I once ran for the House of Representatives in 1980 when I lived in South Carolina and the voters made a decided choice for my opponent. With that as a backdrop, I was thinking "What if?"

What if Congress never had tenure and they never had a fat pension waiting on them despite the length of service? Would the politicians be lining up to line their pockets?

What if you told Congress that unless they ended the deficit, all of their benefits would end? What if Congress didn't get a paycheck until the budget was balanced? What if you simply said to them if you don't fix the deficit you can't run for any elective office?

What if Congress was required to participate in Social Security and all the money sitting in the Congressional retirement fund were moved to the social security system immediately? Couldn't we begin to address the Social Security shortfall? And what if you prevented Social Security from being used for anything other that Social Security?

What if Congress had to fund their own retirement plan like the rest of Americans?

What if Congress could not vote themselves a pay raise without voter approval?

What if all the perks that Congress is awarded each year were taxable as income to the sitting Congressmen?

What if you ditched Congress' current health care system and required them to pay for and secure health care the same way the rest of Americans do? What if they had to pay the same high deductibles and go through the same miserable process of qualifying for care that the rest of Americans do?

What if you made service in Congress the honor that it should be instead of the plumb it has become with benefits that transcend every honorable contract that the rest of us Americans live by?

What if all the freebies that come with being elected to Congress are suddenly taxable as income and are limited?

What if Congress had to actually live by the same laws they have passed for the rest of us and the same penalties that breaking those laws calls for?

What if Congress had just one shot at getting it right, only one term and only one opportunity to fix the problems? Would they take their task more seriously?

What if the same laws that apply to Americans for theft applied to Congress as they stole from Peter to pay Paul?

What if the American people had to vote on and approve any new governmental body before its creation?

What if each Congressional district was filled in much the same way as a jury pool? Each candidate would go through a training process and a proper "voir dire" to determine their qualifications? You could actually have a nice pool of candidates from every Congressional district that could go forth and serve for one term at a time. If jury selection is good enough to determine whether a person charged with a crime can live or die, wouldn't it also be just as fair to let these folks determine cost of living increases and other issues?

What if Congressional members were required to serve for two years in the military of some equivalent position before qualifying to enter into the political pool?

What if Congress was required to start at bottom and work its way up to qualify to run for office, forcing members to know what it's like to hold a minimum wage job and feed a family?

What if you eliminated the costs associated with re-election by eliminating re-election altogether and used those savings to address the government deficit?

What if all contracts with all vendors that do business with the government were suddenly voided and new contracts had to be renegotiated based on zero-based budgeting, i.e. they have to pay for themselves?

What if you had to go through a licensing process to earn the privilege of offering for a position in Congress? Why is it tougher in some states to get a drivers license than it is to offer to run the country?

I guess this is why I was never elected to a political office.