A real topic – Politics.

It is time for a first rant, I think.  Thus far I’ve kept things pretty benign.

Today’s topic – Politics.  Let’s talk about the state of politics in the USA, shall we?  In my opinion – they are completed FUBAR.  The levels of deceit, greed and corruption in our Congress is both shameful and ludicrous.  The partisanship and patronism is completely out of hand, and no one is doing anything about it.

On the surface, Health Care reform is a necessity.  The system is broken, and has been for some time.  But the so called ‘reform’ congress passed is pretty much useless.  A REAL solution would not have involved the insurance companies – because THEY ARE THE PROBLEM.  No one wants to say that – and the powers-that-be know that they certainly fund those politicians well – but let’s be honest, THEY ARE THE PROBLEM.  If congress HAD shown some balls and created a public option, one that would FORCE the insurance companies to offer competitive pricing, THAT would have been reform.  But no – no, that would actually REFORM the system in a meaningful way – and we’d not want to piss off the guys funding our campaigns, right?

So a good idea that has gone nowhere.  Next up – financial reform.  Oh, wait, we have to do this VERY carefully – because those banks we aren’t bothering to completely regulate are ALSO major contributors to our campaign funding.  We don’t want to lose that backing…so we can’t REALLY force them to be accountable.  Let’s come up with something soft and fluffy so the public gets the impression we are doing something – other than throwing rhetoric back and forth in endless debate.

Learn a lesson from history, people – Rome fell.  It got decadent and complacent and corrupt, and it fell.  Look around you.  Look at our so-called leaders.  If you can do that and NOT think a fall is coming – why don’t you go back to the rock you are living under and continue to ignore reality.  Thanks.

There are solutions to this.  But they are drastic.  I believe, with everything I read and the constant battles between the two parties, and the battles WITHIN these ludicrous parties, that the time is LONG past for congressional term limits.  Maybe if these people were not in CONSTANT campaign mode to remain in power, they might ACTUALLY do what they are supposed to do.  Instead you get these entrenched incumbents, from a system with two parties that are largely similar, though one leans left and one leans right.  The party lines, as they are, cause more trouble than guidelines.  It is time to make these people accountable – it is time they were not allowed to just go on and on doing the same job poorly for term after term after term – it is time we return them to doing OUR business as they are SUPPOSED to be doing.

Two terms.  That’s it.  Let’s end the ‘career politicians’ and get people in and out of office more interested in getting the business of the people done than in keeping their jobs.  Let’s make congress the voice of the people again, instead of the voice of their own careers and whatever special interest groups keep them funded.  Let’s remind them that they work for US, not the other way around.

Kiss the electoral college goodbye.  This system serves no purpose anymore, apart from keeping the two-party system in place.  Enough.  The parties are breaking down, they squabble among themselves on all kinds of topics.  It is time to simply elect our officials based on their INDIVIDUAL merits, not the party that supports them.  Accountability – that is the key.

And then there are the REALLY extreme solutions.  The USA is TOO DAMNED BIG, and too diverse.  We can barely agree on anything between the Northeast, the Deep South, the Upper Midwest, the West Coast, Texas, what-have-you.  It may be time for the union to dissolve – and new central authorities to form.  Let’s stop having to fight over the attitude differences between regions – and re-centralize some forms of regional government.  I am not talking about the BS ‘revolution’ the Tea Partiers are calling for – I am talking about the nation admitting that our diversity is TOO great, our divisions too deep, and that we need to split this 50 state behemoth up into more manageable pieces.

We don’t need more government, nor do we need less government – we need SMARTER government.  We need more effective government.  And we need to stop sitting back and letting our politicians and the special interest groups that fund them control the process – we need to take it back!  We need to reclaim our government FOR the PEOPLE, BY the PEOPLE.  We need to end our complacency, and remind these politicians they work for US.  We need to make it clear to congress that the status quo is NOT quo.

At least think about it.  You don’t have to agree with my every point here – but if you care about the laws they make, and the people making these laws – think about this before you vote in the next election.

End of rant.