Have we all lost touch with our electoral process?

I continue to see a theme being played out over and over again in discussions about politics and the political process, each side is convinced that the other side is the one unwilling to compromise. Well guess what folks, it is both sides being driven farther and farther to their extremes by the complete loonies in each party that are making this occur (and I have talked about this before, http://losttouchwith.blogspot.com/2011/09/losing-touch-art-of-compromise.html).  So what can we all do to bring some sense and compromise back into politics?

1. Get corporate money out of politics. A business is not a person, and should not be allowed to give any tax free untraceable donations to a political party or person. Period, end of story. Abolish Citizens United. Does this mean looking at ways to possibly socialize the dollars that are used for elections? Heck yes, it might be one way to go! Do things like require a certain amount of donated political ad time for your FCC license, and the more states you have or provide FCC channels, radio time, any communications space, the more free time you have to donate. And make certain that it is being regulated, not for content, but for equal time slots.
2. If you get the corporate dollars out of elections, you can't stop there. You also need to get it out of the senators, congressmen, courts, etc. Pass laws that force politicians to relinquish health care and pensions if they accept any form of corporate bribery (yes, that is what lobbyists participate in if they are giving any money to an elected official, they are participating in corporate bribery). Make the job of politics only a job of politics, not a paycheck outside of the job. Funny thing is, if most people were caught moonlighting by their current employer, they'd be out on the streets right away looking for another job. Why should politicians be allowed to take any money (regardless if how it will be spent IE campaign contributions) during their normal working hour, which is 24x7 if you are a politician).
3. Do not ever allow any politician to become a paid lobbyist. This one is worth a mention, but I don't know if I actually want to deny anyone the ability to make a living in America. Even politicians should be allowed to make a living after politics (I'm not that heartless). As soon as we start denying equal employment opportunities.....well that would be like requiring identification of people like the young, the poor, the elderly and minorities that can't afford said identification to vote based on the fact that voter fraud is so rampant in the USA. That would never happen in America, would it?
4. Remind our representation that their job in Washington is to find compromise. And remind them that no one elected official in any state or national election has been elected by 100% of the voting public. There are always multiple views, and while it is the job of any one politician to represent their elected constituencies viewpoint, they also do need to keep in mind that tipping the balance too much the other way could lead to their being unelected. So to solve the problem of non-compromise.....
5. Go back to appointments for the Senate and remove the requirement that they be elected. It might not be a bad move to do the same with Congress. That way there is a little more of a responsibility for representation of the entire state instead of to a specific party. You then become beholden to the elected state body, and also don't have to spend your time raising money for your next election. You can actually do your job, representing the entire body of people that appointed you (and were elected themselves). If you don't like that, well that is what the Electoral College is all about at the national/presidential election level, so you're already participating in a representative electoral process. It would also take the dollars out of the hands that tend to bend elections (or at least funnel it down to the state level, and if republicans really do want to see states gain more power, then they would be the first ones in line looking to approve this step). And as a reminder to those who don't get why this might be a good idea, we are a country with a government that is founded on representation, so we make certain that we have more state level control of the electoral process by bringing back appointments rather than watching the cash being bet on big election outcomes.
6. Get the big PAC and SuperPAC money out of elections, yes on both sides of the aisle. To say that these organizations are not collaborating with their side is ridiculous, boldface lying, contemptible, and anyone that believes otherwise has their head in the sand and their brain is dying from lack of oxygen.

Who is on board? My guess is everyone but the politicians, and especially lifelong politicians like Paul Ryan, who met his wife while she was lobbying (read Corporate Bribery assistant) for multiple organizations and consulting firms in Washington. And he is not the only one, there are enough of these types of politicians on both sides. Instead of signing a stupid document that states you won't ever raise taxes (which is fiscally irresponsible, but I'll leave that for another day), why not sign a document that states an elected official will not take any corporate donations, bribes, pocket lining, and will represent their state to the best of their ability. After all, we are the United States of America, aren't we? Maybe we should start acting that way.

If you like seeing Paul Ryan on the republican ticket, you've lost touch

Paul Ryan believes that one of the keys to reducing unemployment is to reduce the size of government. For those of you that don't know what that means, it means they would let go of government workers. Guess where these unemployed workers would get jobs.....? Well, as far as I know they would join the unemployment line along with all of the other workers. On top of that, they want to de-regulate, which will also remove more of the employed, specifically the government officials that are supposed to be in charge of watching over private industry, the same private industry (financial as one example) that put is in the predicament we are in now.

I sit here almost one year later from this blog (http://losttouchwith.blogspot.com/2011/08/losing-touch-with-middle-class.html) talking about the same concern I had at that time. It is scary to think that the VP candidate really believes that this is the path to prosperity. We've all been down this road before with both of the previous Bush presidents, looking at removing regulation, adding more tax cuts, and by the way paving the way for a war without having a way to pay for it.

So is this really the person you want as your vice president, one who really believes that less government (except for defense of course, they can keep or increase their spending) is the way to move the country forward.

I think that we all need to be the voice of concern now and moving forward. The Romney-Ryan plan is a failed plan, we've tried it before, it just won't work for this country. Make your voice heard!

The Republican Party has lost touch, Ayn Rand is unfortunately alive and well.

08/12/2012
I must admit that I tuned in to see the announcement of Mitt Romney's running mate in order to hear his first real statement to the people of the United States, and Paul Ryan did not disappoint.  For myself, as a democrat, here is the thing that I heard that stuck in my mind, "we promise equal opportunity, not equal outcomes."

To those of my friends that are conservative, and I'm glad to say I have more than a few and we all have a healthy opportunity to voice our opinion, (and we don't "unfriend" each other just because our philosophies are different) what I want to point out about this is that this single statement shows how naive and extreme the republican party has become.  It concerns me that they actually believe this to be the case.  I would ask how many of them have actually been to an inner city school, have seen children come to school with shoes so worn out that they are held together with tape (and I heard this description at my catholic church today for those of you that think all democrats must be atheists).  Luckily for our neighborhood, the community came together to donate school supplies that would otherwise not be available to this inner city school.  I wish that there was more of this help available to those that have an "equal opportunity" to succeed.

It also reminds me of a blog I posted a while ago, where I ranted about a local radio host here in Denver that was convinced that government school food programs were a waste of tax dollars (http://losttouchwith.blogspot.com/2011/08/free-school-lunches-make-talk-show-host.html if you'd like to read it).  To believe that we don't have a responsibility to take care of our fellow man and help them up when they need it is at the heart of this election.  And it is truly telling that Paul Ryan is also an Ayn Rand follower (although he has lately seemed to change his tune slightly).  How many of you out there know that Ayn Rand was very much a believer in  "I have mine, and so that makes me superior to you" belief in big business.

Here is what your choice comes down to this November.  Do you believe that there is actually an equal opportunity in this country to get ahead, or do we have a responsibility to have social programs in place that do truly allow for those that are less advantaged to be provided the tools that can get them ahead.

And for those of you that say there should be no socialized programs, that we are not a democracy that also has social programs, think about programs like Defense, Transportation (which is much more than highways for those of you that forget we've all contributed to the ability to transport goods around this great country of ours), NASA (which I personally love and wish we could support more, and how many of those developments led to great advancements for all, think computers), and now Healthcare (and again, I'm probably risking comments from my conservative friends, but) because I truly believe that when there is something that will be used for the benefit of all in this country, it should be looked at as a social program for the benefit of all (and there are studies now coming out that point to the fact that countries that have vastly disparate classes also have vastly awful and expensive healthcare).  I don't know that this is the kind of government I want to see elected to represent us.  I truly think the republican  party has lost touch.