WE HAVE PERMISSION TO CHANGE THE SYSTEM
"Politics is broken"
~ Senator Bill Bradley's public statement, 1995 when he announced he would not seek re-election, after serving 18 years as a Senator.
and 16 years later...
"The system is broken and dysfunctional...and everyone knows that."
~ Senator Tom Udall, USA Today 9/29/2011
"...So I’m here to say that we can’t wait for an increasingly dysfunctional Congress to do its job. Where they won’t act, I will...I’ve told my administration to keep looking every day for actions we can take without waiting for Congress...."
~ President Obama, Remarks by the President on the Economy and Housing 10/24/2011
"We Have Lost The Ability To Execute Even The Basic Functions Of Government"
~ Robert Gates - retired Secretary of Defense speech at the Constitution Center
"This system is broken"
~ Senator John McCain 12/17/2011
"This is it; this is exactly why people get so frustrated with Washington. This isn’t a typical Democratic-versus-Republican issue. This is an issue where an overwhelming number of people in both parties agree. How can we not get that done? I mean, has this place become so dysfunctional that even when people agree to things we can't do it? (Applause.) It doesn’t make any sense."
~ [President] Obama Remarks on Payroll Tax Standoff 12/22/2011
"I think we have a very poor constitutional and political system for the 21st century. We have a system which was marvelous for 13 independent, loosely-tied states..."
~ Paul Kennedy, Professor of History (Yale) on CBS Sunday Morning (1/2/2011)
"People often note that America's political system is broken. Perhaps the truth is more awkward: America needs radical change, and it has an 18th century system determined to check and balance the absolute power of a monarchy. It is designed for gridlock at a moment when quick and large-scale action is our only hope."
~ Fareed Zakaria in Time Magazine "How to Restore the American Dream" (10/21/2010)
(the "awkward truth" is our Constitution is preventing a "more perfect Union!")
"Our Undemocratic Constitution: Where the Constitution Goes Wrong (And How We the People Can Correct It)"
~ book (title) by Sanford Levinson, University of Texas (Austin)
"A More Perfect Constitution"
~ book (title) by Larry Sabato, University of Virginia Center for Politics
"We are still a partial, blocked, half-way democracy, for the simple reason that our constitutional system incorporates central features intended to frustrate the will of the majority."
~ American Democracy (the Lack Thereof) by Van Gosse associate professor of history at Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, Pa.
"A non-cooperative game lacks a higher authority to impose agreements on both sides. In Washington, no politician is bound to reach a compromise to solve any long-term problem. Everyone, however, is playing a game called "election" and the only possible goal in that game is to win the next one. If you hear someone in Congress say, "Senator X is just playing politics," a perfectly legitimate response is, "She has to. Those are the rules of the Constitution." If we grumble, as voters, that we need to throw the bums out, all we're doing it subjecting a new set of bums to the same game. Anyone who promises to fix or change Washington is merely attempting to impose a cooperative game on a town that, by design, can't play one."
~ Brendan Greeley in Bloomberg Businessweek, "The Debt Ceiling: The Case for Caving" 8/3/2011
WOW! I'm certainly not alone in my viewpoint that the system is broken!!! Here's my version:
"230+ years later..."representative of the people, with checks and balances" has become "gridlock and compromised solutions favoring special interests." Politics is broken. Our system of government was designed in the 18th century and to say it's inadequate for the 21st century is an understatement."
(see tab: The Revolution of 2013)
WE seem to believe if only we elect the “right” politicians, all will be well. Then we/they continually argue over who or what is right, and who or what is wrong, but it seems we/they end up “doing stupid” anyway.
What if it’s not the people? What if it’s the system that is broken?
JeffBlock2012 asks and answers two basic questions:
The goal is "efficient and effective government FOR the people."
A: A bicameral government. One chamber is the Office of the Presidents, a triumvirate.
The second chamber is the Senate, expanded to 150 elected State Senators plus 151 "drafted"
(like jury duty) citizen State Senators. (see Discussion tab)
2) What would a revolution look like today?
(no, it's not a million men with muskets marching on D.C...)
A: A President has to be duly (Constitutionally) elected the "old way" to pass the torch to the "new way".
(see Discussion tab)
Elect me for President in 2012 and in 2013 President Obama and I will spend 100 days transitioning to a new government. On day 101 I will resign (and President Obama’s term will expire) leaving 372 men and women with the power, tools, systems, and mandates to EFFECTIVELY & EFFICIENTLY run the United States of America.
WE THE PEOPLE will have:
· 3 Presidents (Office of the Presidents)
12 year terms, no re-election
· 9 Cabinet Secretaries
4 year terms, possible re-appointment
· 9 Supreme Court Judges
12 year terms, no re-appointment
· 150 elected-Senators
8 year terms, no re-election
151 citizen-Senators
4 year service, once per lifetime
· 50 Governors
8 year terms, no re-election
372 of the “right” people who are interested in SERVING the CITIZENS of the USA !