Common Sense Politics

Here's my latest idea for a web site to try and save the country from bad politics: American Independents

Why is government so bad these days? Why does it seem that both democrats and republicans are more concerned with making sure the other side doesn't succeed than making progress for the country? I think part of the reason is that both sides are flat out of ideas. They no longer believe they can do anything useful, so they spend their days making sure the public doesn't get the idea that their opponents might be able to get something done.

Since I'm not stuck with any particular partisan dogma, I have a different view. I think government could be working much better, but both parties need to be dashed with cold water and slapped a couple of times to wake them up out of their partisan trance. I don't think capital gains tax cuts or Washington micro-management is the solution to all problems. I think it takes new ideas, and unlike some politicians who talk about new ideas, I actually have some (but then, I'm not a politician).

My name is Tom Horsley, and I welcome any feedback on these ideas. If you think these are good ideas, please tell other people about them and call, write, or email the folks in Washington and let them know about this page. And if you happen to be running for office yourself and want to steal these ideas, please do so, and let me know about it - I'm eager to donate money to your campaign.

Enough babbling: What are these wonderful ideas?

• True Fiscal Sanity How to achieve true fiscal sanity and still get reelected.
• Government By Performance: As taxpayers, we deserve to know that our tax money is being spent wisely. Here's how the government can restore our confidence and our trust.
• Balancing the Budget: Despite all the sound and fury in Washington, no one there is really interested in actually balancing the budget. Here's what they would be doing if they were.
• Congressional Reform: The internal operations of Congress are archaic and clumsy. We are recently entered 21st century, and Congress ought to at least be upgraded to 20th century operation.
• The Campaign Finance Reform Myth: The idea that any amount of campaign finance reform will actually change anything is silly. Here's why, and what we need much more than we need finance reform.
• Why Vote: You've been lectured in civics class about your duty to vote. MTV tells you that you should vote because Madonna does. TV stations and newspapers always drone on and on at election time about why you should vote. But none of them ever tell you the real reason. Here is where the cynical and disaffected can find a reason to vote (and a really good reason at that).
• Voting Machine: Electronic voting machines have been in the news a lot. Here's my take on them.
• Why Primaries Suck Speaking of voting, I think a lot of a partisan bile can be attributed to primary elections.
• Health Care Reform: The recent spate of stupid ideas from the candidates has gotten my dander up. Here's some sensible words on health care reform.

If you think any of this stuff makes sense, then tell other people you know about it. Legend has it that we are all no more than six people away from anyone else, so if I put this on the Internet today, the President and Congress and all the Governors and movers and shakers in industry should be reading it tomorrow, right? :-).

In fact, why not pop on over to Project Vote Smart right now and look up your representatives. All you need to know is your zip code. You may only be a few mouse clicks away from an email address or a web page form you could use to tell your Congressman or Senator about this page.

Time for a closing parable:

The best schools in the country are the schools that expect the kids to perform, and take the time and energy required to let the kids know they are expected to perform. When this happens, the kids always come through. They may not like it, they may think it is tough, but when you challenge kids to perform, they can do wonders.

The worst schools in the country are the ones that expect kids to fail. There isn't a kid in this country that has any difficulty failing if that's all that is ever expected of him or her.

For decades now, we have expected government to fail, and boy have we fulfilled those expectations. It is time to challenge government to succeed. If we the people take the time and energy to force that challenge on our government, the politicians may not like it, they may think it is tough, but I think they'll come through with success I can't even imagine in my most optimistic dreams. Its up to us to demand performance.

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