Tim Barcz

Disgusted With the State of American Politics

Scandals, accusations, improprieties.  An episode of Jerry Springer?  Nope, American politics.

Government is supposed to be "Of the people, by the people for the people."

Do you feel like that's how it is?  I don't.  Politicians seem to be this other breed we vote in only because we have to.  Would I stand a chance in an election (assume for a second I'd actually be qualified)?  Probably not.  I didn't go to an Ivy League school.  I was never in the military.  I am not from a wealthy family.  Three strikes, I'm out.

Putting that aside for now what bothers me is that when look around at how much anger there is between the Republicans and Democats.  The good of the country takes a back seat to making the other party look bad.  Both parties are disgusting.

(For the sake of full disclosure, I'll tell you I'm a registered Republican)

Recently all the Republicans want to do is point out what Clinton didn't do.  All the Democrats want to do is point out Bush's faults.  Really there's no more to it than that.  If the Dems do something spectacular like say, solving social security, I doubt you'd hear, "Good Job" from the Rebublicans, just a lot of moaning about how it won't work or this or that.  It's too far and few between that our country's political parties actually work together.  The opposite is true as well, if Republicans were to "fix" something, the Democrats would be all to quick to point out how that alienates American Indians from Oregon who have *** parents, one of which is black and handicapped, no matter how small that group may be.

Instead of working together, they're focused on image.  Can I smear the other guy?  How do I respond to their smears on us, ect?  "How can I hurt them the most" seems to be the prevailing theme, rather than "how can we work together to further the country".  I'd even settle for "how can I show them up" (in a positive manner) at this point.

Right now, here in Iowa, there is an add campaign going on for seat in Congess between Mike Whalen (R) and Bruce Brayley (D).  The commercials are fanatical.  Did you know that Mike Whalen wants lower the federal minimum wage?  hah! That's nothing, Bruce Brayley is a terrorist, in fact, he knows where Osama Bin Laden is hiding.  Oh yeah...  Mike Whalen wants to take your social security and light cigars with it.  Bruce Brayley wants to line up all our soldiers, strip them naked, and shoot them, to save the Iraqi insurgents the trouble.

Or so I'm led to believe.

Do you ever notice how these ads prey on the ignorance of the masses?  Say something spectacular and you'll probably get more people to believe it than if you were to say something mild less aggressive.

And what about the Foley "incident"?  Ah...the Foley "incident".  Shame on Republicans for not doing anything.  There's been enough information floating around that I doubt that no one knew *something*.  Rather than do something, they chose to keep quiet to manage their image (#1).  It seems timely that these accounts come out about a month from election time.  If we look at the timing and who it benefits, we have to look no further than the Democrats.  It fits with the, "how can we hurt them the most" mantra that both parties have adopted.  If this is the case, shame on the Democrats.  Taking something they're saying is extremely serious but sitting on it for the sake of an election (#2).  Foley claims he's an alcoholic, apparently in today's society alcoholism is a free pass (look no further than Larry Eustachy) (#3).  Dennis Hastert, claims he didn't know anything, which seems to be unlikely at this point given the information that's coming out.  He says he didn't know anything, trying to keep his image in tact (#4).

How about doing the right thing for once?

Politics are making me sick. I'm not intrigued, nor amused by what's going on.  I could turn my back and ignore it, but that would be irresponsible of me.  I suppose I could run for something to make a positive difference, but I'm not going to get very far since we've already established that I don't quite fit the mold.  What else can one person do?