After reading some of the comments written in other blogs, and thinking about politics in general, it dawns on me that there are certainly a number of problems in modern politics today. Republitarian said it best when blogger comments are now seemingly coming out like 8th grade girls screaming who their boyfriend is. In what should be a good place for open debate among many people, the blog universe is becoming a giant pissing match left and right. There are a few people who still try to bring honor and dignity to the whole mess, but the overwhelming number of people who read blogs and post comments are nothing more than juvenile idiots.
For instance, anonymous comments are more often than not people saying things which are rude and very insensitive. Many people feel that if you got a comment to say, put your name to it. I for one have seen a numbr of anonymous comments on this site and unless I know specifically who it was the wrote the comment, I have little to no respect for those who write it. If you need to hide behind a mask, then you have no honor. It is as simple as that.
There are those who might say that it is perfectly alright to leave an anonymous comment and not have to worry about incrimination or what not. Truth is, I like to know that this person has a name. Even if it is “Dude from (fill in the blank zip code),” it is not as if I am like some bloggers who look up your IP Address and can figure out how close you are to me. I have better things to do with my life. But on to politics and its problems.
It is rather clear that a number of politicians no longer serve the interests of the people and the country as a whole. A number of Democrats spout out hatred and anger towards the President and his policies, but when asked to provide one of their own, it is virtually identical to the Republican one. So why the hatred? It stems from how George W. Bush was elected President in 2000. If this was Al Gore as President or even John McCain, would Democrats be complaining as much.
The obvious answer is no, but there are reasons. First and foremost, these two men might have done any number of things differently. We can’t say what their policies could have been, but we can speculate. Odds are if this was a McCain administration, we would still be fighting the War on Terror, but would Democrats be in such opposition to it? The possibilities are mind boggling, but the fact remains that some people will only complain to get their names in the newspaper and on television, but really seem to have no interest in doing what is best for the country.
Fact of the Matter
Fact of the matter is that we are governed by a political class. These are people who enjoy getting paid to be politicians and listening to special interests. I for one am a firm believer in setting term limits on Congress. A senator should only serve for 12 years, while a representative should serve for 10. If the President can only serve for 8 years, then why not get Congress to have term limits. If you think about it, there are numerous advantages:
1. Special interest groups lose their grip on Capitol Hill.
2. More business will be conducted and concluded in Congress than there is now.
3. More people will become interested in politics in the country.
4. Voter turnout will go up dramatically.
5. More citizens of this country will be able to get involved with politics and maybe get into
public office.
In addition to this, a thought was presented to me by one of my students. During our first Friday group discussion, the young man gave the equivalent of a stump speech, but a very passionate one at that. He said that while he likes much of what the Democrats stand for when it comes to economics, he is polarized and torn away from voting for them because of their moral issues such as abortion. Since a number of candidates spend more time trying to pander to the interest groups and allow moral interest to dominate their election cycle, it does turn a number of voters away from the polls. The student’s solution was to allow all the moral issues to become state issues. Let each state deal with them and get the candidates to discuss major national issues. After giving this speech, the class erupted in applause. I myself have never seen such well stated argument like this before. If anything, THIS is what more people think and believe in this country.
So where do I stand on the issues? Well, I am against flag burning, abortion, higher taxes, illegal immigration, and crime. I am for lower taxes, small government, death penalty, and holding people accountable for their actions. And obviously, if you got this far down in the post, I am for term limits in Congress.
As I await any comments, which usually never happens, I wonder if I will actually get legitimate comments that have depth, logic, and an argument in it or dribble. I think it is time we start to take back the blog universe and get real debate going amongst the people. Who’s with me?
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3 comments:
We have term limits: it's called voting. Voter participation is pathetic. Part of the reason is that so many people see politicians as two sides of the same coin. And many ways, they are. While campaigning, they pander to the issues that a particular group wants to hear; yet once elected, do they even try to accomplish those goals? Then they come back the next election cycle and promise the same stuff again. And the electorate falls for it.
We get what we deserve because we don't do enough to get what we want.
We don't get enough of what it is that we want because we don't have term limits. Voting does not equal term limits. Think about the House of Representatives for a minute. 435 seats up for reelection every two years. Of thos seats, only thirty are really competitive. If you run in a district where there isn't an opponent, then you as the incumbent get to build up a nice war chest for the day a real opponent shows up. Once that happens, the opponent is screwed because they got a lot of money to fight against.
If we have real, tangible term limits in place, then we can get more people into Congress and more work can be done.
Voters should challenge candidates to publicly pledge that they will not serve for more than 2 terms(Senate) or five terms (House).
Meanwhile incumbents, like Tom Davis of Virginia's 11th Congressional District, will continue to use taxpayer money to promote their campaigns against underfunded citizens who try to present an alternative. In Davis' case he appears to be using his "franking" priveleges (free mail to get news out to constituents)to propagandize before the election. Skirting the legal line? Perhaps. Way over the ethical line? Absolutely! Is it done all the time? Absolutely, by both sides. Is this how we want our tax money used...keeping a self-serving and under performing political class in fat jobs? I don't think so.
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