Tuesday, August 17, 2010

The 11% Solution

Earlier this summer, news organizations reported the results of a poll showing that only 11% of Americans approved of the job Congress was doing. In my local paper today, it showed a 20% approval rating. This should mean a huge turnover in our elected senators and reps come November. But, I suspect it will not. Why you ask? Because in a mid 1990's poll on the same subject, a second question was asked. It was "how about your guy?" The results of that question showed most were happy with their guy, it was the other congressmen that were the problem.

In our system of government, we only get to vote for "our guy".

Now, we all know our government officials are not doing the job. I see potential solutions proposed for all our varying problems, most of which will never see the light of day. The "best" and "easiest" solution is for all of us to replace "our guy" (or woman) with someone new. Imagine the message that we can send by removing the bulk of our existing congressmen and women. People running our government would have to sit up and take notice, understanding we need them to govern in a manner we desire. We need the people in San Francisco to get rid of Pelosi, and we need people in central Jersey to get rid of Pallone.

So, please find out who your Congressman (and Senator, if up for reelection) are, then find out then name of his or her opponent and vote for the opponent. don't care if Republican or Democrat, most important thing is that they be new! You don't need to follow the campaigns, you don't need to worry about their positions, all you need to do is vote for "change". What we have been doing has not worked, so we cannot be worse off with a newly elected Congress. For this to work, we Americans need a massive change, at least 200 + seats. If we do this and nothing changes, we are already lost and probably cannot recover. BUT, I do not think that will be the case.

Give this some thought, stop worrying about Republicans, Democrats, minorities or anything else the Politicians talk of to divide us. Act as Americans. Remember one of Lincoln's most famous quotes;

"A HOUSE DIVIDED AGAINST ITSELF CANNOT STAND!"