Comments on Would You Support This Constitutional Amendment - The 28th Amendment

Most Americans think that all citizens should have the same rights and privileges, and that the same laws should apply equally to all. So it is that the president has just one vote in any election, as does the grocery clerk. And the Treasury secretary or chairman of the Ways and Means Committee must pay taxes just like anyone else (well, more or less).

But one powerful group in our democracy rarely misses a chance to exempt itself from laws that apply to the rest of us. We're talking about members of Congress. Most seem to think it's just too inconvenient to have to abide by those pesky laws they foist on the rest of us.

When the Republicans took control of the House in 1995, the very first item in their "Contract with America" was to "require all laws that apply to the rest of the country also apply equally to the Congress." They did this because, until then, the offices of members of Congress were routinely exempt from the rules that applied to private-sector offices. For instance, lawmakers could run their offices with little regard to basic Occupational Safety and Health Administration safety standards, and some were like hazardous-waste dumps. Meanwhile, the laws they had passed imposed stiff fines on small businesses for even technical infractions.

While the most visible examples of "one rule for you and another for me" may have disappeared, flagrant examples remain. And more may be on the way. One of those involves the truckload of new rules Congress is now considering designed to boost flagging union membership that has slid to just 7.6 percent of the private-sector work force.