The Problem with Politics

The problem with politics?  Where do I start?

a-I'm guessing that 20% of the population is far right and 20% of the population is far left.  That leaves about 60% of the population that is in the middle, they may lean one direction or the other, but most can be considered fairly moderate.  Both the far right and the far left extremes are for the most part fairly out of touch with the average Americans.  Those in the middle are for the most part fairly pragmatic and reasonable.  So the problem?  The far right and the far left are both very well organized, very active, very well funded (i.e. bought) and very engaged, to get elected you need to go through that wing of the party and to do that you need to be a part of that far left and far right establishment, that means that the 20% of the country (on either side) will be in control of the country at any one time.  Add in the fact that many of those in the middle tend to not vote in the primaries at the rate of those in the far right or far left and we most often end up getting stuck with a far right vs a far left candidate in the general election. It'll be interesting to see if California's Open Primaries helps to alleviate some of these problems. 

b-They are all corporate owned.  Politics and campaigns are expensive, to hold any high office takes dollars and lots of them.  Thus, once elected, politicians tend to be looking out for the good of corporate interests not the interest of the average man.

c-Ideology comes before country.  Idiots like Rush Limbaugh would prefer the US fail miserably rather than prosper when ruled by Democrats just to prove that their ideology is correct and to get more Republicans elected going forward.   It's so insane.  I'll include the "blame game" in this category too.  Just look at the recent gulf oil spill as a prime example.  Those on the right are trying to paint this as being Obama's Hurricane Katrina, insinuating that this is his fault.  How ridiculous an allegation is that?  He had nothing to do with the regulations now in place for offshore drilling.  What happened to country first, what happened to bipartisanship?  How did we get to this point? 

What we need is a third party, one that is fiscally conservative and socially liberal and one that puts the people first.