I don’t follow politics as a day-to-day matter. Straw polls and the like are background noise to me. I don’t watch TV news, nor read newspapers (Well I do read the funnies?). I am an ignorant hillbilly by many standards. And, BTW, I’m a registered Independent.
I HAVE voted in every election held for the last 40 years or so.
What follows is NOT NEW or NEWS... Mores the pity!
Sadly, the problems currently besetting our country have little to do with Democrats or Republicans. Maybe it’s been caused by the fact that one can get a degree in something called Political Science? Perhaps it’s because one can even have a career in politics? What is clear is that The Pampered Princes (and Princesses) on the Potomac have an elitist bent that has developed over time. Party generally plays little actual role.
J. D. talks about one aspect over at his place:
Rovian: Hydrocephalic ruling class political propagandists; some with pointy heads
Michelle Bachman won the Iowa straw poll. The Rovians tell us it does not mean anything. Their reasoning is that the solid candidates with any prayer of winning, meaning the ruling class establishment picks, did not play in Iowa. My take is that the establishment picks did not participate because they did not want to start their campaigns with a king sized butt whoopin’ right out of the gate. But, I could be wrong as my head is not quite as large as Karl’s. Actually no one’s is.
I’ll posit that the issue has little to do with specific candidates, but that doesn’t dismiss his broader point; so take the time to read his piece.
Still, while the first step in problem solving is to correctly define said problem. WE, as citizens, have raised the ‘Elite Ruling Class’. WE, as citizens, have abdicated our responsibilities.
An apparent exception is, of course, The TEA Party. I’ll submit that the risk is not so much that that group will be further marginalized, but that it will be subsumed in The System.
So… what can WE do? We might use The TEA Party as a tool to prioritize the notion of term limits for congress. After all it seems reasonable to suspect that taxes would be dealt with quite differently by someone who wasn’t planning his re-election campaign from day one?
That’s one idea from this seat. And I’ve also proposed that congress critters be treated EXACTLY like our military. Similar pay and pay structure. Live in barracks, eat in mess halls, see military medical folks, etc. I’d also select candidates from the Jury Pool, but… I’m not The King.
Closing question (and the real point of this post):
What are YOUR ideas? We’ve had enough ‘pie in the sky’ and fancy programs so what, short of armed rebellion, can WE do? Are WE willing to except even the minimal inconvenience of going to the polls and voting?
ETA: Didn’t mean to appear to dis Political Science as a major. I can see statistics, physics, etc as a science, but POLITICS? YMMV.