CAN OUR BROKEN GOVERNMENT BE FIXED?

There seems to be a growing consensus that our governments are broken.  This dysfunction is especially evident in our U.S. Congress.  Some simple solutions include:

1.  Forget democracy, go to a benevolent dictatorship.  A mega-crisis, such as an Attack from the Andromeda Galaxy or a super depression caused by the dual hammer of Peak Oil and Global Warming, might work.  But, then, what are the odds of winning that war or getting an eternal series of  benevolent leaders?  Plus, in this scenario, our world population of almost 7 billion will be decimated down to a few billion or less.  Such a shift will make Planet Earth happier, for an ultimately American lifestyle will never be attained for all with the clearly limited resources available.  But, this will mean too much agony and blood.  Let us hope there will never be a galactic attack or ultimate economic collapse, so let me discard this pathway as a positive answer.

2.  Adjust Congress:  one term, one house...whatever.  Guess who has to vote on these measures?  Nope, not going to happen, at least  not anytime soon.

3.  Reduce corporate influence on Congress.  Most of the rational activity seems to be centered around this doable potential.  I sent this paragraph to one of my forum discussants yesterday:

This is one of those situations where there is an obvious solution, but no clear means of accomplishment.  Anyway, did Andrew Jackson and Woodrow Wilson really reform our government?  It seems to me that there have been robber barons* throughout our past, and nothing much has changed.  If only Jefferson and Madison had prevailed when the Bill of Rights was written to make illegal any corporate influence of Congress.

This comment was in response to the Huffington Post article of yesterday by Harvard professor of law, Lawrence Lessig, entitled, Neo-Progressives.  Basically, he said that every century or so our Nation encounters this problem of too much corporate influence over our government.  The first time, almost 200 years ago, Andrew Jackson is credited with restoring sanity.  Then a hundred years later, the combination of Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson turned it around.  Of course, if you clicked on Jefferson and Madison above, you would have anguished that they lost on the 11th Amendment, for we would not today be in our predicament.

There are innumerable groups out there badgering for change.  Pledge to Protect America's Democracy is one with:

The Supreme Court's flawed decision allowing corporations to spend unlimited amounts to influence election outcomes endangers our democracy and threatens to drown out the voices of individual citizens. I pledge to protect America from unlimited corporate spending in our elections by supporting a Constitutional amendment to overturn the Supreme Court's decision giving corporations the same First Amendment rights as people.

They are focused on the Supreme Court.  My sense is that this distinguished body will not make any changes until one more conservative is replaced by a moderate.  But even if they make the adjustment, the ruling will not prevent business as usual, which is not good enough.

Then there is MoveOn, with 5 million members.  Click on their site and watch their video.  Makes sense.  They are more Democrats than anything else, although there seems to be a minor shift to include progressive Republicans, if that can be possible, while, at the same time, pushing the Democratic Party further left.  They were pro-Obama, and remain hopeful.  Lot's of luck!

But, returning to Lessig, his final paragraph is:

As in 1912, only a breakaway, trans-party movement, possibly with no single leader, could have an effect in 2012

I give this option zero chance to elect a new president, then prevail on all those changes necessary to restore our democracy.

So what is the solution to fix our broken government?  I wish I had one.

* I now more than ever appreciate the wisdom of our youth.  When Stanford University decided to replace "Indians" with something else, the students were asked to make that determination.  So they chose Robber Barons, no doubt referring to the founder.  The University might even deny this history, but the administration selected Cardinals, the color.  The effective unofficial, but operating, mascot is now an idiotic redwood tree, by consensus voted by the PAC10 as the dumbest in the conference.

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Looks like Hurricane Earl came and went, causing relatively little damage.  There is another disturbance further back in the Atlantic, but not a concern at this time.  

However, there are now four storms in the East/Central Pacific, including one that just popped up south and west of the Big Island.  There are three more further east near Mexico, but they are all weak.  In the West Pacific, Tropical Storm Malou, only at 40 MPH, is tracing Typhoon Kompasu's path.

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