Dang, it has gotten ugly in DC. Depending on which poll you look at, Congressional approval has sunk to 6 - 12 percent of Americans. Put another way, it means that 88 to 96 percent of Americans think our elected officials a doing a crappy job.
How did this sink so low? What has gone so horribly wrong? Well that is a very long story and there are no innocent parties. We have special interest groups that draft legislation that benefits them and don't address true needs of the country. We have elected officials who spend their time in DC and lose touch with their states and districts. You have officials and candidates who must kowtow to their party in order to get the funds to be a serious candidate. We have special interest groups also serving as the cash cows that fund campaigns. The mess has become a fetid swamp where everyone who enters immediately is covered with a disgusting slime that taints everything they touch.
Yeah, I know that this is ground that I have plowed before. But guess what boys and girls. I will come back to it again and again. Why? It is just that important. So you ask, OK wise guy do you have any suggestions? Yeah, I do.
Our founders never envisioned a time when Congress would be in year round session and that our "representatives" would be permanent residents of a Capital City. This circumstance has put our "representative" out of touch and out of reach from those they are supposed to serve.
We live in a technological age where major corporations, schools and individuals conduct their business without the need for in person meetings. We use electronic tools to buy, sell and trade. We go to school with people from all over the world from the comfort of our dens. So why can't Congress do the same thing.
Lets have Congress meet electronically. Each representative could have a digital studio they could go to for debate and legislative action. Committees could meet the same way. These meetings could be fed to CSPAN to be broadcast nationally.
The advantages are simple. First, representatives would once again live in the communities they serve and be more accessible to those they serve. Second, they would be away from the lobbyists and party leaders who do so much to taint the well of government.
Even though Congress does suck, and they have almost no credibility in the nation, they are necessary for solving many of the problems the nation faces. But the first thing they must do in order to play their role is to stop being part of the problem.
Confidence in our elected officials. Why we don't have any, and what can be done about it. (Less special interest, more time in State and District.) Too much adherence to party line orthodoxy.
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