Democrazy – Not Democracy

Democracy takes more than wieners to function properly

Preamble: Elective office was never intended to be a career choice. Why are there “term limits” for Mayors, Governors, and Presidents? Term limits exist so that one person cannot monopolize the political agenda. In a true democracy, the rule of law pertains to all equally, so what’s good for the goose is also good for the gander.

Elected officials at all levels of government should be beholden to term limits. During the early days of our American democracy, elective public service was considered temporary, and no limitations had to be written into law. This was done out of respect for our constitution, our style of democracy, and we the People.

Consider the following current events:

• Murders of members of the judiciary and penal system in Colorado and Texas
• An ongoing drought in the “corn Belt” bringing us closer to another “dust bowl”
• Oil spills that are ongoing in the Gulf of Mexico that are not being reported
• Oil pipeline spills in Arkansas, Missouri, and North Dakota
• An un-inspected fertilizer plant explosion in Texas
• School shooting in Connecticut
• Bombing in Massachusetts
• A U.S. Congress that refuses to do its job
• A U.S. Military that is still suffering loses in foreign lands
• The banks that were too big to fail are now larger than they were when they failed
• Hedge funds, derivatives, and sub-prime mortgages are now more prevalent than before 2008
• Offshore hoarding of cash has more than doubled since 2007
• Income inequality is growing at record speed
• The middle class can no longer support the nation’s tax base
• American business and the 1% refuse to support the Nation’s tax base
• The U.S. Congress hasn’t come up with a federal budget in three years
• The Department of Justice is incapable of prosecuting white collar crime
• The Southern Christian Evangelical movements are having great success in their war on women, and some success in their attempt at creating a “church state”

These are just highlights of what’s been happening over the last six months. I get the distinct feeling that our country is falling apart at an alarming rate. I understand that most people are content to bury their heads in the sand in the hope that someone else will fix all their problems.

If you are one of the few that have been paying attention, you may find yourself with a sick feeling in your gut. It’s that kind of feeling that keeps you awake when you should be sleeping. It’s that feeling deep in the pit of your stomach that anti-acid can’t quell.

There may be many varied explanations for each of these disasters when taken singularly. A very different picture presents itself when considering even a hand full of these problems concurrently. It is very scary to look at life when everyone around you seems to be going batshit crazy, and that type of crazy is being considered the societal norm.

I find this crazy in the articles I read, the news I take in and in personal conversations with people who I know are educated and should have a more sane critique on the world around them. I have had personal conversations with members of my own family who seemed to revel in seeing pictures of the dead and injured lying in the streets of Boston, Massachusetts.

Exxon-Mobil took their oil pipeline rupture in stride, and proceeded to pump most of the spilled oil into a nearby wetlands area. The fertilizer manufacturer in Texas was running an un-inspected, highly explosive operation just yards away an elementary school, a high school, a nursing home, and an apartment complex, to name a few.

As of this date, none of the major players who sent our economy over the edge has even received a slap on the wrist. In the heartland of America, local and State lawmakers are effectively closing all abortion clinics, and trying to do the same with Planned Parenthood operations.

We still have very large problem with the Military-Industrial Complex, so we find it difficult to stop waging wars. The middle class has all but secured itself a seat at the “poverty” table. Corporations are bleeding the country dry of cash as they send all their profits offshore and keep them there.

Now take a look at our run-of-the-mill U.S. Congressperson, any Party will do. If yours is like mine, they will tell you what you want to hear in order to get your vote. They get elected, go off to Washington, D.C. and proceed to do the bidding of the corporate money that ran their campaign and got them elected.

Believe it or not, that’s where most of our woes take root. I am not going to trash-talk any of our elected officials for doing what seems to come naturally to them (well, maybe a little). The folks I have a beef with are the general electorate who keep drinking the Kool-Aid and voting these self-serving, ego maniacs back into office, year after year.

You folks are some kind of special morons. All you do is bitch and moan about how bad things are with our government and with the economy. You don’t seem to have any clue that the government and the economy are the way they are because of You. Between the 1980’s and now, the American electorate have successfully buried their heads in the sand, and expected democracy to function just fine without them.

It’s time to reintroduce our citizenry to the definition of democracy. From the free Merriam-Webster Dictionary:
de-moc-ra-cy, noun 1) A system of government by the whole population, or all eligible members of a state, typically through elected officials.

That’s right all you ostriches with your heads somewhere other than on top of your shoulders, you are democracy. Not your corrupt, incapable, biased, bigoted congress people, not your President or any government agency. Stop all your crying and moaning, get up off your lazy, un-involved butts and do something about this mess we’re in. By keeping yourself out of the process you become the crux of the problem; not the solution.

Become the solution.