Keeping it (elections) Real

MacBaby Blog #5

Keeping it Real

It’s mid-term election time again. Somehow it seems like this is the most important midterm election in my recent memory. I think it’s because of the war. And because the entire country is so idealistically polarized that anyone on the opposing side of our political sensitivities is immediately reviled and cast off as totally wrong. There is little or no real consultation. There is so much fear and distrust.

There should be lots of distrust and tons of fear. It is safe to say that most citizens of this country believe that a good percentage of our political leaders are corrupt to some degree. Corruption, to any degree, rightfully breeds a lack of trust. But trust is the main ingredient necessary for our system of government to work. Most people know this and they’re uneasy. We don’t know who the good guys are. Everyone is suspect.

There must be another way of getting our elected officials to account for their actions. It should be obvious to all of us by now that politicians are more concerned about their own power and reelections than they are about the future of this country and the welfare of its citizens. According to a recent Reader’s Digest Article, in 2004 a House seat cost over $1 million to win, and a Senate seat cost $7 million. Senators and Representatives spend most of their work week just trying to get reelected. I know there is a system in place, laws, if you will, which is supposed to keep public servants accountable. But even when a politician is brought to bare his feet to the fire there is another politician behind him, cloned in that image, ready to start the process all over again.

My Uncle, back in the ’60s, was City Solicitor of Scranton, Pennsylvania. When asked why he never got into politics himself he responded, “Politics corrupts even the most honest of us. It can’t be helped. It’s the way things are. I don’t want that.”

Here in Tennessee there was a tight race for the Senate between (R) Bob Corker and (D) Harold Ford Jr. The ads run on television for these two men are the most embarrassing and insulting I have ever seen. There is no shame from either candidate as they lie and scare voters for their favor. Neither man deserves any trust from anyone, Democrat or Republican. But one of these guys is going to Washington and there’s nothing anyone can do about it. I suspect there are other states experiencing the same transparent game.

The politicians running for office raise millions upon millions of dollars to promote their plank. A lot of this money comes from special interest groups. The money is used to buy airtime and send mailings promoting themselves as the candidate of choice. But the message they’re promoting is about tearing the opposition to pieces by either impugning their morality or damning their record with lies and half truths. Most of the time the issues are not discussed. Voters learn little, if anything, about their prospective leaders’ social, economic, or international leanings, and we get a pig in a poke while special interests buy the support they need to keep their bottom line looking top shelf.

Here’s a way to fix that.

1. At election time news agencies will be given tax breaks in order for all viable candidates to have free and equal time and space campaigning, thus eliminating Political Action Committees. This goes for newspapers, TV, and radio. Media can run their op-ed stories but candidates will be forbidden to buy space or time in any media. This will level the field when it comes to advertising and keep them more honest and true to the issues. It would also eliminate lobbying, the biggest joke in government, as we know it. No candidate with even a half a brain would waste valuable, limited space trashing his opponent when he could be bragging about how wonderful he is, and about all the great things he’s going to do. Maybe they would actually share their ways and means in solving some of our many problems. Trashing opponents would be looked upon as suspect and tantamount to admitting they have no plans of their own.

2. Our government leaders would not be paid. Elected officials would be subsidized by their government for their food, clothing, health care, housing, etc. based on the average income of a family their size. Any assets belonging to the candidate would be frozen for the length of his or her service and will remain unavailable until the termination of his service. That means they would live like most of us which would give them a greater understanding of what it’s like living in these United States without all the entitlements. If a congressman had a family of four, and $38,000 was the average income for that family in that state, their benefits would not exceed that amount of money. Same for senators, governors, president and vice-president, speaker, etc. etc. That would assure that the people governing would be there for the sake of the country, not their own sake. Safe housing would be supplied and maintained by the state. Gross entitlements would be eliminated. They would, in effect, become the living embodiment of the average American, except, of course, for the security they would need.

3. Any companies or corporations affiliated directly with any elected official or immediate family, either through ownership or investment, would be off limits to any government business.

4. No term limits. If citizens want to keep someone in office who they perceive as worthwhile, they should have the right to use the experience gained by their officials to further the quality of their lives. Officials not doing well for their constituency would be voted out.

5. Candidates’ entire voting records would be made public in newspapers, on TV, and on radio during the campaign.

6. Campaign signs and the people waving them would be outlawed. No billboards. No signs in yards. No posters on phone poles. There would be no commercial advertising of any kind for any candidate. It seems that most of these candidates think this is a popularity contest, with the guy or gal with the most signs wins. All the information would be disseminated through the media in an orderly, equal, and sufficient way. If a business or person wanted to support a candidate they could do it “in house” only. Pictures or audio will not be readily visible or audible to the general public from anywhere outside the confines of that business or home.

The probability of any of these things happening soon are slim. Why? Because any one of these points, with the possible exception of the term limits, would eliminate the raw power money and favoritism buys. Politicians would have to deal with governing the country and solving social problems. That alone would show how inept most of them are. Therefore they would never agree to such regulations. They’d be cutting their own throats.

Somehow we need to change the present political system into one in which we can believe. It’s hard to have faith in a system in which our leaders can interpret the constitution their own way in order to satisfy their agenda.

At present there are thieves and thugs running things in Washington. Not only are the citizens of this country aware of this, but it has become apparent to the entire world. That’s why nobody trusts America anymore. Which is a shame, because the United States of America used to be THE bastion of truth, liberty, and freedom held up for all the world to see. What do you think the world sees now? Check it out for yourself. But be warned. It isn’t pretty.