Sometimes it just feels like it.
It becomes really disheartening to watch this group of publicly elected officials fumble and stammer their way through getting absolutely nothing done. When you see things like that, it's enough to make you want to throw your hands up on the air and say, "Can we just tear this whole damn thing down and start over with something else? Please."
(Maybe British Parliament? It's easily one of the top 10 most entertaining things on TV. They're smarmy and sarcastic, condescending and comfortable. They all get behind the people asking the questions with soccer gang-like cheers of assent and, most importantly, they actually ask pertinent questions and give pertinent answers. It's like watching a politically-themed music video for LCD Soundsystem's "Losing My Edge".)
It's really sad how the most important aspect of being a politician is not representing the needs and wants of your constituents, but rather making sure you get elected again and again and again.
The most demoralizing aspect of Congress, the dirty little secret that everyone knows about, is lobbying. Lobbyists are people who represent a single group, like atheists or oil companies, breakfast cereal producers or strip club owners. Ostensibly they exist to bring to the forefront the issues of their particular lobby, to make sure everyone's voice is heard. In practice, the lobbyists for lobbys with a lot of money (insurance companies, oil companies, no one you wouldn't expect) use that money to "contribute" to the campaign of a politician. If that politician starts to vote for legislation that is in opposition to their lobbyist's wishes, those campaign contributions go bye-bye and the politician no longer has a real shot at the most important aspect of current American politics: Getting re-elected.
To put it simply, think of lobbyists collectively being this guy:
and politicians being this guy:
and re-election being this:
and you've got a pretty accurate representation.
There have, of course, been efforts to stop this. Back when John McCain was The World's Coolest Republican and not the guy walking in front of the camera when his debate opponent was speaking or stealing microphones from old ladies, he paired with a Democratic senator to pass Campaign Finance Reform, which was a very important bill to cutting back on this practice. But he didn't pair with just any Democratic senator. He paired with Wisconsin's Russ Feingold.
For those who don't know, Feingold is one of the most liberal senators in the country. He was the only senator to vote against the Patriot Act, first to give a withdrawal date for Iraq, attempted to censure President Bush, and went to bat for gay marriage rights. Hell, he lives in a suburb of Madison, a city that, to paraphrase from Patton Oswalt's Werewolves & Lollipops comedy album, might have elected a hackysack mayor.
The pair (Feingold and McCain, not Feingold and the hackysack, though you'd be forgiven for not being able to tell the two apart) of politicians put aside partisan bickering and came through with some of the best legislation of the past generation by working together and not worrying about whether or not they were going to be re-elected. Then again, maybe they had the freedom to do such a thing simply because they're both immensely popular in their voting districts and were in no danger of being ousted.
So what do we do to make Congress more about being for the people than being for the politicians? Do we pass a beefed up version of campaign finance reform? Would the Blue Dogs even allow it?
For those that know me, it's unsurprising that I have an idea.
My idea is simple and doesn't interfere with anything going in the current American political landscape. It's very simple. Let the people vote on important legislation. Like health care reform. Like gay marriage. Like the legalization of marijuana. Like any of the issues that people actually care about but get talked to death in Congress.
Think about it. Democratic Republics were created because it was impossible for a pure democracy to function over the distance of a nation. At least, that was why they were created by THE ROMANS IN 500 B.C.
We're beyond the limitations of distance now. The Internet has erased the boundaries that were once the obstacle for such an undertaking. Now, we get too much information from too far away (No, African Prince, I will not deposit three thousand dollars in your bank account to receive my $500,000 payment). The issues of distance, of not hearing every shouting voice, are now moot.
So, there is the benefit of hearing everybody who wants to be heard. There is also the immediate benefit of taking pressure off of legislators about their voting records and legislative history.
During election cycles we always see ads that decry their opponent for, I don't know, not voting against puppy kicking and then they show a picture of their opponent smiling with the caption, "Not Against Kicking Puppies." When, in reality, he was voting for a bill that helped thousands of elderly people get medicine cheaper and faster, but there was language in the fine print that allowed dog catchers to kick the stray dogs if attacked. It's purposely misleading. But, in my plan, even if he voted for that, the populace can't use it against him because WE WOULD HAVE BEEN THE ONES WHO PASSED THE BILL. If there's something Americans like as much as indicting other people, it's NOT indicting themselves. That's why we created the Fifth Amendment. And lying.
The two main problems with this idea would be that the possibility of people voting multiple times and the fact that people often don't know what the fuck they're talking about when it comes to politics. So, I came up with solutions for these problems.
The first one is easy. To avoid American Idol-ing the results, force people to vote using their Social Security Number, verified by their personal information. If a Social Security Number is used more than once, that vote is not counted and the IP address is located and sent a cease and desist letter. If multiple votes continue to be attempted, that's a felony. Yay!
The second issue is a bit more dicey and the solution isn't so simple. A lot of people are ignorant and vote on issues (Hell, they vote for Presidents) without having much of an idea of why they're voting in a particular direction. So, when the, let's say Marijuana Legalization Bill, comes to public vote, we put the whole bill up for two weeks for people to look over, read, educate themselves about. Once they want to vote, they are then tested on the information of the bill. Yes. Tested. You actually have to know about what you're voting about, it's a fucking novel idea. You'd be allowed to take this test as many times as you need to pass but, if you can't pass in the time that the bill is up for voting, you don't get to vote.
Our system of passing law hasn't changed since wooden teeth were common, it was okay for Presidents to get into gun duels and this guy was banging slaves:
I think it's time to grow beyond the creations of a long dissolved Roman Empire and try putting some power back in the hands of the people, if only to change the most important question facing politicians from "Will voting yes on this lose me my Congressional seat?" to "What could I bring to this bill that the people in my voting district would want?"
LATE NIGHT UPDATE:
Furthering the stunning turnaround from good guy to complete douche, I just heard about John McCain introducing the Internet Freedom Act, a piece of legislation that would allow Internet Service Providers like Comcast, AT&T, et al. to control what websites would load quickly (if at all) and which wouldn't. Why? Because McCain took almost $900,000 from the Communications Lobby for his 2008 Presidential Campaign.
Fuck you, John.
Write your local Congressman requesting they shoot down the Internet Freedom Act and vote FOR Net Neutrality.
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