Our system of government is broken. Where else can you work for someone where you get better benefits, wages, pensions and perks than the owners? Where else can you work from 2-4 years, get fired and receive pension and perks till the day you die? Where else would you get better health benefits then the bosses? I'm not talking about the people who fix the buildings, sweep the floors, or work in offices doing the many things that are needed to keep our government going. I'm also not talking about the policemen, firefighters, or the people who keep our infrastructures going. I'm talking about the politicians, the people responsible for representing us.
How can our politicians be representing us when they continually vote along party lines? Are they really representing their constituents or pushing party agendas? The way things are set up now, they hold all the cards, they vote on their own pay raises, benefits packages, pensions, they have healthcare and the whole nine yards. There are only two major parties, between the two, their contacts, their clout, they make enough money from campaigning that they can effectively shut down any outsiders. Anyone with ideas that go against the party, or ideas that are too dangerous to keeping the status quo are shunned by their party and cut from the benefit of party raised money for campaigning.
The whole idea of needing so much money to campaign is part of what corrupts our system. Most politicians spend a lot of time when they should be working for us raising money for the next election cycle. Needing such vast amounts of money gives corporations and wealthy individuals the upper hand, because even if something is right and a good cause, a politician would be committing political suicide to support it if that cause wasn't in the best interests of the people footing much of their election campaign. It is the person who has the most money to buy the most airtime, that can slander the other person the most, who has the upper hand in our elections. Politicians like that are puppets of their highest donors and will not go against their biggest donors best interests. They will not be concerned with their constituents wishes, they are a broken cog in democracy.
It is time we the people take back our government from the rich elite that runs it now. Our whole election process is a joke. There is no accountability, no consequences for cheating or not telling the truth. These people are all applying for the job of our Representatives, but they do it all on their terms, not ours. We have to step back and say whoa on a second. Do all these commercials put together to mislead, about the flaws of the other opponent or brag up the triumphs of one's self really any good to the selection of our leaders? Is it any good to have two parties that basically have a monopoly on candidates and individuals having to tow the party line? What do we do to fix this? Can this be fixed? Next time I will give my thoughts.
Showing posts with label democracy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label democracy. Show all posts
Sunday, August 28, 2011
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Egypt and the U.S.
Just a short post today. I have been watching closely the protests in Egypt and listened to banter back and forth about what this means to the U.S. and the rest of the world. Many in the U.S. seem to have the idea that this is bad for the U.S., it will destabilize the region, the new guys might not be as friendly to the U.S., the new guys might be radical Islamic, this will cause other countries in the area that have the same kind of political set up to revolt against it's leaders, etc., etc.
Here we are/were fighting two large wars in Iraq and Afghanistan with our leaders telling us that this is to promote democracy for those that can't have it. But here now is a large populace of Egyptians that are fighting for a democratic political system, and here we are arguing amongst ourselves if it is better to provide so much as a supportive statement for the Egyptian people, or try to keep the dictator in power some how because he is a U.S. yes man. How stupid are my fellow countrymen that they think they can spread democracy by the end of a gun barrel while destroying and leveling cities. In the dictionary this is the definition of a terrorist. Surely if we back the people we will be in a better position to negotiate with what or who ever the new leadership will be than if we continue to support the old and supply tear gas and rubber bullets to be used against the people. If we want to help spread the ideals of democracy, we must ourselves live by the ideals of democracy. We can't claim to have the best political system and then support dictators to rule over other countries. IF you change to a democracy, THEN we will help out financially, NOT before. If we expect other countries to follow the rule of law, we should be responsible to the rules of laws ourselves. None of this illegal getting fondled at the airport, secret government or secret prisons, no illegal wire, phone, bank, internet tapping, no no torture when there is, breaking international laws and agreements, or any of all the other things we do that don't follow the rules of law, but I digress.
I have a feeling what the real cause of anxiety to Egypt's surrounding countries and even some of the western countries and the U.S., is that something like this could happen in our country. We have many of the same things wrong with our country that Egypt has with it's country. A small percentage of the people controls a large percentage of the money and thus power. The people who are in power aren't doing things that are the best for their country, or it's people, only for the short term gain in their own pockets. The politicians that are supposed to be representing us and working for us are corrupt, working just to try to stay in power or get in power, voting along party lines with no regard to what their constituents want, for their own financial gain, without any compassion for the people caught up or destroyed by their greed. I think this is the real cause of concern of the U.S. and the world.
Here we are/were fighting two large wars in Iraq and Afghanistan with our leaders telling us that this is to promote democracy for those that can't have it. But here now is a large populace of Egyptians that are fighting for a democratic political system, and here we are arguing amongst ourselves if it is better to provide so much as a supportive statement for the Egyptian people, or try to keep the dictator in power some how because he is a U.S. yes man. How stupid are my fellow countrymen that they think they can spread democracy by the end of a gun barrel while destroying and leveling cities. In the dictionary this is the definition of a terrorist. Surely if we back the people we will be in a better position to negotiate with what or who ever the new leadership will be than if we continue to support the old and supply tear gas and rubber bullets to be used against the people. If we want to help spread the ideals of democracy, we must ourselves live by the ideals of democracy. We can't claim to have the best political system and then support dictators to rule over other countries. IF you change to a democracy, THEN we will help out financially, NOT before. If we expect other countries to follow the rule of law, we should be responsible to the rules of laws ourselves. None of this illegal getting fondled at the airport, secret government or secret prisons, no illegal wire, phone, bank, internet tapping, no no torture when there is, breaking international laws and agreements, or any of all the other things we do that don't follow the rules of law, but I digress.
I have a feeling what the real cause of anxiety to Egypt's surrounding countries and even some of the western countries and the U.S., is that something like this could happen in our country. We have many of the same things wrong with our country that Egypt has with it's country. A small percentage of the people controls a large percentage of the money and thus power. The people who are in power aren't doing things that are the best for their country, or it's people, only for the short term gain in their own pockets. The politicians that are supposed to be representing us and working for us are corrupt, working just to try to stay in power or get in power, voting along party lines with no regard to what their constituents want, for their own financial gain, without any compassion for the people caught up or destroyed by their greed. I think this is the real cause of concern of the U.S. and the world.
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Terrorism
Terrorism: n. violence committed to achieve a political end....
Wouldn't that be like if one country would invade another to spread democracy?
You know I just feel terrible for what America has done to Iraq. It started off with a farce of the twin towers that had nothing to do with Iraq, moved to weapons of mass destruction that never were, to mission accomplished that never was. From pictures of Iraq it looks like we have totally demolished their infrastructure, city buildings, roads, utilities and this is what we do to people we supposedly save? People we want to push democracy on?
Bush still goes on about the progress we have made in Iraq, but unless our objective is to totally flatten all of Iraq, I don't see it. 2007 was the worse year since the beginning of the war for American casualties, the number of dead Americans now about 4000, Iraqi deaths over 1 million. There has been a lull in deaths of Iraqis, and of coarse Bush takes credit there, but from what I've read this has more to do with the different factions separating themselves from each other than an improvement in political processes. The amount of money spent on the war could have took care of many of our domestic problems, health care, education, housing, just think what kind of America we could have if we invested the kind of money we have threw away in a five year war where we are no better off, and in a lot of ways worse off, then we were when we first invaded Iraq.
The media is doing a grave disservice to the American people, there is hardly any coverage of the protests against this war and the present administration. Not only does this affect the people's will by letting them know that they are not alone in their objections of the way things are run, but it give the wrong impression to foreign people and governments that the American people are alright with the way the government is going, when there is really in reality a small percentage of Americans that back the president's vision of what we are doing in Iraq. The news paper that stands above the rest in exposing Bush and his administration's illegal activities is the New York Times. I bet Bush and Chaney hate the New York Times. In fact many times after an illegal activity has been exposed the Bush administration has been more upset about the fact that someone leaked the story than that illegal activities are going on.
What really gets me is how a president or administration can openly disregard laws and pick and choose what laws they want to follow. It disappoints me that the congress can call out these abuses, but the DOJ can decide that it's not going to push the issues or enforce the laws. What good are laws in this case? What did our veterans fight for if it wasn't our ideals and rights granted by our constitution? Where is the America for the common person, and what are the rules?
Wouldn't that be like if one country would invade another to spread democracy?
You know I just feel terrible for what America has done to Iraq. It started off with a farce of the twin towers that had nothing to do with Iraq, moved to weapons of mass destruction that never were, to mission accomplished that never was. From pictures of Iraq it looks like we have totally demolished their infrastructure, city buildings, roads, utilities and this is what we do to people we supposedly save? People we want to push democracy on?
Bush still goes on about the progress we have made in Iraq, but unless our objective is to totally flatten all of Iraq, I don't see it. 2007 was the worse year since the beginning of the war for American casualties, the number of dead Americans now about 4000, Iraqi deaths over 1 million. There has been a lull in deaths of Iraqis, and of coarse Bush takes credit there, but from what I've read this has more to do with the different factions separating themselves from each other than an improvement in political processes. The amount of money spent on the war could have took care of many of our domestic problems, health care, education, housing, just think what kind of America we could have if we invested the kind of money we have threw away in a five year war where we are no better off, and in a lot of ways worse off, then we were when we first invaded Iraq.
The media is doing a grave disservice to the American people, there is hardly any coverage of the protests against this war and the present administration. Not only does this affect the people's will by letting them know that they are not alone in their objections of the way things are run, but it give the wrong impression to foreign people and governments that the American people are alright with the way the government is going, when there is really in reality a small percentage of Americans that back the president's vision of what we are doing in Iraq. The news paper that stands above the rest in exposing Bush and his administration's illegal activities is the New York Times. I bet Bush and Chaney hate the New York Times. In fact many times after an illegal activity has been exposed the Bush administration has been more upset about the fact that someone leaked the story than that illegal activities are going on.
What really gets me is how a president or administration can openly disregard laws and pick and choose what laws they want to follow. It disappoints me that the congress can call out these abuses, but the DOJ can decide that it's not going to push the issues or enforce the laws. What good are laws in this case? What did our veterans fight for if it wasn't our ideals and rights granted by our constitution? Where is the America for the common person, and what are the rules?
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