Forward
Americans of all stripes, that is: political parties, tend to agree on one thing. Our federal government is broken. Many say beyond repair. As I’ve said before, opinions are like assholes – Everybody’s Got One, including me. So here goes. This article will look at what’s wrong with our government, and ways to improve it. And I hope you’ll read it, share it, and contribute your ideas that mesh well with them.
First, What Needs Fixing?
For future reference, originally #1 – #8, though updates may lengthen that.
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Campaign finance
- Term Limits
- Partisan politics
- Special Interests
- Foreign meddling
- Education
- Societal norms
- Civil discourse
#1 – Campaign finance
Politicians engage in what is called “political theater”. Having been a theater professional (backstage) I can tell you that the expression “smoke and mirrors” is accurate. And most politicians know the techniques. Why wouldn’t they, when it’s so much easier than legislating?
No one ever said being a statesman would be easy. It’s easier to avoid than to do. But that’s exactly what we were voting for them to do. Right? Propose, debate, negotiate and pass legislation that serves the public interest. Admittedly, not easy to do when everyone has their opinion on any subject. It wasn’t supposed to be.
It was never supposed to be a career, either. But far too many politicians view it that way. In reality, legislative posts in the House and Senate do not pay handsome salaries, relatively speaking. Yet candidates often spend millions to get themselves elected to a job that pays less than $200k per year. (perhaps we’ll revisit this sometime to discuss their retirement and benefits package) The math just doesn’t make sense! How can they do that?
It’s other people’s money!
Big Business gives and gives and gives until the politicians are fat. Sometimes long after the elections, they still have their hands out and someone’s still writing checks. Of course, those checks come with expectations of a positive ROI (return on investment). Though, far too often the ROI sought by donors conflict dramatically with the public’s best interest.
Many career politicians have become very wealthy during their tenures. I could perhaps list them all, but it would be much easier and shorter to list those that didn’t. I think you know what I mean, so I won’t list any of them here. But if the flow of money were cut off, new politicians would hardly stand a chance at getting elected in the first place. But that’s what we must do.
We must first restrict the flow of money to limit the influence held over politicians.
Simply put, the only way to make politicians focus on legislating is to make it an avocation, rather than a vocation. Let the devoted, patriotic Americans among us serve our country from their sense of pride and civic responsibility. I’ve got no problem with the salaries. Some campaigning is understandable as well, but we should find another means to fund campaigns and limit the scope of donations. See my previous post for my starting idea.
Who knows, maybe political corruption will phase out as the money dries up and the only ones left will be actual Statesmen?
American Re-Boot 