Year after year we give our Congress dismal performance reviews and then re-elect 85% to 98% of the incumbent members right back into office (see chart in previous post). In the previous post I wrote about how the politicians have rigged the system to make this happen, and now I want to tell you what we have to do to fix it.
It’s simple – just vote, but vote smart. The vote is our one and only tool, and of course, you always vote. So do I. But the professional politicians are so good at manipulating the campaign/election system that “We The Voters” have been unable to affect the changes we need.
The problem is we get to the voting booth with no real information. We see the results, but we never really know what’s been going on in government, who is responsible or how much it actually will cost us. All we have to go on is the millions of dollars worth of professional mud-slinging, slanderous innuendos and in-your-face lies our politicians call a “campaign”. Most of the time we wind up just voting for our favorite party candidates or just sticking with the incumbents. And that’s exactly what they want us to do.
But, we don’t have to let this continue. If we change the way we vote, we can fix it. Here’s how.
The professional politicians, have made it nearly impossible for us to learn the truth about how they, as individuals, are spending our money or, for that matter, anything else they are doing in Washington. So, let’s simply stop asking them. Let them blather away and spend their tens of millions of dollars on their campaigns, but let’s ignore them.
Forget about Democrats, Republicans, Independents, Conservatives, Liberals and all the other boxes they like to put us in. Instead of basing our vote on what the politicians say, let’s base them on our evaluation of the overall performance of Congress.
Then, if we think Congress as a whole is giving us good results, we vote the incumbent back into office for more of the same. But, if we think Congress is not getting it done we “just say no” to the incumbent, and cast our vote for whichever of the other candidates we have decided is “the best of the rest”. Simple.
If enough of us do this we can make a very big, very positive change in Congress very quickly. If we do it in successive elections “We The Voters” will regain control of our government. We will then be able to reverse many of the asinine things Congress has done in recent years and remind our congressmen of their Oath of Office.
Ultimately, we will also be able to make the changes needed to get us out of the dangerous situation Congress has put us in and prevent it from ever threatening us again.
And yes, I do believe we are in danger of losing much of our liberty, our capitalist economy and much, much more.
(more about that next time)