Written by michael payne   

America, difficult as it may be for some to accept, might be thought of as a house of cards, i.e., a weakened structure that is in danger of collapsing or failing as its foundations continue to erode. The foundations of which I speak are the gridlocked, dysfunctional U.S. government, the financial sector that has become a cross between a gambling casino and a giant Ponzi scheme, our dying manufacturing sector, and our crumbling national infrastructure.

This nation of ours continues to flounder and stagnate as it and our democracy are being ravaged by the poisonous coalition of Corporatists and rogue politicians. There is only one way to combat this dangerous coalition and that is by unleashing the massive power of the American people against it.

What brought us to this sorry state and condition? To begin with, America has become a democracy in name only and government of the people, by the people and for the people of America has been cleverly usurped by the masters of Corporatism. Powerful corporations have now assumed control over this nation and rule it with an iron fist. The tentacles of this giant octopus are wrapped around and are suffocating every important institution in this country.

Far too many Americans are seemingly oblivious to the depth of this dilemma and the precarious state of this nation. For those who doubt and minimize these dangers because they have been conditioned to think that this nation is invincible, all they need do is listen to some of the respected economists who warn that our financial sector, because of can, at any time, be devastated by a monumental collapse of mega-trillion dollars of toxic derivatives that could wreck this economy almost overnight. Congressional oversight and regulation have, over time, been so weakened that it makes such a catastrophe a real possibility. See this article by Richard Clark to receive an alarming, in-depth analysis of this issue.

Now let’s further examine how this government and the Congress have become the antithesis of how a democracy should function. The principles of our democracy indicate that the passage of legislation should be based on majority rule but that’s not how this Congress and, especially the Senate, functions. And it never will until the use of the poisonous filibuster, by which legislation is routinely obstructed, delayed and destroyed, is brought under control.

Congress, as is often said, is the place where good ideas go to die. Try as I might I can think of absolutely nothing of real substance that this Congress has done since America entered the 21st Century.

But it’s more than just the deadly filibuster that is making this Congress dysfunctional. Another contentious issue involves how the people of this country are represented in the Senate. The Founding Fathers made a colossal mistake when they created the Senate and mandated that there would be two senators for every state instead of basing the number on states’ individual populations. Time and again the votes of tiny states have proven to more powerful as those of massive states. For example, the eight least populous states in America have a combined population of 5,876,000 and 16 senators while California and New York with a combined population of almost 57 million have a total of only 4 senators. That condition limits and dilutes the overall power of the people.

Combine this mistake by the Founding Fathers with the use of the filibuster by the Republicans and you know exactly why this Congress remains in gridlock and critical legislation never gets off the ground. This is concrete evidence of exactly why this country is so badly deteriorating. Both of these contributing factors to congressional incompetence could be altered if the power of the people is unleashed to begin the transformation of this government.

Therefore it’s not difficult to conclude that this Congress, as currently constituted, is entirely incapable of effectively governing this nation and society. Then the really big question becomes: what exactly can be done about it? Well, that’s where the massive power of the people of America comes in because this power represents the one and only way that this grave condition can be alleviated. It all comes down to the fact that the people must be energized and motivated to put an end to this political madness.

That massive power of which I speak is the voting power of nearly 210 million eligible voters in this country. Those who sincerely want to address this country’s myriad of problems have to realize that voter turnout must be dramatically increased and that they must provide the leadership to organize a massive movement to accomplish just that. They need to undertake this task at a time when the Republican Party is doing everything in its power to reduce the number of voters through all sorts of devious means because they know that their only chance to win elections is by low voter turnout.

Here is what must happen. The Center for the Study of the American Electorate, put 2012 voter turnout at 57.5% of all eligible voters in America, This study group estimated 126 million people voted in the 2008 election, meaning that 93 million eligible citizens did not cast ballots. How can this democracy function effectively when so many Americans who have been given the opportunity to vote choose not to? That is inexcusable; every American who could actually vote and does not is contributing directly to the gigantic mess this country is in. They are at the very center of this problem that is allowing our system of government to be corrupted by sleazy, greedy politicians. You would think that progressives and independents would recognize the great danger this poses and would be working tirelessly across America to substantially increase voter turnout.

Sure such a political transformation would be a great thing for America but to many it’s difficult to picture how that process would actually evolve. So, let’s think of it this way; suppose you buy a house that needs a complete rehab. Where do you start? First, you have to address the rotting foundation, the sewage from leaking pipes and, of course, you will need to bring in the exterminators. You start where the worst damage is being done, spend a lot of time, money and effort to make the necessary repairs and then you move up to the higher levels of the house and finish the job.

So, let’s proceed from that analogy back into the real world and see just how such a monumental endeavor could be progressed in order to cleanse and stabilize our currently corrupted political system:

In the 2014 national elections: the objective must be to do everything possible to soundly defeat every Republican candidate. We need to get rid of every U.S. Representative and senator that has blocked critically needed gun safety legislation, those who consistently obstruct job creation, those who support an agenda of perpetual war, and those who are working to restrict the Constitutional rights and freedoms of the people. In doing this certain Senate Democrats, many of them who are referred to as Blue Dog Democrats, who too often vote against the best interests of the people, must also be replaced.

The Republicans in Congress have now crossed the line, they have betrayed the people of America time and again and its time that this party and its twisted ideology are repaid and sent into political oblivion. Right now there is nothing that can accomplish that massive task except the voting power of the people, a power that, when ignited nothing can withstand.

A very broad coalition of rational-thinking Democrats, progressives, independents, Hispanics, African Americans, Asian Americans, and every other minority group in America, together with a very significant portion of Caucasian Americans, must band together to flush these incompetents, be they Republicans or rogue Democrats, out of the Congress and send them into political purgatory.

If this would become reality, it would naturally follow that for the first phase of this governmental transformation, the Democrats would assume full control of both houses of the Congress which could be problematic in itself and so it would be very important to immediately initiate a movement to create and develop a new Independent Progressive Party that would, for all practical purposes, take the place of the defunct GOP and challenge the Democrats on all key issues and problems facing this nation. Such a movement could be formed through the collective efforts of progressives, independents, the Green Party and other similar groups.

With a reconstituted Congress it would pave the way for making campaign finance reform the #1 priority by enacting legislation that absolutely bans corporations and special interest lobbyists from having any contact with any member of this Congress or associated government agencies. This legislation would also completely remove Corporate America from any involvement of any kind with the election process.

Let the Democratic and Progressive Parties compete for the support of the American people. If the Congress undergoes an overhaul, if the filibuster obstruction is stopped, if the Senate takes action to reconstitute itself with more senators from populous states and no more than one senator for each of the smallest states, then we can, once again, look forward to see democracy in action.

This process, no longer controlled by the Corporatists, could open the door for honest, ethical, individuals with vision and passion to lead America out of its current deep political morass; we might see the evolution of a new breed of U.S. presidents who will not allow themselves to be controlled by the proliferators of war and the Washington Establishment that has been the case since we entered the 21st Century; those who, over a period of time, would transform the Supreme Court into a judicial body that rules on the basis of the constitutionality of issues instead of personal beliefs and biased ideology.

Without question, many Americans may well consider this kind of a plan as far-fetched, naïve, and even deluded thinking because they just can’t see how the mass of the people can be awakened from their lethargy and motivated to do something dramatically different. But that’s what’s been the problem; we keep telling ourselves what we can’t do instead of making up our minds that we must not allow our country to be further ravaged by those whose only objective is to advance their own interests and increase their own profits.

But even in the face of the expected opposition by those who embrace the status quo and passively accept and condone what is happening around them, this is a plan that, without a doubt, could be successful if fearless and courageous leaders step forward and motivate and energize the American people to get directly involved; time is running out and it is critically important that we the people concentrate on taking positive actions instead of merely criticizing and complaining. It’s time for the people to wake up to the realization that they must do everything in their power to help stabilize their country. All they need do is to stop sitting on the sidelines, become informed and involved, and cast their votes when they are given the opportunity.

This can happen and, in fact, it better happen or we are going to see this house of cards in which we live come crashing down upon us.

Michael Payne