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PrintWhen will the perfect storm come? The conditions are in place.
First there was the Tea Party; now we have the Wall Street protests. I'm afraid little will come from these until we change our political system, as it breeds corruption.
Some changes that would help:
- A limit of one or two four-year terms for Congress.
- Scrap the party system with all candidates running independently.
- Limit each candidate to a maximum amount of campaign contributions.
- Drop the electoral system and go to popular vote.
- Establish a national registration voting identification system.
- Declare Election Day a national holiday.
We need to make our country more representative of all our citizens. We now have a government elected and controlled by the wealthy. This has resulted in the middle class being pushed into poverty, with 80 percent of the wealth of our country being controlled by only 20 percent of the population.
These and other conditions may be lining up for a perfect storm, meaning a revolution, as has happened throughout history and is happening in the Middle East and elsewhere.
Too many people of our country are more interested in sports, celebrities and the latest electronic gadgets than what is happening in our country and the world.
Democracy cannot last long without an educated, informed and involved citizenry, which we don't have.
Our health care and school systems are failing, even though we spend more money on them than any other country.
America must wake up and start seeing and taking care of its own problems instead of trying to police the world, as the greater dangers to our country are here at home.
Louis J. Anesi lives in Centralia.
Show Me the Errors 
Comments
Drop the electoral system, and you'll never see another candidate campaigning in Missouri. It would be more cost-effective for them to focus their time and money on states with large populations, such as NY, CA, TX, PA and FL. Win a handful of states with large populations, and it won't matter how Missouri and other flyover states vote.
I like it! I also think we should clean house and take out the trash.
"Too many people of our country are more interested in sports, celebrities and the latest electronic gadgets than what is happening in our country and the world. Democracy cannot last long without an educated, informed and involved citizenry, which we don't have."
And exactly how would you resolve that problem? Be specific. Don't just say, "Declare Election Day a national holiday" and assume that that's going to make a difference in voter turnout. Are you going to automatically register everyone to vote? Are you going to fine those who don't vote? Are you going to require that every voter attend a certain number of candidate events?
Or are you just going to stand on the sidelines, wringing your hands and throwing out shibboleths about government being controlled by the wealthy?
Can we take an objective look, I must say the whole topic is very contravesial. Now, I do not know anyone who has not tasted power to not be drunk on it at one time or another until they are convicted of the power of the lack of it elsewhere. We also must ask ourselves if this 1 percent earned their riches, who is the government or the people to take it from them? If it were to happen that it were taken, would it not be a curse to those who received it? Would not protest and violence and carelessness surely follow? Now, about those who have not, could it be said that instead of pursuing an education straight out of High School (Higher learning) the 50 - 90 percent pursued marraige, multiple fincial commitments on not enough income (living beyond their means with not enough skill to back these finacial obligations)ending up in debt, filing bankruptcy over debts that could have been settled or paid off with reasonable payments over a max period of a decade retaining an excellent credit history? The protest of the 1 percent is a peaceful one in accordance with the message of Dr. Martin Luther King and not a racial one but one of survival and finacial stability and hope. As we do not want to loose what is valuable let us in return not steal what is valuable.
"Too many people of our country are more interested in sports, celebrities and the latest electronic gadgets than what is happening in our country and the world."
To me, that suggests that most people are fairly satisfied with their lives, and have enough money to spend on sports parties and tailgating, iPhones and other luxury crap, and don't really see their lives as being bad enough to complain (in any meaningful way) about.
DK