If you really think either party as our best interest at heart then you are living in fantasy world. The two party system has brought us nothing but crushing debt, endless wars, rampant corruption, and crony capitalism. So yes, one can understand why more folks aren't rushing off to the polls.
Yes because Europe's multi-party system is so much better.
That isn't what I am claiming. What we need is a viable third party filled with level headed centrists that actually want smaller government and fiscal sanity. Let the blind partisans have their Democratic and Republican parties. Two peas in a horrible horrible pod.
Even that doesn't work because those that want smaller government never seem to want to cut the programs that they like, they just want to cut programs that other people like and in the end there is no program which the majority is willing to cut.
Until people abandon the notion of "what government can do for me" and willingly step forward to take a hit on their own favored government spending, the system is on auto-pilot at best and steered by politicians divorced from the people at worst.
What we really need is a dictator to impose cuts on nation, someone immune from the wailing and hair pulling which will result as spending junkies are denied their fix of government spending. A regular politician is not immune from such angst and so he does what is expedient for HIS SURVIVAL and not what is in the best long term interests of the entire nation.
It isn't going to be easy. Nothing worth fighting for ever is though. Their should be no sacred cows when trimming our budget, all areas must be cut. The problem is petty partisan politics. When the GOP suggests cuts for the social safety net they get accused of hating the poor, when the Democrats suggest cuts to the defense budget they get accused of gutting military. It's nonsense and therefore nothing gets done. Frustrating to say the least.
There is also adding revenue.
When Nancy Peolosi was Speaker of the House, she got many bills that would repeal tax cuts for big business, wall street and the rich.
When they got to the Senate, the republicans filibustered them and killed the bills.
One bill that would have helped workers was a repeal of tax breaks for companies who ship our jobs overseas. Something that most Americans agree with and wanted. When it got to the Senate the republicans promptly filibustered it. Another bill removed the subsidies to oil companies. The republicans filibustered it when it got to the Senate.
If loopholes were closed so that big business, wall street and the rich paid their share, or in come cases any taxes, we could balanced the budget without cutting the social safety net or military. There's a very long list of businesses that didn't pay one penny in taxes. Some not only didn't pay anything but even got huge rebates in the millions. While the rest of us paid our fair share.
Agribusiness doesn't need any money. The oil companies don't need money. There's a long list of companies that get big tax cuts or subsidies that don't need the money. Those who make their money off investments should be paying at least the same rates everyone else does if not higher. Work should be valued more than investment. As a result people like paris hilton get to party all the time and just walk to the mailbox for their statement pay only a small fraction while the rest of us pay much higher portion of our wages. Wages we actually went to work for. There's something wrong when a rich person like mitt romney only pays 14% in taxes while the rest of us pay anywhere from 20% and up.
