Why do we allow our elected officials to do the same things over and over again. You know the definition of insanity ? Doing the same thing over and over expecting a different result. We as a country are absolutely insane for thinking that another committee of politicians is going to be able to do anything different from what they have done before.
A quick history:
First we had the :
National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform in 2010.
It consisted of 18 members, all but 4 were current or former politicians. They came up with a proposal that was presented in December of 2010. It was shot down after reminding the 23 people who read it that the economy was shitty and our future was worse . It was shot down because those same elected officials and the people who give them money couldn’t agree on whether this particular plan gave us a roadmap on who our economic problems should be addressed.
Then in July of 2011 as the drop dead date for the expansion of the Debt Ceiling approached, knowing our economy sucked and the future looked worse, we once again watched our politicians procrastinate, postulate, posture and protect their election hopes rather than address our nation’s economic problems. When the deadline reached the final hour they did what all politicians of our era love to do, they pawned it off. In this case they put it in the hands of another committee.
The Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction
So lets review where we are on August 17th, 2011.
In early 2010, knowing the economy sucked and the future looked cloudy because of huge federal debt and problematic tax and spending policies The President created a committee composed of 18 individuals, 14 of whom were politicians. They spent 7 months working to come up with a bi-partisan solution which was then shot down after its release on Dec 1 2010.
Eight months later knowing that the Debt Ceiling needed to be expanded and knowing the economy sucked and the future looked cloudy because of huge federal debt and problematic tax and spending policies The President created a committee composed of 12 individuals, all of whom were politicians. Its called the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction.
You see what is going on here?
We as citizens must be insane if we let politicians continue to try to solve a problem that they have demonstrated time and time again that they are unable to solve.
Which leads me to a problem that is driving me insane. I don’t know why we leave it in the hands of politicians and I don’t know what our options are to take this entire problem out of the hands of politicians.
No I’m not saying we need new politicians. Politicians are what they are, politicians. I don’t want politicians running my business or trying to solve the economic woes of this country. They got us into this mess, I don’t expect them to understand even a little bit how to get us out.
So what are our options?
Civil Disobedience? Can we as citizens create our own committees and present them to Congress for a vote? Present them to our fellow citizens for a vote?
If we can’t do the work ourselves can we stop this committee from consisting of politicians? Can we give ourselves a voice and impact the membership? If it were up to me the committee would have membership requirements that said that members could not be current or former elected or appointed politicians , nor could they have donated to a politician, pac or party in the past 3 years.
The American way would be to sue someone . That is not what i want to do. Do we as citizens have any say? Can we change the process and offer the solution? Can we at least force transparency?
This is one of the biggest issues we as country will face and we are getting the exact wrong solution.
Whats a citizen to do? Any ideas? Suggestions? thoughts?
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