[Hoot Gibson]

Should Washington politicians be allowed to buy and sell individual stocks while holding office?   I say absolutely not.

Wrong again. Washington politicians are U.S. citizens. U.S. citizens have a constitutional right to own property and stocks are property. They do not have a constitutional right to manipulate markets and profit from trading stocks while taking advantage of insider information.

Politicians should be barred from trading in stocks of companies over which they wield power. 

In practice, no law will prevent crooked politicians like Joe Biden and Nancy Pelosi from lining their pockets at taxpayers' expense. As long as millions of voters support crooked politicians, crooked politicians will continue to thrive.

There are certainly conflicts of interest and insider trading going on, but that's okay, just let the rich keep enriching themselves.  

It's odd that you value the Constitution when it comes to politicians abusing their power to get rich in the stock market, but you believe it's just fine for Trump to trample all over it with his executive orders.

It's odd that you enthusiastically support the crookedest politicians in Washington while supporting bans on all politicians purchasing stocks. Voters like you are a bigger problem than crooked politicians. You are an enabler. 

Creating unconstitutional laws is never a permanent solution to any problem. Laws prohibiting members of Congress and federal regulators from trading stocks over which they have direct regulatory authority seems to be constitutional. A broad, outright ban on all Washington politicians trading stocks is nothing but silly talk. 

The best things you can do to fight corruption in Washington is to stop voting for and supporting crooks.