134 members of your United States House of Representatives voted against a bill for greater shareholder input into CEO compensation.  All aboard the gravy train.  Actually this bill passed the House but I can’t imagine what happens in the Senate where you have to be a millionaire to think about running. 

Karl Rove announced he is leaving the White House.  Now he is making the rounds of the Sunday shows.  I swear this guy should stay in the shadows.  When he stays in the shadows he is the mysterious man behind the curtain that everyone loves to hate.  When he comes out and speaks he just sounds like the political hack that he is.  He is all about winning campaigns though personal smear and disinformation.  He is what is wrong with our political process.  I can guarantee that no candidate for which he works will get my vote.

Sorry that the material has been little and far between of late.  Other things have taken precedence.  Not that there has not been material.  I just haven’t had the righteous indignitude I usually have.  School starts in a couple weeks, I am sure I will write more consistently then. 

Please allow me to take a break from my ranting.  Our political system has problems, many problems.  But, as Winston Churchill said, (paraphrasing) “..democracy is the worst form of government, except of course for all of those others that are tried from time to time..”  We must never forget the wonderful system that allows for open debate, ranting on the internet and disagreement.  We should value the fact that power has changed hands many, many times over the last two hundred plus years, often between people who don’t like each other, and yet nary a shot has been fired.  It is often important to take a step back and look at how great of a system we have.  We are lucky to be able to rant on and on (and in some cases on) about petty things like political commercials and legislative gridlock.  Many peoples of the world wish to have such problems to deal with. 

These are the top 5 reasons (that I could think of off the top of my head) that we should be outraged by the current Presidential campaign:

5.  All the buzz is about how much money has been raised, not how many votes have been won.

4. How much money is being spent to put on slick campaign events, make commercials, hire consultants and the like.  This is at the expense of talking to real people about real issues.

3. Senators Obama, Clinton, McCain and many others have jobs.  The people paying them are not getting their money’s worth.

2. Primaries are the bastion of political extremists.  The far left and the far right choose the major candidates.

1. The founders of our nation are probably rolling over in their graves knowing how the political process has been hijacked by special interests, political parties, PACs and 527s.  The electorate needs to demand a return to sanity in the political arena.

The former surgeon general of the U.S. has now come out and said that he was “muzzled” by the Bush Administration for political reasons.  Here we go again.  It is just amazing to me that continue to allow this kind of garbage to go on.  Really it is a level of maturity that no longer seems to exist.  I wonder if people think that their position is so untenable that they must stamp out all opposition or they will be swept away.  I amazed by people who are more willing to believe in their own political agenda than in science or fact. 

“If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always gotten”

Now apply thing to our current politial situation.  Do you think this is the best we can get.  Put your ideology aside for a moment.  Is this the best run, most efficient, most helpful government that we could possibly have.  If not, then we have to do something different to get something different. 

I keep wondering about this primary Presidential “Race” that is on as we speak.  I keep looking at these people wondering how they can continue to “not get it”.  I am here at a conference with a group of outstanding teachers of Government, History and Civics.  We are being taught by a group of learned professors.  All of the people here seem to get it.  If there are so many people who “get it” about how this country should be ( I refuse to put quotes around should be as even if my exact vision for how should be is not your own there is no doubt there is a should be that exists in contrast to how it is) how can we keep electing  people with little vision other than enacting a straight ideological line irrespective or incapable of an independent thought.  This is just some random musing on my part. 

Ideology (liberal or conservative) trumps progress and the people in this day and age.  I think that any politician who votes against progress for the sake of with holding credit from the opposition is in politics for the wrong reasons.  Parties, ideologies and personal electoral success are not and should not be a basis for government.

I will say only this about health care.  Every politician out there is using the 45 million Americans who don’t have health care as a platform to get elected.  Meanwhile, nothing gets done to help.  The nature of our politics is wag the dog.  Our politicians govern to get and stay elected, not the other way around.