Sitting here watching the Healthcare Reform Bill become twisted into a gold mine for the corrupt insurance companies who've created our current untenable situation, I can't help but think, "Maybe Palin supporters are right, but we can do better by taking it to the next step"
Follow me on this and see if you don’t agree.
Depending on who you read, somewhere between 20% and 45% of the country believe Palin is qualified to run our government. If she is qualified for President, think how truly low the bar must be for Representatives and Senators.
I would say that about 80% of those currently in the House, Senate and White House are only interested in their war chest and pleasing the corporations who fill them. Constituents? They’re just a minor speed bump to be overcome every couple years through massive, reality-free PR campaigns. Promises? Oh sure, promise what ever it takes to get those pesky constituent votes, but once elected, ask the corporations what they want. After all, isn't the new politician slogan "Ask not what America can do for you, Ask what American can do for Wall Street."
By extrapolation, let us just agree that the only real qualifications now are those explicitly stated in the Constitution. The individual should have been alive at least 35 years and a US citizen. We’ll just drop all those useless skills like an ability to think critically about issues more complex than the tying of one's own shoes. (Heck, we can provide slip on loafers to avoid embarrassment) Clearly, we no longer have worry about representation for constituents (other than corporations).
My solution? Let's take Palin's example one step father and dispense with elections all together. At each cycle:
- Randomly pull three qualified individuals from the unemployment rolls of each Congressional district.
- Randomly pull two names from the entire group of people and throw darts to determine which is President and which is VP. Just think of it, no more robo-calls, no more scare tactic commercials. A true roulette wheel of power! Heck, we could even run a betting pool to fund education.
- Of the remaining names in each district with a seat open for election, randomly pull a name to fill the seat. Just like those beauty pageants, the runner up will step in in the event that the selected congressman cannot fulfill his/her duties.
Honestly, watching the Healthcare Reform Bill process, could my system be any worse? Could we possible find people to hold some of the highest offices in the land who are more willing to flush our desires and our futures down the toilette of corporate American?
At this point, you could replace the current Senate Republicans and most of the Senate Democrats (including Lieberman) with actual monkeys with little difference. They’d still be jumping up and down, screaming non-sense and throwing feces.
The only real difference is that with the actual monkeys, the feces can be scrubbed from the walls with little effect on little people like me. With the current Senators, we’re still going to be paying billions of dollars to cover millions of uninsured people with no choice but to use ER services for healthcare AND I’m going to be forced to buy insurance from the same (feces laden) corporations that created this mess.
So, to be clear:
Would I vote for Palin? Nope.
Would I rather see actual monkeys in the Senate instead of those who are there right now? You betcha!
Just call me "Fed Up in America"