Who Are They Kidding?
Topic: Politics/Nation
Why stop with reforming campaign contributions? Why don't we revamp the entire electoral process? Why do we go through all of this caucus, primary and convention b.s.? We live in a country where children go to sleep hungry every night because the food stamps ran out. Where children are beaten to sleep every night while our impoverished child welfare system stands by due to lack of funding. Where children receive an occasionally adequate education in consistently inadequate surroundings because we can't afford better.

And yet, in an election year (and aren't they all election years?), we spend millions of dollars on parties, dinners and conventions to elect people who won't help our children.

Let's use all of our incredible communication technology and develop a plan to modernize our elective processes--let's make them "cost effective."

1. Provide voters with information on issues/candidates that they need in order to make informed choices on election day. Political "ads" would become a thing of the past. Airtime spots/print medium would be for the sole purpose of providing clear, concise information. A reviewing agency would verify that information provided was accurate, relevant and concise. Candidates/issues which might be deemed inappropriately handled would be fined.

This could eventually extend to many aspects of our political system. For the first time in the history of the world, we live in a country where the majority of the citizens are educated--kind of. We don't need legislators and politicians in Washington voting on our taxes and how those taxes should be spent. Tell us what the situation is, give us viable options, then let us vote. Politicians could be elected on a regional basis only--where you had 4 senators and 2 congressmen for a particular state before, now you would only need 1 senator and 1 congressman for a 4-state area. Even more cost savings.

2. Install voting machines which require a PIN for identification. On election day, the voter steps up, is verified against a picture ID and logs into the machine, inputs their choices and steps away. Results are tabulated immediately.

It is a wonderful, illustrative coincidence that this country will (and has) shut down its federal government and put people out of work in a year when the government bigwigs will spend billions of dollars going to parties and conventions, traveling all around the country, eating the best food and staying in the best places. Ask those government workers who have been off work at Christmas if they couldn't use their piece of the $24,000,000 of tax dollars which will help pay for the democratic and republican presidential conventions. Explain to that child in Chicago why she won't have her textbooks until December, while the political system paid for balloons and rock and roll music for the Presidential and Senate candidates in August.

Stop bullsh-tt--g, America. Grow up and take care of your children instead of partying all year.