Why we're falling apart...

Most of you, my three readers, know me. You know I'm fairly easy to get along with. You usually know my political leanings (Libertarian). Funny thing, if you poll most people and ask them questions without revealing what party platforms those questions ceom from, roughly 90% of Americans turn out to be Libertarian, but we've all been forced into this two-party system where you're either Republican or Democrat and if you aren't then you get no face time on TV.

Well, I tuned in to drudgereport.com today and I saw that "Scooter" Libby has been found guilty of a crime he supposedly committed during the trial of another crime for which he was accused and which wasn't even really a crime. Long story, don't want to go in to it, mainly because its not the point of this entry. My first thought when I read that was, "Gee, the people at democraticundreground.com must be having a fit right now." So I surfed over to their site and, sure enough, the Libby verdict is leading all discussion. But something caught my eye as I scrolled down the page. I had forgotten this little number DU like to pull. It's an article called "Top Ten Conservative Idiots." Ann Coulter currently sits at number one, and the Bush Administration as a whole currently holds three of the top ten spots. The Pentagon is a number five.

Then I googled the top ten liberal idiots and found multiple hits to multiple sites. How exactly are we to forge ahead as a nation if we're so busy calling each other names on the internet? DU even names a Tennessee organization as an idiot because they pointed out that Al Gore's home uses more electricity in a month than the average American household uses in a year. Apparently revealing a fact that goes against Al Gore make you an idea, no more how true, pertinent, or even revealing that fact might be.

And then it hit me, this is why we're falling apart. After the 2004 elections, a map painting the northeast, the west coast, and a portion of the midwest along with the Candanian provinces as "The United States of Canada" appeared. The rest of the US was labelled "Jesusland."

Its almost funny except that its not. I remember seeing a film about the '04 election centered on a liberal talk radio station. One of the workers was watching TV coverage of the results and as more and more states appeared "red" she began crying. One of her colleagues consoled her by saying "Look, they're in the middle of the country, there's no food there." As if the prevalence of an industrialized economy in an agricultural area was a determining factor in intelligence concerning elected officals. Another thing is the preoccupation with Jesus, and the subsequent hatred thereof. At what point did we decide that the opinion of the people who believe in Jesus should be valued less than the opinion of a secular progressive like Janeane Garofalo or Bill Maher?

The right side of the aisle doesn't fare much better, but the double standard certainly doesn't help them either, and please don't act like the media doesn't hold Republicans to account more often than Democrats. Honestly, how much coverage did you see ofLouisiana democrat William "Coldcash" Jefferson, and the scandal he created by hiding $90,000 in tin foil in his freezer? Yeah, that story dropped off fairly quickly...

So here's my proposition: The corruption in Washington has grown far out of control. The best way to limit and eventually decrease said corruption is to create a clean slate. In order to create a clean slate, we must first limit all elected terms. If the President can serve a max of two terms, then every single elected official should only be allowed to serve two terms. So much of the corruption is linked to seniority, and by removing seniority, you remove links to said corruption.

Next, campaign funding. I say if a job pays $400,000 for four years, then at most a candidate should be allowed to spend $399,999.99. One penny less than what the job would pay. I don't see the sense in spending millions upon millions of dollars to make $441,000 annually.

Third on the agenda is special interest groups. Gone. Eliminated. You want to decrease corruption you forbid the teacher's union, any worker's unions, and any other special interest groups from doing anything in Washington.

Lastly, the repellation of the 17th Amendment. This amendment to the Constitution allows senators to be popularly elected, when they were formally elected by the state governments. Now, the states have no representation in Washington. The system was designed to represent the people in the House of Representatives, and the states in the Senate. Not now. By repealing this amendment, we limit the scope and authority of the federal government back to the levels the founding fathers desired it to be, with exceptions for times of war.

I hope that works, I really do. Otherwise, this nation is shot in a few short years. Go boldly, and my God bless.