Bipartisan Deep Dark Secrets

There are certain tweaks we can make to our government to make it functional, effective, and efficient but it will never happen because both parties benefit from the status quo.  Both parties are so entrenched in a system that has forgotten that the majority rules in a democracy and it should be illegal to game the system.  Eventually, if we continue to be dysfunctional it will bury us.  We are being destroyed from within, we don't need to wait for terrorists to do us in!

First, we have lobbyists controlling Congress, not the people.  There are certain lobbies that spend hundreds of thousands even millions per day to peddle their influence in Congress.  We all know that it is legalized bribery and these lobbyists own certain Senators or Congressmen.  Lobbyists are actually writing the laws on the Congressional floor that will favor their industry or position.  We need to outlaw this practice once and for all and put these people out of business.  Our country has been hijacked by the highest bidders.  Doing away with lobbyists should be a goal that both liberals and conservatives can agree, but it will never happen because both are guilty of drinking from the well.  It is like heroine for politicians and they just can't get off the juice!

Next, they need to go back to the original intent of the filibuster.  Presently, nothing gets done because you now need a filibuster proof 60 votes in the Senate to get anything passed.  Conservatives love to throw around the fact that Obama had a Democratic Congress for the first two years and didn't pass what he wanted.  Now the Democrats did have control of the House and the Senate but didn't have the 60 votes needed in the Senate to make it filibuster proof.  They never tell you that part because it doesn't suit their argument.  Nothing gets done if you don't have the 60 votes in the Senate but most people don't even know that.  Democracy works with a simple majority of 51 votes, but not anymore!  The filibuster rule has forced our government into a coma, but both parties hide behind it and claim that the other is ineffective.

Another convenient gimmick both parties use to game the system is gerrymandering.  They draw the lines of their Congressional districts in such a way that it almost virtually assures that the district will remain in their hands.  So there is no need to compromise or cooperate because no matter what they do they are almost assured of reelection.  Congress has a 9% approval rating but 75% of incumbents get reelected and it is all because of gerrymandering.  Short of exposing yourself on the internet, politicians can do just about anything and still get reelected.  Both parties do it when they are in power and it needs to stop.

Finally, both parties are guilty of insider trading, making a fortune on decisions that are made in Congress.  They are privy to information on decisions reached in Congress that can affect an industry and they act on it by buying or selling stocks connected to that industry before it reaches the general public.  It is not illegal to do so but it should be.  Our representatives come out of Congress worth millions because they are trading on inside information.  If it is illegal on Wall Street, the people who make the laws should be held to the same standard.

Campaign finance reform is at the root of many of the problems in Washington but until we can all agree that everyone plays by the same rules, nothing will change.  The Citizens United decision in the Supreme Court set us back fifty years!  When you give corporations equal treatment as private citizens under the first amendment you are opening up the floodgates of corruption.  Once again, it is the organization with the most money that gets to control the game.  Both parties feed from the trough and refuse to change the rules because money is the mother's milk of politics.  As citizens we need to reform the system and hold both Democrats and Republicans responsible for the corruption that goes undetected by society.  The party that makes these reforms part of their platform would certainly get my vote. Wake up, America!