Well, this has been a very difficult post to write. I’ve started several times, then read something that made me change direction, re-written, scrapped, swore, and finally come up with a bit of what’s on my mind that isn’t too chaotic.
As the political debacle goes on in the nation’s capitol and in state capitols around the country, I am coming to the conclusion that the entire election process needs to be overhauled. We do not have leaders, we do not have representatives who are serving the will of the people, we do not have an informed and responsive government.
I rather like the idea of a friend of mine that the Representatives and Senators should be drawn by lot, much like people are selected for the jury pool. Of course, not every citizen is truly qualified to serve. Just look at the clowns who are currently in office. I would propose a few basic qualifications.
1. Being able to pass a basic American history test (similar to that required for citizenship.
2. Having absolutely no ties to big corporations (people who have worked for small, family-run businesses are ideal).
3. Having successfully balanced their checkbooks and paid bills on time for at least 3 years.
4. Having some familiarity with welfare, medical services for the uninsured, and other social services.
And possibly 5. Some higher education with the ability to research and separate fact from fiction.
So we end up with a pool of political candidates who have some basis of historical reference, have no leashes being held by big business, can do basic math, comprehend responsibility, understand the struggle to get medical care or the hoops that government programs make poor individuals jump through, and have some reasoning skills. This seems like a good spectrum to me. And if we’re lucky, we might even get some representatives who actually want to make things better for the average person.
Now, since we don’t have a snowball’s chance in hell of getting this kind of selection process, let’s look at what we do have. We are currently in a climate where, as many have observed, civility, reasoning, knowledge and expertise have virtually no meaning. You’ve all seen egregious examples of this. I know I feel like spitting up a hairball every time I hear or see “liberalism is trying to take God out”, or “the poor have to start contributing too”, or “asking millionaires to pay more is pathetic.” I have to ask myself – where did these whackjobs come from?
And that leads into the second part of this missive, the part that is really outraged, insulted, and driving me to want to bite someone.
Now I realize that members of both parties carry a lot of the blame for what’s been going on. Politicians on both sides have been subjects of scandal, under the thumbs of the Kochs or oil, and spewing everything from ridiculous conclusions to outright lies. And we, the people, bear the brunt of their callousness and vitriol. It seems our government hates us. Well, truthfully, one party seems to have more hate to throw around. So, since I’m feeling a rant coming on, let’s take a look at who the Republicans seem to hate the most. OK, besides the President.
Women – killing Planned Parenthood, arresting women who have miscarriages
Children – killing WIC, eliminating funds for Head Start programs
Students – killing grants, reducing funds to schools, thus guaranteeing poor quality education
Sick People – killing the Health Care Plan, making health insurance more costly
Elderly – hacking away at Social Security and Medicare, raising the retirement age
Workers – eliminating unions, threatening the minimum wage
Prisoners (OK, you may not have much sympathy for them, but remember, not everyone in prison is actually guilty) – turning prisons over to private corporations who are in turn lobbying for harsher and longer sentences, stalling candidates for judgeships to create a huge backlog of cases.
Now I’m starting to take this personally. So I’m wondering, what did I do to make the Republicans hate me so much? What did any of us do? Maybe we just aren’t wealthy enough or connected enough. Maybe we don’t deserve good jobs and good education. Maybe we don’t deserve clean air and water. Maybe we don’t deserve to be safe and healthy. Are we the undeserving, and unserved, minority? Wow, anyone as depressed as I am?
