Another Economic Crash....who do we Blame?

If you need more evidence that our political system is broken, then watch all the news reruns from yesterday’s market crash.

I know, I know, we all know the system is broken and it needs fixed. So…we voted in our politicians, why aren’t they fixing our problem? Isn’t that why we voted for them in the first place?

Well, that is one way to look at the crisis but before you can actually solve a problem, you have to get to the root of what went wrong in the first place. Changing the political figures is like rearranging the living room furniture. Nothing is really different but it looks better so something should change.

I am not a political scientist and I don’t know everything there is to know about what goes on in the White House. I don’t get paid to work in a think tank, although sometimes I feel I should…I certainly think a lot. But I am like most other Americans who want to hand the reigns over to a higher power and be left to enjoy my life. THAT is where I think we went wrong. Pretty simple, yes, but I have to take ownership for where my country is going. I am a part of this national community and there is no escaping my responsibility as one of its citizens. I could move away, abandon ship...move to Canada? Sweden? Of course, I would be taking me and my political inertia with and I can’t see that I would be a productive addition to their communities either.

So…what to do? Well, blaming isn’t helping anything. I’ve been blaming this party and that, I’ve switched parties continuously. I’ve sat around my television griping about our leadership and how it lacks character and all the egos flying around in the White House; all the little secrets going on behind closed doors that I’m not privy to.

So really….whose fault is it anyway? I believe that when our founding fathers were drafting out an organized plan for our country they had no idea that they were setting a course for national parenthood. How could they? They left a country where they had no say in how they lived or died. What religion they could choose, etc. They fought for these rights and died for them because they knew what it was like not to have a say in the government of their homeland. They had no idea that Americans would be less and less interested as time went on. They had no idea that we would get fat and happy all while our government happily went about their business of running our lives and blessing. When they arranged for a Senate and House of Representatives, it was a means to prevent the power of one sovereign leader. The power of one person to dictate to the masses just how things were going to be.

The original idea was that with this Senate and House of Representatives, the men chosen (women still didn’t have a voice at that time) would bring the consensus of their constituents to the table for a vote on upcoming issues. Or they could bring ideas from the PEOPLE that voted for them to congress for consideration. Their only role was to be the voice for the people in their community…and the voting was for all these men to have a say in anything that changed. I think that is still the idea…at least in theory.

Most of the politicians in my area have no idea who I am, what I want, what I fear or what I need. They now often ‘vote on their conscience'…that isn’t necessarily my conscience of course and many things they vote on were not even conceived in my community so where the hell did they get it? Many of the bills introduced in congress are not bills that these senators and representatives brought from their communities. If you ever read about what gets voted in, you’d find that many times they are bills that were conceived and voted for without any input from you.

An example of laws voted in by the Senate without real input from the communities is the law in Arizona that allows people to carry guns into bars. Ok, now I have no problem with people drinking; I have no problem with people carrying guns (they do anyway); and I have no problem with bars. I DO have a problem with people carrying guns drinking in a bar. Sorry, just my common sense coming through. The point is..I DID NOT HAVE A SAY INTHIS LAW. I did not get to vote for or against it. So who decided to present this bill outside of their community’s approval? My Senators...who know what’s best for me.

Now I am not blaming me entirely either. I’ve sent emails and letters to my congressmen, the President, even Hillary Clinton once. The response I got? Nil. Not even a conciliatory canned letter of ‘thanks for your interest…blah, blah…’ Of course, if I threatened them physically in some way, I might get some attention but I probably wouldn’t know about it. They would do an extensive background check and MAYBE I would be arrested or confronted, hard to know. Depends on how idle they determined the threat.

Like other Americans, right now I feel utterly powerless. I have no say over my government…as far as I know. But the change can start with me…somehow we can change the system but we have to be willing to do it a little at a time. It sounds like a daunting task of course, and it is. We’ve allowed this behavior from our government for many years. A friend of mine always uses the phrase ’25 miles into the woods…25 miles out, period.’ That is true. I hate feeling powerless and if anything life has taught me…if it isn’t working then do something about it.

Something in our country isn’t working anymore. Maybe we need to start being more proactive in what we want. I am not going to jump on the anti-government bandwagon now because I believe I am part of my government. Maybe we need to crash the sessions and starting using our voices…now there’s a thought. The NRA backed the gun law in AZ because they have a voice. They attend the lawmaking sessions and they make their agenda known. Why can’t we make our agenda for a better country known?

I want to be the change in my world, just like Ghandi said. Just making a geographical change or switching my political party is not enough.