Mid-Term Elections 2014

The mid-term elections are just a month away. I have a suggestion for every voter, regardless of party affiliation or conservative/liberal leanings: do NOT vote for any incumbents. The incumbents of both parties have proven they cannot do the job for which we hired them, so show your disapproval by voting as many of them out as possible.

Our founding fathers did not think that anyone would want to serve for longer than a term or two, so they didn't put term limits into the Constitution. And, for the first 150 years of our country, the number of people who served more than two terms was very small. However, in the mid-20th century, people started to realize that politics could be a lucrative career. Priorities shifted to spending more money to get in, and stay in, Congress.

Since the 1950s, we see incumbents slowly dominating all of the elections until today we see about 90% incumbent success rate. This has led to cronyism, graft, and the further widening of the political divide until you have the worst Congress in history, one that had the majority party saying they refused to work with the current President and would block anything he or his party put forward. Both sides lie with impunity. They pass laws that make no sense when they do work, like shutting down the government, but allowing themselves to keep getting paid.

So, I say enough. Let's show our displeasure by voting them out. Both sides. My proposal is this: simply look at the length of time a person has been in office. If they have served more than two terms (or this will be their third term), DO NOT VOTE FOR THEM. If you can't find it online, call their office (easily found in a quick websearch or through going to congress.gov and searching for the person in question).

You may be asking yourself about now, 'Who am I going to vote for then?' Easy: anyone except an incumbent. You can easily find liberal and conservative alternatives in other parties (for example, the Green party leans liberal and the Libertarians lean conservative). Many races have multiple Republicans and Democrats running -- pick one that hasn't been in office before.

Once this is done and we've kicked as many incumbents out of office as possible, we should press our Congressmen to enact a Term Limits law to keep what is currently happening from ever happening again.

It's time for our government to fear its people once more.

#revolution

Related topics:

http://jmc-omniverse.blogspot.ca/2013/07/congress-must-go.html
http://jmc-omniverse.blogspot.ca/2013/09/i-have-revised-my-set-of-rules-for.html
http://jmc-omniverse.blogspot.ca/2013/02/congressional-reform.html

Republican "Victory"

The Republicans and Tea Party got what they wanted, victory over the hated Democrats in Congress and a narrowing of the margin in the Senate. They also won a number of governor positions in many states.

However, looking at it historically, this may not actually have been what the Republicans wanted.

In the last 100 or so years, every President who lost the House and or Senate during mid-term elections has won re-election. This bodes well for Obama's presidency.

The Republicans, who brought us to a recession and nearly a depression over eight years of spending, tax cuts, and blaming Democrats, will now have to convince the public that the fact the economy has stabilized in the last two years is somehow their doing, even though they fought the Democrats every step of the way in some of the most contentious battles in recent decades. Will the American public buy into it?

In the past, cross party mid-term changes have allowed for some of the best compromises to be passed into law. Just look at the accomplishments of Bill Clinton after he lost Congress.

Obama has, from day 1 and contrary to what the Republicans have been saying for two years, met with Republican leadership weekly to hear their thoughts and try to get bipartisan support for his plans. He has repeatedly and publicly asked for Republicans to provide insight and thoughts into nearly all of the plans he has presented, which they have refused to do and then complained that they have no say. Now, if they so choose, Democrats can pull the same stunt on them with the added knowledge that the President has their back and will veto any bill that gets by them.

Historically, trickle down economics have never worked very well, causing the government to either spend money to balance things out or provide tax refunds to give people the money that isn't trickling down. The people get fed up with this and elect Democrats into office to solve the problem. They do and, the moment that the economy stabilizes and the things turn positive, the people kick the Dems out of office and go back to what didn't work before. Gee, sound familiar?

Now, the President has a chance to move even more toward the middle, has a clearer way to show the American people the rancor and refusal to cooperate of the Congressional Republicans if they continue to do what they did during the first two years of his Presidency. If anything, the Repubs winning has played right into his hands.

Hopefully, the Repubs and the President can form a good working partnership and continue to stabilize and improve the economy. Hopefully, the Repubs will start participating in the those weekly meetings with the President and offering their insights and opinions on his plans to help the country. Hopefully, we can move beyond the bickering, infighting, and childish behavior we have seen on both sides and get something done.