Hows about some "Common Sense" throwing out the old adage "If common sense were common...

Greetings and Salutations to One and ALL (One is ALL but that is a topic for another thread entirely...)

So I'm lazing about waiting for an increase in warmth so We can go to the dog park when it hit Me.. We are in dire need of "Common Sense" The Founding Fathers relied on the "common sense" of the citizenry and, at the same time, anticipated corruption and incompetence in "Political Leaders" who cannot get beyond their own quest for power. The Founding Fathers instituted power constraints rather than allow corrupt politicians™ to evade the will of honest, patriotic and capable people those who are in 'the middle' and the primary repository of "common sense"

Our government has now been corrupted by politicians™. They need to be replaced with real Statesmen before the gridlock can be broken. It is up to Us in 'the middle' of all of this to fix the problem. It won't be fixed by "Left" or by the "Right".

Perhaps a long, painful shutdown will motivate the middle to mimic the passion of the extremists? We are NOT the "Greatest Generation" and those folks would be greatly disappointed with Our current state of affairs. We no longer respect and value "Common Sense" as that is shouted down by the opposite- "NONSense" that We see in just about every important matter that arises.

For example, one of the primary obstacles to 'good government' is now Our failure to manage immigration. Illegal aliens have been herded into the country primarily to provide voters for one political party, a party that apparently cannot survive without them. Turning illegals into protesters, they easily instigate demonstrations and even riots whenever their voter immigration scheme is challenged. It is a One Way street that defies any solution.

It is a self-fueling failure, even to the point of States and Cities becoming "Sanctuaries" for both the illegal immigrants and for the politicians™ that depend on them to stay in power. American generosity and human kindness have brought Us to the point that the problem cannot be solved generously without making the problem worse. Indeed, the political promoters of illegal immigration would be rewarded even more if they can get citizenship for illegal immigrants and for their children, innocents whom they have abandoned on Our doorstep.

That political party apparently has so little to offer that it can only survive by more and more illegal immigration, followed by more "forgiveness" They are more and more dependent on gov't. benefits extracted from "The Rich", that apparently are only members of the 'other party'. Everyone knows what I am typing here, so no one needs to be told which political party is which at this particular point, even if both parties seem to lack "common sense" to a large degree.

Where has Our common sense gone? Until We fix this, perhaps We all need to feel the increasing pains of real government shutdowns, not ones that can be "alleviated" by making budgets "retroactive" and a "nothing burger" easily forgotten...

Our modern technical paradigm had made "nonsense" equal to "common sense"...

Or could it be as simple as:

It makes commons' cents, but who makes the dollars?

Stay Hydrated...

originally posted by: JimNasium
... Perhaps a long, painful shutdown will motivate the middle to mimic the passion of the extremists? We are NOT the "Greatest Generation" and those folks would be greatly disappointed with Our current state of affairs. We no longer respect and value "Common Sense" as that is shouted down by the opposite- "NONSense" that We see in just about every important matter that arises.

Stay Hydrated...

Actually the two surest ways to improve our government and the quality thereof are true campaign finance reform and term limits. Proper and real implementation of the first would probably make the second superfluous.

These two reforms would go a long way to correcting all the other issues you and others raise.

Limit total dollars spent on any campaign. Period. You can have different caps for different levels of government but all campaigns at the same level, no matter who or what party, you can spend X dollars. That's it.

In addition ALL of that money comes from tax funds. No individual donors. No corporate donors. No PACs. No candidate self-funding. No lobbyist money.

This would serve to level the playing field and open up public service to real people. No incumbent would enjoy an advantage in funding. This would also most likely lead to a periodic and more frequent turnover in government officials independent of any term limits.

Also, so long as the caps were set low enough, it'd make political candidates more reliant on doing actual honest to god interviews and debates to get their message out. The people's information about candidates wouldn't be limited to the propaganda put out by the candidate's own campaign or the opposition's.

Maybe this would give the press a much needed re-invigoration as well. Who knows. At the very least, we'd move the MSM away from talking heads just commenting on the latest claims put out by either side.

My second point, term limits, would do much the same as the campaign finance reform outlined above. In fact, for me at least, instituting each of these rules would be a kind of check on the other. So, even if somehow, some way, an elected official or candidate found a way around the campaign caps, we'd still have rational term limits in place so they still couldn't make being a politician a money making opportunity or career. Likewise, the caps would be there in case a politician or candidate came up with some scheme to circumvent the term limit; a party couldn't just run a series of puppets to, in essence, bypass the term limit.

Anyway, it's all just a dream really. We're already under the thumb of career politicians who will never peacefully give up their cash cow. It'd take a real revolution. The kind with guns and blood and I'm sorry to say, the American public just ain't up to it anymore.

a reply to: JimNasium

I seriously doubt the impact of immigration on "good" government as you stated. I think perhaps it's an issue, but not as much of one as you believe. A bigger impact on "good" government is an informed constituency. Whether by design or by flaw, the public at large just doesn't seem to care about the historical actions of it's candidates, opting rather for voting for soundbites and pomp.

Going further is the way that congress passes legislation with a new law on "widget reform" being passed only if it has a rider for added monies for "whatchamacallit research" or "childcare provisions." Then it's quite easy if it doesn't get passed to say "X" congressman voted against childcare (or whatever the rider included) and make that politician seem like a bad person.

Honest government is what we need, but it's not what we have gotten in the past, nor what we have now. Professional politicians on both the left and right prey upon their consituency and profit from them. They also don't have to abide by the same rules that we, the common citizenry abide by. They consistently set bad fiscal examples and spend more money than this country takes in, and there are no repercussions.

If you want honest government, be informed and be active...encourage others to be active as well. It's not a matter of whose side one is on, but rather a matter of standing up for something.

I would agree we need to put a stop to special interest groups in control of who does what. I do have a question though. I couple of years ago I heard about a voting law that prevents a person who is a Dem from voting for a Rep. Is that the correct?

As it relates to lobbyist.

www.opensecrets.org...