It’s known as the “revolving door.” Many government officials responsible for overseeing Wall Street are — wait for it — former Wall Street executives. It turns out the Big Banks even give big bonuses to executives who go slumming in government. Of course, these ex-executives often seem more interested in staying cozy with their former employers (who they’ll probably go back to work for anyway) than enforcing the law. Meanwhile, regulators who didn’t come from Wall Street in the first place are constantly wooed by the prospect of lucrative job offers to leave public service and go to work for the financial institutions they’re supposed to be keeping an eye on. Thankfully, a bill recently introduced in Congress — the Financial Services Conflict of Interest Act — would jam the revolving door between Wall Street and federal regulators. This commonsense package of ethics reforms would: - Prevent new agency officials from taking official actions that directly benefit their former employers. - Prohibit Wall Street firms from offering “golden parachutes” to executives who take government positions. - Restrict former regulators from lobbying for two years. - Require departing bank examiners to wait at least two years before taking a job with any bank they oversaw. Senator Elizabeth Warren noted that the Financial Services Conflict of Interest Act is “a bill any presidential candidate should be able to cheer for.” And, in fact, Democratic presidential candidates Bernie Sanders and Martin O’Malley have both already endorsed the measure. Hillary Clinton should make it clear that she supports this much-needed legislation, too.

I'm tired of these "old bastards" doing as they please without any regard for the American People. It's time for a change, but it won't happen until voters wake up and make it happen.

Because a popular vote is the fairest way to elect anyone.

In 1776, the newly formed nation needed an official seal for use on its document. To accomplish this, they assigned Thomas Jefferson, John Adams and Benjamin Franklin to create one. While their design was turned down, it brought to the discussion one of the greatest phrases ever to be offered as a motto for these United States. The phrase "E Pluribus Unum" was accepted in 1782 as the motto on the official seal for the United States government. It is in use in several federal seals and is prominent on all our currency. That is the original motto, as our founding fathers intended. It was no accident that this phrase made it onto the official seal. They had turned down two others that did not contain the phrase and not like the imagery of the first one that contained the phrase. We are a nation of diversity. Our strength comes from our differences. We are able to accomplish much more when we work together as a unit than we ever could as individuals. This is what makes America great. Our early history shows this when the thirteen independent colonies banded together to stand up to tyranny. And again when they joined to create the greatest nation on Earth. Out of these many and very diverse colonies came the one United States of America. Now there are those that would seek to divide us by keeping a National motto that some citizens can not believe in. There is a rising population in America that firmly believe that government and religion should never be entangled. In 1956, this is exactly what happened. The Government of the United States, in order to differentiate itself from the "godless communists", created the overtly religious motto "In God We Trust." This motto has served to further drive a wedge between Americans. There is a movement in America's cities and counties to install the words "In God We Trust" in every single government building regardless of the opinion of the citizens. Again, we see religion attempting to co-opt the governmental structure for its own gain. The people heading these movements are essentially pushing the endorsement of religion on all citizens. This, if it were not the motto, would be easily interpreted as a violation of the First Amendment. This seems to be the last line of defense for this drive. I have heard so many times during public comment that because it is the motto, it belongs on these buildings. I have even heard this from our law makers and representatives. This is poor argument. It is simply an argument from tradition, which is not always the best way to handle things. It is time to end this ability to hide behind the motto. It is time to change the motto. It is time to have a motto all Americans can be proud to say. It is time for "E Pluribus Unum." That is why we, the people, are asking you to take up our cause and sponsor a bill to change our national motto to "E Pluribus Unum."

There have been a number of stupid petitions followed by stupid legislature that seeks to tax or prohibit normal behavior from normal people trying to get by. Please stop the stupidity in our society, government, and media!

Recently, Congressman Mark Meadows has filed a motion within the House of Representatives for Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) to vacate his speakership. Meadows accused Boehner of bypassing Congress, creating a series of crises to force votes on legislation and punishing his members. The grounds of that resolution are far fetched and ridiculous. Speaker Boehner did not create a series of crises to force votes, nor did he ever bypass Congress. Speaker Boehner has a political role to direct his members, and he has the power to appoint or remove members to committee spots, chairmanships, etc. Meadows was a victim of Boehner's punishments, as he lost his Chairmanship of the Subcommittee on Government Operations. Meadows ultimately got his chairmanship back, but not even that has satisfied Meadows. Since entering Congress in 2013, Meadows has been a contributing force of intense partisanship and gridlock, and was a major contributor to the 2013 Government Shutdown. Meadows has complained about the way he was treated by the Speaker, but he should wonder why he was punished. It appears everything must fit his rigid and far right ideology, and if something doesn't fit it, it's automatically bad. Meadows has states that he's doing this to "cause a discussion", perhaps we should start a discussion about Mr. Meadows. By signing this petition, you're asking Mark Meadows to resign from the 114th Congress. Our elected leaders should be more then drama queens and ideologues. I think the people of North Carolina's 11th District, The House of Representatives and the United States of America deserve more then Mark Meadows's extreme partisanship.

What do Jeb Bush, Ted Cruz, Carly Fiorina, Marco Rubio, and Scott Walker all have in common? For starters, they've all lamented the outsize power that special interests and big money hold in our democracy. They're correct to do so -- our next president will need a plan to put We The People back in charge. But they're also all headed to southern California to a closed-door retreat this week, hosted by the Koch Brothers -- the poster children for how big money can flood our system, corrupt elected officials, and shut out our voices. Instead of begging for part of the over $889 million the Kochs' network plans to spend on next years' election, any of these candidates could distinguish themselves as a champion of reform by rebuking the Kochs and their big money, anti-democracy agenda.

The IRS shouldn't look the other way while secret spending overwhelms our democracy and lets a few million-dollar front groups influence our elections but hide their donors by claiming “social welfare” tax status. Sen. Ted Cruz isn’t happy with the IRS either -- for all the wrong reasons. Tomorrow, he’ll bring the IRS’s commissioner before a Senate hearing hoping to scare him into further inaction, and might claim that enforcing campaign rules is bad for democracy. But the real threat to democracy is the unchecked, unlimited, secret spending that's happening under the IRS's watch. Sen. Cruz could use his position and national profile to shine a light on this important issue and spur the IRS into action. Instead, he's playing political games. Tell him to change his tune.

The IRS isn’t doing its job. It’s looking the other way while secret spending overwhelms our democracy and lets a few million-dollar front groups influence our elections but hide their donors by claiming “social welfare” tax status. The agency says it wants to write new rules around political spending, but won’t enact them until after next year’s election. That's no excuse for not enforcing the rules we have now. If the IRS thinks the American people aren’t paying attention, or worse, is too afraid of the backlash to enforce their own rules, then they won’t do anything. Tell the IRS -- we're watching, and we demand action.

According to the Brennan Center for Justice, 12,000 eligible voters, a number twenty-two times larger than George W. Bush’s 537 vote triumph over Al Gore, were wrongly identified as convicted felons and purged from the voting rolls in Florida. African Americans, who favored Gore over Bush by 86 points, accounted for 11 percent of the state’s electorate but 41 percent of those purged. We are asking that the Jed Bush administration be fully investigated for it's involvement in violating citizens rights by purging thousands of African Americans from the Florida voter rolls and the appropriate legal action be taken against those responsible for illegally influencing the outcome of the 2000 election.

1. No Tenure / No Pension. A Congressman/woman collects a salary while in office and receives no pay when they're out of office. 2. Congress (past, present, and future) participates in Social Security. All funds in the Congressional retirement fund move to the Social Security system immediately. All future funds flow into the Social Security system, and Congress participates with the American people. It may not be used for any other purpose. 3. Congress can purchase their own retirement plan, just as all Americans do. 4. Congress will no longer vote themselves a pay raise. Congressional pay will rise by the lower of CPI or 3%. 5. Congress loses their current health care system and participates in the same health care system as the American people. 6. Congress must equally abide by all laws they impose on the American people. 7. All contracts with past and present Congressmen/women are void effective 12/1/15. The American people did not make this contract with Congressmen/women. Congress made all these contracts for themselves. Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career. The Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators, so ours should serve their term(s), then go home and go back to work.

Legislators today constantly submit amendments to legislation under consideration that have nothing to do with the bill they are working on, hoping to slip something through. This happens frequently with 'must pass' bills so things that would have no chance of passing on their own get through. This seriously subverts the democratic process and must be stopped.