What If.....

What if the Founding Fathers could come back and see what a mess we've made of this democracy/republic they developed and entrusted to future generations?

I personally think they would be shocked and appalled.

What if I could create a new system of government? What would I do differently?

I have given this a lot of thought. I have been watching a lot of the Congressional hearings on health care reform.

I am sick of seeing these adults behave like petulant children on an elementary school playground.

No one seems to have an original thought, and, if they do, the other side refuses to listen to it. I was disgusted at watching one hearing in particular. Every time one of the Republican members tried to present an idea for a vote the Democratic chair would cut them off and say "It isn't going to pass, do you still want to vote?"

And I'd be just as angry if the roles were reversed. How dare anyone assume to know how the other committee members will vote. Unless, of course, we've sunk so low that we will only vote along party lines with absolutely no consideration whatsoever of the actual ideas on the table.

Horrible!

These men and women are elected to do a job, which entails actually working, and they are doing no more than playing politics.

So, back to my original question.

What would I do differently if I could revamp the system?

Two words:

TERM LIMITS!

There should be no such thing as a career politician. The members of Congress should be subject to term limits same as the President and a lot of elected officials on lower levels.

Maybe then they'd spend their time in office truly serving their constituents. They wouldn't have time to try and broker deals and so on. They wouldn't be spending their time campaigning for the next term since they would only have a limited time to be there.

Maybe they would do some good.

Especially if they realized that all the policies they were trying to implement would affect them also. They would no longer be protected from the health care system they want to force on the rest of us. They'd actually have to participate in Social Security so maybe they'd pay more attention to making it work and ensuring its longevity. They might change some of the IRA and 401(k) rules if they knew they weren't going to draw their salaries until their deaths at taxpayer expense.

Maybe they would actually do some good, for a change.

Which brings me to my second idea: SECRET BALLOTS

I know that we, the people, should have the right to know how our representatives vote on issues. And that access should be retained. But some of these folks might actually vote their conscience instead of the established party line if everyone else in the room wasn't staring at them.

I know they should do that anyway, but they don't. I've watched both sides just ignore perfectly good topics of discussion for no reason other than it wasn't their party who brought it up.

Pathetic, really.

I know, I live in a fantasy world.

But at least in my world there is order.