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Part 79: What We Are Trying To Do:
December 1, 2003:
What we are trying to do is restore the rule of law in America. We can only do that be replacing the current government and returning to a real representative democracy. In essay 78 about historical review it may have seemed that I was trying to discredit democracy. Let me dispel that idea. There is no intention whatsoever to discredit democracy or the great men who founded it in America. The idea was to look at the historical development of our current moral crisis with an eye toward redirecting our course toward a more stable and lasting democracy.
I have always believed that representative democracy is the highest form of government ever developed by mankind. Until we evolve further than we now are, representative democracy is the best possible form of government. Perhaps someday we will not need a government at all. I think communism has successfully proved that time is not yet. Until we have arrived, let us try to fix the vehicle we currently have. Unless we do that, we will not evolve at all.
We are presently in a state of decline. We have a great deal of work to do. One large part of that work will be to liberate our children so they can evolve. I don't see how we can do that within the situation we now find ourselves. We could probably go into a hidden corner and save a few kids, but that's not a worthy enough goal. We should want to save all of the kids. We must have a better, more ethical government to manage that. We must have a government that will put our resources into our kids rather than urinating them down the rat-holes of pork barrel and ill advised wars.
I think one major problem is that our current electoral system which is based in party politics has undermined the basic premise of representative democracy. Of course, that is that it should be representative. If it is not, it is not democracy at all. That is where we have arrived. Our government is not representative of the people and it is no longer a real democracy. It is nothing more that a tool of special interests. The point is, we can change that. We can take our government back and make it what our founders intended it to be. Remember, a government of the people, by the people, and for the people?
I still think representative democracy is the proper form, but in America it has turned to demagogic sewage. The current two party system is garbage. It is as close to anarchy as we can get and still maintain a semblance of order. It may be that we are already over that line. There are power brokers everywhere. The thugs have taken over. Rather than a representative democracy we have a machine controlled government. It takes enormous sums of money to just become a part of the machine with any chance of being elected. The costs of campaigning are in the billions. That is ridiculous. That is just part of what we need to change.
There is a reason why more than half of the people who are eligible to vote don't. The political hacks like to toss off an easy word. Apathy, they say, meaning voter apathy. I will suggest that voter apathy is a result, not a cause. It comes out of knowing that the choice between Tweedledum and Tweedledee is irrelevant. It does not matter which one gets to play the buffoon. It is not worth the effort to pretend that it does. Choosing between them is an exercise in futility. We know that in our guts. I still vote for what seems to be the least evil candidate. I hope to someday have an ethical candidate to vote for.
This moral crisis would be bad enough by itself. However, we are also, at the same time, engaged in the most dangerous war we have ever fought. With our lack of ethical leadership it looms larger still. Let us keep in mind that these savages fully intend to destroy Western civilization. That is their goal so, admit it or not, we are immersed in a very serious war. Rhetoric will not fix this. Going around saying we are at war without preparing for it is simply unconscionable. Riding off in all directions with no plan or goal is what children do.
We desperately need thoughtful, ethical, intelligent leadership. We need superior people in government. We need people who will put the long term interests of America and the American people ahead of their personal agenda. We need leadership that will put American goals ahead of party politics. We need George Washington, but we do not have him. Someone else will have to step up and fill the role, someone who can think and behave ethically.
There is no one on the political scene who comes even close to that standard of behavior. So, we need to create a forum where that person will come forward. We, need, in fact, to build a new political system, one dependent not on special interests, but on people. We need a grassroots movement where people are talking to people. We need to go back to basics. This is about taking back our government from the political machines and thugs who have hijacked it. Demagoguery and massive fund raising from special interests can have no place in that.
Lets get clear on why the government must change. The government must provide uniform justice for all people. Besides the war and the total disregard for ethical behavior, there are basic things that we are not doing. We must see to some of the basic rights of our people that have been too long set aside for too many people. If we cannot fix these things, we will and should go the way Rome went. Here are a few of them. No one should be hungry. No one should be afraid. No one should be cold. No one should have to choose between medicine and food. No child should ever be made to feel ashamed of himself. If we cannot see to that, we ain't worth spit. Right now, we have a government that ain't worth spit.
Everything else hinges on strong leadership. Our democracy has not been good at producing strong leadership of late. In fact, our recent and current leadership has been disgraceful for a free people. To lead people, you must first win their hearts. You do not do that by pandering to their basest character attributes. You do it by telling them the truth, about themselves and about the situation. You do not win the peoples hearts by promising to give them things they have not earned and do not deserve. You win them by demanding and drawing out their best behavior. You offer them leadership by setting the example of ethical behavior. A leader cannot be "only human, you know." A leader must be superior in every way.
Restoring the rule of law means restoring the government. Its that simple. Restoring the government means throwing out all of the hacks on both sides of the aisle and replacing them with superior dominants. There are no politicians in Washington who deserve to be there. For any thoughtful person, the notion of a house ethics committee has to be a very bad joke.
We must take government away from the political hacks, the
high spending wastrels, the ones who take bribes, the ones who
use pork barrel as an election aid, all of those.
Party politics is a runaway machine which serves nothing but its
own interests. The political party has become an end unto itself.
Initially parties were thought to serve the public interest. That
is no longer true if it ever was. It's all about bribery now.
We must supersede the political parties. We must get elected
without special interests. Once in power we must change how things
are done at all levels of government. We must dissolve all of
the departments, bureaus, and committees and start over again.
How we go about this will be the subject of my next essay.
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