Headlines Scream:
- Romney Attacks Perry on Ponzi Scheme Statement
- Bachman Goes After Perry on HPV Vaccine
- Perry and Cain go after Romney for Romney-care
- Perry says, “We don’t need Obama-lite.”
- Romney says, “Gov. Perry is unelectable.”
- Bachman says, “I got a plan.”
- Cain says, “I got a plan.”
- Romney, Paul, Huntsman, and Santorum all have a plan.
- Gingrich doesn’t have a plan; he has a contract. Of course, he is the only one who has done it before, so we need to wait to see
My biggest problem with all of this is they may or may not have some plans, but what they put out are just collectivized talking points. They all just deal with the symptoms for the most part. It seems to me that it is only Ron Paul who even remotely gets part of the root causes of the problem, citing the fundamental issues with the federal reserve, banking, too much conflicting regulation, etc. – but let’s face it to most of America he sounds like Chicken Little yelling, “The sky is falling, the sky is falling!” and is not likely electable.
We have perhaps the best governmental system on the planet – that of a constitutional republic. Unfortunately, many of our fellow citizens do not know what this means. Ask any newly legal immigrant to the U.S., and they can quote you chapter and verse. Ask the average college graduate and many postgraduates as well, and they will tell you we are a democracy…
Further, most people, including many in the media, refer to our method of government as our political system. If one assumes that our political system is our governmental system, then those who want to trade it in for a socialist system would be well justified in viewing its inefficiencies and inefficacy. But, thankfully, they are not one and the same.
We no longer seem to understand how our governmental system was constructed. We don’t even begin to understand, or even care, about the many checks and balances put in place by the framers. We seem to consider now anything that exists before as old-fashioned, not reflective of how smart we are now, and how we simply all know better…
Such things as The electoral college, citizen politician, part-time legislature, separation of powers, separation of church and state to prevent a national religion, and many others have been sloughed- off as historical flotsam and jetsam as we have traveled carefree down the river of our existence.
Looking historically at the current problems of systems like Health Care, you can trace most, if not all, of the current day problems to ignorance of the reasons for the original design. In looking at all good systems, the system has integral checks and balances that come into play when behaviors get out of balance. Our original system had numbers of these, and more were added later. As time has gone on, our ‘we know better attitude’ has driven us to change, ignore or eliminate many of these checks and balances in favor of our own short-term objectives. I believe it is our own actions that lie at the root of most of our current crises.
States now are trying to render the electoral college moot by passing legislation that mandates winners take all to their electoral votes. Of course, if enough do this, then they effectively circumvent the constitution. Many of the current full-time professional class politicians either don’t care or favor such a circumvention. They see it serving their own self-interests, so we don’t seem to recognize it as an issue.
We have allowed congress to expand its part-time citizen politician role to that of the full-time professional legislature. Why no one sees this as a problem is beyond me, except as a further and unnecessary indictment of our educational system.
We have sat here dazed and confused, as the congress and, in some cases, the courts have continued to expand the reach and responsibility of the Federal Government far beyond any common sense rational approach. I am still waiting for someone to read my article on the commerce clause and explain what I have done wrong with my analysis. In fact, everyone I have spoken to agrees…
We have so bastardized the concept of tolerance, that today I can honestly say the only thing we do tolerate is intolerance. In this complete flip of a basic concept is the root cause of how we now have flipped the goal of our founders, to recognize the need for a higher power in our daily lives, and the recognition that there should be no state of federal endorsement of a specific religion, to the abject indictment of god himself in any form and the rationalization to drive any expression, particularly of religion, from public discourse.
In the end, we need less discontent and more discourse. We need more dialog, not a diatribe. We need people who want to be our elected leaders to put the job ahead of their ambitions. I would rather have a George Washington serve reluctantly than an ex-community organizer/activist whose tactics are limited to pitting one group against another to extract alms, less for the poor and helpless, and more for the shiftless, the clueless, and the thankless. We need programs for those who can’t. I believe, perhaps naively, that none disagree with this. But we cannot afford to provide to those who won’t. This significantly reduces the willingness and ability of those that can help for those that can’t. I respect the liberal view that everyone should have. I also respect the conservative view that we need checks and balances and real limits.
In the end, it is not this conundrum that is the problem. It is as if we have thrown off the rules and guidance from the past. We have created our own house of cards, and it is clear to most that a strong wind is coming to blow our cards asunder. We need to demand more of our political system and our politicians. We need to review the historical checks and balances that we allowed changed and bring them back as effective controls.
Finally, we need to demand real plans—detailed plans, not collections of talking points. We need to elect the one person who will take on the mantel of a leader of this great country as his sacred duty with as much vigor as they do to fulfill their personal ambition. Maybe then we can begin to see the light at the end of this long dark tunnel.
Please remember to comment,
I do appreciate your point of view.
