Well, I don't know if our "rights" ARE.....................
legitimate yet, Pete. It seems to me that every time we turn around, we have to jump through more hoops, in an ever-narrowing field, to get the government to "legitimize", by acknowledgement, our "rights". And the time between those recognitions is getting farther apart. The part that really ticks me off is, that all the rest of the time we're systematically marginalized as some gnat in the face of "legitimate government". The fact that we have to "fight for our rights" or to marshal groups to help us "fight" for our "rights" is proof to me that our rights aren't being recognized, as a RIGHT. And we tend to accept that attitude, because of the endless stream of "applications" (asking for permission to do something) we have to fill out, just to live our everyday lives. We have accepted the status quo for too long, and the time is rapidly drawing near when an assertive message needs to be sent, to the effect that, this is it, we may be "the governed" but we are not going to offer our consent to be so, unless our country is run on a more responsible method.
Izzit time to get out th' pitchforks, stakes, torches an' tar, yet??
I believe more politicians need to awaken to the fact that re-calls can, and in warranted cases WILL be made, and not at the polls in 2, 4, or 6 years. No, you don't show me you take this job seriously in TWO years, and start turning things around for the better, or I'm going to begin procedures to fire your rosy hindparts down the pike.
I believe if you get a couple national state and local sugar-tit feeders recalled, others will realize there IS some responsibility required to be in office, any office, from dog-catcher on up.
Right now, the biggest job in washington is NOT representative or senator, its GETTING RE-ELECTED,
and, getting corporations, organizations, and lobbyists to pay off for pork to get the stamp of approval from the people back home as the best thing they can get. Two of the best examples of that was "Splash" kennedy, and former Klansman, robt. byrd. And, there are others, like ted "bridge to nowhere" stevens, etc. People like this need to be on a short leash, or excommunicated; the real problem is that there are so many out there that want to curry favor w/the glitterati in politics that, instead of shunning these people and ignoring them as undesirable, they'll always have someone running up, wanting to be their understanding "friend" and console them in their solitude.
But, that's just my take on things, and I guess to the communists in dc, that's radical....so be it.
As far as "single-issue" voters are concerned, perhaps if MORE voters WERE "single-issue" voters, then more pols would realize that some things need to turn around, and fast!! Now, I vote for the betterment of schools, etc. BUT, whether a runner gets a yay or nay from me, hinges on one thing only, I don't let them hide behind hot-button, or "feel-good" issues, either.
And speaking of schools, why is it that we are second or third in the world on educational SPENDING, and we are always seventeenth or lower on educational STANDINGS in the world?? That, to me, is an obscenity. It says we aren't demanding enough responsibility from "educators"(that are FAILING to educate). They have a cushy job, as head of the board of education, say, as a result of being appointed by a governor to take the flak for him/her when things don't go the way they should. The root of that problem is a union that can foist whatever they believe education is, on us....because they can. The parents don't have much say anymore on teacher retention.
Anyhow, I've solved enough problems for today, guys, call on me anytime...
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