It's so simple... It'll piss off some rich folks, but it's simple.
Congress and Senate. Unanimously pass a bill that limits terms to 2. And you cannot move from one the other unless you've only served 1 term in the previous house.
You can, of course run for President after your terms in Congress / Senate.
Counter Argument: My representative needs to gain "seniority" in order to get anything accomplished in the bureaucracy that is our government. Two terms isn't enough.
I would respond by saying that if EVERY Congress and Senate member has only 2 terms, nobody has seniority and the playing field is leveled. At that point the goal of Congress and Senate is to work together, not form a "Game of Thrones" in order to build more and more personal power.
Congress and Senate. Unanimously pass a bill that limits each member's salary to the per-capita income of their respective state + 10% The only possibility for a raise is through raising your state's per-capita income.
To alleviate cost of living for those representatives who must spend time in DC, each state will purchase homes or condos in DC that will serve as the residency quarters for that state's respective legislators and senators.
Counter Argument: That's not enough money to attract somebody to do the job. And you want my STATE to buy homes or condos in DC?
I don't want somebody who's only in it for the money. They are supposed to be driven to serve the people and the government. Not make hundreds of thousands of dollars. As for the homes or condos in DC... States would SAVE so much money by having set residences and reducing salaries for their representatives. And since we know the representatives will be rolling over every 2 years it only makes good sense. Giving them a home or condo to live in while they are in DC is a perk that makes their salary much more equitable with what they'd be making in their own state.
Congress and Senate. Unanimously pass a bill that prohibits any member of Congress or Senate to utilize healthcare or retirement options that are not available on a nationwide basis to any employment group of similarly aggregated people.
IE, Blue Cross et. al.
Counter Argument: Uh... I'm special and I want a WAY better plan than I am going to shove down YOUR throat.
Our representatives are NOT special. They are meant to be "representative". This cannot happen if they don't deal with the same playing field that we do. Congress and Senate will work harder and longer on a reasonable health care plan if it is THEIR health care plan as well as ours. This is a complete no brainer. Retirement goes the same way. Since no member of Congress or Senate will be seated for more than two terms, there is no point in utilizing a long-term retirement program for them. They can use some version of a Roth IRA or something like that just like every other Joe in a company is offered. If they choose to implement some other retirement plan personally, Great. Go for it. However it should NOT be a group retirement plan funded by the American People that extends beyond the representatives two terms.
Congress and Senate. Unanimously pass a bill that prohibits any member from accepting any campaign contribution or personal stipend from an incorporated entity or any source closely tied to an incorporated entity such that the contribution or stipend can be tracked to the incorporated entity. Should such a violation occur and be proven, that member would immediately lose his or her seat, salary and benefits.
Counter Argument: Campaigns cost money. How is my guy going to afford to run if he can't accept campaign contributions from "Dump That **** Dere Petroleum"?
Admittedly, funding campaigns will be difficult. I would recommend each state put together a general fund that is shared between candidates equally so they can be assured of a base amount of financial backing when they run a campaign. It's true, this process may lead to "wealthy, priviliged" people being more likely to run and win. Wait, I'm laughing too hard to continue that. If anything, this entire series of changes will act as a deterrent for many of the stereotypical career politicians and they will be denied the path to financial and personal perks. MORE normal people will be enabled to run, particularly if states put together processes wherein all candidates draw from a standard fund and have an equivalent amount of money to run their campaign. At that point HOW you run your campaign becomes much more important than how much MONEY you throw at your campaign.
Congress and Senate. Unanimously pass a bill that stipulates all discussions and other communications between other members of Congress and / or Senate shall immediately be made public knowledge. With transcripts and audio and/or video attachments. This will be made easily accessible to the American public through a web interface that not only provides access to the content, but "pings" people about the release of new content and updates people about Congress and Senate members schedule discussions and meetings with their colleagues. Should lenghty delays occur before these transcripts and audio/video attachments are released, the Congress or Senate member will provide an explanation regarding the delay.
Counter Argument: Whattchu talkin' bout Willis? You want my representative to go all Nixon and record his conversations and ****? And then post them for all the world to see and hear? Ok, Mr. Hoover.
Transparency. These are the same politicians who "for our protection" passed numerous laws to enable less and less strict wire-tapping laws and other personal privacy invasion laws. I'm merely requiring that their "work conversations" with colleges (Senate and Congressional representatives) from other states be put on the public record in entirety. I know there "MAY" be times when "National Security" (Cough Cough Bullshit) is cited, but unless the President is involved or that's a subcommittee discussion, I think we can go ahead and see the transcripts and hear the conversations. Again, we DO pay THEM...
Congress and Senate members will agree and abide as part of their constitutional responsibility to provide a complete and real-time polling of their voting history. Congress and Senate members should also include information about why they voted as they did.
Counter Argument: Geez, you can already look that up if you want to...
Yes, you can go through a bunch of hoops to find "most" of the voting records for the major bills and acts. But you have to dig through a bunch of crap to find that. I think Jim Alabama would like to jump over to "AlabamaRep.com and see a complete voting history for HIS representatives, showing not only how they voted, but why. Heck, people may have even been able to check out a certain representative from say... Chicago and see where he stood on the issues before he ran for President. Again, transparency. Simple, Clear, Immediate.
And yes, Congress and Senate would **** a brick. They'd freak out about 1 of these, let alone all of them. (And you DO need all of them.) But if you really want to clean up the House and the Senate, you need to get rid of all of them, sadly even the good ones. Because we need to clear the books of those ridiculous salaries and those stupid benefits and we need to get back to a place where the House and the Senate remember who they work for.