Marc's Musings

A little over the top? Sure. A little paranoid? Yep. But a lot to think about here. With the recent list of NSA local abuses and the Executive branch of the US Government trampling all over the Constitution the bleak, dystopian future being envisioned by this movie (at least what I’ve seen from the trailers) seems more and more likely.

Formerly pro-Bush I have to say that the absolutely insane future financial obligations that I and every other taxpayer are being committed to supporting for the rest of our lives has me wondering where we can turn to for representation? How amazing is it that the US Democratic party is the current best hope for more limited government and a quasi-balanced budget?

Why do we even need a congress anymore (well *maybe* the senate may still be useful as its original purpose of preventing the more populous states from trampling the less so)? Sure, when folks got around by horse and news took literally months to get from coast to coast maybe having your point of view “represented” by an elected official made sense. But we are now living in an age where every person in this country can participate directly in expressing their opinions and gaining access to information about the issues at hand.

To be sure, mob rule isn’t appealing either (although at least it would be the will of the majority which seems to have gone missing on every issue lately). But being able to voice your opinion on issues where you can demonstrate that you have competence and comprehension (I’m thinking more like e-bay’s system of other citizens vouching for your competence rather than having the government certify you BTW). That way, while I wouldn’t be expressing my opinions on every issue, I would at least be able to do so on the issues that I either am involved with or have taken care to learn about. Sure beats having a single individual represent all of us on all issues. After all, when your congressperson is elected it’s always a trade off of the issues on which you agree (and voted them into office for) and those that you don’t (and wouldn’t have..).

We do not need to have those compromises anymore. Of course you would still need a revised constitution to get rid of all those career politicians. We would still need the bureaucrats, of course, but the short-sighted “I’m just here for a couple of years” aspect needs to be gotten rid of.

Not to mention that most of the US Congress is pathetically ill-equipped to understand and even have an opinion on anything even remotely technological. This in an age defined by its technology and the seemingly never ending growth of such. How many of our congresspeople have ANY science in their background? We’re talking a bunch of Poli-Sci / History / Law majors trying to direct our country into the future with no tools at all for grasping the implications or the realities of our burgeoning technological / social milieu.

Instead their time is wasted on irrelevant social issues (who thinks the Constitution is the right document to enshrine the definition of the American family)? Its purpose is to limit the power of the Federal government. Anybody who cannot understand that fact shouldn’t be allowed into Washington D.C.

OK OK I’m done ranting for the moment. I just had to get that off of my chest. I’m not advocating anarchy, but I would really like to see some responsibility trickling down from the folks who are leading this country. Can someone find Ben Franklin and see if he’ll run for office? Please?