The way to get America back on track is simple, but painful. We have to start back at square one; the Constitution of the United States. It's a perfect foundational cornerstone upon which to rebuild the nation. Everything else in our current Government has to be honestly re-evaluated and reworked. The size and complexity of the government has to be whittled down to a more manageable system that is equitable to everyone. We have to come up with list of priorities for the nation that are set in stone, adhered to, and worked towards -no exceptions. The constitution was created 225 years ago and, despite its age, the ideals and principles that are found inside -along with the many amendments over the years- are still valid for all of us as a nation. However, the way in which we implement the constitution is in need of a major upgrage. There were no cars, airplanes, or computers back in 1787. Communication and travel over great distances was cumbersome and time-consuming. The level of education of the average American was nothing close to what it is today. Back then, we needed a way to make the government work for everyone. We did this through the idea of a few representing the many (i.e., Congress and the Senate). The Electoral College was implemented in an attempt to make voting fair for all the states -and make the voting process as quick as possible.
Our current Government doesn't work. It's broke. The entire country is broke. We're the victims of decades full of ineptness, ignorance, and -most of all- greed. Our current government benefits the rich and ignores the poor, the indigant, and the sick. Our current government runs on backroom deals and special interest payoffs and is completely controlled the dual Democratic and Republican junta. These two political parties control EVERYTHING in the country and they do a really shitty job at it. That's because most of their time is spent arguing with each other while each is scheming new ways to control more of the money and power. While members of both parties are completely inept at running a county - a majority of them can't even balance their checkbook- they are highly skilled at making money, hiding money, and deceiving the general public. They are totally out of touch and damn near oblivious to what the average American is dealing with as a result of their mismanagement and greed. The important things to them are money and power -the two go hand in hand. A lot of what goes on in Washington is outright criminal in nature but these criminals know how to cover their tracks. They take turns shifting the blame and promising a new tomorrow while the rest of us -the so-called 99%- continue to be bled dry. And -lucky them!- most of us continue -decade after decade- to believe and/or accept the same recycled bullshit. Why? Are we all that low on common sense that we can't see that things are getting progressively worse, year after year? Our way of government is OUT-DATED, BROKEN, CORRUPT. We need to fix it by starting back at square one.
First of all, we no longer need SO many politicians to run things. We have technology on our side now. 200 years ago there was a valid reason for having representatives in Washington, D.C. for every state and territory. Now? Why? Why can't we, with the help of today's technology take an active role in representing ourselves? Why do I have to depend on some elected dickhead to hear my tiny voice and trust him to carry it all the way to Washington. How friggin' STUPID is that -when I can now click a few keys and connect directly to the White House web site and communicate directly with the president and tell him what I think? Congressmen, Senators, Councilmen, Delegates, County Executives... the list goes on and on and on. Do we REALLY need all these people on the Government's payroll? Are they REALLY making anything better?
How about voting? I'd sure like to have more than two choices every four years for President. Almost all elections are controlled by the two major parties; the Democrats and the Republicans. It's obvious that neither party has the answers. I mean, c'mon and WAKE UP people - these two groups have been COMPLETELY IN CONTROL of the country for the last 150 years or so. Nothing has gotten better -almost everything has gotten worse. Millions upon Millions of dollars are raised and spent by the Repulicans and Democrats during each general election. For what? To get their guy elected to a job with a base salary of $400,000 a year. That's like me raising and spending $100,000 to land a job at Burger King. The plain fact of the matter is that the party who has their guy in the White House gets to control more of ALL THE MONEY IN COUNTRY. That's why there's MILLIONS spent to get that job. It's all about power and control of unimaginable sums of money. Money that's used to pay of other governments and other politicians and make everyone in Washington that much richer.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, here we are. The 'ordinary' folks. The Middle Class, Lower-Middle Class, and the extremely poor. Half of us continue to swallow the bullshit fed to us by the politicians while the other half of us are so fed up and despondent, we really don't give a rat's ass what they say. We all can agree on one thing though: things are bad; the worst they've ever been. A lot of us still complain and a few of actually try to effect positive changes, but the system is rigged so much in the favor of the fat, greedy politicians, there's very little hope of any real change happening as long as the current system of government remains in place. That's the first major hurdle.
The second hurdle and utmost priority is to take care of our own. How can we send BILLIONS of dollars overseas to 2nd- and 3rd-world countries when we have up to a MILLION HOMELESS AMERICANS and another couple million living at or below the poverty level. That'd be like me giving food and money to my next-door neighbor while my wife and kids were starving in my own house. How can we help anyone else when we can't even help ourselves? My heart goes out to all the starving and sick people worldwide, but we need to get our priorities in order. We take care of our own FIRST. Doing so will only serve to strengthen us as a nation and will eventually enable us to extend that help outside of our border. But we have to get our own house in order first.
Once we elimanate the homelessness and extreme poverty here in America, the next step is to eliminate the national debt. Again, this is basic common sense. How in the hell can you be over $15,630,961,878,404 (that's 15 TRILLION, y'all!) in debt and still be spending billions on budgets and appropriations and send billions abroad? Where's this money coming from?! Once I'm out of money -and credit- as a person, I'm done until I either (a) make more money or (b) pay off my credit card. And if I fail to pay a debt, the consequences are swift and painful. Not so though for the Government. Why? Why should it be any different? Especially when you take into consideration that the money that they're spending (and obviously mismanaging) in Washington is coming from all us taxpayers. And we don't have a choice to say "No more, Dumb-ass! You can't have any more of my money until you learn how to manage it wisely and honestly!" Hell, if we don't pay our taxes, we go to jail. But all the politicians are free to mismanage and steal that money without any risk of losing their job, let alone going to jail. That's just friggin' ludicrous to me. You get hired to do a job that you end up sucking at -in the real world what happens? YOU GET FIRED. Not so when it comes to our elected officials.
Along with taking care of homelessness, poverty, and the national debt, we need to reevaluate our foreign relations with all the countries we're currently "doing business" with. Most of the "deals" that are in place now are the backroom type. You scratch my back, I'll scratch yours. Most are NOT in the best interest of the American people as a whole. They are designed to benefit the greedy government officials on both sides that came up with the deals. We were not protecting our national interests when we invaded Iraq. Let's be honest - we were in a post-9/11 hysteria bent on revenge and justice. Somebody had to pay! And since we couldn't put our hands on Osama Bin Laden, and everyone else directly responsible for the terrorist attacks died in the attacks, Saddam Hussein seemed like the next best target. Like we really gave a shit about the the people of Iraq. C'mon, Saddam was killing and torturing them for DECADES before he became a thorn in our side. No, the flip side for us was the oil. More money to line the pockets of politicians. But I digress. The point is, we need to stop playing Policeman to the World and focus squarely on our own country. Sure, it's important to develop strong ties internationally, but not at the cost of our own country's resources -our money, our lives. We can't be sending billions of dollars overseas when we have people starving and homeless here. THAT MAKES ABSOLUTELY NO SENSE!!
Many will argue that what I suggest is an over-simplified solution and one that is impossible to implement. I say the biggest hurdle is ourselves and our apathy, laziness, ignorance, and -in some cases- stupidity. We're all willing to bitch and complain but very few of us are willing to take action. And, let's face it, dislodging this corrupt and gluttonous government would be a long, painful, uphill battle. There's a lot of us who can't see the forest for the trees -who still think our current form of government is working just fine. Those are the folks I really fear. Those are the folks our current elected officials love.
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