However, Dodd, in announcing his intentions to go it alone, stated that his bill would not prevent companies from becoming too big to fail. While it was well past time for Senator Dodd to conclude that the Republicans had no intention of permitting a legislative accomplishment to take place on President Obama's watch, Sen. Dodd's proposals are so watered down and beneficial to Wall Street that they might as well have been written by the Republican minority. It should also be remembered that Dodd's legislation comes fully 18 months after the financial crisis that sunk the economy. I've said it on this blog before, Sen. Dodd has allowed himself to become captured by the very industry he is tasked with regulating.

I'm going to go out on a very sturdy limb and suggest that when Sen. Dodd retires next January he will be ensconced on Wall Street and pulling down more than a million dollars a year within less than a year. What is most disturbing to me is that this is a man that I used to campaign for when I first became interested in politics while growing up in Connecticut.

What's the answer, first, get corporate money out of politics. The recent Supreme Court decision which paves the way for unlimited contributions by corporations must be overturned by either legislative action or, more preferably, enactment of a constitutional amendment. I suspect many would believe that a constitutional amendment would have virtually no chance of passing in the current polarized political climate. However, more than a few pundits felt that health care reform was dead in the water just a few weeks ago following the election of Sen. Scott Brown in Massachusetts.

Second, while we're on the subject of constitutional amendments, it's time to prohibit nepotism in elected and appointed offices at all levels of government. Yes, some very fine individuals have devoted their lives to public service after having gotten their start due to their famous forebearers, e.g., Ted Kennedy and our own Kathleen Sebelius. But, for each of these, there are an equal number, if not more so, of bad apples, ... think, George W. Bush, Mitt Romney and now we can add Sen. Dodd. So, here's my new rule, if you have a close relative who's served in any branch of government, you don't get to participate...it's that simple, no more dynasties!

My final thoughts for the evening on government reform, move away from a winner take all system to encourage the growth of smaller parties and coalition governments. Eliminate the Senate and strengthen the laws regarding political gerrymandering of districts. Then, in an experimental fashion, proceed to incorporate more direct democracy via internet voting on matters of increasing importance reserving our "republican" form of government to technical administrative issues and issues related to national security. And, we also need to enact term limits for members of Congress and enact outright bans on lobbying by former officials and staffers until a minimum of 5 years has past since their service in government.