Regardless, a re-vamp is in order

So one thing that has really inspired me is a mood that is absorbing America right now. Regardless of your political affiliations, you would agree that major changes need to be made. That the course we are headed on right now is a very destructive one. No matter what you believe the role of government should be, you know that this one isn't quite right.

I was reading an article in The Atlantic yesterday. It's a left leaning article, and actually provides a lot of intelligent perspective from that side of the political spectrum. He also points out the resilient nature of the American people, which I highly agree with. We will pull out of this, and with any luck, it will be a defining moment for our generation. The only question left now is how we will do it.

I was reading a Thomas Sowell column the other day and he pointed out one of the most important facts about our current state of Washington. Most of what we see is a distraction. A lot of the ideas we are convinced to care about are put in place to control. Washington isn't set up right now to help America, it's set up to help Washington. To control how you vote and who gets re-elected. If you want to see what I mean look at the current state of roads in this country. Look at it as a whole and then compare it to West Virginia. Robert Byrd served on the appropriations committee fors 50 years! His state was highly rewarded for his service, and a good portion of our country's roads have suffered as a result. It's actually been set up in a way that if you don't support these people on the appropriations committee you would suffer a lack of funding. Not just the Democrats, everyone. They set up funding to control the politicians, and it destroys productivity in Washington.

Another example is the New Orleans post-Katrina. Regardless of how you view the federal funding to assist in the recovery of New Orleans, you have to recognize that massive amounts of dollars have gone into the project. According to this article, published last August, at least $50 billion dollars have been given to the city for the purpose of rebuilding it. So after 4 years, and massive amounts of tax dollars very little has actually been done to bring New Orleans out of it's slump. This is because the emergency has created an incredible way to make the friends of politicians very rich. If you fix it, the money goes away. If you solve the problem you lose political control.

If you were to follow the spending of our government you would see example after example of this. Washington simply isn't set up to solve problems. They are set up to control massive amounts of the US dollar, and to put one side against the other to maintain power. I think it's clear from the last time the Republican Party held a majority that both parties prefer big government. Oddly enough, I think I've at least come up with a solution to begin a constructive debate to change this all around.

Realistically, most people don't hold the Libertarian perspective that we need an extremely minimal government. Some things are best left in the hands of the government, and if ran correctly would actually be far more productive than in the private sector. To accomplish that though we need a series of checks and balances. We need programs to monitor every dollar coming in and out of Washington, and we need to work vigilantly to rid the massive waste our federal government now produces. This should be made up of bi-partisan committee's in each department of government that provide full disclosure to watch-dog groups to keep them honest.

We need serious debate to decide where these programs can most efficiently be controlled and funded. If the states, or more localized government, would be better equipped to handle certain programs they should be handed over to them. If in certain instances the federal government would be best for funding, and the local government would be best for control it should be set up in a way to keep Washington honest.

We need to limit the federal government's funding to a certain percentage of the GDP. At some point the burden places a lot of hardship on our country. In some ways the Obama administration is right. We need to spend our way out of this crisis, but the way they propose it is wrong. We can no longer do it through the acquisition of debt. We need to suck it up and do what many American's have already done. Pay off our debt, save, and plan our spending. This needs to be done at all levels of our country. The best way to do it is to cut taxes in conjunction with a reduced spending in Washington. If we were to look at each program seriously and focused it toward productivity rather than the protection of Washington I think the programs would be far more helpful than they currently are. Basically, we would get far more with less. Our citizens could pay off their debt and get out of the slump they are in. They could then save up some money for security and then once again resume spending. Entrepreneurs would spring up from the opportunity and run far more responsible businesses resulting in massive job creation in a far more secure market then we shared before.

We would need a bi-partisan effort that worked to reduce distractions and instead focus on our country. Personally I think this would be a lot more promising with term limits. We need idealist that would go in and serve rather than plot out a political career and their own personal enhancement of power. We need people who are willing to take an actual interest in the programs they propose and find ways to produce the desired outcome. Simply throwing money at a problem should no longer be acceptable. We need to be more forward thinking.

This would sound a little Utopian like in nature. In most cases it would never be possible, but this time could be different. With the current mood in America we really could create real change and instead of creating a burden for the next few generations we could actually create a dream. A country that looked into it's future rather than the current second that is only possible through the acquisition of debt. We need to decide as a whole, that regardless of political affiliation we demand a change in the current state of Washington. That we want to see them do what they promise instead of acquiring more of our wealth and leaving us with more of their debt.

Is it possible that just for a moment we could ignore the distractions that pit us against each other and form ideas for real change? Can we value the perspective of others through debate and take a genuine interest in the future of our country?