Part-time legislature anyone?

Guest Column By Thomas Clark-Jones

In this age of cost cutting in government on the state and national level, where the costs of the cuts will largely be borne by the poor and middle class, one wonders why legislators who believe so fervently in “small government” do not start the cuts at the logical place — the Legislature.

For 400 years, more or less, the commonwealth of Virginia has done well with a part-time Legislature. The House of Burgesses meets for only three months every other year. There is an executive committee of House and Senate to deal with day-to-day operations, and in an emergency the governor can call the Legislature back for weekend sessions.

In other words, serving in the Virginia Legislature is public service, not a full-time job.

Think of the countless dollars that could be saved by paying our legislators a daily stipend and a food/living allowance for a three-month period every 24 months. And, in the spirit of taking things back to the way the Founding Fathers envisioned them, this is it — a public service legislator who is one of the people, not a part of the oligarchy that rules the country.

And the idea has several advantages: It saves a lot of money; it doesn’t do it on the back of the poor; and the government shrinks, just like the tea party envisions. Let’s go for it.