I love America. I love the very IDEA that IS America. I enlisted, during a war, at an age that required my mother’s signature, to defend and support that dream. But I have become frustrated beyond measure with the status quo political bullshit that is slowly but surely driving us toward the very end of everything we cherish. And I have had enough! What I am looking for is a few LEADERS! Actual, honest-to-God leaders who can pull this country back from the brink which the Bush Regime has pushed us.
This is a plea to everyone that thinks that anything like the status quo is going to help us get past the total disaster that has been the Bush error. If you for a moment think that another Republican (any Republican at this point) or any of the "established" Washington players (yes I am talking about the Clinton’s and the well financed Obama crew) are going to be able to bring real change, please read on.
The average political figure, aides and appointees included, in Washington is a weak, fearful, follower. They do this "work" because they are BS artists with no real skills and can’t really do anything else except talk you to death. Unfortunately, they are also people with human frailties (egos) and therefore they want that chairmanship or bigger office or other such perk and so they play the game. Occasionally someone comes along who is going to "change the world" but it doesn’t take too long before the veterans get them to play nice ... or else.
We all know exactly what to do to fix Washington.
1. End privately funded elections
If elections were publicly funded, America would actually SAVE money. Hell, we could probably cut taxes by quite a bit just on what we would save on "earmarks" aimed at the larger fund-raisers alone. That is pretty simple. Average American’s understand it. So why don’t they do it? NO LEADERSHIP. They are too damn afraid. They will never do it, unless we make them.
2. Outlaw lobbying
It is that freakin’ simple and you know it. Take away the money and the influence of K Street and the strangle-hold that corporations have over Congress dies. If I need to explain why then you are part of the problem, not the solution.
And to fix the country is even easier.
1. Undo every single thing done by the Bush Regime.
Roll the clock back to January 2001. Go back to pre-Bush laws, pre-Bush regulations, pre-Bush taxes, pre-Bush everything. Erase the mess he created and start over. Pretty simple. Will they do it? Not unless we make them.
2. Universal Healthcare
Not INSURANCE! Healthcare! The exact same healthcare that Congress has given themselves, for everybody, period. The problem with "insurance" is some idiot in a cubicle gets to decide whether or not you get the care you need based on his need to increase the size of his next bonus check. You can call this government run or socialized medicine or cracker jacks for all I care. It is what we all deserve and there is no question about it. But they won’t do it, unless we make them!
3. A new GI Bill for our veterans.
War MUST have a price for the average citizen. Since no one really wants a draft, the only other thing to do is have a "war tax". In this case, the war tax would be a comprehensive set of life-time benefits for war veterans that would include free college tuition, and a permanent tax break (and if for some reason there is no universal healthcare, free healthcare for life).
4. Get us the hell out of Iraq.
I think that is a good start. You probably have your own ideas. But it doesn’t matter what list YOU have, if we don’t storm the capital steps with actual honest-to-God, not part of the current or past establishment, leaders, nothing is going to change.
Like battered wives we have heard our representatives (and I use that term loosely) tell us that they really are going to change things this time. Well, they have had their chances. As President Bush would say, "Fool me once ... I’m going to kick your ass" or something like that.
But these days actually "storming" the capital steps (as appealing as that seems on some days) would just get you shot. And then they would point at the "crazy" on the news and that would be that.
Nope. These days, to storm the capital steps takes a rare breed of leadership not seen since Bobby Kennedy. And for me, that is what I see when I look at John Edwards.
Help me and millions of other Americans storm the capital steps. Support John Edwards for President. No matter what the "establishment" tells you, he CAN win the nomination and polls prove he is the only candidate that can win the general election by a landslideand and re-unite the country.