorite angry, fat guy who supports this stupid war. Do read the whole thing, the line about the guy who takes three tries to get off the couch is worth the read alone!!!

[Neecy]

5. let's take it one step further...

And say that spouses of politicians shouldn't profit from war either (are you listening, Dianne Feinstein?).

[Dynasty_At_Passes]

6. That would clean out our whole government of politicians practically.....

Because, with these things its all one large opportunity.....Opportunitists follow the opportunity, and support outside terrorists in countries we have "careful" relations with like Israel or Ubekistan.

[izzie]

7. I think they did do it in WW2

but their is always ways to have a few figure out how to make money. I do recall reading about 'dollar a year men'. I think they were rich men who knew how to run businesses etc. who worked for the govt. in war time. I think their was a movie with Edward G, Roberson and I think the name was Edward My Son. Now I do not recall why this rings a bell but I do think it was about war profits. Guess I could look it up. I forget how easy it is to do that on this thing.

[krkaufman]

9. "I forget how easy it is to do that on this thing." -- chuckle. n/t

[krkaufman]

8. Why stop w/ politicians...?

Shouldn't all war-related profits be nulled or capped, in wartime?

[Rich Hunt]

11. indeed

What about the REAL war profiteers themselves?

[krkaufman]

12. Agreed. Stopping at pols is penny-wise, pound-foolish. n/t

[Pab Sungenis]

13. Considering where the wars are....

...reinstating the Windfall Profits Tax would be a good start, AND cut the deficit!

[tlsmith1963]

14. Excellent Idea!

I have a feeling that when this is all over, & Bush gets what's coming to him, that is *exactly* what will happen. It's a conflict of interest when a leader profits from war, & it means that they care more about their money than about our needs. We need to make it illegal for leaders to profit from war.

Tammy

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

15. The Shrub has a large stake in the war through Papa Bush and

Carlyle. When Papa Bush dies, The Shrub will inherit a part of that fortune. Provisions have to made about inherited monies from the Industrial Military Complex.

[Skidmore]

16. Lets see if we can get the current crop of corrupt politicians

to pass legislation regarding this. I agree that it is a very desirable, but my inclination is that we will have to place new legislators with better ethical compasses in those positions to do this--R & D.

The opportunity that presents its self now is to shame them into doing something. Our current experience with them though should tell us that they tend to be inclined to give us bandaids and shellgames while continuing business as usual.

[elehhhhna]

17. No'd for Greatest. This is an important issue!

Our President, his family, and his VP are all WAR PROFITEERS on the side. Rummy, et. al have a VESTED MONETARY interest in keeping the war machine running, everywhere, all the time.

Reeps in Congress also profit (in more ways than one) from their ownership and interests in VOTING MACHINES.

CONFILCT OF INTEREST, YOU SAY? HELL YES! And they clearly put their own interests before ours.

WTH do we the People tolerate this? War profiteers disguised as "representative government". It's bullshit.

[Double T]

18. Let's make it illegal for politicians to 'excessively' profit from.......

their political position.