Political Reform

I know that political reform has been bandied about for a very long time. I also know the impossibility of true reform in politics. However, I'm sick of the political system as it stands right now.

How do average citizens like me change the monstrous and well-funded scam that our government has become? The thing that pisses me off is that the scam is funded by us, without our consent. If we have to finance the large, cumbersome, ineffective "management" system we call government, we should have a right to change it. I mean, in a corporation you may work for terrible management, but generally they are paying you to be there, not the other way around.

I can't believe there are enough people happy with the way things are to not have an effective move to change it.

I would expect my "representatives" to be intelligent, clear and concise, law-abiding, and at least somewhat interested in representing the people that elected them. Is it too much to ask that they not LIE to us? That they not be criminals, and are subject to the same laws that we are? That they hold the best interest of their country or state above their own self-interest?

How did we, as citizens, let it get this bad? How is it that those of us who do put the effort in to ask questions of our "representatives" have been satisfied with vague form letter responses that blow us off?

What I want is to be able to have a choice on who I elect to office. We need more than two worthless people to choose from. We have more than two parties in this country, there are usually more than two people on the ballot for any office, but the monopoly of the two large parties have left these options largely anonymous. Not only that, the "committees" choosing the two worthless people are not looking for someone who can benefit the country, but rather will further the committee's power.

At this point, I'd be happy if no one in office agreed with my point of view, if they could only formulate a clear, concise sentence that expressed their own views. Instead, in the interest of pleasing everyone and keeping their jobs, we get vague double-speak that says nothing.

So what can we do about it? How do average citizens who work, have families, and spend their extra time doing the things we enjoy, start a movement that is large enough, and effective enough to make a change?

Any large-scale change that has happened in this country has required a charismatic leader that spent all of his or her time out speaking to people. They effectively spent their lives to effect change, and even though some didn't see the change in their lifetimes, they were successful.

We now have the benefit of the internet. We have television. We can reach a lot of people with little expense. But people have been expressing discontent online for a while, and it has not galvanized people into doing anything effective. What more can be done? In the words of Lee Iacocca: Where have all the leaders gone?