Protesters on Wall Street
I read an article this week on CNN.com in which the author discussed what has changed in government over the past twenty of so years that has put us in the position we’re in as a nation today. That position being, on the verge of government bankruptcy at the federal and state levels, record setting deficits, a national unemployment average of close to 10%, more people under the poverty line than ever in history… well, you know the rest. It simply isn’t good out there. Practically everywhere you look people are living in despair – jobless, trying to make ends meet, simply doing their best to survive day to day. Meanwhile the government goes in circles, is ineffective at creating any meaningful, positive change and the situation grows worse instead of better.
As the author explains, a large portion of this ineffectiveness is because the unwritten rules of government have changed. In the past, Presidents and Congress of opposing parties would still work together – where Congressional members wouldn’t vote on Presidential proposals simply based on party lines, but cooperation would exist to keep government moving. Today the party members oppose each other for the sake of opposing each other and being able to claim on their marketing collateral later that they took a hard line on their respective issues. This constant opposition grinds the gears of progress and the things that need to happen from a government directive fail to happen.
In another section, the author describes what government used to be like. Representatives these days are expected to be socially perfect. Where a few indiscretions, errors of judgment and personality flaws were commonplace back in the day, these days such things are used as political bullets to try and depose rival candidates. The result: we have a government full of politicians, not representatives. They’re not us – they don’t understand what the people they need to represent truly deal with on a daily basis and worst off all, they can’t do the jobs they are elected to do properly. Sure, our Congress after World War II might have been filled with drunkards, womanizers and men with a wide variety of other personality flaws – but damn it, they could balance a budget and keep the national debt reasonable.
Modern Problems in a Modern World
Times have obviously changed. As I was taught in school, our nation’s founders that penned the constitution realized times would change and create a document that could be changed with the times. But the idea behind that was to make the changes needed to keep it effective and keep the government strong under the ideals of which it was originally founded.
Times have changed. The government changes too – unfortunately not for the betterment of our nation.
Protesters on Wall Street
And just as unfortunately, the changes that need to take place won’t happen because it means taking something out of the pockets of those that represent us in government. In this government based now more on greed and self-service, why would any representative vote to do that?
Asking the government to change itself for the better would be like asking lions to switch to a healthier vegetarian diet. They’re not going to change and you will probably be their next meal.
How do we fix it? It wouldn’t be easy – but that which has been broken over time cannot be repaired in a day. I think we live in an overly litigious society already – I’m rarely in favor of passing more laws, but these are some that need to be put on the books.
First thing we need to do is take the money out of government. More specifically, we have to stop allowing our government to be ruled ultimately by those that have money. Special interest and big business lobbyists, Wall Street and the banking industry have got to stop being the cash cow of representatives. Campaigns have got to stop being run on multi-million dollar marketing campaigns where the richest or those that pander to the richest are the only candidates with a chance of actually being elected. Campaign donations have to be limited to an amount that anyone above the poverty line can afford and there has to be level financial playing field for EVERY candidate – not just Republicans and Democrats.
What power do we hold to force these changes? We do have the power to vote and make changes come election time. But making these changes would require our society to educate themselves more regarding the issues at hand. It would require us to demand better service from our representatives, not just demanding that they be better people. Ask not what your representatives do behind their bedroom door, but ask what they will do for YOU on the floor of Congress. That is what really matters.
It would also require the voting majority to drop the staunch party line vote that has lead to the changing of he unwritten rules discussed in the CNN article.
Again, as I have stated in my previous blog entries the change we desire needs to start with us. We can’t depend on those that have allowed the situation to get as desperate as it currently is to make the changes needed to correct the problems.
How desperate is America to make these changes? The vast majority of Americans should be desperate. Extremely desperate. Yet America still has an unhealthy percentage of eligible voters not registered to vote, and low voter turn out in elections.
And the ones that do vote are usually the ones choosing to maintain the status quo instead of choosing to look at options that can improve our nation. Almost as if America over time has been pressed into a feeling of learned helplessness, a majority choose to do nothing and accept their fate instead of working to create a better future.
Unfortunately, we are the only ones that can enact that change. There just simply aren’t enough people that care and are willing to do what it takes.
