Forum Post: American politics
Posted 13 years ago on Nov. 2, 2011, 5:57 a.m. EST by EdmondSeymore
(101)
This content is user submitted and not an official statement
Problem - political bickering
To many people, American politics seems to be a problem - the parties are more interested in winning than in solving problems.
We need to stop the political bickering. We need to have a serious debate on where America is going in the future.
It is not Washington that is in grid lock. The American people are in grid lock! Politics is the art of compromise, not confrontation.
The American people need to reach consensus on what we want to be and what we want to do.
The principles of both parties are correct. We just need to meld them into a national framework for guiding our collective decisions.
The policies of both parties are flawed. We need to find a common ground which produces the best results.
United we stand, divided we fall is not just a neat slogan, it is fundamental truth.
Capitalism is the best economic system devised so far, but it is an incomplete system. It needs a heart.
Democracy is the best governing system devised so far but it demands that all the people strive to reach a common set of rules and goals so that we can out compete the rest of the world and set the global agenda.
Solution
We see web BLOGS as a solution to the current political process. We need to "raise the level of discourse" in online discussions.
We all need to work together and find a consensus on changes which will really move us forward.
We need to focus on problems/solutions not parties and wedge issues.
We can not believe what has happened in the past four years; never in our life time have we seen such rapid changes in the things which affect the everyday lives of the citizens. We are living in the most interesting of times. What we, the American people, do in the next few years will change the course of history.
Let's work together to make changes for the better; not just changes.
The main tenet of the Republicans is personal responsibility. The main tenet of the Democrats is that we are our brothers keeper. These ideas are not mutually exclusive.
If you have to pick a side, you are on the wrong side. The answer is in the middle.
Strategy:
Retain the existing two party system; but use public opinion to force individual candidates to the center by focusing on a Poblem/Solution approach to current high priority issues.
I think the basic problem is that the American people do not have a consensus opinion on what we want. We are divided about 50-50 on the two parties in power.
Please see TheCommonView at http://TheCommonView.com for a starting point to discuss an approach to solving this problem.
I think we need to force the two parties to directly address problems with their solutions and the American people can choose the better solution.
Right now we can only select a package, neither of them solve the basic problems. We need to prioritize and force the better solution one problem at a time.
My thought is that unemployment is the highest priority at this point in time.
There is a problem with our elected officials when nearly 90% of the people say they are performing poorly. We need a change in Washington...and we can do this with our vote, So get out and vote....and remember that yes, your congressman is part of the problem and needs to be removed.