#1 issue in '09 (Representatives, Congressmen, Iraq, lobbyists)

[ExPit]

Most of us would agree that we are facing many issues next year, regardless who takes office in '09. I'm sure all of you have several that you think should be effectively addressed, but which is in your mind most important or urgent?

For me it's the corruption in Washington D.C. Forty years ago there were some 3,000 lobbyists operating in our capital. Today? There are 30,000, ten times as many of these characters running around K Street. It's simple. How can we expect our Congressmen and Senators to have our best interests in mind when in many cases, without contributions they get from big business, they could not survive in national politics?

[domergurl]

The only way to stop corruption in DC is to move the Capitol out of DC ... nobody's changin' DC.

[ExPit]

Originally Posted by domergurl

The only way to stop corruption in DC is to move the Capitol out of DC ... nobody's changin' DC.

Yeah, you're right. I give up too.

[calmdude]

Lobbysits and the 2-party system has made democracy a farce. We the people r ignert 2, and deserve the crap we get.

[LauraC]

Ask us in December.

[ExPit]

Originally Posted by calmdude

Lobbysits and the 2-party system has made democracy a farce. We the people r ignert 2, and deserve the crap we get.

You know, a lot of the bills that our "representatives" are pushing through were in many cases written for them by the industries that will benefit from their passage. Nobody has any trouble understanding the corrupt cop or the entire corrupt precinct, so why does this elude us? Is it because it is so endemic, and so we just throw up our hands and say, "Oh well, that's the way it is!"

The issues facing our country are difficult and complicated as it is. Even if we had a Congress and a Senate that consistently had only the interests of their districts in mind, real progress would still not be a given. But if you throw in loyalties that are questionable at best, can any of us wonder why nothing gets done?

While I agree that there are other issues which are more pressing, Iraq for example, until we do something about corruption (misdirected loyalties), it will be like trying to take down a brick wall with an ice pick.

[ExPit]

Originally Posted by LauraC

Ask us in December.

You are voting in November based on where the candidates stand on the issues that we face now.

[calmdude]

Originally Posted by ExPit

You are voting in November based on where the candidates stand on the issues that we face now.

I agree with what you said earlier also. Elections are merely "marketing" campaigns to get a handful of swing states to swing your way. The 2 parties have already locked up the red and blue states. Once the campaign is over, and we the people think we have made a "choice", either president will go back to "repay" the lobbyists that got them elected. The only winners are most of the lobbysts, who pay both sides. This is nothing short of institutionalized corruption. Funny we thumb our noses at Nigerians and other third world countries since their cops can be easily bribed by a handful of bucks.

[ExPit]

We all have the Constitutional right to make our case to the lawmakers, and of course the mutated American way is to exploit and distort and capitalize wherever, however we can. I think this is one of those issues that is so obvious, we turn away and think, 'Nah, there has to be more to it.' But I don't think so. These guys don't walk on water. A lot of them are of average intelligence but have the right smile, the right way on the campaign trail. Not that that makes them inherently bad; but it sure as hell doesn't make them remarkable to get in line with their hands out like everybody else.

Campaign reform, as someone said, absolutely. Strictly enforced. And then, Zero Tolerance! These same guys who think nothin' of allowing laws to pass that end up imprisoning what is it, nearly one out of one hundred Americans, should have to "behave" just as well if not better than the best of us.

One favor that the Bush Administration did for us, I believe, is to sink so low, allow corruption and corporate interests to mandate policy to the point where possibly it has gotten so bad there is no way but up. We'll see.

[MimzyMusic]

It's the ENVIRONMENT!