Breaking gridlock: How about term limits for all Washington lawmakers?

America has term limits for the office of the president, governors and a plethora of local offices. However, the Congress and Senate have escaped the boundaries of term limits. The ability to spend a literal lifetime in the US Senate and Congress may be at the heart of the recent legislative paralysis that has crippled the US government. If all politicians knew they were out after two terms, perhaps they would spend less time electioneering and more time governing.

Fighting among lawmakers in Washington has produced frustration for the electorate and both the democratic and republican parties.  Moreover, infighting has bought the legislative process to a screeching halt. Jockeying for position on powerful committees has kept senior members of the House and Senate focused on reelection for control of key committees, because that is where the true power lies.

Now take the same picture and remove career politicians. For one thing, lobbyists would have to change their strategy. It would cost them a lot more money to fund an unknown candidate, every two years for Congress and six years for the Senate. With new lawmakers being part of the rule instead of the exception, deeply entrenched power-brokers would be forced to give up their powerful seats on everything from the Armed Services 

Committee, to budget and commerce committees. And the list goes on.

The advantage to voters is not only faster changes in a notoriously slow legislative body, but it may put a dent in the corruption process.

Change is what Americans vote for when the country is heading down the wrong path. However, change brings false hope when elections merely exchange one well funded career politician for another with little more than a different name or party label.

While not the ultimate solution, term limits for every elected office in the Unites States would take America a long way toward weeding out career politicians who have grown too comfortable in their deep seats of power. It would also bring American government closer to the design of the country’s founders.
 

The self-destruction of the United States may be closer than you think

It is easy to get tied up in the moment of American politics, but what is happening in Washington today is a symptom of something much worse. America is on an unsustainable path that will lead to her inevitable destruction; not in a hundred years or a thousand years, but in our lifetime.

Political infighting has paralyzed the United States at a time when action is critical. 

However, the disease that is eating away at America's democracy began long before the republicans declared war on President Obama.

In a hair-raising article in The Nation called The Decline and Fall of the American Empire, University of Wisconsin History Professor, Alfred W. McCoy chronicles several grave scenarios for America’s trajectory.  While there are variables in any speculation, there is no mistaking the notion that on her current path, the future for America does not look bright.

There was a time not so long ago, when America was the leader in technology, production and innovation.  Each generation after World War II did better economically and educationally than the one before. However, in the 1980’s, our national priorities began to shift and the United States began her decline.  Complacency replaced inventiveness.

Americans focused on little more than buying cheap imported products, blinded themselves to the actions of their government, as they began handing over the keys to the country’s future to whatever corporate lobbyist contributed the most money to a campaign.

Corruption has infiltrated our democracy so profoundly, it is no longer able to function. Now, the suffocation of democracy is threatening the position of the United States in the global community.

“Today, three main threats exist to America’s dominant position in the global economy: loss of economic clout thanks to a shrinking share of world trade, the decline of American technological innovation, and the end of the dollar's privileged status as the global reserve currency,” according to The Nation.

 By 2008, the United States had already fallen to number three in global merchandise exports, with just 11% of them compared to 12% for China and 16% for the European Union.  There is no reason to believe that this trend will reverse itself.”

Washington power-brokers have lost the ability to look any further than the next election. Blind by their own ambition, they are sweeping the masses aside and selling-out the nation’s future to special interest groups and financing it with foreign debt.

Everything has a beginning and an end.

The infighting in Washington that has paralyzed America can only hasten the inevitable self-destruction of what was once a thriving world power. Mired in runaway unemployment and the sinking value of our homes, expecting a recovery while lawmakers wage war on each other, is an unreasonable expectation.

The United States is on a path to self-destruction and the end may be closer than you think.

US military exercises with South Korea could provoke war

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Military exercises between the United States and South Korea were scheduled for last July, but they were postponed to this weekend. However, the timing of the new drills could not be worse. The artillery exchange on Monday that rocked the tense peace between North and South Korea was ignited by military training on Yeonpyeong Island, about 8 miles from the North Korean shore. Under threats of more attacks from both sides, additional military exercises, especially those including the United States could push the Korean Peninsula to the brink of war.

“North Korea’s state-run news agency lashed out at South Korean and American plans to hold a joint training exercise on Sunday in Yellow Sea waters near the island,” according to the New York Times. “The situation on the Korean Peninsula is inching closer to the brink of war due to the reckless plan of those trigger-happy elements to stage war exercises targeted against” the North, the dispatch warned.”

The last war between North and South Korea, (1950 and 1953), was the result of an ally imposed division of the peninsula along the 38^th parallel, following the surrender of Japan in World War II. The Korean War, technically called a police action by the United States, also formed a political line between the ideological values of the East and West during the birth of the Cold War between the United States and the former Soviet Union. The Korea’s have had tense relations ever since.

  

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War games: North Korea blames U.S. for artillery exchange with South Korea

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Within hours of President Obama’s affirmation of support for long-time ally South Korea, the North Korean state media agency issued a statement claiming that the artillery exchange between the Korea's on Monday were sparked by the United States. According to an MSNBC report, the North Korean’s said, “Washington should thoroughly control South Korea to ensure they won't continue adventurous military provocations."

South Korea had been conducting military exercises on Yeonpyeong Island off the coast of North Korea prior to the artillery exchange that killed four, wounded more than a dozen others, and set civilian homes ablaze. However, the North Korean response came several hours after the exercises had ended, prompting claims by South Korea that the attack was premeditated and had little to do with the military training.

“The North has threatened further military action if South Korea continues on what it called a "path of military provocation", the North's official KCNA news agency reported,” according to the BBC. “After holding an emergency cabinet meeting, South Korea announced it would dramatically increase its troop levels and overhaul the way it acts in the face of threats from the North.”

The Obama Administration has been trying to defuse the tension between the Korea’s through diplomatic channels and has publicly suggested that influence from China is a crucial ingredient in successful of diplomacy.

China has been supportive of diplomatic measures to calm the situation, but Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao has not send any signs of encouragement on diffusing threats of further escalation, calling the situation "grim." 

Despite international condemnation of the artillery exchange between North and South Korea, tensions are heating up as both nations continue to boast about their military might and shoot escalating threats at each other.

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Privatizing TSA raises threat to national security

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When it comes to government administration, the republican solution to just about every issue is, ‘turn it over to private industry.’ However to some, letting a sub-contractor who may be more interested in profits than safety is the equivalent of letting a privately run, for-profit company take over the military.

What a private company is likely to do is what they have done in the past; hire people at $8.00 an hour and make them work 10 hour days under the threat of firing them if they don’t like it.

How much do you think an underpaid, over worked employee will really care about what someone brings on a plane? And now many of them will only take the job because it’s the only work they can find?

Putting national security in the hands of private industry not only increases the threat to America, but also to the world.

In our new austere America, cost cutting by way of giving the United States government to Wall Street, is not new. Nor is the concept of prioritizing the bottom line over all else. Just ask the families of the eleven men who were killed when the Deepwater Horizon exploded. Safety comes in second to profits in America. Now the GOP is making their pitch to sell our national security for what amounts to $8.00 an hour. Something is wrong with this picture.

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Lame Duck Democrats cave on defense of middle class

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People who vote for democrats expect them to act like democrats. That means they stand up for the middle class and protect the programs that help the middle class. After winning control of the House of Representatives in the 2010 midterm elections, the republicans took their victory as a mandate from voters to fight any democrat who dared to act like a democrat defending the middle class.

In the midst of what continues to be what economists have dubbed the Second Great Depression, the GOP is doing what they do best, which is to fight for the wealthy and special interest groups that funded their campaigns, and defeat democrats who try to protect the middle class.

On their path to waging their war on the democrats, the republicans have stated clearly that they want a balanced budget. However, here is where blatant hypocrisy walks in. The GOP insists that the Bush tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires be exempt from their budget balancing efforts, although none of them have actually validated justification for spending borrowed money and tax breaks for the people with the most money – including themselves.

“In this time of emergency, President Obama needs to add a word to his working vocabulary: sacrifice. Sacrifice is an important American tradition that embraces the virtues of patriotism, puts national interest ahead of self-interest, and encourages everyone to share the burden in perilous times,” according to the Huffington Post.

Lame Duck democrats need to act like democrats and expose the republican schemes of hypocrisy for what they really are; a double standard that works better for special interests than it does for the electorate.

Republican reality: GOP proposals will make deficit much worse

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 Perception is everything, and what the newly empowered Republicans are counting on is having the public believe that they are on the road to getting America’s deficit house in order. However, GOP proposals will, in fact, make the deficit much worse.

On MSNBC on Tuesday, Rachel Maddow said, “Think about the distance between what Republicans say they are doing and what they are actually proposing. All day bragging about how much they want to cut the deficit while simultaneously proposing adding to the deficit $700 billion (tax cuts for the rich), plus $138 billion (repeal health care reform), plus $14 billion (defense spending), plus $19 billion (cap and trade). All added to the deficit as they proclaim that they want to cut the deficit. But because they are banking on the press only writing down what they say they’re going to do rather than what they’re actually proposing.”

Maddow made another valid point. She said if you just repeat what the Republicans say, “that’s called publicizing.” Telling the public “what they actually do, what they are proposing in terms of policy that is reporting.”

It’s hard to ignore that kind of logic. Perhaps because it is true.

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• Newt Gingrich pushes GOP to cut Food Stamps as more Americans go hungry 

Newt Gingrich pushes GOP to cut Food Stamps as more Americans go hungry

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In the richest nation on earth, nearly 20% of the population can no longer afford to buy enough food for their families. A new study says, one out of every eight Americans is now on Food Stamps. Yet there is talk among Washington politicians that budget cuts should take aim at the poorest Americans.

Former Republican House Leader, Newt Gingrich, recently said, “This year, the House Republican’s Pledge to America has set the stage for a powerful, symbolic closing argument for candidates seeking to unseat the left-wing, big spending, job killing Democrats: paychecks versus food stamps. It is an unassailable fact that in June, more food stamps were distributed by the government than ever before in American history. Which future do I want? More food stamps? Or more paychecks?” according to Politico.

Americans dependent on Food Stamps to keep from starving are hoping that Mr. Gingrich does not get the future he wants.

The Huffington Post said, “A staggering 18 percent of Americans surveyed last month said there have been times over the past year when they could not afford to put food on the table, recent Gallup data shows.”

The divide between the Republican anti-government entitlement agenda, and traditional Democratic safety net policy could not be wider. As Republicans prepare to take control of the House of Representatives in January, the ultra-conservative leadership more likely to cut the Food Stamp program. If that happens, 20% of the American population may actually starve.

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Will the party of “No” say yes to Bush tax cuts for the rich?

The Bush tax cuts were never paid for which is why the deficit exploded when they went into effect in2001 and 2003. They are still unfunded so they will add about $800 billion to the deficit. So why are Republicans who campaigned on fiscal responsibility pushing so hard for an extension of tax breaks, particularly for millionaires and billionaires?

“In an interview with the Huffington Post on Monday, Rep. Mary Jo Kilroy (D-Ohio), a freshmen member of Congress who was defeated in her re-election bid, said the time had come to "draw a line in the sand" with respect to the Bush tax cuts.”

In other words, it’s time for the GOP to put up or shut up. If they are serious about getting America’s financial house in order, they need to start by putting what’s best for the country ahead of partisan politics and discounts to millionaires.

Newly elected Republicans have to overcome more than a massive budget deficit, continuing high unemployment and a restless electorate. The GOP has to show America that they can move the country forward. And if they want to be known for being more than the party of “No,” the first thing they are ready to say yes to should not be making the deficit worse.

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Budget cuts aimed at Medicare create tough choices for the elderly

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Approximately 45 thousands Americans die each year due to lack of health care insurance. Those over the age of 65 who have Medicare fair better. But with entitlement programs like Medicare under the threat of deep budget cuts, caring for an aging population in hospitals and other professional care facilities may soon be a thing of the past. 

In generations past, it was part of the norm to keep generations of families together. Health insurance was not a factor. Now it is just the opposite. The changing structure of the family in our society has made how to care for an elderly relative one of the most difficult decisions relatives can take make. Depending on the level of care needed, the choice between home care and professional care is not always clear.

Resources are often the most influential factor when it comes to deciding how to care for an elderly relative. In some countries, there are no options; aging parents remain at home no matter what their physical condition. In America, health care is about insurance; people who have it get medical care, those who don’t often die earlier than they would with medicine and proper care.

Most individuals cannot afford to pay nursing home costs out of their personal finances on a long term basis. That leaves home care as the only option. But with families under economic stress being forced to work longer hours just to make ends meet, there is little time left to address the physical and emotional needs of a frail or sickly parent at home.

Skyrocketing medical costs has made Medicare a target for government budget cuts. It is a sad reflection on society when a country as rich as America can think of no other way to pay for their years of over spending than to target the needs of the most fragile and helpless segment of their population.

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Tax cuts for millionaires: The Obama sellout of the middle class

Image via WikipediaPoliticians are very good at taking something simple and making it complicated. They are proving that now with the debate over tax cuts for the rich. The Republican argument calls allowing the Bush tax cuts to expire an increase that would slow economic recovery. In fact, it would raise taxes by about 3% on the wealthiest Americans.

The problem with the Republican argument is that millionaires are not the ones suffering in the slow economy; the poor, the unemployed and the middle class are. For corporations and the super-rich who use loopholes to avoid paying taxes, 3% of nothing is still nothing. Now factor in the US debt, which is admittedly unsustainable at 14 trillion dollars and growing.

Does it make sense to subsidize millionaires with borrowed money?

The Republican solution to America’s debt is to squeeze the middle class by cutting away the safety nets of programs like Social Security, Medicare, and Food Stamps. These programs help maintain the middle class, provide health care to the elderly, and keep people from starving. Any desire to slash these programs raises the question; what kind of America are the Republicans trying to create?

Instead of moving America forward, the GOP seems determined to move her backward. Instead of introducing new legislation, they want to repeal health care reform and roll back entitlements for senior citizens and the poor, to fund tax breaks for millionaires. Something is wrong with this picture.
There is a simple, however politically impossible solution: Raise the tax rate on millionaires to 40%, and eliminate 90% of corporate tax loopholes; tax incomes between $500,000 and $1,000,000 at 38%. If you earn between $150,000 and $499,000, you pay 35%; Wage earners of $50,000 to 149,900 will pay 30%; and completely eliminate taxes for everyone who earns less than $50,000 a year.

The revenue generated by closing tax loopholes for corporations and millionaires alone would go a long way toward reducing the national debt. Giving people who earn less than $50,000 a year a tax-free ride would give them more disposable income, which they will spend. Spending creates demand and grows the economy.

Unfortunately, there isn’t a politician in Washington today who would dare make such a proposal. By simplifying the tax code and eliminating most corporate loopholes, lawmakers would lose too much of their leverage for enticing big-money campaign donations and manipulating economic markets.

America is for sale and the wealthy are buying themselves tax breaks. So even through the US has a new party leading Congress, nothing has really changed.

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What happens when lobbyists complete their takeover of America?

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As recent polls suggest, America is indeed heading in the wrong direction. A confused and manipulated electorate is being brainwashed into believing that the United States of America should no longer be ruled by its people for the greater good. Instead the masses are being led to believe that every inch of our nation should be run by, and for, profit.

When votes no longer count toward serving the will of the people, we will see the end of Democracy. Some believe we have already arrived.

The conservative Republican agenda is pro-big business and pro-deregulation. On the other side of the isle, Democrats have traditionally been the party of the middle-class, but even that platform has become clouded with the rise of the Blue Dog Democrats. In reality, party affiliation matters less and less since millionaire lobbyists are influencing more decisions in Washington than constituents. The trend seems to be running away like a loose horse in the marketplace. Whatever gets in the way is trampled and crushed.

What exactly does this mean for average Americans who have to work for a living?
There is no clear-cut answer as to where our corporate-owned US government will ultimately take us, but if we consider the foreclosure epidemic and 2010 Census data showing poverty at its highest level in 100 years, the direction is down for all but the super rich in our fading Democracy.

Back in 1999, “An agreement between the Clinton administration and congressional Republicans, reached during all-night negotiations which concluded in the early hours of October 22, set the stage for passage of the most sweeping banking deregulation bill in American history, lifting virtually all restraints on the operation of the giant monopolies which dominate the financial system.”

The move was orchestrated by lobbyists in “the best-financed campaign of influence-buying ever seen in Washington.” But only until the health care reform debate began.
“In the first quarter of 2009, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America spent $7 million dollars lobbying against the President’s proposal. Pfizer came in second spending more than $6 million.”

There is a pattern here that should terrify most Americans. Things being discussed in today’s political arena that were considered political suicide a decade ago are now getting serious attention. Dismantling Social Security, repealing the 17th Amendment of the US Constitution and the Americans with Disabilities Act, and lowing or eliminating the national minimum wage. All these are targeted at giving more money to millionaires and less to the general public. America’s safety net is the enemy of big business because accommodating it cuts into corporate profits.

Sources and recommended links:

Republican Senate candidate wants to lower minimum wage?
Clinton, Republicans agree to deregulation of US financial system

2010 Census: Poverty and foreclosures rip America

GOP wants to give Social Security to Wall Street gamblers

Republican Pledge to America drafted by lobbyist in bed with AIG, Exxon Mobil, drug makers

Michelle Bachmann fueling republican drive to eliminate Social Security

Senate Republicans block subpoena power for BP oil spill investigation

Image via WikipediaThere was no explanation, only an objection by Republicans which effectively blocked the Presidential Commission on the BP oil spill from having subpoena power to conduct the investigation. “These guys are in bed with the oil industry,” said MSNBC Hardball host Chris Matthews.

The move makes little sense, apart from Matthews conclusion which suggests that Republicans have been financially motivated to protect BP from being forced to supply the facts on what caused the April 20, 2010 disaster that killed eleven people, and polluted the Gulf of Mexico with almost 5 million barrels of oil and 2 million gallons of toxic chemical dispersant.

Sen. Byron Dorgan D-ND said, “At a hearing that I was at we had Halliburton, Transocean and BP, all of whom were involved on this rig and this drill, and you know what they were doing is pointing at each other. Well, listen, the only way you’re going to get to the real truth and find out exactly what happened is to be able to subpoena all of them and say, look, you have got to produce all of your books and records so that we can inspect them and understand what happened a mile under the ocean out there.”

Historically, blocking subpoena power in disaster investigative commissions is unheard of. The terrorists crisis, the financial crisis and Three Mile Island commissions all had subpoena power.
Protecting BP does not serve the American people, and it will not bring the truth to the millions of people along the Gulf Coast who are entitled to answers. Moreover, it is an insult to the families of the eleven men who were killed the night the Deepwater Horizon exploded. It is difficult to fathom how the Republicans can justify obstructing justice in the BP oil spill, but that is exactly what they have done. The bigger question is, how can Americans let them get away with it?

GOP plan to privatize Social Security gives US retirement future to Wall Street gamblers

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Social Security is one of the most popular programs in America. Yet the GOP and Tea Party conservatives want to hand it over to Wall Street so it can become a profit generator for corporate gambling. No doubt the idea is being funded by lobbyists looking for easy money with loads and fees they can put on taxpayers' tabs. Why else would there be such a hard push to dismantle one of the most efficiently administrated government programs America has?

Out of every dollar that Social Security takes in, only .09 cents goes toward running the program. If Wall Street takes over, those costs will become fees of 5%, according to MSNBC.

Former president George W. Bush suggested privatizing Social Security in 2005. When the financial markets collapsed in 2008, retirement plans and 401K’s crashed along with the rest of the stock market, and millions were relieved that the Bush plan never went through. If it had, retired Americans might have lost their monthly checks entirely. Is this the path America really wants to take? Or do people simply not realize just how high the stakes are in giving Social Security to Wall Street?

People were outraged when CEO’s at taxpayer bailed-out financial institutions gave themselves multi-million dollar bonuses with TARP funds. Do they really want to give them even bigger bonuses with loads and fees tacked on to Wall Street controlled Social Security, or has anyone in favor of the GOP plan to privatize America’s future thought about that one?

Economic Disaster: Will America fall like the former Soviet Union?

Image via WikipediaAs America fights an uphill battle with her failing economy, similarities between the collapse of the former Soviet Union and the failure of the US financial systems create alarming comparisons. Among them are the 5 stages of economic collapse as chronicled by Russian engineer Dmity Orlov.

Since significant legislation to prevent the repeat of another collapse has not been implemented, the United States may be in danger of complete collapse, much like what happened to the former Soviet Union.
In The Five Stages of Collapse, Russian engineer, Dmitry Orlov said, AI watched the Soviet Union collapse, and since I am also familiar with the details of the situation in the United States, I can make comparisons between these two failed superpowers."

There is evidence to suggest that some elements of all 5 stages of economic collapse have already arrived in America. People are losing faith in the government, businesses and each other.

Orlov's 5 Stages of Economic Collapse are:
Stage 1- Financial Collapse
Stage 2- Commercial Collapse
Stage 3-Political Collapse
Stage 4-Social Collapse
Stage 5-Cultural Collapse

We have already established substantial evidence that Stage 1-Financial Collapse, has already taken place: It was the collapse of the United States financial system in 2008.
What led to our financial crisis was, in part, the removal of government regulations as it relates to lending practices and the sale of mortgages as investment securities.

There is debate among those who have been following Orlov's correlation between the economic collapse of America and what happened in the former Soviet Union, as to what stage the United States is entering; Each stage involves the loss of faith or trust in some key components of the status quo.

Many Americans agree that United States has past stage 1 financial collapse. Some believe stage 5 cultural collapse has begun. Regardless of where an individual is on the economic ladder, there is no denying the United States remains under the very real threat of total economic collapse, similiar to the fate of the former Soviet Union.


Additional links:

Bailed out banks foreclosing on record number homes
Bad economy blamed for record number of murders & suicides
National home sales suffer steep drop despite Obama Administration programs
Florida residents get false reports of vanishing oil in BP Gulf oil spill disaster