As this apparently never ending election season drags on is it only me who wonders what we come out with at the back side? In the years I've been around I've come to a couple of hard conclusions. The first, since the narrow election of John F. Kennedy, the Presidential election has been more about style then substance. Neither party offers any real or fundamental changes. The Democrats are now the Liberal Democrats and offer the nation a chance for bigger government and more excuses for a lack of personal responsibility. The Republicans are now the Religious Right Republicans and offer promises of no change, and smaller government. Regardless of the promises both seem only to deliver larger government and government interference.
The second, and most important, observation is that if we want the government to seriously change it can only happen if we are willing to shake up the Congress. The Congress is the source of the good and bad. When Congressmen stay in office too long they move from our Representatives to our leaders. Unfortunately, at that time they begin to think they know better then us what we need.
The last serious change to the Congress came in the mid-90's when the Republicans under Gingrich took the House. Since then it has been a gradual erosion back to the Democratic party. Mostly because of the Republican arrogance when they had both the Congress and Executive Branch.
Until we shake up the establishment, and send the old time long established congressmen and women home and replace them with fresh new ideas we are going to be stuck. The problem is the deck is stacked against ground swell ever happening since reelection of a Representative or senator is almost an automatic, unless they do something really wrong like molest young pages, or pick up men in restrooms. Even picking up men in restrooms isn't sure to lead to their departure.
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