Corruption in our government is reaching new proportions surrounding the "Duke" Cunningham investigations. Foley cover-up aside, DeLay, Jefferson, and Abramoff investigations on hold, (could the elections have anything to do with this?), the Cunningham investigations are widening to uncover the many other government officials required to permit Cunningham's bribes to have succeeded.
As the Washington Post reports:
Since Cunningham had no authority to award contracts, he needed the acquiescence of some members of Congress, congressional staff members and Defense Department officials, according to the executive summary of an investigation by the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence into his activities as a panel member.
"This was a lot of people to persuade, cajole, deceive, pressure, intimidate, bribe or otherwise influence to do what they wanted," the executive summary says.
While it is unlikely the general public is aware of these details, it is nonetheless remarkable that the public 'smells' the pandemic corruption throughout our government as reflected by poll after poll indicating dissastisfaction with Congress and the direction our nation is heading. But, will such dissatisfaction result in record numbers of incumbents losing reelection in 3 weeks? That is a question in hot and useless debate. Nov. 7 will tell.
But, one argument's logic is inescapable. If the Constitution is inherently good, then bad government must be the result of bad politicians. Corrupt government must be the result of corrupt politicians. And wasteful government must be the result of wasteful politicians. Given this truth, does it not also follow that the remedy must begin with removing these politicians from office?
Isn't it illogical to assume that bad, corrupt, and wasteful politicians will correct their own behaviors? And if so, then is it not the duty and responsibility of the voters, like it or not, to remedy the situation by electing new politicians rather than keeping the incumbents responsible for the waste and corruption?
The days of voting for one party or another as the answer to bad government are over, gone, long behind us. The rules and internal workings of our government laid down by decades of corrupt, irresponsible, greedy, and wasteful politicians is now self sustaining. Reforming the internal workings of government is essential to cleaning up government and making it work for America's future instead of against it. We must force reforms such as reducing the influence of huge sums of campaign dollars used as bribes, eliminating exclusionary rules that prevent amendments from being voted on by the Congress, and end the Committee processes that have become the stalwart of one party extremist government in Congress.
But, such reforms will only come if voters demand it from the challengers they elect and deny them reelection if these reforms are not forthcoming. This anti-incumbent mindset must grow, and envelop a number of elections to come in order to bring in the kind of politicians America needs to force these reforms into reality. Spread the word, we the people are taking control at the ballot box and incumbents are going to be an endangered species for a number of elections to come, until the beneficial reforms needed are brought to bear.
Bad government is easy. Just keep voting incumbents back into office to sustain it. Great government is achievable. But, you have to vote for it. And that means we voters must STOP voting for a particular political party, and start voting for candidates who commit to the needed reforms regardless of party. It is past time for large numbers of Democrat and Republican voters to become Independent voters. Some are. Many more must, if we are to restore our government to what it was intended to be, a problem solver, not a problem creator.
d.a.n said at :
4:40 PM, 10 19 2006 | Permalink
Blind party loyalty is how politicians manipulate voters.
It's a brainwashing tactic.
It's a partisan warfare tactic.
It's an irresponsible tactic.
Learn to recognize these tactics used to manipulate people.
Politicians absolutly love to fuel the distracting, petty partisan warfare. It keeps the voters distracted and trapped in a circular pattern of behavior. It lets politicians shift the focus from THEM to the OTHER evil party. It is powerfully effective. Some voters are all too fond of wallowing in the petty partisan warfare. It's really the lazy way. Those that allow themselves to be brainwashed and manipulated this way have taken the lazy route. It's easier to do what you're told, then think for yourself and do what YOU think is the right thing to do. Parties attract lots of followers because they believe there is power in numbers. However, when that power is used to cheat voters, it does more harm than good. That's what we have today. A two party duopoly. But, parties are still merely the sum of their parts, and the problem is the two parties consist of parts that are corrupt, FOR-SALE, bought-and-paid-for, and look-the-other-way.
But, voters can essentially accomplish the goal of more responsible government, term-limits, reforms, and a number of things, if voters simply stop rewarding irresponsible, corrupt politicians and government employees. If the voters don't do it soon, peacefully, it may happen later (not so peacefully), and we'll all be losers.
Our founding fathers and many others have risked life and limb to give us the right to vote. If we now fail to appreciate that right, then we deserve what we get. If we keep crappin' in our own nest, the bough it rests upon will eventually snap. We are running out of time. The fiscal situation is not looking good. It may already be too late to avoid the inevitable economic consequences. The longer it is ignored, the worse it will be later.
d.a.n | October 19, 2006 4:40 PM
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Byron Diehl said at :
3:41 PM, 10 27 2006 | Permalink
VOID is the only viable method I see for recovering our democracy. home.comcast.net/`bcdiehl
Byron Diehl | October 27, 2006 3:41 PM
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