The Politics of Insanity

Over the past couple decades, the American people have seen the incompetence, corruption, and inability to get anything done among the collective group of their elected officials. These elected officials find themselves indebted to lobbyists and corporations who donate to their political campaigns, rather than their constituents, and so they often find it necessary to represent and work for their corporations rather than their constituents. Many Americans these days are probably now wondering, “How do I go about picking a candidate who is competent and able and who is not corrupt, so that I can then vote for them and work for them, so that they can get into office and work for me?”

It is difficult attempting to scrutinize each candidate to try to determine what exactly they are thinking, so I have come up with a better solution to ascertain that the candidate that you elect will work for you, and work hard. For those candidates running for elected office, what the constituents need to do is to all get together, have the candidates in front of them, and then everyone stand back and each throw one dart towards the candidates. I almost can guarantee you that the candidate who receives the most darts will work, and work hard, for his or her constituents. They shan’t want any darts thrown at them again.

But, seriously, friends, there is an incompetence, corruption, and ineffectiveness that seems to be held collectively among our elected officials, with a few exceptions. It also seems to be held, generally, among both of the major political parties. What we, the American people, have essentially been doing these past several decades is swinging back and forth between the Democrats and the Republicans, reverting from one to the other when one does not satisfactorily execute its promises. When we tire of one party, the other party shouts, “Here! We can do all of the things that you want, and more! We shall be a ‘change’ from this other useless party!” But this new party does not deliver on its promises either.

We switch back and forth, finding each party unsatisfactory over and over again, and we expect different results each time the Democrats or each time the Republicans promise to bring different results. Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results is, according to Albert Einstein, the very definition of insanity.

Abandon these false promises. Abandon these politicians of ineffectiveness, incompetence, and corruption. Abandon these two parties, which seem to be growing closer and closer to the other day by day. Become an independent and not loyal to either major party, and vote to empower yourself with the National Initiative for Democracy. The National Initiative for Democracy is a federal ballot initiative that would allow the people to make laws in partnership with their elected officials. Law-making is the central power of government, so, if the people are ever truly going to have power over their government and ensure that it is effective and not under the dominion of two completely corrupt political parties, then they must have the power to make laws. Having this power will allow the people to make laws, such as campaign finance reform, that will limit corruption and the involvement of special interests. These are laws that the politicians will not make themselves because they all got elected because there was no campaign finance reform and other reforms in the corruption of our system. Doing these two things, becoming an Independent and empowering yourself, are two of the only things that will help the United States to get out of these politics of insanity. Being an Independent can lessen party loyalty, and the National Initiative for Democracy will allow for laws to be made against our corrupt two-party system.

And to go along with becoming an Independent, why not vote independently? If the major Presidential candidates have each put up arguments that resound less with you than the arguments of other less well-known candidates, then why not vote for the other, less well-known candidate instead? Don’t vote on the basis of party. You have no obligation to either major party to vote for them. You have no obligation to the presidential candidate of one party or the other. It is they who are responsible for winning your vote. You should have that mindset.

If the two major parties appear to be corrupt and never get anything done (and they haven’t gotten anything done on any major issues for the past few decades), then you don’t have to vote for either of them. As I said, you have no obligation. In this presidential election, instead of voting for Politics as Usual, why not vote for Ralph Nader (an Independent candidate), Cynthia McKinney (the Green Party candidate), or Bob Barr (the Libertarian Party candidate)? Or, of course, you could always write in your own name on the ballot (a favorite suggestion of mine). But, whatever you choose to do this election cycle, be sure to think critically and independently about your choice. If you think for yourself, trouble will come. But, if you don't think for yourself, trouble will come. Just so long as trouble will come either way, I'd rather think for myself. I'd rather break party loyalties and break the politics of insanity.